KCRag Forum

You aren't doing it right, chrizow.

Boil them first, then put them on a hot grill, then transfer them to a big cooker full of maulls to simmer for a while. They will be tender and juicy. If you're like me, you'll want to eat 2 or 3 or more.

^Some BBQ purists' heart sink when they see styles like this and by definition I suppose they have a point (BBQ by definition is slow smoked meat that shouldn't rely on a sauce and boiling isn't BBQ), but there are a lot of great ways to do difficult cuts of meat such as this. Has its place.

agreed. bbq is as you described - getting it's start from hearty out door types back in the day trying to figure out how to effectively cook tough cuts of meat to the point they were edible.

the method i described isn't authentic, but it's effective...and delicious.

^Yeah, end result is what matters. A friend of mine in Hyde Park is obsessed with making the most out of the cheapest/crappiest meats she can find. Is pretty amazing what she can do with a pit. She has a pit, smokers, grills of various forms in her back yard, working with banana leaves, etc. She makes great sauces too but the goal for her is to smoke it just right, cut meat with just right amount of rub/fat ratio to melt as it smokes so that the end result is that it doesn't need a sauce. That's a goal of many purists... if you need a sauce, you didn't do it right. But some simply like sauce and that's OK too. Is fair to say though that BBQ sauce slapped on meat doesn't make it BBQ.

What makes KC a great BBQ town is not the restaurants, it's that there are a lot of great BBQ experimenters in KC who understand the basics. It's really hard to do BBQ for the masses in a restaurant (maybe pulled pork is easy) and that's understandable. Not surprising that the local restaurants don't nearly match what some of the local purists are capable of when able to focus on just one batch. Of course same can be said for anything, burgers to gourmet but point being, I think KC is more unique as a BBQ town because of all the local 'masters' and massive number of smokers who know what they're doing, not the BBQ restaurants. What also makes KC a unique BBQ/grilling town is that it will experiment with anything, including smoking ostrich to grilling jackfruit.

user: warwickland has furnished me with a copy of this recipe, which does look promising. http://www.extraordinarybbq.com/grilled-pork-steaks/ as beloved as pork steaks are in that town, i assumed it was user error on my part and not some fatal flaw intrinsic to the cut.

^^^yes, to all of that, earthling.

to embellish your point a bit, my favorite bbq joint is called 'crazy good eats' in olathe. primarily because they began as competition bbq'ers, not as a restaurant, which means they - not unlike your friend - learned how to use temperature, smoke and technique to make unbelievably delicious meats that stand on their own - no sauce or additional sauce needed. just juicy, tender, flavorful food.

pork steaks fall into a different category for me. i consider it grilling. even though excellent q like crazy good eats stands on it's own and can be eaten w/o sauce, i'm still a big fan of conidements/sauces (ketchup, mustard, chick fil a sauce, etc). so, smothering port steaks in maull's is just heavenly. i like them thin cut, and slightly cinged when on the grill so that the sauce carmelizes - even blackens to concentrate the flavor. then let 'em simmer in that sauce. perfect summer time food for me.

chrizow wrote:user: warwickland has furnished me with a copy of this recipe, which does look promising. http://www.extraordinarybbq.com/grilled-pork-steaks/ as beloved as pork steaks are in that town, i assumed it was user error on my part and not some fatal flaw intrinsic to the cut.

Outstanding read...thanks for posting. There's a lot of summer left. I'm going to try that guy's technique to see how it goes.

^Yup, grilling vs bbq/smoking. BBQ nerds make it a point there is a difference.

aknowledgeableperson wrote:Go to the Facebook page "Things and places we loved in Greater KC when we were much younger!" I think the above mentioned parking lot is shown in a picture. There are other things you might be interested in on that page also.

That's actually a pretty cool FB page. Thanks for pointing it out. But how old are these people? I thought I was old and I'm way too young to remember some of the things they are pointing out.

earthling wrote:^Yeah, end result is what matters. A friend of mine in Hyde Park is obsessed with making the most out of the cheapest/crappiest meats she can find.

i do that as well..my latest obsession is smoking BOTTOM BIN chuck steaks and roasts.

chrizow wrote:user: warwickland has furnished me with a copy of this recipe, which does look promising. http://www.extraordinarybbq.com/grilled-pork-steaks/ as beloved as pork steaks are in that town, i assumed it was user error on my part and not some fatal flaw intrinsic to the cut.

it might have to do with how the pork steak is cut off the pork butt, too. it should sort of already have a "loose" aspect with holes and fat in it...sounds gross i know. it should be able to be pulled apart by hand. these kinds of cuts usually grill very well, though. other times you may get a cut that is very dense and more like a chop or something that absolutely should be brined. i don't think these really are the "prime" crappy fatty cut that traditionally are supposed to be used for pork steaks. it's kind of weird because i have ended up with both kinds. i think the cut of meat you have been getting has been too "good."

85% of that guys end result is based on the brining. he also has a fantastic smoked chicken recipe that also involves brining. in fact that smoked chicken is probably my favorite thing to make.

chrizow wrote:i've never had a pork steak at a STL backyard bbq, but we received pork steaks in our Local Pig meat-box for a while. we thought it was basically the worst cut of meat ever. we received pork steaks several boxes in a row, and i never could figure out a way to make them taste good or be anything other than a dry, tough, gross cut of meat that we ended up feeding the dog. i can see "braising" 'em in some MAULL'S taking things up a notch.

Have grilled pork steak quite often. Although not like a beef steak it can come out rather tender and juicy. Guess a secret is don't overcook it and use a thicker cut, flip a few more times than beef steak. And smother with sauce after the last flip.

You want to do what a professional cook would do in a BBQ completion, use a meat thermometer.

I can get consistent results by sticking to the current USDA recommendation of 145. The meat is a hair pink, clear juices and still moist at 145-150. Go up to 160-165 and you'll dry it out too often.

https://www.pork.org/new-usda-guideline ... mperature/

This midwest pork steak thing is a German immigrant phenomenon I think.
KC doesn't have the "tradition" with "pork steak and Mauls" like STL does, but growing up we ate pork steak quite a bit.
KC was mostly a German and Irish immigrant city.
My German father loved pork steak. We had them at least once a week.
It was always grilled or pan fried and BBQ sauce could be added (on plate only) later.
Putting sauce on meat while it's grilling is anathema.
I would personally mix a little ketchup with Gates regular to dip my pork steak in.
Ketchup and BBQ sauce mixed is pretty much what Mauls is.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................Maull's Sweet-n-Smoky.