Table Talk
Smoked Pork and Margatinis
It's a pork invasion at my house. I came home from Costco with 9 pounds of pork shoulder this last week. You see, it is April in Colorado. Oh, I know, it's April everywhere. But, though I grill year round here, I am not as eager to pursue one of my latest interests, that of smoking meat, in the cold, dark, winter months. But the temperatures have risen into the 60's and it is light out until 7. It was clearly time to crank up the smoker. Early Saturday morning, I took out the pork and trimmed off the floppy pieces, which I cut into small chunks and threw in a separate pot to make carnitas (separate blog for that one). Then I made a wonderful rub that I got from my friend Mike, covered the pork with mustard and then liberally covered that with the rub. Once the coals were ready and the temperature up to a hot 400 degrees, I put the pork on, and threw in some chunks of apple wood on the coals and let it go.
This is definitely a process for the patient. Which I'm not. I checked the thermometer about every 30 minutes, and it held at around 240. I kept throwing in a couple of chunks of wood on the coals periodically and waited and watched. And waited. And waited. By 5:00, I was getting a little concerned. Would we be having smoked pork tacos for dinner as planned? By 6:30, I panicked and brought it in the house, transfered it to a 250 degree oven (after taking off an end and shredding it for dinner...) and let it finish it's last hour of cooking where I could still see it.
Let's talk tacos. Smoked pork makes a very fine taco, with roasted chipotle salsa, guacamole, and cotija cheese, in fresh, soft corn tortillas. We made a lovely drink to accompany them called a Margatini. Here's the recipe:
Margatini
(from 101 Martinis by Kim Haasarud)
1 1/2 oz tequila
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz citrus vodka
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz simple syrup
lime wedge for garnish
Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain in a martini glass rimmed with coarse salt.
1 serving
