Memorial Day Smokeout - Breakfast Fattie/Lunch Buffalo Burger/Dinner Pulled Pork

Man, I crashed hard on Monday night.  All of this time around the smoker really wore me out, especially since I also managed to do some wire brushing and touch up on a few rust spots, and still spent three days around the smoker and grill.

Ended up scrapping the buffalo burgers.  A rainstorm moved in which prevented me from wheeling out the Weber Gold, and I wasn't going to waste those suckers on my propane grill.  Also, we had so many leftovers from Saturday and Sunday, skipping a round wasn't going to hurt.  The ground buffalo went back to the freezer for another day.

Here we go...

I finally gave in and pulled it at 191.  Was originally shooting for 195, but there was no issue with tenderness on this one.


Off the smoker, ready to wrap and rest


And, into the cooler for a nap.  I rested it for a little over an hour.


Out of the cooler, ready to pull


Another view...my son did a full model shoot on this baby, lol


First pull...it practially fell apart


Of course, the dog was absolutely nuts for the last two hours of the smoke, and the next two hours after.  Dude has serious pulled pork addiction.


Nice meaty bits.  Bark was tremendous, and a great reminder of why I don't foil


Pulling away


Had to get the dog a bite before he started head butting the island


Action shot


And the final product.  Threw it on slider buns, added a little Sweet Baby Ray's, and topped it off with my homemade cole slaw.  Wow, that was good.


So, as my experience with smoking increases, so does the discernment of my pallette.  I learned some things on this smoke.  First, no more screwing around with foil.  I'm back to being a no-foil guy, even if it takes longer.  That intense caramalization, added to the sweetness of the fruitwood (I used cherry again), is why we do this.  Second, I loved the pork flavor of this butt (mainly because of the quality meat from Duma's, a local butcher), but for the first time in a while, I didn't inject the butt.  I think it was a little too one-note in the flavor, except for the bark bits.  I think I'm going to resume my quest to create the perfect injection.  And this time, I'm not only going to play with Dr. Pepper Cherry and/or maraschino cherry juice, but I think I'll add a little salty/savory note.

Well folks, that's it.  Hope you enjoyed!