I'm not quite sure I buy into hot dogs being in the same class of quality cuts of meat, but for the sake of argument, ooookay...Not really. If you put ketchup and mustard on a hot dog, do you not taste the hot dog?KM: Doesn't the Q sauce drown out the flavors you worked hard to get into the meat?
I know you're from MO and the definitions of BBQ are a little laxer there.Here, the BBQ sauce is part of the equation when you're cooking pork steaks. 40+ years of eating these and I've ever been anywhere that served them without a coating of BBQ sauce.
Which, buy comparing lobster to Q, sorta proves that whole confusions-about-Q thing above.If you dip a piece of lobster tail into melted butter, it's the thing that compliments it, it's not like you're just eating butter.
Moving on.
Which is a great point and that I'm obsessing about Q from an overly OCD purist position. Given it's pork and we all know that real Q is beef, then clearly I'm off base on trying to make this point.You're not swallowing each piece whole, even being tender, you're still chewing it. You mouth pretty much swallows the liquids right off, and then it as you chew you get the flavors of the meat. These were about an inch thick, so although the photo seems to show a lot of sauce on them, it doesn't overshadow the meat.
Normally these are grilled not smoked. Note that they only were smoked for 90 minutes....the smoke ring was only about 1/8" on each side, but the smoke flavor was present.
I've had them cooked as above in a pan of a sauce, and you can tell the ones that were cooked too long because all you taste is the sauce and the meat is just mushy. (I did ribs like that once, big mistake)
Everyone in the St. Louis area has their own way they cook these things. Remember it's not a high priced piece of meat. When smoking a whole butt you're taking it slow to get as much smokiness you can into it and get the fats to render. You can't really cook a pork steak too long, because being just a slice it can quickly dry out. Many spray them down every few minutes (if not wrapping them in foil) to prevent this. And many sauce them up as soon as they are placed on the grill and continuously baste more on as they cook to achieve the same. This is likely why pork steaks that aren't slathered with sauce are unheard of.
All the folks at the house were natives. They complimented me on how juicy and very tender the meat was, and that's pretty much all you can ask for
It was funny, my son in laws mom asked how I made the sauce, as she "loved it" . I had to be honest...I said I made it by getting a bowl, opening the bottle, and pouring it into the bowl. (Sweet Baby Rays Original) granted I did add some apple juice, some beer, and some red wine. So looks like Ray has picked up a new customer.
Sweet.On another note, looks like I'll be picking up my drum tomorrow
PS:
BTW: Pulled a turkey breast and 2 pork tenderloins out of the freezer to thaw. Should make a good selection for the weekend. Extras to be frozen and ready for later when the need arises.
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