Whole Hog:

See how the Ugly Brothers do a Pig (whole)
See how our friends the 3Men With Nothing Better to Do do a pig
See the Ugly Brothers at the 3Men's Pig Roast

Ugly Brothers Basic Butts

Below is the basic technique employed by the Ugly Brothers is to slow smoke our pork butts and picnic cuts. Our grillosophy is that the manner in which the meat is cooked will effect the outcome more than what you put on it.

We like to smoke our butts in a Big Green Egg at about 210°F using hardwood charcoal, hickory and apple wood. We will smoke these butts for approximately 12 hours until they have reached an internal temperature of about 200°F. Before the meat is placed in the smoker we like to marinate the butt overnight in either Johnny D's Hogwash or our own Coca-Cola marinate (see our Sauces page). After removal from the marinate we will allow the butt to stand on a rack at room temperature for about an hour, after which it is liberally coated with John Henry's Pecan Rub or some other kind of butt rub.

Often, though not always, we will often employ a drip pan or pizza stone between the meat rack and the fire to prevent direct fire from scorching our butts. We generally start the smoking operation very late in the evening so that once the temperature of the Big Green Egg has stabilized at about 210°F we can then have a few beers and get a good nights sleep secure in the knowledge that our butts are well cared for. At various intervals we will spray apple juice or apply a liberal dose of a BBQ Mop (see our Sauces page again) to the butts. In general, we do not put BBQ sauce on the meat until it is taken out of the smoker.

So it's about noon and the pig is pork. What do you do next? Well, gentle friends, what we often do is to spray juice or mop then wrap the butt in foil and put it in a warm ice chest while we have a few more beers and debate what sort of sauce we will use for the steaming swine. Often we will decide on our own award winning Raspberry/Chipotle Sauce (see our Sauces page again) or a combination of that and Johnny D's. To our own taste we prefer a combination of tart vinegar and sweetness to compliment our fine little swine. To serve the pig meat we will use tongs and pull the meat from the butt, allowing each piece to have a cross section containing the outer bark (showing off the depth of the smoke ring) and long strings of meat down to the bone. As it is served we will then apply a modest covering of sauce.

Ugly Brothers Basic Baby Backs

Our basic baby back techniques are similar to our pork butt with the following differences:

• We first remove the membrane from the inside of the rib sections
• We smoke the ribs at approximately 250°F for about four hours
• We spray and/or mop about 6 times during the smoking
• We apply sauce to the ribs during the last 30 minutes of smoking time
• We tend to use more apple than hickory wood for ribs
• When finished we want our ribs tender enough so that they can be gently pulled apart

Tasso

Tasso is a Cajun smoked pork product. It made from strips of pork butt that have been intensely seasoned and heavily smoked. Because Tasso is so strong it used usually used to flavor jambalayas, gumbos & soups rather than being served on its own.

You want to smoke your Tasso at a low temperature with heavy smoke. Your finished Tasso should be FIRM so that it does not flake or fall apart, after all, you will be dicing it to add to your long simmering gumbos.

Basic Tasso
Traditional Tasso is made from pork but that has been cut into strips approximately 2 x 4 x 1 inch thick. The Ugly Brothers often use boneless pork strips.

Pig Meat
3 parts plain salt
2 parts Brown sugar
2 parts fresh black pepper
1 part cayenne
1 part white pepper
2 parts paprika
1/2 part celery seed
1 part onion powder
1 part garlic powder
1/2 part cinnamon
1/2 part mustard seed

Coat heavily and refrigerate 2-4 days before smoking. Heavy smoke at 200-225 until internal temperature reaches 165.

Another excellent Tasso recipe can be found on The Gumbo Pages

Ugly Brothers Cured Tasso

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation Method
6 lbs	pork loin	cut into 3 or 4 pieces
6 TBS	Morton Sugar Cure	(plain)
6 tsp	brown sugar
2 TBS	cayenne pepper
1-1/2 TBS	black pepper	fresh ground
2 TBS	white pepper
4 TBS	Hungarian paprika
2 TBS	onion powder
2 TBS	garlic powder
1 TBS	cinnamon	ground
1 TBS	mustard seed	ground
1 TBS	celery seed	ground
1/2 cup	water

Cut the pork loin into 3 or 4 manageable pieces. Mix all spices well and remove 2 TBS of the spice cure mixture. Dissolve the mixture into 1/2 cup water and inject equal amounts into the pork lion pieces. Evenly rub the remaining cure mixture into the pork, place in plastic containers or baggies and refrigerate at 40°F for 10 days to two weeks.

At the end of the curing period rinse off the loins under cold water then allow to stand in cold water for at least a half hour. Remove from water, pat dry and allow to air further air dry.

Bring the temperature of your Big Green Egg or other smoker to about 190-200°F. Smoke the loins under heavy smoke for about 6 hours or until an internal temperature of 150°F is reached.

Couchon du Lait (roasted suckling pig, Cajun style) Recipe By: Sister Ima Ugly

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation Method
1	suckling pig	dressed
2 1/2	quarts	rice dressing
	salt. black pepper, red pepper
	oil or soft butter
	flour
1	clove	garlic
1	small red apple
2	cranberries or raisins
	parsley

Select a suckling pig, about 12 lbs. in weight. Wash it well. Dry it inside & out. Rub the inside of the pig with 1 tablespoon of salt. Fill the pig with the rice dressing. Sew up the pig. Put a block of wood in the pig's mouth to hold it open. In order to skewer the legs into position, pull the forelegs foreword and the hind legs backward. Rub the outside of the pig with salt, black and red pepper and oil or soft butter, then dredge it entirely in flour.

Cover the pig's ears with pieces of greased paper, securing them with paper clips. Place the pig in a pan in a hot Turbo Grill or oven heated to 480 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and roast until tender, allowing 30 minutes to the pound. In order to make the skin crusty (what the Acadians call "Quain") baste the pig every 15 minutes with oil or melted butter and dredge it with more flour. Remove the paper from the ears during the last 30 minutes of roasting.

When done, place the roasted pig on a large platter. Remove the wood from the mouth and replace it with a small red apple. Put the cranberries or raisins in the eye cavities and make a wreath of parsley around the neck.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the Ugly Brothers love pig meat. Bacon in particular is one of the items the Ugly Brothers love the most. In our extensive world travels we have sampled the bacon from a number of countries and have come to the conclusion that Irish Rashers are the best bacon on the planet. Our quest to produce Irish Rashers (which use a meatier belly cut than American "streaky" bacon) has been difficult due to the fact that the particular cut is hard to get where we graze. This recipe might more closely resemble Canadian Bacon or South African "Kassler" since it uses the lean loin cut. We don't really know what to call this recipe since it is not really ham, not really bacon, oh, whatever.

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation Method
10 lb	pork loin
10 TBS	Morton Sugar Cure (plain)
10 tsp	brown sugar

First we like to cut the loin into three pieces in order to fit them into gallon sized baggies. Mix plain Morton Sugar Cure with brown sugar, divide into three portions and rub evenly over the pork loin pieces. Place them into gallon sized baggies and refrigerate at 40 degrees F for 10 days, turning daily to allow the nitrite containing moisture to coat evenly. When complete, rinse in cold running water then soak in cold water for about a half hour, pat dry.