Pork Butt Burnt Ends- You guys got me hooked!

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donegotfat

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Oct 16, 2016
192
122
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
Of course they are probably better called "pork candy" ooo my goodness, it was crazy good.

New to the site, and new to smoking. Today was my 2nd time using a smoker, and as I pleased in the end to have some great food!

Live in Missouri, was a great day today on the weather, 86 degrees, low humidity, and not too much wind.

Props up front to EVERYONE here that has shared their recipes, steps, pictures, and so on. When debating on buying a smoker, and what to try and smoke, I cam across this site while looking for tips and recipes.

So I bit the bullet and bought a pellet smoker, not a rich man so couldn't afford some of the higher end smoker, decided to go with a Camp Chef DLX Pellet Smoker.

It was a tossup between that and a Masterbuilt Electric, but I read to many reviews of the heating elements burning out after a few uses, then being pricey to replace. While I have found that the pellet smokers don't hold non fluxuating heat that well (due to changes in heat during stages of new pellets hitting firebox), it has made some good food at the end of the day, so that's all that matters.

Thanks to others who shared their Pork Burnt Ends topics.

Thank you lennyluminum:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/250637/pork-burnt-ends-and-spare-ribs

Thank you Disco:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/251942/pork-burnt-ends-thanks-to-lennyluminum

My first try on a smoker was a brisket.. sorry no pics, turned out well, very juicy, and tender, but sadly I used a rub that I made from a list of ingredients found on a different site, and it was nasty, but I only found this out when it was too late..waaaay to much paprika, and I burped it for hours...

Today was my second time using a smoker:

Bone-In Pork Butt.

Trimmed it a bit,
Mixed 1/4 cup apple juice + 1/8 cup maple syrup together in small cup for injection juice as advised by Disco.
Used a commercial rub, Bad Byron's Butt Rub this one was much better than what I tried to make for the brisket.

Prepped, injected, rubbed and put in fridge over night


Pre-heated pellet smoker to 225*, put Pork in at 5:30 AM.

Took 6 hours to hit 150*, then put it in pan and covered it, back on smoker at 225* until IT hit 190*

Smoker was crazy on heat spikes today, worse than with the brisket, but it rained all day on the brisket, so it ran harder to keep its temp and held steady temps better.

There were times that the temp spiked up too 350* when it was set to run at 225*. Tried various things from adjusting the flue. Luckily I have my own dual probe to watch BBQ temp, and food temp. So while it cooked faster than I wanted, I was sure to remove it on time during cooking stages.

At 6 hours, and an IT of 150* she looked mighty fine :)


After pan and foil, removed from smoker at IT of 190*, left in pan under foil and rested it for several hours in a cooler, as this was for dinner, and done early.


After 3 hours of resting, it was still nice and hot. Was super juicy, and tender. I ate several pieces and fought wanting to stop eating it so I could put it back in the smoker :)

Cut into 1 inch cubes, added a touch more rub, mixed juice from cook with some BBQ sauce, then pored over cubes.


I was surprised at the smoke ring due to fighting the temps all day.


Put back on smoker at 225* for 2 more hours, and my goodness.... I think my wife and I gained 10 pounds today just from eating these yummy things.


Thanks again to everyone here for the great advise on how to smoke, had it not been for my reading here I am afraid the food would have ended up being dry and tough!

While I have watched the BBQ shows for years like Pit Masters and such, they don't go into big details like here.

I hope this is worthy for my second time on a smoker, as I am posting besides some of you who look like super pros!

Off to read more about 3-2-1 Ribs, as that's my  venture next week
 
Thank you all.

In hind sight, I did not think about the amount of juices I had from the cook and ended up using way to much of it to mix with the BBQ sauce.

Seems about 1-1.5 cups juice from then pan combined with equal BBQ sauce is probably about right. The pork cubes did not cook down as far as they could have if I had less liquid around them.

That is about the only change I will make the next time I make them, that and work further on trying to maintain a steadier heat. Ill have to do some research and see what can be done to try and help regulate the heat from the fire box so that it doesn't spike as high in temps after new pellets fall in.
 
   Well done DGF!!  Nice looking meat and smoke ring too.  I too have learned much from all that contribute to this site.  You are miles ahead of where you'd have been without SMF.  Again, great post!!
 
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