Usually for competition cooking, I will inject our pork shoulders (butt portion) with a commercial blend of moisture-retaining agents and flavourings, but this time out we really want to see what the Berkshire has to offer, so it's just a good coating of Dizzy Dust coarse blend and whatever the pecan and hickory wood smoke contributes.  Once the cooker is up and running a steady 250°F and I'm confident it's going to 'lock in' at that temperature for a while, I crawl into bed with the alarm set for 5:15 am, a scant hour-and-a-half away.  Ahhh, sweet sleep!

The alarm jangles me awake at 5:15 and I'm down to the back door to check on the bbq and meat temp.  Peering through the french glass door, I see that the Egg is holding rock-steady at 250°F and the remote digital thermometer is reading 145°F already in the thickest part of the roast.  Wow!  This baby is moving along quick!  I've heard tales of high-end beef cooking really fast due to the high level of marbling in the meat and wonder if the same might be true of the Berkshire? 

Back to bed with thoughts of turbo-cooking pork dancing in my head!

At 7:15, there's that damn alarm again, and I'm down the stairs to see that the bbq temp is still solid, but that meat temperature is 170°F.  Wonder if it's into the plateau now?  (The plateau is that stage in the cook of a pork butt or beef brisket bbq cook where the heat energy is going towards breaking down the meat's collagen and connective tissue and thus the internal temperature holds steady or increases very, very slowly.  The plateau can last upwards of 8-10 hours dependent on the roast size and the pit temperature applied to it).  I try to get back to sleep, but can't.  Oh well, I had to make some more bbq sauce for the ribs anyway.  Try not to wake my wife and daughter as I get out the pots and pans.

10 am and we're in the middle of a freezing rain storm.  Do I put the Berkshire side and back ribs on or are we maybe looking at a washout for today's tasting party?  I trim the ribs and fire the other Big Green Egg up, but decide to hold off on seasoning them or putting them on.  Finally, at 11, I call Big Dog and together we decide it looks like it's still a 'go'.  The ribs get seasoned with our competition spice blend, then into the cooker, 250°F, indirect, in a rib rack, with pecan wood and some mango infused wood dust from our friends and sponsors at Smokinlicious!

By 2 pm the roasts are breaking out of the plateau and working towards finishing up.  I wrap them and put in the oven to hold warm and finish to desired 200°F internal temp.  I also wrap the ribs to speed them up a bit.  The Berkshire is definitely fatty and I think the wrapping will help render them a bit faster/better.  At 3:30 we put the finished butt roasts and the wrapped ribs into a cooler lined with towels and head over to the Big Dog's.

When we get there, Mike, Mac and Susan (Big Dog, Mac the Ripper and Saucy Sue as we've christened them with their bbq handles) are having a few cocktails, snacking on the cretons from Day 2 and preparing to put some appetizer and dessert experiments into the Bradley Smoker.

One is whole onions stuffed with sausage, bacon, cheese, black olives and other goodies, another is a hollowed pear stuffed with spices and then there's an intriguing appetizer of a halved pear stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon.  Hmmm, some interesting ideas going on here!

We suffer our first setback of the day as Big Dog has a run-in with a bacon-induced grease fire doing the pear/blue cheese appetizer and we don't let him off the hook as we sample the least charred remains and contemplate 'what might have been'.  The onion appetizer and the pear dessert make it out of the smoker intact, but we've rushed them and they are still crunchy and not as good as they will be after more experimentation.  Suggestions come out for these, ranging from using Bosc pears which are softer and maybe poaching them beforehand.  "In port!", Mac insists, early and often.

After the appetizers/desserts comes the pork butt roasts.  Using neoprene gloves to break them open, they offer little resistance and the smell is awesome!  I can see and feel the moisture in the meat and am looking forward to introducing my Les Noiracochon friends to this bbq staple.  A hit of sauce, just enough to complement the natural pork flavour, and we are ready to go.  Some take me up on the suggestion of some cole slaw on top of the pulled pork sandwich.  It seems to go over well and I am personally impressed with the moisture of the Berkshire meat with only the smoke, some seasoning and a touch of sauce between the naked hog and the finished sandwich.  I'm pleased with the result and the price of the Berkshire isn't stinging too badly as I look at the smiling faces around me.

After a fresh round of cocktails, I get the ribs out of the oven where they have been holding and setting the sauce on the them.  Starting to slice them, it's easy to see they are well done; probably a little over done, as the knife can't hold a clean cut and even a few of the smaller bones slip from the meat.  Oh well, this isn't a competition; we're here to judge the flavour alone today!  The side ribs are big, much bigger and thicker than what I've found from commercial Ontario pork.  The back ribs are sturdy and thick, but not so thick that there's too much loin meat on the face of them.  Big Dog did a good job cutting these from the loin!

They have me try the first ribs and I snare one each of the sides and back ribs.  For all my bbq friends wondering about the Berkshire ribs, I'd have this to say: Very nice size, but rich, rich, rich!  I can't think of any other way to describe the result.  It was/is very hard to render all the fat that is in these ribs, even after wrapping them for a prolonged period of time.  The flavour itself is quite mild.  I was expecting something 'stronger' than what you normally get here in Ontario. It's the richness of the fat that gives most of the mouthfeel.  I'd purposely seasoned lighter than I had the day before with the commercial ribs so that the Berkshire flavour would shine through and we were all a little disappointed at how mild this flavour was.  Not sure if one would or could cook these regularly for competition as I think many judges would have some trouble with all that pork fat.  However, I must add that I talked to Big Dog this morning and he says that the 2nd slabs of ribs (we only ate 1 each of side and back at the tasting), reheated and tasted 'cleaner' without near as much actual fat or fatty mouthfeel to them, so perhaps there is enough evidence to support further experimentation here?  Hmmmm.... guess that comes down to the price per pound for the ribs alone......

We still had/have the pork tenderloins to eat and I was interested to see how the leanest part of the Berkshire cooked up and tasted.  Everyone was too full from our sandwiches and ribs (and desserts and appetizers) to justify grilling up the tenderloins.  Big Dog has them in the fridge still and plans on doing some medallions with them, so we'll have to get his thoughts on that cook.

Well, that's what happened with the Berkshire hog experiment on Days 1-3, at least to the best of my recollection.  In the coming days and weeks we'll be updating with the results on the cured hams, loins, bacon and confit.  Stay tuned!