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Rant: A customer said my pork shoulder cuts were 'too pretty' and not rustic enough for real barbecue
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gavin22811d agoMost Upvoted
What does "rustic" even mean when it comes to meat? Maybe the customer has a point that overly neat cuts can dry out faster on the smoker. A rough chop gives more surface area for bark to form, which is where the real flavor is. Chasing a perfect look might actually hurt the final product.
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the_thomas4d ago
Shane Clark is right about the fixed idea, but there's another angle. That "rustic" look often comes from old-school butchers using a cleaver, not a band saw. The uneven surfaces from a cleaver chop do create amazing bark, like Gavin said. Maybe the customer has only ever seen pork shoulder prepped that traditional, messy way. A super clean cut from modern equipment just looks wrong to them, even if it cooks just fine.
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shane_clark10d ago
Man, that's a new one. I've heard all kinds of complaints, but never that the meat looks too good. Some folks just have a very fixed idea in their head of what "real" barbecue should look like. A rough cut does create more surface area for smoke and bark, which is probably what they were clumsily trying to say. But at the end of the day, if it tastes great and it's cooked right, that's what matters. Don't let one odd comment get to you.
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