Lots of pictures plus lots of recipes as I haven’t blogged for ages! Anyway I’m back from holiday, autumn is on the way and the harvest is starting. Here’s something from last weekend that was just a triumph even though modesty prevents me claiming all the credit…. maybe 97%…. 😉

Rob the butcher has been explaining to me over several weeks about a specific joint of pork that he calls a blade of pork. I did a little research and found out that on the other side of the Atlantic the joint is called a Boston butt. Apparently because they were packed in barrels or butts in Boston. You live and learn…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_butt

Anyway I decided that I should try it out and as it was nice weather the Big Green Egg and a long slow cook, a couple of friends and some wine seemed to be the right approach. I asked Rob for enough for four people and he replied that, as it was me, I would need two of them for four… not knowing any different, I readily agreed. It turned out to be over 4kg (9lbs) of pork. That’s quite a lot for four people, but it looked great! Here they are…

The dry rub was salt, fennel and nigella seed (crushed a bit), smoked paprika and a little pepper. Rubbed over the joints the day before cooking and wrapped up and left in the refrigerator overnight.

Next morning, temperature probe set for 95C internal meat temperature and a grill temperature of 110-120C (if you look carefully).

Some soaked hickory chips for a bit of smoke flavour and off we go!

Here’s the thing though… if you are going to slow cook meat the same day as you eat it… you have to get up early! I was expecting to serve at 8pm so the meat was in the Egg at 8am…

About 11 hours later after a day of controlling the temperature with the upper and lower air vents  on the Egg, the desired temperature is reached and the meat is cooked to perfection. If you ever do this and watch the temperature of the meat carefully you will see that it goes up and down as various bits of the meat change their nature and consistency and some bits of it disappear altogether!

Looks a bit blackened but I assure you, that was the best bit!!!

And you simply pull it apart. The meat is beautifully cooked and soft, there is no connective tissue left in the meat at all and it comes completely cleanly off the bone.

So what would you serve with pulled pork Boston butts? Well, as I mentioned, the food from the garden is being harvested and I had all the ingredients for a coleslaw. Some of the carrots were a bit small… but never mind.

I am extremely proud of my cabbage that I hand reared from seed. It was absolutely perfect but that was purely down to beginners luck, no skill involved at all!  🙂  Of course you don’t have to grow your own cabbage and supermarket cabbages are perfectly all right, but growing your own is just a fantastic way to show off… you

I am a bit precious about the order to do the vegetables in, as I don’t like two things about some coleslaws – too much onion or pieces of apple that have gone brown! Yuk! This method should avoid both.

For a big bowl of coleslaw I grate half a medium size onion. When I finish crying, I juice half a lemon (not home grown) and mix it into the onion. The lemon juice “cooks” the onion a little and smooths the flavour so it’s less strong and raw tasting. Gentle onion is so much better in my view. Thinly slice half a white cabbage… and leave it on the board.

Core and small dice some desert apples to add some sweetness…

And mix the apples in to the onion and lemon juice straight away. If you leave them they’ll go brown but the lemon juice will keep them beautiful and for several days.

Grate the carrots and mix well it the apples and onion…

Then add the shredded cabbage, handful by handful, mixing as you go to make sure its all incorporated evenly together.

Now here’s the good bit… mayonnaise on its own will swamp the flavour of the vegetables but if you mix it 50:50 with creme fraiche you get a lovely light and creamy dressing that compliments the other flavours, but don’t use too much… its all about your cabbage. I use 2 desert spoons of mayonnaise and 2 of creme fraiche mixed well together for this big bowl.

A beautiful bowl of home grown coleslaw that will stay perfect (no brown apple pieces) if covered in the refrigerator for at least 5 days. Total time to make –  about 5 months  🙂

Two butts was far too much for four people by the way… we barely ate one!! Which was good news as I took the rest for my lunch all week. With coleslaw!

And a dash of homemade chilli sauce from the excess of chillies, peppers and tomatoes that have been just perfect this year!

I love this time of year, don’t you?