First pork butt of the season, with a new smoker - with q-view

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tcaptain

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 13, 2012
26
11
Montreal, Quebec
Hey fellow smokers!

Finally got a chance to seriously use my new Masterbuilt Pro Dual vertical smoker on the weekend with a nice pork butt.

I marinated overnight (almost 24 hours really) with a marinade I threw together:

1 1/2 cups of Banana/Orange juice (I was out of apple and improvised)

1/2 cup of Scotch (was out of Southern Comfort)

1/4 cup cider vinegar

8 garlic cloves

3 tbsp table salt


I like this butcher, he does the trimming for me.  I know you get lots of flavor from the bone, but the prices are good and the meat is always dead on.

So I rubbed it up and put it back in the fridge over night:

My rub this time:

1/2 cup garlic salt

1/2 cup celery salt 

1 cup Turbinado Sugar

2 tbsp Chili powder

2 tbsp black pepper (table grind)

2 tbsp chipotle powder

1 tbsp coriander

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground anise seeds


Back into the fridge overnight and I put in another layer of rub in the morning too.

I was up at 5am and fired up the smoker....was up to temp and ready just before 6h30 or so.


Set it up with an extra pan of hot water.   My maverick is in for the cooker temp, and a non-remote probe (no name thermometer) for the meat.

Got TBS fairly quickly...it's a thing of beauty.  I used applewood chips.


The morning (until around 8) was ok.  I had the temp clocked in at 235F ish and it was solid.   Around 8 started what I call my 4 hours of hell.   I spent those 4 hours chasing temps like crazy (and driving my wife and toddler crazy too...the reason I bought this new smoker was so I wouldn't have to baby it as much as my ECB).   I only have 1 mod on it, I followed the advice of another thread on this model and put in a cast iron pan for the wood chips...oddly enough though, I still got flare ups (4 of them) which made for a nice temp spike.   I had trouble balancing the vent positions and the gas so was on a temperature see saw for a while...going from 210F to 250F up and down.   I finally got it stable at around 220F and decided not to worry about it.  I had given myself plenty of time since this was for supper and not for lunch.

During this, starting at noon, I started spritzing with apple juice.

In the afternoon, the sun helped keep the unit heated, I turned down the gas and kept it at 240-245 until pull off at 5pm:


I was worried because the internal temp was only 189.  I was aiming for 195-205 as a target but I couldn't wait any longer.  

Still, it smelled terrific and I got a nice smoke ring (you'll have to trust me, the pic doesn't really show it well...sorry):


I was pretty happy with the feel when I shredded it however, it turned out beautifully.  It had a great mouth feel, the rub was just right.   The bark was soft a bit, due to the spritzing and high moisture inside the smoker but that's ok, my wife doesn't enjoy bark and neither does my kid.  I like it, but I'm happy to have it like this.  


It shredded real nice.  I did the vinegar trick (mix 1/3 to 1/2 cup of vinegar, I used apple cider, with 2 teaspoons of your rub and mix it in with the shredded meat) and it made everything pop.   I used the 'au-jus' and the marinade to make a nice BBQ sauce:

1/2 cup au-jus

1/2 marinade

1/3 maple syrup

1 tbsp rub

Let that reduce down a bit and it makes a thick, spicy sweet sauce that my wife quite liked.  I liked it, but it's definitely pig candy territory.   It does have a nice back end kick to it which is great.

Here was the result (I didn't make the coleslaw, but I'll have to give that a shot too sometime)

 
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