Competition Pork

How to make Competition Pork Recipe - So many muscles in this category and each is extremely tender and tasty. A sweet and rich flavor profile has worked for me. Always make sure you give the judges samples of the money muscle, which is the best part of the pork butt.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
2 7-pound pork butts, bone-in
1/2 cup canola oil
Cherry wood, chunks
4 cups apple juice, spray bottle

Rub:
Code 3 Spices 5-0 Rub
Turbinado sugar

Foil Wrap:
2 tbsp Code 3 Spices 5-0 Rub
1/4 cup Parkay Squeeze
4 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup Blues Hog Smoky Mountain
Sauce
3 cups Blues Hog Smoky Mountain
1 cup Blues Hog Tennessee Red

Method:
Place each pork butt in a foil pan, fat cap down. Trim excess fat around the entire butt, leaving ¼an inch of the fat cap on. Coat with canola oil, then apply rub and turbinado sugar. Let sit at room temperature to develop syrup glaze.

Cooking
Set up smoker at 250 degrees F. Use cherry wood for smoke. Place pork butts in the foil pans on the grill. After 1 hour, spray with apple juice every 30 minutes.

Foil Wrap:
Ready the foil wrap: 2 sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil, enough to wrap completely. Remove pork at 150 degrees F internal temperature, and place on foil with the fat cap down. Add foil wrap ingredients and enclose the foil snugly around the pork butt. Place meat back on the cooker until tender, approximately 200 degrees F internal temperature. Check internal temperature after 1 hour, and every hour thereafter.

Sauce:
Add all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium-low heat. Mix well and let it cool. Store in squeeze bottle. Keeping the sauce warm is best for applying on meat.

Resting:
Check for tenderness with a meat thermometer. If it glides in like a hot knife through butter, it’s done. Remove pork butt in the foil wrap from the cooker. Open the foil wrap and pour some barbecue sauce over it. Store it in a dry cooler, and let it rest in its own juices.

Pull Pork:
Remove the meat around the bone (the horn) and slice into chunks. Locate the money muscle (opposite the horn) and slice into 1/2-inch discs. Use remaining pork to make pulled pork. Lightly sauce all pork slices, chunks, and pulled pork with a silicone brush.

Finish:
Arrange the pork neatly in the box and turn in.

Note:
The money muscle is easily seen before it is cooked. It stretches perpendicularly across, opposite the bone and the fat strands in a vertical pattern. Some competition cooks partially separate this muscle (but not entirely) to remove excess fat and apply more rub. This is called the money muscle because the judges love it and it wins the money.