Hog Glaze Recipes

HOG GLAZE

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes. Pour out into a clean bowl, using a plastic spatula to scrape it all. Store, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks.

PORK SHOULDER

Steps:

• Trim away any bone slivers from the exposed meat. Remove any visible excess fat. Square up the long sides of the shoulder to make it neat and uniform.
• Place the pork shoulder in a large aluminum pan. (There's no skin to hold the liquid in, as there is on a whole hog, so the pan is necessary to catch the excess liquid.) Inject the shoulder with 2 to 3 quarts of the hog injection, all over the shoulder in about 1-inch squares. Let the injected shoulder sit, loosely covered, in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Turn the shoulder upside-down in the pan, so that any excess injection that might remain infuses the meat. Let it sit upside-down for 15 to 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, heat a smoker to 250˚F.
• Take the shoulder out of the pan and sprinkle the rub all over it, making sure to get the area by the shank. Place the shoulder, in its aluminum pan, in the smoker and cook for 3 hours.
• Remove the shoulder from the smoker. Pour the apple juice into a clean aluminum pan, and transfer the shoulder to the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place it in the smoker. Cook for 6 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 205˚F.
• Remove the pan from the smoker. Discard the foil. Brush the hog glaze all over both sides of the shoulder. Return the shoulder to the pan, put the pan back in the smoker, and cook for 1 more hour while adding no more heat to the smoker and allowing the internal temperature of the smoker to drop. The shoulder will effectively rest in the smoker this way.
• Remove the pan from the smoker, and serve. Where I'm from, a pork shoulder is not sliced-it's pulled apart in chunks. There are a couple of different ways to do it, with knives and tongs and such, but the very best-and easiest-is with your hands. Wearing heavy-duty gloves, simply pull the meat apart gently and let your guests have at it. You can put it in a sandwich just like this, or you can chop it up after you've pulled it, if you like.
• I used to wonder why this part of the shoulder was called "Boston" anything, since it's so associated with Southern barbecue. The folks from the National Pork Board say it plain: "In prerevolutionary New England and into the Revolutionary War, some pork cuts (not those highly valued, or 'high on the hog,' like loin and ham) were packed into casks or barrels (also known as 'butts') for storage and shipment." So, the way the hog shoulder was cut in the Boston area became known in other regions as "Boston butt."
• Here's a tip from my competitive barbecue cooking that you can use in your backyard. I make a little solution I call "half and half." It's equal parts vinegar sauce and water, and I heat it up until it's hot but not boiling. Then I dip pieces of shoulder in it before I put them in the judging box. Why do I do this? Because it keeps the meat from drying out and getting cold. You always want your meat to stay moist and warm. You can do this at home, too. Before you serve any meat like brisket or pork shoulder, toss it with a little half and half and then put it on a platter. Better yet, apply the solution to the back side of slices of brisket and pork before you place them on a platter. This technique will keep your meat from drying out.

WHOLE HOG

Steps:

• On a long table covered with clean butcher paper or other sanitary covering, lay long strips of aluminum foil. Place the hog flat on its back on top of the foil. With a very sharp butcher knife, score (i.e., make shallow cuts in the meat) along each side of the spine of the hog, where the ribs connect. Then crack and pull down each side of the hog, starting from the spine. You want the hog to be lying semi-flat so that you can easily reach inside.
• Following the instructions on page 76, remove the membrane (or "silver") from the backs of the ribs on each side. Trim away any excess fat on the hams, shoulders, and along the rib cage.
• Using a meat saw, split and saw down between the ribs and down each side of the hog: You're going to cut the ribs on both sides three inches off the spine. This is basically making baby back ribs out of the full spares. Saw only the bone, trying not to pierce the skin on the bottom of the hog. (This makes it easier, after cooking, to serve ribs from the hog.)
• Separate the picnic ham of the shoulder from the Boston butt. Again, trim both hams of any excess fat. When prepping the shoulder, there is a membrane that you can feel with a knife that separates the Boston butt end, which is next to the spine, from the picnic ham (or shank). Cut through the membrane, making sure not to cut through the skin. This lays the shoulder so it can crust over and have a good bark.
• Load the hog injection into your injector. Out of habit, I always start by injecting the hams first and then I work my way to the head. I inject in seven locations all over the ham, making sure the ham is full to the point of popping. It doesn't matter where exactly you inject so long as it's all over the hog. A word of caution: Don't make more injection holes than necessary, because more holes means more places for the marinade to leak out. Move to the sides of the cavity where the bacon is. It will be covered by the ribs. Inject all along both sides. There are two tenderloins at the end of the spine near the hams. Inject them carefully and do not over-inject (or shoot too much fluid in); if the fluid begins leaking out, you'll know that you've done more than enough. Then move to the shortened ribs that have been cut and inject straight down between the ribs directly against the spine into the loin. Remember not to push the needle through the skin on the bottom of the hog's back. Now inject the shoulder, butt, and shank (picnic ham). Last, inject the cheek meat (or jowl) along the hog's jawbone.
• Sprinkle the rub throughout the cavity and on the surface of any exposed meat. (Some people think you have to actually "rub" the rub into the meat, but I don't think that does anything to the taste.) Gather up the foil you've laid the hog on and use it to wrap the entire hog loosely.
• Let the hog sit for 1 hour to soak up all the injection. During this time, light the smoker and bring it to 250˚F.
• Place the 2 shoulders or brisket flats in the smoker, and then carefully place the hog on top of the shoulders/brisket, so that the extra meat runs the length of the hog directly under the center. Close the smoker and let the hog smoke for about 20 hours, or until the internal temperature of the meatiest part of the shoulder is 205˚F. (I often set my hog on the smoker at noon the day before I want to eat it; then I remove it at 8 a.m. the next morning.)
• Unwrap the foil, and using a brush, apply the hog glaze throughout the inside of the cavity and on the hams. Rewrap the hog loosely in the foil. Leaving the hog on the smoker, let the temperature fall (no more wood is needed at this point). The glaze will caramelize and set while the hog begins to rest and cool down enough so that folks can start pulling the meat. (Unless you're a professional caterer or otherwise need to present the whole hog, the hog is left in the smoker while it is picked and pulled and, best of all, eaten.)
• In true Southern tradition, a whole hog is never "carved" per se. Wearing clean heavy-duty gloves and using either large tongs or your hands, gently pull the meat out of the hog in chunks and pile it onto large trays or straight onto plates.
• Now, the most difficult part of cooking the whole hog properly is the loin, which tends to cook faster than the tougher, bigger, and denser hams and shoulders. I solve this problem by placing a cheaper cut of meat, such as a boneless butt or brisket flat, underneath the hog down the length of the backbone. This will add another barrier between the loin and the heat from the smoker, helping to keep it moist and not overcooked. That's why this recipe calls for adding two shoulders or brisket flats: it will keep your loin from overcooking. And the type of meat you choose won't matter, as it won't be fit for a buzzard when you're through cooking the hog.