OT - Pulled Pork Musallam in the tandoor

caliking · April 2013

I labelled this OT because no eggs were lit for this cook. But I thought you folks may enjoy it nonetheless.

I needed to come up with an entry for a throwdown on another forum. The aim was to cook a regular bbq meat with an Indian twist. I wanted to make raan musallam (leg of lamb/mutton/goat with a wet spice rub), but figured that was entirely Indianish. So pork musallam was a natural extension of that thought... and then it hit me - why not pulled pork musallam!

I didn't have much time for marinading, injecting etc. Working this weekend so it had to happen Sat evening/night. Got back home at 6pm on Sat and fired up the tandoor.

Started with a small pork butt (3.5 lbs). Cut in 2 pieces to make a boneless piece for the raan musallam roast and one piece (with bone) to pull for the pulled pork musallam. For the marinade: coriander, garam masala, ginger paste, cayenne, turmeric, mint chutney, garlic paste, cumin and yogurt.

Mixed it all up and slathered onto my lil mini-butts.

Tandoors are designed to burn b@lls to the wall hot, so there isn't scope for trying to regulate the temp. I fired the UDT up with a smaller amount of charcoal than I usually would have. After an hour the temp inside it was ~360°F. I placed a half grate as a shelf inside (leftover from an experiment I had planned for doing steaks in the tandoor) and placed the bone-in piece of butt on the shelf. The boneless piece was skewered and placed in the tandoor. Had to criss-cross the skewers to keep the butt from slipping, because i wanted the meat to cook in the middle of the tandoor. The foil shields were to try and keep the meat from burning.

After about 25-30mins the boneless piece was done - about 150ish IT, so it got wrapped and coolered. The bone-in piece (for the pulled pork) got wrapped to cook it faster. It was done (IT 200°F) after another 2 hours. The tandoor was running in the 450°F range when I had taken the first butt piece off.

Filled up the tandoor with more lump and let it rip. Needed to get it HOT for the naans. Mrs. caliking handles the naans, so we just needed the tandoor to ramp up.

Got my naan tools ready

In the meantime, I made a sauce for the pulled pork out of onions, tomato, cumin, and the leftover marinade for the meat. Pulled the pork, added the sauce, and some chopped cilantro.

Sliced off a couple of slices from the pork musallam roast. It tasted awesome! Experiment was a success!

It was about 10:30pm by then. Tandoor was running at about 650°F up top and the floor temp was 1000°F+ (IR therm maxed out). Mrs. caliking shaped and slapped the naans on. They take maybe 2 or so mins to cook.

Once the naans were done, it was time to eat. Eaten as a pulled pork sandwich with red onion slaw (onions, lime, and cayenne).

We were starving and I think I was ready to eat my own arm by then. It was well worth the wait though! The pulled pork musallam and the roast both tasted wonderful, so I will be planning on making them again.

I ate this for lunch today, and it tasted even better since the flavors had a chance to get friendly overnight. Also gave me a chance to take a gratuitous pool shot for this cook.

Thanks for looking!

The Cen-Tex Smoker · April 2013

oh my god yes. You are going to help me rig up one of those tandoors. AWESOME.

Little Steven · April 2013

Very, very nice!

travisstrick · April 2013

That is beautiful. Very nice.

BuckeyeBob · April 2013

That looks outstanding. I would love to get more details on the recipe you used for the spice paste and for the naan. Looks awesome!!

Girl_on_Grill · April 2013

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

oh my god yes. You are going to help me rig up one of those tandoors. AWESOME.

Yes, Please!!!

Eggcelsior · April 2013

So good I looked twice!

Girl_on_Grill · April 2013

Is there any way to translate that naan recipe to a BGE?

Aviator · April 2013

Calli, forgive me for my idiocy and being an ignoramus, but why is it called musallam? Pork and that. Is a big no no ?

caliking · April 2013

@Aviator: Keen eye, my friend. You are right - this recipe is blasphemous. I almost included a disclaimer about not cooking it for Muslim friends who are strict about halal foods.

Raan musallam is an "exotic" recipe, from the kitchens of nawabs and such of yester years.This style of cooking (tandoori) came to India from Central Asia, when Mughal invaders (who were Muslim) came to India. You are not likely to find a pork tandoori recipe easily, because halal rules forbid Muslims from eating pork. Hence the lack of tandoori pork recipes. Pork in general is not eaten much in India, other than in Goa, and Kerala, both of which have large Christian populations.

I adapted this recipe for pork because I specifically didn't want to make it with lamb. Trying to be the cutting edge of tandoor vs. bbq cuisine!

paqman · April 2013

That looks awesome! The one thing I miss the most from my stays in India is naan with butter.

caliking · April 2013

@BuckeyeBob and @Girl_on_Grill : I'll post the naan and marinade recipes later today or tomorrow. The naans should come out well in the egg. I imagine that it would be better to cook them higher in the dome, since that is the equivalent of where they cook in a tandoor.

caliking · April 2013

Girl_on_Grill said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

oh my god yes. You are going to help me rig up one of those tandoors. AWESOME.

Yes, Please!!!

Sure, not a problem. Mine is "portable", but takes 3 men to move it!

Chubbs · April 2013

Amazing. That is one of the more impressive posts I have seen.

I have done naan a good hit. I usually have to do mine one at a time in a skillet and then reheat on the grate of the egg later. The tandoor is cool. Well done!!

caliking · April 2013

@Chubbs - I've seen your cooks too, so I appreciate the compliment!

@paqman - garlic butter naan is what I miss. I like butter more than ghee on my naans.

Solson005 · April 2013

Everything looks awesome!
=P~

I need to try some naan on the egg sometime soon.

Love the tandoor and creative cooks!

=D>

tazcrash · April 2013

:-O

=D>

SmokeyPitt · April 2013

^:)^

caliking · April 2013

@Girl_on_Grill: here is the naan recipe from allrecipes.com. To be honest, I have not tried troubleshooting this recipe, but I think there is room for improvement. The naans came out thicker and more bready than I would have liked this time - we made half the recipe but still used a whole egg so maybe that had something to do with it.

The next time we make naans, I want to try AP flour instead of bread flour, and add some yogurt to the mix. I'm still not sure whether naans are traditionally supposed to have yeast or eggs in them, but I'll work on that.

With regards to making them in the egg, I think high heat (600-700°F), pizza stone (or steel?), high in the dome would work best. I have wondered about a way to actually stick them to the inside of the dome - would probably have to get the egg MF hot to burn off any creosote etc from the inside of the dome first. Also, a naan pillow would help if you plan on doing that. SWMBO wraps up 4 kitchen towels and ties them with butcher's twine to make a cushion.

@BuckeyeBob: The spice mix for the meat (pork musallam roast):

3ish pound hunk of meat (traditionally lamb or goat)

1/2 cup yogurt

2 tbsp raw papaya taste ----> I did not use this

2 tbsp ginger paste

2tbsp garlic paste

1/4 cup fried onion paste -----> did not use this either

1tsp garam masala powder

1tsp cayenne powder

2tsp EVOO

salt to taste ( I added 3/4 tsp)

Mix it all up and slather on the meat. Marinate overnight. Smoke/grill until IT reads 145-150°F. FTC for a few hours. Slice and enjoy.

For the pulled pork version: smoke the meat the same way you do for regular pulled pork (turbo vs. lo n slow, foil, whatever). Pull the meat at 200-205°. FTC x 2-3 hrs minimum. Pull and mix in some cilantro, lime juice, pepper to taste. I made a gravy/sauce out of some of the leftover marinade, onions and tomatoes and mixed it into the pulled meat like barbecue sauce.

Dyal_SC · April 2013

SuuuuuuWEET!!! How cool!!! Food looks phenomenal too!

IrishDevl · April 2013

Boom, great stuff

caliking · April 2013

1310monster said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

oh my god yes. You are going to help me rig up one of those tandoors. AWESOME.

The real deal is relatively easy to find...at least the charcoal fired version. I have one of the stainless square ones. I thought I got a bargain for $400 but then I found two more locally that I can buy for $200 each. Yes, a lot of people try to get big bucks out of them but they can be had, for peanuts.

Really? That's a steal. I had seen commercial/catering tandoors before, mostly gas-fired, as well as the Homdoor, but the prices were prohibitive. i would have bought one for that price in a heartbeat. But most of the ones for purchase were straight cylinders, without the tapered top. I was tired of cr@ppy tandoori chicken at restaurants, so set about making my own.

Could you post some pics of your tandoor? I would love to see it.

Canugghead · April 2013

^:)^
@caliking, impressive as usual.

Guess what? I was searching for ideas on how to build a tandoor and came across this, post #18

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/43/portable-tandoor-oven-build-14956-2.html

How about running an online tandoor building class here?

henapple · April 2013

I hate your swimming pool... looks ghetto

caliking · April 2013

henapple said:
I hate your swimming pool... looks ghetto

I know... The tandoor dresses it up though.

caliking · April 2013

@1310monster: again, those are killer prices. I've seen that swinging drum cooker before and thought it was pretty cool. Will check out the murgh malai recipe - sounds like something I would like.

Austin Egghead · April 2013

That is a way too cool tandoor. The meal you cooked looks scrumptious. =D> Wow!!

henapple · April 2013

you must have a little TN redneck in your blood....I thought we were the only folks that would put a 55 gal drum beside the pool.

Eggcelsior · April 2013

henapple said:

you must have a little TN redneck in your blood....I thought we were the only folks that would put a 55 gal drum beside the pool.

Aren't your pools all "above ground"?

caliking · April 2013

So my collection of "ugly" cookers - namely my tandoor, drum smoker and "portable" mortarless wood fired pizza oven sit tucked away in a corner of the yard. Not ashamed of them, but SWMBO would have something to say if they were right out by the pool

They are all much loved though!

YEMTrey · April 2013

Yes sir!

OT - Pulled Pork Musallam in the tandoor

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