4 Reasons To Try Kurobuta Pork
I just cooked some of the most amazing pork chops for my family. These chops were so good, that I was inspired to write about it. Then I realized. I already written an article about amazing pork, so this is an update to my original post. Yes, they were Kurabota pork chops from Snake River Farms. I live in Georgia near the amazing city of Atlanta where I found a premium butcher. This butcher carries Snake River Farms products. I was so amazed! I had to buy more chops than I needed to feed my family for the evening.
Immediately when I get home, I sprinkle the chops with gold dust! Ok, it wasn’t gold or dust. It was Kosher Salt. Gold Dust sounds so much better. I will try to convince Wes and Frankie on the podcast to call Kosher Salt, Gold Dust tune in to our latest podcast.
I gave the chops a couple of hours to dry brine in the fridge uncovered and then I sprinkled the chops with my co-host Wes’ favorite seasoning Plowboys Yardbird rub. The seasoning is kind of thin so I was a little heavy handed with it. The result was great color and flavor. I’m not professional chef, but when you have something so amazing to start off with it’s easy to produce professional results with simple techniques like reverse searing on a Weber kettle. That means, I set up the Weber kettle for indirect cooking, placed a small wood chip on that coals for smoke flavor. I kept the chops on the indirect side until the internal temps reached approx. 100 to 110 degrees F. Once I hit this temperature, I left the coals uncovered to get really hot so I could sear the chops for finishing. I pulled them off about 135 in order to get maximum juicy tenderness.
The tenderness of Kurobuta meat was understated in the original article that I wrote, that you will find below. This meat is so tender and it makes it so easy to chomp down delicious pork only making you look for more.
When it comes to BBQ meats, there is nothing better than delicious pork. Pork comes in a lot of forms, ribs, chops, ham, bacon and many more. But what if I told you that your pork experience can be even greater! These 4 reasons will let you know why Kurobuta pork is incredible and why you need to try it.
Reason #1 History
When we are talking BBQ and Grilling food, why would we care about history? it's one of the reasons why this Kurobuta pork is so amazing. Kurobuta is created from Berkshire pig, which is a heritage breed of hogs from England. A heritage breed is something that has been around a long time, before industrial agriculture and is bred for a certain purpose. According to the American Berkshire Foundation established in 1875, the Berkshire hog was supposedly founded by Oliver Cromwell’s army. News quickly spread by veterans of the army and the first boar in the American Berkshire registry was named “Ace of Spades” bred by Queen Victoria. This gives you the background to our next reason.
Kurobuta = Japanese for Black Pig
Reason #2 Quality
These animals are highly prized and sought after and raised on private farms throughout the Midwest. At Snake River Farms, our favorite premium meat purveyor, they only use 100% purebred Berkshire hogs as mandated by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture. This is essentially the Kobe beef of pork, but no they don’t drink beer and get massages all day. However, these animals are humanely raised, sustainably focused, and farmed with advanced practices so they can produce the best quality pork in the world.
Kurobuta Spare Ribs - Snake River Farms
Reason #3 Color
The color of this high quality pork is sexy, just look closely at the picture above. To the untrained eye it might be mistaken for beef. Most commodity pork that is sold in the grocery store is really light pink. There is nothing wrong with that, but immediately, you can tell that it is pork. The red color is due to the presence of a higher PH level than most pork. The higher PH level is an indicator of a more distinct flavor. Speaking of which, let's talk about the reason you’re all here reading, the 4th reason.
Kurobuta Pork Collar - Snake River Farms
Reason #4 Unforgettable Flavor
Most pork I felt was always a good vehicle for an appropriate sauce or rub. The pork meat itself provided the tenderness but not much on flavor. The flavor in Kurobuta pork is very different than any you might have had before. The pork is known for its fat content and tenderness. Kurobuta is prized for its juiciness so that just about any cut is incredible. While I have not had all parts of the pig Kurobuta sourced, the pieces I did have were just unforgettable. I remember, the first time I ate it, I thought to myself “This is how pork really tastes” and then I remember the “real” pork flavor seemed to linger on my pallet like a good bourbon does. Woah! That was like a bite flashback. Kurobuta has that effect, it will change the way you think about pork.
Kurobuta Tomahawk - Snake River Farms
So you probably figured it out by now. I'm a huge fan of Kurobuta pork. This is why I wanted to partner with Snake River Farms and affiliate marketer for them. There is no better quality meat available. My first introduction is when my cooking partner in my first and only KCBS competition bought it from some online site called Snake River Farms. I was intrigued because I used to be a fan of Jake the Snake Roberts in wrestling and I loved the movie Anaconda, well Jennifer Lopez was in it. But really, I didn't realize the capacity of meat could taste better and more rich until we got these amazingly colored rack of spare ribs and pork shoulder. I was surprised that the meat was delivered completely frozen, until I learned the flash freezing process helped keep things fresh. So when you order Snake River Farms make sure you allow delivery time and defrost time. So visit Snake River Farms by clicking one of the many links in this blog post and let me know how you liked it!
Now Get Outside and Grill
