Yesterday was my first session with my new MES40 and also my first time using the AMNPS. First of all, if I ever come across you Todd, I know that it is probably not socially appropriate to hug you, so for now just accept this:
I live in southern Ohio which if you've watched the news lately has been a bit stormy. My wife bought me this to help protect the new smoker from any pop-up showers:
Okay, so on to the smoking session! I am very fortunate to live near a spice merchant. I LOVE the fact that if I only need a little bit of something, I can buy however much I need instead of a whole jar or can, and often for far cheaper.
I keep them in magnetic tins inside my cabinets. I use these ingredients to make my rubs and whatnot.
Yesterday I used two rubs. On the left is my own rub (still a work in progress, but close to awesome) and on the right is a Memphis-styled rub, inspired by a BBQ vacation to that city (which I highly recommend doing sometime).
The Boston Butt got my rub a few hours before going into the MES40.
I loaded the AMNPS with hickory at 10:00 p.m. Friday night, made sure it wasn't going to go out, and eventually went to bed. Being able to sleep through the night while making pulled pork is a total game changer. I used to only make pulled pork once or twice a year because of the loss of sleep from having to change the wood every hour. Now I can make it any time I want! When I woke up Saturday morning, the AMNPS had burned through all of the pellets, but I had only slept about 8 hours. Still, my Boston Butt was looking nice!
I refilled the AMNPS, and while it was going through its 10 minutes of getting fired up, I sprinkled on the Memphis rub on a rack of spare ribs and set that in the smoker.
This was my attempt to capture Thin Blue Smoke.
We were having company over that evening for the BBQ, none of whom I have ever cooked BBQ for, and I wasn't sure what they liked. Even worse, I knew that 4 of them were from Texas, and those people tend to be a little particular about their BBQ.
So, from left to right you see Montgomery Inn (a Cincinnati "BBQ" chain), Grippo's, my interpretation of a Jamaican BBQ sauce (a lot of jerk seasoning in it), my own BBQ sauce (again, a work in progress, but close to awesome), and a North Carolina styled sauce (very vinegar based). I figured that by having a variety everyone could find something to use on their dinner.
For my fatty I used sauteed onions, bacon, and poblano, and a sprinkling of provolone and mozzarella cheese.
Inspired from my vacation in Memphis, I make two changes to Dutch's Baked Beans. First, I use Molasses as my sweetener.
Second, I noticed that every place I went to in Memphis had baked beans, and just about every place used chopped up rib meat in their beans. I have started to do the same. My spare ribs were nearly done, but I pulled it anyway because I was starting to get short on time. Besides, the meat would continue to cook in the beans.
Hack, hack, hack!
This is what the beans look like before going into the smoker for a couple of hours.
Once again, after less than 8 hours, the AMNPS needed to be refilled. I read a lot of posts where people are getting 10 to 12 hours out of theirs. Why is mine burning so much quicker? Am I giving it too much oxygen? Here is where I had my loader set, and the chip box was around 1" open as well.
I hadn't made pork shots before, and after a lot of research on the matter I decided to make half with cream cheese, and the other half the basic way.
Both are fantastic, and everyone at the party raved about them. Personally, I liked the cream cheese ones a little better.
The fatty was the next course that I served. There were people at the party who hadn't been fortunate enough in life to have ever had one before. They got an education.
Ooey gooey goodness!
Second course was served!
On to the main event! The beans came out of the smoker after about two and a half hours.
This was my first time to not foil a Boston Butt. I will never foil again! The extra bark is killer, and it was still ridiculously juicy!
I pretty much only had to touch the meat with a fork and it 'sploded apart. Awesome!
The final course was served. I dressed the pulled pork with the usual finishing sauce and called in everyone to grab what they wanted. Personally, for pulled pork I prefer just a little of my North Carolina sauce, but otherwise I like it with just the finishing sauce. For the dinner I also made my Mac-n-Cheese, which I think was the only thing I didn't smoke yesterday.
Now let's see if this large post will actually go through....
I live in southern Ohio which if you've watched the news lately has been a bit stormy. My wife bought me this to help protect the new smoker from any pop-up showers:
Okay, so on to the smoking session! I am very fortunate to live near a spice merchant. I LOVE the fact that if I only need a little bit of something, I can buy however much I need instead of a whole jar or can, and often for far cheaper.
I keep them in magnetic tins inside my cabinets. I use these ingredients to make my rubs and whatnot.
Yesterday I used two rubs. On the left is my own rub (still a work in progress, but close to awesome) and on the right is a Memphis-styled rub, inspired by a BBQ vacation to that city (which I highly recommend doing sometime).
The Boston Butt got my rub a few hours before going into the MES40.
I loaded the AMNPS with hickory at 10:00 p.m. Friday night, made sure it wasn't going to go out, and eventually went to bed. Being able to sleep through the night while making pulled pork is a total game changer. I used to only make pulled pork once or twice a year because of the loss of sleep from having to change the wood every hour. Now I can make it any time I want! When I woke up Saturday morning, the AMNPS had burned through all of the pellets, but I had only slept about 8 hours. Still, my Boston Butt was looking nice!
I refilled the AMNPS, and while it was going through its 10 minutes of getting fired up, I sprinkled on the Memphis rub on a rack of spare ribs and set that in the smoker.
This was my attempt to capture Thin Blue Smoke.
We were having company over that evening for the BBQ, none of whom I have ever cooked BBQ for, and I wasn't sure what they liked. Even worse, I knew that 4 of them were from Texas, and those people tend to be a little particular about their BBQ.
For my fatty I used sauteed onions, bacon, and poblano, and a sprinkling of provolone and mozzarella cheese.
Inspired from my vacation in Memphis, I make two changes to Dutch's Baked Beans. First, I use Molasses as my sweetener.
Second, I noticed that every place I went to in Memphis had baked beans, and just about every place used chopped up rib meat in their beans. I have started to do the same. My spare ribs were nearly done, but I pulled it anyway because I was starting to get short on time. Besides, the meat would continue to cook in the beans.
Hack, hack, hack!
This is what the beans look like before going into the smoker for a couple of hours.
Once again, after less than 8 hours, the AMNPS needed to be refilled. I read a lot of posts where people are getting 10 to 12 hours out of theirs. Why is mine burning so much quicker? Am I giving it too much oxygen? Here is where I had my loader set, and the chip box was around 1" open as well.
I hadn't made pork shots before, and after a lot of research on the matter I decided to make half with cream cheese, and the other half the basic way.
Both are fantastic, and everyone at the party raved about them. Personally, I liked the cream cheese ones a little better.
The fatty was the next course that I served. There were people at the party who hadn't been fortunate enough in life to have ever had one before. They got an education.
Ooey gooey goodness!
Second course was served!
On to the main event! The beans came out of the smoker after about two and a half hours.
This was my first time to not foil a Boston Butt. I will never foil again! The extra bark is killer, and it was still ridiculously juicy!
I pretty much only had to touch the meat with a fork and it 'sploded apart. Awesome!
The final course was served. I dressed the pulled pork with the usual finishing sauce and called in everyone to grab what they wanted. Personally, for pulled pork I prefer just a little of my North Carolina sauce, but otherwise I like it with just the finishing sauce. For the dinner I also made my Mac-n-Cheese, which I think was the only thing I didn't smoke yesterday.
Now let's see if this large post will actually go through....
