Woke around 7 am and finally decided at 9 am this morning to smoke a pork shoulder. So i went down to the butcher and grabbed a 5 lbs'er...she's small but hopefully packs a flavorful punch! I smoked a prime rib over Christmas for the first PR ever and it turned out good. A week before that i smoked salmon for some neighborly Christmas gifts. Those 2 smokes got the juices flowing and we decided on pulled pork.
I have been experimenting with lump charcoal and so far i like it. Unfortunately this morning i had about a 1/3 bag left and it was all just tiny peices which caused a bunch of temp problems so back to the store for a new bag (so what do you do with all the small peices anyway? This seems to be a major flaw with bagged lump)
I used a rub i found on this site this morning posted by Reichl. It made way more than i needed and i did go a bit lighter on the salt but so far so good:
Chris Lilly's championship recipe for pork butts
RUB
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
I'm using hickory and apple wood. I would call it a 60/40 split with apple the 60%. At some point i'll try cherry and pecan.
Here it is rubbed and ready to go.
It started to rain now but here it is at 3 hours with an IT of 120 so i should be right on the mark to nail 140 with in 4 hrs. Will crank her up a wee bit if needed.
Here it is at 4 hours IT 150 and hit it with a strong spritz of apple juice
Here it is at 5 hours IT 167 and hit with more apple juice. Looks like it's also hit a stall point now.. I've never not foiled before but if the stall looks like it's going to be short (perhaps a benefit of a small shoulder) i'll go without foiling and see what comes of that. I'm a big fan of bark.
Ok, so the stall lasted around 2 hours (and the IT actually dropped 7 degrees!) Here it is with the temp drop before foil.
Here it is just before the foil wrap. It's now dark outside so this little butt is sure taking some time.
Here it is finished and pulled, finally. This was the long smoke for a 5lb butt - 10 hours. I acutally pulled it at 192 IT.
One heck of a butt though. I am a happy dude tonight - everyone else fell asleep...hahaha!
Bryce
I have been experimenting with lump charcoal and so far i like it. Unfortunately this morning i had about a 1/3 bag left and it was all just tiny peices which caused a bunch of temp problems so back to the store for a new bag (so what do you do with all the small peices anyway? This seems to be a major flaw with bagged lump)
I used a rub i found on this site this morning posted by Reichl. It made way more than i needed and i did go a bit lighter on the salt but so far so good:
Chris Lilly's championship recipe for pork butts
RUB
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
I'm using hickory and apple wood. I would call it a 60/40 split with apple the 60%. At some point i'll try cherry and pecan.
Here it is rubbed and ready to go.
It started to rain now but here it is at 3 hours with an IT of 120 so i should be right on the mark to nail 140 with in 4 hrs. Will crank her up a wee bit if needed.
Here it is at 4 hours IT 150 and hit it with a strong spritz of apple juice
Here it is at 5 hours IT 167 and hit with more apple juice. Looks like it's also hit a stall point now.. I've never not foiled before but if the stall looks like it's going to be short (perhaps a benefit of a small shoulder) i'll go without foiling and see what comes of that. I'm a big fan of bark.
Ok, so the stall lasted around 2 hours (and the IT actually dropped 7 degrees!) Here it is with the temp drop before foil.
Here it is just before the foil wrap. It's now dark outside so this little butt is sure taking some time.
Here it is finished and pulled, finally. This was the long smoke for a 5lb butt - 10 hours. I acutally pulled it at 192 IT.
One heck of a butt though. I am a happy dude tonight - everyone else fell asleep...hahaha!
Bryce
