First time Pork Shoulder w/qview

[talan64]

So, I'd been wanting to smoke some pork for pulling, and read up on the suggestions (and the hell) for butts.  Decided I better start it early to make sure it was ready for dinner.  I had a brisket go 14 hrs, so I knew I would be into it for at the very least that long.  Picked up the nice 2 pack of boneless from CostCo ($1.89 /lb).  These were very pretty, no bones and trimmed pretty good.

I used coated one with mustard before adding a KC BBQ dry rub.

The Dry rub recipe is one that I found on (of all places) About.com

Here are the 2 of them all wrapped and ready to sit for a while in the fridge.

Skip ahead time.  Here they are after the first 8hrs of smoking.  Started them out @ midnight Friday night on 180 deg.  The open area to the front left of the smoker is for the bean crock.  Needed to pull it out to add some seasoning to it.

At 168 deg, (16 hrs) I put them into a foil pan with about 16 oz of liquid (1/2 & 1/2 water / apple juice).  2 1/2 hrs later they were at a real nice 200 deg.

After 18 1/2 hrs in the smoker and 1/2 hr resting they were ready to pull.  You can see the one on the right has a little bark missing....I couldn't help myself!!

I had to pull the mustard coated one first to try it out. (I didn't really notice much difference).  They both pulled nice and easy.

And here's the money shot!!  The beans and ABT's were off the smoker. BBQ sauce was from a recipe on found on SMF.  Thanks to Mrs. Talan for the corn bread and drunken apples (recipe from Famous Dave's).

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy all!

 

[bigorangesmoker]

Great lookin' pulled pork! I've got one planned for next weekend when some of my wife's family will be visiting. P.S. LOVE that bark!

 

[raptor700]

Nice job Talan, Those butts look great. Awesome color too 

Nice looking meal

 

[adiochiro3]

It all looks great! 

I'm a little concerned about your cook temp of 180* to start.  When did you raise that temp?  You don't want your meat lingering in the danger zone (<140*) longer than 4 hours to prevent harmful bacterial growth.

 

[SmokinAl]

The PP looks delicious!    

 

[chef willie]

oh man, looks great...will have to check those out at my costco. Like the idea of using anaheims for the ABTs....big suckers

 

[tyotrain]

Great job looks real good bet it was tasty

 

[gros cochon]

Nice butts! They look delicious. I gotta make some soon, it's been a while.

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks good!

Like James, I wonder about the 180˚ start. I guess if you don't probe it for a few hours, but it's still a little low to start.

Bear

 

[realtorterry]

Looks good from here. If you never tried soflaquers finishing sauce ( it's in the wiki ) you need to try it!!

 

[talan64]

It all looks great! 

I'm a little concerned about your cook temp of 180* to start.  When did you raise that temp?  You don't want your meat lingering in the danger zone (<140*) longer than 4 hours to prevent harmful bacterial growth.

The reality is, that when set to 180, my Traeger is actually sitting at more like 190 - 200 deg (Very seldom does it get under 190 with that setting).  I didn't set a probe until 6 1/2 hrs into the smoke, and by that time I was in the stall at 153 deg.  I was gaining about 1 deg per 1/2 hr for the next several hrs.

Will have to start using the next higher setting though, since you all seem a little concerned.  when set to 225, it seems to hold real close, with less fluctuations.

Thanks for the warnings.

 

[Bearcarver]

The reality is, that when set to 180, my Traeger is actually sitting at more like 190 - 200 deg (Very seldom does it get under 190 with that setting).  I didn't set a probe until 6 1/2 hrs into the smoke, and by that time I was in the stall at 153 deg.  I was gaining about 1 deg per 1/2 hr for the next several hrs.

Will have to start using the next higher setting though, since you all seem a little concerned.  when set to 225, it seems to hold real close, with less fluctuations.

Thanks for the warnings.

Sounds good Talan,

A lot less worries now that we know you didn't probe early.

No problem!

Smoke on, and thanks for the Great Qview!

Bear