All week, at my work, we've been celebrating "Driver Appreciation Week" with cookouts everyday. Today, one of our major vendors came to supply us with pulled pork. Here's the story of why I love my Smokin-It smoker!
I roll into the parking lot at 6 a.m. (pretty normal). It's dark, and I'm the first one there. As I pull in, I see our vendor's pickup truck, and a big trailer-mounted stick burner. The pit master is in his lawn chair, next to the smoker. He tells me he got there at midnight, and got the butts on.
As the morning progresses, I have several conversations with our visiting pit master, and learn that he built his rig over a year and a half, himself! It was a beautiful smoker, adorned with the logos and stickers, and a great paint job. He also told me about how he smokes at competitions, so his employer pays him to do events like this for customers. The pit smelled great! We talked a lot about BBQ, but I never mentioned to him what kind of smoker I use. I knew, right away, that he was drunk on the "traditional" BBQ Kool-Aid. That was OK with me. He told me that he would "never" reheat BBQ; "If it's not right off the pit, it's pretty sorry!" he said. I just nodded, and agreed. Of course, I knew different. If vacuum packed right away, and reheated properly, I dare anyone to tell the difference.
When the butts hit 170, he pulled them out and placed them on foil. He then covered them with BBQ sauce, and double-wrapped. "This is where the magic happens!," he said with a confident grin. Yes Sir, that's where it happens!
When the butts reached 195°, he pulled them off the pit and placed them in a cooler. OK, I thought, at least he's giving them a good rest.
At 11 a.m., he began to unwrap the butts to pull. They were looking, and smelling good. He pulled a pan, and said "Now they get the good stuff!" He slathered the pan with Head Country sauce, and mixed the pulled pork with the sauce. Yikes, I thought. Anytime you need to "enhance" pulled pork with sauce, it won't stand on its own! Before saucing, I sampled the butt. While moist and tender, it was very bland. The hickory smoke flavor was light, and the bark was, well, "bland." No other way to say it.
The pulled pork sammies were a big hit, and all went well. We were all very appreciative of the effort and expense they went to, on our behalf.
The point of this story is not to disparage the pit master. Great guy, and obviously well-invested in his craft. The point is what I was thinking, most of the day: "If he ONLY knew!" He sat by that stick burner for 12 hours, tending, prodding, checking constantly. And the result? Less than I expected. I was expecting something "spectacular!" Big competition smoker, an accomplished pit master; I was expecting greatness! What I got was over-sauced, middle-of-the-road pulled pork. It was tasty, but not great.
What made me tell this story is what happened after he left. As we were cleaning up, at least 10 people from the office made a point of coming to me, and telling me "It was good, but it wasn't
yours!" Or, "That tasted good, but I've had your ribs, so I'm spoiled!" Believe me, the folks I work with don't give out compliments lightly! The transportation business is tough.
I was also thinking the same thing (not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty proud of the results I get). I would put one of my brined butts up against the "competition" cookers ANY DAY! I am so thankful to have found Smokin-It, and the wonderful world of Lazy Q! Not tending a stick burner all night long?...Priceless! Having folks compliment your Q over a competition cooker?...even MORE priceless!!
