Oh My Goodness!
Since we bought our new barbecue/smoker we have tried to barbecue and smoke several different types of meat. In addition we tried several different types of wood to add the smoke flavoring we craved. The wood we found most satisfying was from the limon trees in our yard. That was very good, but when we were in the U.S. last spring we bought a wood chip smoking pan and several bags of wood chips to add some variety to our smoked meats.
Today I used some of our mesquite chips.
Of all of the things that we have smoked or barbecued here in Ecuador, perhaps our favorite has been the pork chop roasts we get at SuperMaxi. These “roasts” are actually partially separated pork chops (Chultas). We knew we wanted to smoke some more chuletas, so yesterday we bought three of these “roasts” (altogether perhaps eight to ten pounds) and I got up early this morning to get the smoker ready.
First I needed to get the fire going and then I positioned the smoke chip pan with the chips inside over the glowing coals.
After a few minutes the smoke started to billow!
I waited to get the temperature up to a steady 100 degrees centigrade (220 degrees to you folks up North!)
Once the smoke was billowing, it was time to load up the meat! I wanted to take a picture of the roasts before I put them on the grill, but I forgot. (That happens to old men every now and then!) But this is what the roasts looked like about five minutes after I put them on the grill.
I remembered the counsel I got from my good friends at Patrons of the Pit (http://patronsofthepit.wordpress.com/) and put the meat on fat-side-up to allow the natural juices to do the basting.
While the meat was slowly roasting away in the smoke filled air, I worked away in the garden, occasionally adding more carbon to keep the heat constant. After about four hours I turned the roasts and the meat looked like this:
The juices were flowing down over the meat and I could hardly resist trying a little taste of pork!
But, it takes six to eight hours to smoke these chuletas, so I resisted for a few more hours.
After seven hours I tested the meat with a meat thermometer and found that the meat was cooked through. I moved them to a higher rack and kept them on warm until we were ready to feast!
We had invited some friends to share this meal, but our friend was ill today, so I packed up some chuletas and some potatoes (papas) and steamed vegetables and delivered dinner to Nancy and Joe. By the time I got home, Nancy had already written an email to Mary raving about the meal.
What do you think? You can almost taste the juicy smoked chuletas from here!
Buen Provecho!
Some days are better than others, but any day spent breathing in pork scented mesquite smoke is especially good here where…
Life is good in Ecuador!
Wow, that’s the best looking meat I have ever seen in Ecuador! Good job, John!
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It was really good! I am a bit biased, but I believe it was some of the best smoked pork I have ever eaten. The real benefit of cooking it yourself is that you get to smell the smoke all day, so by the time it is finally ready, you are absolutely starving!
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That looks just yummy!
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Yes, it was! We will be eating smoked pork for the next few days!
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Wow! That looks absolutely delicious! The pictures are so good I can almost smell them right through the screen!
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I was trying to get a picture of the juices rolling down the side of the roasts too. Next time I may need to do a short video!
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Hi
This is what I get when I receive your emails. I don’t know how to fix it so could you unsubscribe me?
Thank you
Sharon savage
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Sharon – I hope you can read this, but we do not have the ability to subscribe or unsubscribe a reader. You will have to do that. When you open a post there is an icon for either following or un-following the blog. You need to click that. Sorry you are not receiving the posts correctly.
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Mercy! Looks fantastic, John. Nothing is quite so fine as dabbling in the garden blooms whilst catching scent of the occasional waft of aromatic mesquite and sizzling pork. Man! That’s the good life, indeed. I’m proud of you, old chap. You done good in Ecuador!
Take care and blessings to you both!
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I have to concur! The wonderful aroma made me want to stick around the yard and soak it in all day. The only problem is that the aroma serves to make one more and more hungry until it almost becomes unbearable!
Thanks and blessings to you and yours too!
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My mouth is watering. Where is the SuperMaxi? Is it in the town about an hour away? I forget the name of the town. I wish your blog came with a smell button. 🙂
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SuperMaxi is a chain of supermarkets here in Ecuador. They have stores in Portoviejo and in Manta and most other large cities in Ecuador. We buy all of our meat products at SuperMaxi because Mary prefers the quality of their meats.
If I could figure out a way to bottle the aroma those chuletas and mesquite smoke made, I could be a millionaire! It was unbelievable!
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WOW! Just WOW! Oh. And YUM! 😉
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It does look good. We will be eating some more of those chops for dinner tonight.
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Haha. I had some not-so-bad chops myself tonight. Along with my new found love of Brussels Sprouts? YUM and YAHOO!
(I’m such a foodie!)
🙂
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Glad you liked the pictures. We wish we could have shared some of the chops with you and your family. I do not know about the brussel sprouts though – I never did like those things and we have not tried them recently to find out if we might now like them. Best to play it safe with the veggies we know we like.
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I thought that too, but Jeff slathers them with EVOO and a little salt and pepper, roasts them in the oven and, BAM! Simple. Yummy. And good for you.
(I wish you could have shared too.)
🙂
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Maybe some day?!? If you make the trip, we will definitely make the meal.
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😉
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hmmm.. i wasn’t hungry until i read this post!
as with everyone else, the images illustrate a grand job, surely one of the top bbq spots in ecuador.. when are you hanging a shingle that says you’re open for business?!!! you could do it one day per month – every full moon!!!!!
i am almost certain that the ‘al garrobo’ tree is in the mesquite family.. it’s a scrubby tree with little thorns (one bit me today while i worked in the yard!) and is often left in fence rows.. it’s a small to medium sized tree. i doubt if the internet is fast enough for me to search for an image…. it might give you the aroma similar to mesquite….
z
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Lisa – you are right about the algorrobo being in the same general classification of trees (Prosopis) as the mesquite. I will check to see if we have any around here!
But, we will not be opening up for business any time soon. We are retired and aim to stay that way. It is enough for us to share with friends (want to come down to San Clemente for a visit?).
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si.. i understand totally about not wanting to turn the bbq into work! tis the public’s loss, however!
i gave two drawing classes at nearby la division last week, and this week they are graduating to painting. the class will be on thursday, so my trip to bahia will be a round-trip/long day! (it takes me three to four hours to go from my house to bahia… the first is the walk to town! if i wait too long to leave bahia, i reach home after dark…
sigh.. the river and its beautiful birds have a price.
this morning i’ve been trying to help a stranded and possibly-wounded frigate… when it dries its feathers i’ll find out if it was wounded or just waterlogged.
z
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God bless you and good luck with the frigate.
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How fun this looks. I’m not a meat eater, however pork is my fall down…I love pork. If ever I were to eat meat, pork would be my meat of choice!
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Yesterday I smoked up a bunch of turkey pieces. I’ll bet if you smelled that you would consider eating turkey meat too!
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Mary and John, The pork was wonderful, best we have tasted, loved how simple, just smoked, no rubs, no BBQ sauce nothing it was wonderful, thanks again, Nancy and Joe
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It was doubly good and fun for us because we could share some with you. We are so glad that you liked it!
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Hi, I`m Jose your actual neighbor, you share with us your password. Thank you very much for that.
Those chuletas look amazing , you have to share the recipe.
I want to share some pictures with you of my several trips to San Clemente that by the way its my favorite place on earth.
So if you are interested , just give me your email and I will be glad to send you the best pictures I have and if you like them, you can post them.
Was very nice to meet you.
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Thank you! The chuletas had virtually no seasoning, I just seasoned with the wood smoke as they slow roasted for about nine hours on the smoker/grill. And they were great! I will send you our email. Hope to see you and your wife and dogs here again.
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