After the successful smoked chuckie enchiladas on Saturday, I moved on to the true BBQ for Sunday dinner at the lake house. The preparation started on Saturday afternoon when I trimmed the 10 lb pork shoulder and prepped the ribs. I trimmed off the skin of the picnic shoulder and rubbed it down with a BBQ rub that consists of 1/2 cup of chili powder, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons black pepper, and 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper. I tossed the skin as I was not sure how to make cracklin and everyone was saying they didn't need more fat on top of everything else I was throwing at them this weekend.
Here it is with the rub applied: (Popems were my reward for being such a good pit master)
Then it was on to the ribs. Picked up the pack from Costco for about 3.99 lb, 9 lbs. They were full racks but I had to cut them in half so they would fit in the ziplocs after applying the rub. For the ribs, I went with a rub recommended to me by a friend Pride of Szeged Rib Rub. Not to sweet, not too spicy with a nice mustard flavor as well. Here are the ribs after the rub:
I think I applied some more rub before putting them in the fridge overnight. After enjoiying the smoked beef enchiladas (see Weekend of Smoke Part 1) plenty of Guinness and a couple of smores, I went to bed and set the alarm for 7:00am. At 7:00am, I took the shoulder and the ribs out to bring them up from ice cold temperature and started the gas-grill smoker set up at around 9:00am and the meat was in by 9:30ish. Below how everything looked when they went in:
I again used the aluminum covered tray with wild cherry, apple and a little sugar maple wood on the far right burner and set the grill to medium on the one burner. This created a fairly solid 235 degrees and a nice steady smoke. I would guess I needed to change the smoke tray about every hour and a half. (I had a spare that I would just add to the back when the smell of the smoke decreased). I planned to used the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and the 165 degrees foil up to 205 degrees method for the shoulder. About two hours into the smoke the ribs were looking good and the shoulder was up to around 95 degrees.
Three hours in, I removed the ribs put them in a tray, wrapped them up tight and put them back in the grill while the shoulder continued to smoke.
I didnt get the best char on the shoulder, likely because I flipped it once or twice, which I have since learned is a no-no. After I closed this up at around 1:00pm. It was time for some boating and tubing! Everthing just sat in the grill going low and slow at around 235 degrees.
After the boat ride, I took the ribs off the heat (at around 2:30 pm - 5 hours total time) and wrapped them up in some towels to rest since we were not going to eat dinner until around 7:00ish. They stayed hot for hours. I don't recall the exact time when the shoulder reached 165, but when it did, I wrapped it up tight and transferred it to the oven. Since the shoulder was so big, I bumped the temp up to 270 in the oven and brought the shoulder up to 205. It reached 205 around 5:30-6:00 pm and wrapped it up in towels to rest for about an hour. At 6:00pm, the ribs went back on the grill to firm them up a little. At this point they were falling off the bone and looked great. I decided not to mop them.
Then it was time to unwrap the beast. Immediately upon opening, I knew we had some tender pork, since the leg bone just about popped out.
The meat was so tender and juicy, it pulled effortlessly.
Needless to say, our host was very pleased with the results.
When all was said and done, there was a full half tray of pulled pork filled to the brim.
Of course you can't have BBQ without the sides. So my amazing wife mixed up a batch of her home made mac and cheese. She used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen that is absolutely awesome. So while I was pulling the pork and tending to the ribs, she created the rue, melted the cheese (colby, moterey jack, and cheddar) and baked up an super tasty carbo-feast.
And here is the final feast as presented at dinner. 10 hours of cooking, devoured in 20 minutes!
On Monday morning, we threw some of the leftover pulled pork in a frying pan as a side for breakfast eggs. Delicious! Plus we had pulled pork sandwiches and ribs for lunch. And we still brought leftovers home.
Our hosts told us we were welcome back any time. Given I transformed a cooler full of meat into a two day weekend feast that fed us for dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch, I can understand why.
Hope you enjoyed this two part story.
Here it is with the rub applied: (Popems were my reward for being such a good pit master)
Then it was on to the ribs. Picked up the pack from Costco for about 3.99 lb, 9 lbs. They were full racks but I had to cut them in half so they would fit in the ziplocs after applying the rub. For the ribs, I went with a rub recommended to me by a friend Pride of Szeged Rib Rub. Not to sweet, not too spicy with a nice mustard flavor as well. Here are the ribs after the rub:
I think I applied some more rub before putting them in the fridge overnight. After enjoiying the smoked beef enchiladas (see Weekend of Smoke Part 1) plenty of Guinness and a couple of smores, I went to bed and set the alarm for 7:00am. At 7:00am, I took the shoulder and the ribs out to bring them up from ice cold temperature and started the gas-grill smoker set up at around 9:00am and the meat was in by 9:30ish. Below how everything looked when they went in:
I again used the aluminum covered tray with wild cherry, apple and a little sugar maple wood on the far right burner and set the grill to medium on the one burner. This created a fairly solid 235 degrees and a nice steady smoke. I would guess I needed to change the smoke tray about every hour and a half. (I had a spare that I would just add to the back when the smell of the smoke decreased). I planned to used the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and the 165 degrees foil up to 205 degrees method for the shoulder. About two hours into the smoke the ribs were looking good and the shoulder was up to around 95 degrees.
Three hours in, I removed the ribs put them in a tray, wrapped them up tight and put them back in the grill while the shoulder continued to smoke.
I didnt get the best char on the shoulder, likely because I flipped it once or twice, which I have since learned is a no-no. After I closed this up at around 1:00pm. It was time for some boating and tubing! Everthing just sat in the grill going low and slow at around 235 degrees.
After the boat ride, I took the ribs off the heat (at around 2:30 pm - 5 hours total time) and wrapped them up in some towels to rest since we were not going to eat dinner until around 7:00ish. They stayed hot for hours. I don't recall the exact time when the shoulder reached 165, but when it did, I wrapped it up tight and transferred it to the oven. Since the shoulder was so big, I bumped the temp up to 270 in the oven and brought the shoulder up to 205. It reached 205 around 5:30-6:00 pm and wrapped it up in towels to rest for about an hour. At 6:00pm, the ribs went back on the grill to firm them up a little. At this point they were falling off the bone and looked great. I decided not to mop them.
Then it was time to unwrap the beast. Immediately upon opening, I knew we had some tender pork, since the leg bone just about popped out.
The meat was so tender and juicy, it pulled effortlessly.
Needless to say, our host was very pleased with the results.
When all was said and done, there was a full half tray of pulled pork filled to the brim.
Of course you can't have BBQ without the sides. So my amazing wife mixed up a batch of her home made mac and cheese. She used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen that is absolutely awesome. So while I was pulling the pork and tending to the ribs, she created the rue, melted the cheese (colby, moterey jack, and cheddar) and baked up an super tasty carbo-feast.
And here is the final feast as presented at dinner. 10 hours of cooking, devoured in 20 minutes!
On Monday morning, we threw some of the leftover pulled pork in a frying pan as a side for breakfast eggs. Delicious! Plus we had pulled pork sandwiches and ribs for lunch. And we still brought leftovers home.
Our hosts told us we were welcome back any time. Given I transformed a cooler full of meat into a two day weekend feast that fed us for dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch, I can understand why.
Hope you enjoyed this two part story.
