- Sep 11, 2012
- 28
- 25
The wife has been kind of ambivalent on the spiral cut hams at Easter the last few years so this year I suggested I smoke a butt on the new UDS I have been breaking in this spring. She agreed so I set it up.
I took an 8lb bone in butt and dry marinated it the night before with a rub that I made from this recipe:
1/2cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1tbs black pepper
1tbs kosher salt
1 tbs chili powder (i used the Chipotle flavored kind from Kroger)
1 tbs garlic powder
1tbs onion powder
let that sit over night and at 10 am Sunday got it out to come up to room temperature and went to the smoker to prep it.
For the cook I followed one of Malcom Reed's methods ( he has several). This one called for a cook temp of about 250.
I built a UDS using the Big Poppa kit. My biggest struggle has been keeping the temp steady. I had some leaks around the hardware that I sealed but still had the spikes whenever I opened the lid. I have been using Royal Oak lump charcoal, bought at Menards (it's in a different bag for some reason). But I purchased a bag of Rockwood through ACE and decided to give it a try.
I filled up the basked about 2/3rds of the way. In my chimney I use a paper towel tube and surround it with charcoal. A wax cube was used to start it off. First thing I noticed is that the Rockwood seems more brittle than the RO. Not sure how to describe it any other way. Next thing is that the Rockwood took longer to light in the chimney than the RO. I later decided that's a good thing....
I dumped in the lit coals and added two chunks of hickory and two chunks of cherry. The butt got a light last dusting of the rub and went on the grates.
Closed the lid and went inside. This was 11 am. After a half hour I came out and check the temp. It had stayed right at 250. This was new for me since previously I have had to do intake and outtake shuffles to get the spikes down and then back up after opening the lid. Let's see what happens in half an hour when i open to spritz...
Well at one hour I spritzed with water. Checked back in a bit and still no spike to speak of. This went on till 2pm, spritzing every hour with no accidental spikes. I think that Rockwood charcoal being slow to light is also slow to burn hot and thus you experience lower spikes and thus quicker recovery. Just my two cents...
At 2pm I had good bark and per directions from Malcolm, wrapped it and put it back in . Didn't really pay attention to the spikes there after but it stayed around 250.
At 5pm I opened it and tested it with the probe thermometer and it was 205-ish everywhere.
One of the quickest butts I've done (previously on an MES and an old electric watersmoker). It was moist and VERY tasty. I'm loving this rub recipe. It had a bit more unrendered fat than usual but it was worth it. Got high marks from the wife and she's very hard to please.
I'm using the Rockwood for everything now. It might be more expensive but was definitely worth it. Time to go make some pork tacos now.....
I took an 8lb bone in butt and dry marinated it the night before with a rub that I made from this recipe:
1/2cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1tbs black pepper
1tbs kosher salt
1 tbs chili powder (i used the Chipotle flavored kind from Kroger)
1 tbs garlic powder
1tbs onion powder
let that sit over night and at 10 am Sunday got it out to come up to room temperature and went to the smoker to prep it.
For the cook I followed one of Malcom Reed's methods ( he has several). This one called for a cook temp of about 250.
I built a UDS using the Big Poppa kit. My biggest struggle has been keeping the temp steady. I had some leaks around the hardware that I sealed but still had the spikes whenever I opened the lid. I have been using Royal Oak lump charcoal, bought at Menards (it's in a different bag for some reason). But I purchased a bag of Rockwood through ACE and decided to give it a try.
I filled up the basked about 2/3rds of the way. In my chimney I use a paper towel tube and surround it with charcoal. A wax cube was used to start it off. First thing I noticed is that the Rockwood seems more brittle than the RO. Not sure how to describe it any other way. Next thing is that the Rockwood took longer to light in the chimney than the RO. I later decided that's a good thing....
I dumped in the lit coals and added two chunks of hickory and two chunks of cherry. The butt got a light last dusting of the rub and went on the grates.
Closed the lid and went inside. This was 11 am. After a half hour I came out and check the temp. It had stayed right at 250. This was new for me since previously I have had to do intake and outtake shuffles to get the spikes down and then back up after opening the lid. Let's see what happens in half an hour when i open to spritz...
Well at one hour I spritzed with water. Checked back in a bit and still no spike to speak of. This went on till 2pm, spritzing every hour with no accidental spikes. I think that Rockwood charcoal being slow to light is also slow to burn hot and thus you experience lower spikes and thus quicker recovery. Just my two cents...
At 2pm I had good bark and per directions from Malcolm, wrapped it and put it back in . Didn't really pay attention to the spikes there after but it stayed around 250.
At 5pm I opened it and tested it with the probe thermometer and it was 205-ish everywhere.
One of the quickest butts I've done (previously on an MES and an old electric watersmoker). It was moist and VERY tasty. I'm loving this rub recipe. It had a bit more unrendered fat than usual but it was worth it. Got high marks from the wife and she's very hard to please.
I'm using the Rockwood for everything now. It might be more expensive but was definitely worth it. Time to go make some pork tacos now.....
