I'm fairly OK with beef cuts and brisket, but have never tried pork cuts ... until this weekend.
My smoker is a Klose barrel-type with a side-mounted firebox.
A friend brought a "cochinillo" (minus the head) to try on the smoker. After reading lots of internet advice, we dry-rubbed the meat (all sides, including skin side) and put the pieces in the fridge overnight.
Normally, for beef, I use red oak and sometimes mesquite. For the pork "experiment", I used some apple chunks.
Smoker fired up nicely and leveled out around 210F. The pork came out of the fridge and onto the smoker, and a digital meat thermometer was inserted into one of the muscular pieces positioned about midway between the fire and the chimney.
We slow-cooked it about 6 hours. During that time, the meat temperature did the expected slow rise to about 150F and then stayed there for a long time and then the temperature began to rise again, and reached 180-190F.
The flat spot in the temperature was probably the fat loosening up and melting. I use the digital thermometer, because I don't like to open the smoker too often during the cooking process, until it gets close to final temperature.
It turned out delicious, but the skin remained tough. I guess we can try to make cracklin or pork rinds with it.
Since I have not done a "cochinillo" (or any pork, for that matter), this was an experiment. Texas now has a local source of the suckling pigs, bred from Spanish Iberian hogs. We will try this again ... but I definitely feel we can improve on technique, etc.
Has anyone on the forum ever cooked that meat cut? What advice do you have for a newbie on that type of smoking?
Thanks!
