That looks :-)
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Nice work Michael!
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you had me at "duck fat"!!...lookin' tasty Michael!
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Took the garlic confit and a ran with a variety of spices. Not really a new idea by any stretch, but wanted to see where they went individually as a bread topping before making a blend.

L-R: Sundried tomatoes, rosemary, thai basil, red chili pepper flakes, oregano and plain.

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Yesterday's unofficial taste testing focus group (about 10-15 people down at the brewery tap room) crowned the red pepper as the overall winner, even by people who weren't into the heat.
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I just got a 3.6 pound boneless pork shoulder. I plan to do a 24 hour cook and then make pulled pork.

I've seen recipes that include the sauce while cooking and some that don't. Since I plan to use our favorite commercial sauce, I plan to leave it out and put it in after I sear the pork.

Question: when using the crock pot, I always put in a can of Dr Pepper. We like the flavor. Should I do that with this cook and if so how much do you recommend?
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Are you still ziplock bagging or have you upgraded to a vacuum sealer, Mark?

I'd be concerned about the residual carbonation in the Dr Pepper blowing a ziplock bag open.

Maybe instead a reduction with the bag juices, Dr. Pepper and the BBQ sauce after it's all done and then mixing that in with the shredded pork. This is how I would do it if it were me cooking it. I'm not finding in-bag marinades to be all that great because of the amount of meat juice that gets trapped in there, further diluting them. I'm finding that dry rubs or fresh herbs to be more effective as they form their own stock as it cooks. :-)
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Are these mainly olive oil, garlic and whatever ingredient, or is there more involved? They sound awesome
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Other than salt, you hit the nail on the head Ben.

1 cup peeled garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 scant tablespoon kosher salt (I use diamond krystal, if you use another brand or table salt, use less as they saltier)
anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of whatever herbs/spices you are adding

Vacuum seal and SV for 4 hours at 190F.


For sun dried tomatoes, about 1/3 cup of tomates and a few TBS extra oil.
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Good point Adam. I'm vac sealing but carbonation would be an issue.
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Why not just pour the soda into a bowl, let it sit and go flat before putting it into the bag?
I don't know the science behind how long it takes to get a can of soda to lose all of it's carbonation, but with increased surface area, and maybe some periodic gentle stirring, I'd be willing to bet that the soda could go into the bag somewhere between 4-6hrs.
Just a guess on my part and I'm willing to bet if anybody knows how long it would need to go flat, it's Adam, so maybe he could chime in with his thoughts on trying that.

As for the your original question, If using a full can of soda is you'r tried and true method, I would go with that after you get the soda flat. :-)
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LOL. I never even considered making the soda go flat for this. Durr. And, yes, you got me Dom, I do know how to make beer go flat in a hurry for cooking.

Heat it. As the temp goes up, the amount of CO2 that can be held in solution decreases so it's going to come out. Blenders work well too because they agitate it. Even though it has almost double the CO2 volumes as that of beer, I suppose soda isn't that much different, but I don't work with it much to say for certain.

In a bowl, I honestly don't know, but it will be function of the number of nucleation sites for the CO2 to come out of solution on. The greater the number, the faster it come out. Toss a little bit of salt in there, that will help it degass as the salt dissolves.
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I have to say that the marinade I used most definitely infused the meat with lots of onion flavor -- it probably depends upon the marinade...
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Yeah, I wasn't thinking about the ones like yours which are mostly oil and pulverized solids, when I said that. I was thinking more about the higher liquid content ones. I should have been more clear.

The high liquid content ones that I messed with, things that had more than just oil, they had stuff like vinegar or other acids, and more volume, they yielded almost kind of a boiled meat end result. Not what I was looking for to say the least.
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100% right, Michael. It definitely depends on the marinade.
Just to add on to what Adam said, not all marinades work the same way. Looking at your ingredients, they are all flavoring components, aside from the oil and salt. What your marinade doesn't have is a strong tenderizing component, like an acid.
Adding a tenderizing component breaks down the outer layer of the meat.
As that layer breaks down, the meat becomes more tender, and starts to release moisture. The breakdown of surface proteins and the void left by the escaping moisture allows the flavoring elements to penetrate deeper.
Left in a marinade too long, and the meat starts to breakdown too much.
Some acids can actually toughen up the meat if left in too long and some can make meat turn to mush.
You used the Anova, and the 8 hour cook time, to break down the meat. Had there also been a tenderizing component in the marinade, you likely would have ended up with a Tri tip that had an off texture.
You can still use a marinade with an acid component before cooking, but I wouldn't include it in the bag while cooking.
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Thanks for the info, Dom!
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You know, Dom, if you could learn to say "Bam!" we might be able to get you a gig on the Food Channel.
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So to recap:

* Surface proteins
* Nucleation sites

Good talk.
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Still messing with the roast beef idea, this time I cooked a bottom round for 19-ish hours at 133.

Flavor is mild, texture is mushy. Possible i overcooked it and that's why it's mushy, but that doesn't account for the lack of flavor. I think I'm done trying to make something edible out of this cut.
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Did some hanger steaks with fresh rosemary, salt, & pepper. 48 hours. Came out way too tender. The main vein that runs through was completely gone which was nice. But the texture wasn't good. I normally do flank steak for that long and it is much better.

I'm going to try and do some pork like Dom did. I still dream about it :-)
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