tried my first butt and whole chicken today. got a 7.3lbs butt and a 5lbs bird the other day. did some cross slices in the butt about 1/2" deep cause i read it would help the smoke get into the meat.
figured instead of the normal mustard base, i'd go with some awesome stubbs honey pecan sauce then apply the rub for overnight sit. (for the butt)
this sauce is awesome, BUT it tastes funny if you just put in on meat an nuke it, it has to have smoke/flame heat to make it right.
the bird got some tony chachere's creole butter injection, but my hands were too messy for pics apparently.
got my wood ready for an early start in the morning. not sure how much i'm gonna burn, this will be my longest cook. SFB horizontal. from left to right; red oak, hickory, pecan
3:30 am i get fire going. put meat on at 4:20, smoker temp around 235. did not open until 4hrs later, to check chicken temp. near 170...
stuck the probe in butt after the 4hrs and see good temp of 140. pulled chicken at 9:20 with IMT of 180. sprayed the butt down with mixture of 1/2 apple juice, 1/4 vinegar, 1/4 rum. closed her down and waited.
the temps SLOWLY climbed to 171 at around 1:00. i didn't want to foil it, but the wind was pretty bad and some bands from some tropical storm were threatening for the afternoon. foiled the butt at 1:00 and the temps climbed pretty quick after 1hr. i pulled the butt at 3:00 with internal probe temp of 205, checked with another thermo and found almost 209. wrapped it up with towels and put in cooler. didn't use as much wood as i thought i would...
about to get the meat out of the cooler to pull. anticipation is killin me! more pics to come...
Last edited:
