Traditional vs Newfangaledness: Sous Vide Pork Butt

Have I ever mentioned I'm from rural South Carolina, and that my family has been in the Palmetto state for quite a while? I am proud of this and if you know me, or are around me for very long, you know I am quick to point this out, and can work it into almost any conversation whether it actually fits there or not.  "Oh so you like the color red?" Then I might add "you know in South Carolina there is a red dot on every liquor store, goes back to the repeal of Prohibition, and the stores were open until sunset, they are often called 'red dot stores' rather than liquor stores." It's a little Cliff Clavin from Cheers, but with a Palmetto State flavor, and I realize this! Anyway I'm getting older now and my palmetto pride is not likely to change even though I now live in Tennessee.  One of the burdens of having an old family from an old state are the many, long-held ideas, that often come with it.  In many things you do, you are reminded of the way daddy (pronounced deddy) did them.  In fact, the way deddy's deddy, and deddy's deddy's deddy did things are often how things are still done today.  So for better or for worse I would say that I am a very much a traditionalist. I still call ALL carbonated beverages "Coke", say "it's coming up a cloud" when I hear thunder off in the distance, and use "dadgum" for all sorts of things.  I still drink sweet tea like my grandma made, make syllabub at Christmas and cook steaks like my Granddiddy Greene taught me.......WAIT no I don't, not since Meathead Goldwyn (@meathead) introduced me to reserve sear, and it has changed my life!

Red Dot Store! Photo from Charlestondailyphoto.blogspot.com

Speaking of changing my life, I remember this like it was yesterday.  I was riding bikes with Toby, a buddy of mine, we were in the second grade.  Out of the blue Toby says "hey you wanna go watch the Dukes of Hazzard?" I instantly stopped in my tracks, my 7 year old mind racing! How could this be? It was Sunday afternoon, and everyone knows The Dukes air on Friday nights, just before Dallas, which I wasn't allowed to watch but, I always loved to get a peek of Pam Ewing, in that Mercedes convertible during the opening credits of the Dallas intro,  before hearing "Jeff go to bed!" from my Mamie (great grandma)! Dadgum, at least I got to see Daisy, even though honestly, I was not yet aware of why I was so curious about Pam and Daisy...... but I figured it out in a few years, but enough about that!  Okay so back to the story,  my brain was racing, how could this be? So I said "Dukes aren't on right now", in somewhat of a bless his heart tone,  and Toby's reply was "I have it on beta."  Again my world was churning and swirling trying to process all of this new data..... and the best I could muster was "what the heck is a beta?" After his explanation of the newfangled early generation VCR, I'm sure my eyes were huge in disbelieve,  I had to see it! I have not looked back since.  I have gone on to embrace each and every iteration of recorded video devices, albeit always a few years behind everyone else as I could never afford the latest tech when first introduced! So I guess I am not a traditionalist at everything, and I really do embrace more newfangledness in my everyday life than I thought I did.

For Christmas I got an Anova sous vide machine and a Food Saver vacuum sealer from my family!  Yes yes they love me and I love them for it!! I was anxious to use both and I was cooking a butt for a Superbowl party and I had heard of folks cooking a butt sous vide style with positive results.  As you may know cooking a butt this way is barbecue blasphemy in some circles.  So much so that I was afraid to mention it to my super hard-core, smoking traditionalists "low and slow for life" friends.  So under much secrecy and heavy security, I set about making this happen.  Newfangled here I come!! 

I basically followed J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipe, of The Food Lab fame,  for cooking the butt, with a few exceptions:

1.  I injected with Chris Lilly's Championship Butt Injection recipe prior to vacuum sealing
2. Did not use Liquid Smoke (for added smoke flavor) or the Prague Powder that was suggested as an optional addition to aid in developing a red ring under the bark to simulate a smoke ring. 
3. I rubbed first with Meat Church's Honey Hog hot, then with my own personal rub I have been working on.  Obviously I rubbed, after injection and before vacuum sealing.  
4. After 20 hours in the sous vide bath, then cooling, I put on the green egg for 3 hours at 250.  I played this by ear and took it off when the bark was where I wanted it.  I sprayed with apple juice occasionally trying to maximize the uptake of the smoke.  

Conclusions: As I mentioned I cooked this butt for a Super Bowl party and everyone loved it.  Of course I did not tell them how I cooked it until afterwards, as to not let any anti-newfangledness bias, which is a real thing, effect the results.  The butt had a decent amount of smoke, was tender, easy to pull, and one of the moistest butts I have ever served.  So it was a success without a doubt.  I personally could have used a bit more smoke flavor, and there was not as much smoke ring as I like to have.  In fact, I almost had my cover blown as one of my buddies said "not much smoke ring on that butt, you sure you smoked it?" I tensed up for just a moment, then he chuckled and said "I know you would never cook that in the oven." I just smiled and said "you got that right," and my insides relaxed enough to walk away!

Moving forward:  Next time I am going to try Meat Church's recipe for cooking a sous vide butt, which rubs and smokes the butt first, in the traditional way, until the internal temp is 150 degrees, then sealing it up to finish in the hot water bath.  I probably should have tried this method first if the truth be known, but I was concerned with losing the bark while cooking in it's own juices for 18+ hours.  I am not as worried about this as I once was, as I have talked to other sous vide disciples and it seems that is not something to worry about, and once pulled no one will ever notice. Don't get me wrong it may be a while before I try it this way again.  I still like to smoke on my egg as often as life allows, but I could not get the sous vide method out of my mind until I tried it! I don't expect the true BBQ purest to ever try this method, as cooking meat via sous vide is on the front lines of the traditional verses newfangled war,  and it will take a complete paradigm shift to make sous vide the norm.  

So in my younger days I fancied myself as a Renaissance man! When I went to college, after serving on submarines in the Navy, I majored in Biochemistry and minored in Theater.......I know it's odd..... long story (maybe I'll bore you with it in an upcoming blog).  So some of my useless talents are that I can draw you a diagram and explain Glycolysis, which is the mechanism our cells use to make energy from the breakdown of sugars, then turn right around and quote you some Shakespeare or recite Robert Frost's The Road less Traveled.  I guess that means that I have always been a mix of traditional and newfangled, and I bet many of you are the same.  You are? Well you know that in South Carolina......