Hi everybody, outside of the welcome forums, this is my first post. My MES 40 electric smoker and AMNPS 5x8 pellet smoker are scheduled to arrive today, and I'm planning on my first smoke this weekend! I wanted to post my plans and see if anybody had any advice or if I'm on the right track. I've basically looked at several different articles/posts and mixed and matched recipes to come up with this.
I'm planning on smoking pork steaks. No, these are not pork chops, it's a Boston butt sliced into steaks. I'm a St. Louisan and it's a staple around these parts. First, the night before, I'm planning on putting them in a brine. Here's my brine:
2 quarts apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp bbq rub per steak
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 can of coke
1/2 can of sprite
pepper, until I feel like stopping
I'll let them sit in the fridge overnight. I'll give them a good rinse in the morning and apply a rub (still not sure if I'll be making my own or just going with something store bought for now).
I'll be using the A-MAZE-N Pitmaster's Choice hickory/cherry pellets.
I've read several different methods for the cooking processing... a lot say you want to get the temp up to 275-300 range and smoke for about 1.5 hours, finish it off with a 2-4 minute sear on the grill, then maybe 10-20 more minutes of smoke w/bbq sauce. On these forums, however, I keep reading about the 2-2-1 method at around 225.
I'm leaning towards the 2-2-1 method. Is this literally all done on the smoker? Straight smoking for 2 hours without touching them, then 2 more hours in foil, then apply bbq sauce and another full hour in the smoke?
Am I on the right track? I know there's no one right way to do this and half the fun will be experimentation, but I just don't want to ruin my first meal. Any advice or thoughts on my plans?
I'm planning on smoking pork steaks. No, these are not pork chops, it's a Boston butt sliced into steaks. I'm a St. Louisan and it's a staple around these parts. First, the night before, I'm planning on putting them in a brine. Here's my brine:
2 quarts apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp bbq rub per steak
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 can of coke
1/2 can of sprite
pepper, until I feel like stopping
I'll let them sit in the fridge overnight. I'll give them a good rinse in the morning and apply a rub (still not sure if I'll be making my own or just going with something store bought for now).
I'll be using the A-MAZE-N Pitmaster's Choice hickory/cherry pellets.
I've read several different methods for the cooking processing... a lot say you want to get the temp up to 275-300 range and smoke for about 1.5 hours, finish it off with a 2-4 minute sear on the grill, then maybe 10-20 more minutes of smoke w/bbq sauce. On these forums, however, I keep reading about the 2-2-1 method at around 225.
I'm leaning towards the 2-2-1 method. Is this literally all done on the smoker? Straight smoking for 2 hours without touching them, then 2 more hours in foil, then apply bbq sauce and another full hour in the smoke?
Am I on the right track? I know there's no one right way to do this and half the fun will be experimentation, but I just don't want to ruin my first meal. Any advice or thoughts on my plans?
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