For Christmas dinner, for a client, we had smoked Boston Butt pork roast with a maple glaze, “everything” curried mashed potatoes, grilled parmesan asparagus, and grilled sweet and hot peppers, onions and apples (which somehow did not make it in to the pic…). I also made a pan gravy with the drippings.
This Boston Butt was smoked for 12 hours and was 10 pounds (twice as big as in the pic). I figured while I had the grill going I might as well put on some peppers, onions, apples, and asparagus too.
COOK BOSTON PORK BUTT
1. Rub pork, tie up and let sit in fridge overnight. Grocery stores sell plenty of pre-made dry rubs that can be used on pork. Pick your favorite or make your own. Be sure to read ingredient list if buying pre-made. I like to make my own rubs with this handy little gadget…
I usually make rubs with different combinations of onion, garlic, fresh herbs, parsley, hot pepper, salt, pepper, etc. For pork I make it heavy on the clove, paprika and sage in order to add to the nice smokiness flavor. Also, a lot of times, I add mustard, however for this recipe I did not want to overpower the maple glaze with a mustard rub.
2. Prepare basting marinade (“mopping sauce”). Use this marinade to douse the pork butt very few hours or so while it is cooking. Pretty much this marinade consists of watered down apple juice and spices (be sure to strain out spices if putting in a spray bottle). I made fresh apple juice, added water (1:1 ratio) and lightly boiled it in some leftover dry rub, let sit in the fridge overnight, then strained and filled a clean spray bottle with the apple mixture.
3. Turn on smoker (about 12 hours before serving time and a few hours before starting the meat). I used applewood chips and would have added some mesquite, but did not find it in time (after all its not like it grows in IN, right?). I smoked this 10 pound Butt for 12 hours at about 225 degrees. I did have to crank it up a bit in the end to finish it off, but the thermometer on my grill might not have been accurate either. So pay attention to the temperature and adjust accordingly.
4. Cook Pork Butt until it has an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F. For slicing you will want the roast to be around 165 degrees F. If you would like it to be even more tender and fall apart, bring the internal temp. up to 195 degrees F. Save drippings to make pan sauce.
5. Prepare and apply maple glaze. For this I used spiced ghee and real maple syrup. I cooked some spices (clove, cinnamon, cardamom) in ghee then added some maple syrup. If the mixture is to thin, try whisking in a little corn starch to thicken it. Pour enough of the glaze over the pork to cover it and set the rest on the table in case people want extra.
6. Make pan sauce. In the same pan as the glaze add a bit of whiskey and enough of the pork juices (hopefully you saved those?) to make enough sauce. Add a bit of ghee and mustard (Grey Poupon) and whisk in a bit of cornstarch until desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.
ROAST VEGETABLES
1. Add veggies to smoker. You can do this early, refrigerate veggies and reheat in the oven or do it last minute to go right out of the grill and on to the table. You can use whatever grilled veggies that you would like. I used hot and mild peppers, onions, asparagus, and apples (which seem to go well with pork).
2. Shred Parmesan over asparagus and broil for a few minutes right before serving. Then add a bit of ghee and lime to the top.
“CURRIED EVERYTHING MASHED POTATOES”
1. Cube and boil potatoes, etc. Only add enough water to barely cover the potatoes, etc. I like to use red potatoes and leave the skin on. It does make for a colorful dish if more than one color potato is used. Also, in order to make it “everything” mashed potatoes, I add any root vegetables that I happen to have lying around like carrots, parsnips, turnips, radishes, etc. Different amounts and varieties of vegetables will make different color palettes and flavors.
2. Dice and add spices while potatoes, etc. are still boiling. Onions, garlic, hot pepper, garam masala, salt and pepper.
3. Turn heat off when potatoes, etc. are done. This mixture can be pretty soft. It should crush easily under the pressure of a fork. DO NOT OVER STIR!
4. Chop and fold in spices that should be added in the end of cooking. Curry, parsley, cilantro and ghee.
5. Fold in some plain yogurt to the potato, mixture. Until it is the desired consistency.
6. Mash to desired consistency. After folding in the ingredients at the end the mixture is usually at the consistency that I am going for in this dish which is small chunks with a bit of juxtaposition of ingredients. But, of course you are welcome to mash it even further.
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