I picked-up 2 Pork Shoulders at Costco; my brother was in town from Dallas and the plan was to have pulled pork for dinner on Saturday evening. This was a little scary since this was my first try; however, my brother had done this before on his Big Green Egg, so with support at hand the plan was to do both butts (total 16lbs.) and have them on the gas smoker (Smoke Hollow Pro 44”) by midnight on Friday. Since we were doing both butts, we decided to use two different rubs. I used Jeff’s Rub recipe and my brother used a commercial rub from one of the well-known BBQ restaurants (Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ)
The butts were rubbed (with plenty of butt jokes flying) and we had the smoker going and up to temperature with Cherry wood by midnight. I have an iGrill2 thermometer with an ambient probe and 3 meat probes that I had previously tested for accuracy. The plan was to maintain an ambient temp of 225 to 230. The smoker did a good job in this regard.
The Smoke Hollow has dual burners, so I ran one at a time; switching to the other once the chips stopped smoking (Approx. 2 -2/2 hours). The hard part was staying up all night; my brother bailed on me about 12: 45 am. I keep the smoke going for 9 hours and waited for them to reach temperature. I made-up my mind that I was going to leave them on the whole time and not wrap them.
We decided to have some BBQ beans with the pork so my wife made her family recipe; they were placed in a stone crock and put in the smoker under the butts to catch the juices. They cooked for approx. 4 ½ hours. Next time, I will put them in sooner and hope to have leftover pork and/or brisket to mix in with them. They were still very tasty as they were.
The temperature stalled at 155 and 160 respectfully. At 16 hours I bumped the temp up to 260 and started to see movement. At the 18 hour mark they had hit an internal temp of 203 and it was time to take them out to rest. Since we were going to pull them for dinner, I just tented with foil on the counter while we were getting rest of dinner ready.
We pulled the pork using a new tool that my sister-in-law bought from Pampered Chef. It was actually a salad chopper and it looked like two very sharp knives made into scissors with a scoop on the bottom. I was able to chop an 8lb. butt in about 5 minutes; it was so quick and easy. I will be getting myself one of them. The pork was so tender and I was amazed that there was hardly any fat still remaining.
It was nice to have two different rubs to choose from; the commercial rub was salter than the one developed by Jeff; a very nice contrast that everyone enjoyed. I am glad I decided to smoke both of the pork shoulders; especially after staying up all night. Also, got to have some leftovers!
Thanks for looking!
The butts were rubbed (with plenty of butt jokes flying) and we had the smoker going and up to temperature with Cherry wood by midnight. I have an iGrill2 thermometer with an ambient probe and 3 meat probes that I had previously tested for accuracy. The plan was to maintain an ambient temp of 225 to 230. The smoker did a good job in this regard.
The Smoke Hollow has dual burners, so I ran one at a time; switching to the other once the chips stopped smoking (Approx. 2 -2/2 hours). The hard part was staying up all night; my brother bailed on me about 12: 45 am. I keep the smoke going for 9 hours and waited for them to reach temperature. I made-up my mind that I was going to leave them on the whole time and not wrap them.
We decided to have some BBQ beans with the pork so my wife made her family recipe; they were placed in a stone crock and put in the smoker under the butts to catch the juices. They cooked for approx. 4 ½ hours. Next time, I will put them in sooner and hope to have leftover pork and/or brisket to mix in with them. They were still very tasty as they were.
The temperature stalled at 155 and 160 respectfully. At 16 hours I bumped the temp up to 260 and started to see movement. At the 18 hour mark they had hit an internal temp of 203 and it was time to take them out to rest. Since we were going to pull them for dinner, I just tented with foil on the counter while we were getting rest of dinner ready.
We pulled the pork using a new tool that my sister-in-law bought from Pampered Chef. It was actually a salad chopper and it looked like two very sharp knives made into scissors with a scoop on the bottom. I was able to chop an 8lb. butt in about 5 minutes; it was so quick and easy. I will be getting myself one of them. The pork was so tender and I was amazed that there was hardly any fat still remaining.
It was nice to have two different rubs to choose from; the commercial rub was salter than the one developed by Jeff; a very nice contrast that everyone enjoyed. I am glad I decided to smoke both of the pork shoulders; especially after staying up all night. Also, got to have some leftovers!
Thanks for looking!
