- Aug 27, 2008
- 5,170
- 407
Hey Everyone!!!
Been a while since I posted any contributions to the forums, and today I had the chance to get in a nice smoke for the immediate family, and felt it worthy of sharing with my extended family here on SMF as well.
My oldest son is moving out of his apartment in preparations to leave for an out of state move, so I thought it would be nice to cook for him and the moving crew (rest of the family) while they labored through the last day of clean-up and turn-over of the place. I'm off work for the weekend, was ready and willing, so off to the smoker I went.
I started out last night after work with a 10.6lb picnic shoulder which was mostly thawed, skinned it, removed most of the surface fat, cross-hatch scored the top/bottom and rubbed heavily with my Blueberry/Cherry/RBP Pork Rub, and went straight to the Smoke Vault 24 gasser @ 8:30pm with Hickory, Cherry, Apple and Pecan chunks...filled the tray for lots of heavy smoke...@ 225* using my Wet-to-Dry method.
Around 1:00pm today I added a full large head of cabbage, split through the core 8 ways and rubbed with Olive Oil and seasoned with freshly cracked black pepper. At 1:15pm I added the Yellow Onion, peeled and split into 16 sections almost to the root, so it holds together on the grate...no treatment with oil or seasoning, along with a half-dozen yellow potatoes for a few here who do not like cabbage, just for an extra bit of smoked goodies. I added more pecan for smoke when these went in, and bumped temps up to 250-260 to push things along with the picnic as well as get a faster wilt to the cabbage and onion. I don't expect the potatoes to cook through at these temps, but if they do, I'll know about how low I can go for taters...in the past, 275* seems to be the low limit, given enough time, but if I give them several hours, maybe they'll cook...well see. If not, I can bump temps while the picnic is resting, like I always do.
So, what's the plan for all of this? Pulled pork, of course, but, the cabbage is for adding to pan-toasted/boiled brown rice and tomato, seasoned with oregano, basil, garlic, black pepper. The onion and cabbage can also be used on the side for pulled pork sandwiches. Kind of a mix and match to your own liking.
Aaaaah, happiness is a full smoker...well, sorta full...16.5 hours for the picnic...cabbage, onions and taters are just passing 75 and 90 minutes, respectively:
2.25hrs for the cabbage, 2hrs for the onions...what can I say, I LOVE smoked veggies:
So, in case you noticed I have no probe in the picnic and are wondering why? I misplaced it after my last use of it a few months ago, so the last couple of picnics I smoked I went by visual flight rules only...and all was well...GREAT, actually. I'm getting close on this one, a the bone is showing itself pretty well now. Gonna give it a tug here in a bit and see what it feels like and go from there. Hope it's ready soon, 'cuz the kids said they'd be back for dinner around 5:00pm, and I need to rest this meat yet, too...and it's now 3:45pm.
Took this just a few minutes after yankin' the cabbage and onions, so ~19hrs for the picnic and 2.25+ for the taters:
Thanks for peekin'...time to get that rice going...back later with the finish!!!
Eric
Been a while since I posted any contributions to the forums, and today I had the chance to get in a nice smoke for the immediate family, and felt it worthy of sharing with my extended family here on SMF as well.
My oldest son is moving out of his apartment in preparations to leave for an out of state move, so I thought it would be nice to cook for him and the moving crew (rest of the family) while they labored through the last day of clean-up and turn-over of the place. I'm off work for the weekend, was ready and willing, so off to the smoker I went.
I started out last night after work with a 10.6lb picnic shoulder which was mostly thawed, skinned it, removed most of the surface fat, cross-hatch scored the top/bottom and rubbed heavily with my Blueberry/Cherry/RBP Pork Rub, and went straight to the Smoke Vault 24 gasser @ 8:30pm with Hickory, Cherry, Apple and Pecan chunks...filled the tray for lots of heavy smoke...@ 225* using my Wet-to-Dry method.
Around 1:00pm today I added a full large head of cabbage, split through the core 8 ways and rubbed with Olive Oil and seasoned with freshly cracked black pepper. At 1:15pm I added the Yellow Onion, peeled and split into 16 sections almost to the root, so it holds together on the grate...no treatment with oil or seasoning, along with a half-dozen yellow potatoes for a few here who do not like cabbage, just for an extra bit of smoked goodies. I added more pecan for smoke when these went in, and bumped temps up to 250-260 to push things along with the picnic as well as get a faster wilt to the cabbage and onion. I don't expect the potatoes to cook through at these temps, but if they do, I'll know about how low I can go for taters...in the past, 275* seems to be the low limit, given enough time, but if I give them several hours, maybe they'll cook...well see. If not, I can bump temps while the picnic is resting, like I always do.
So, what's the plan for all of this? Pulled pork, of course, but, the cabbage is for adding to pan-toasted/boiled brown rice and tomato, seasoned with oregano, basil, garlic, black pepper. The onion and cabbage can also be used on the side for pulled pork sandwiches. Kind of a mix and match to your own liking.
Aaaaah, happiness is a full smoker...well, sorta full...16.5 hours for the picnic...cabbage, onions and taters are just passing 75 and 90 minutes, respectively:
2.25hrs for the cabbage, 2hrs for the onions...what can I say, I LOVE smoked veggies:
So, in case you noticed I have no probe in the picnic and are wondering why? I misplaced it after my last use of it a few months ago, so the last couple of picnics I smoked I went by visual flight rules only...and all was well...GREAT, actually. I'm getting close on this one, a the bone is showing itself pretty well now. Gonna give it a tug here in a bit and see what it feels like and go from there. Hope it's ready soon, 'cuz the kids said they'd be back for dinner around 5:00pm, and I need to rest this meat yet, too...and it's now 3:45pm.
Took this just a few minutes after yankin' the cabbage and onions, so ~19hrs for the picnic and 2.25+ for the taters:
Thanks for peekin'...time to get that rice going...back later with the finish!!!
Eric
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