My First Pork Shoulder

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This is interesting.  With my first butt, one row took about 5 hours to burn, but recall I had issues with the smoke being way too little.  It makes sense that the chip loader wasnt open far enough and the pellets werent burning like they should.  I will check next time to see if one row takes 4 hours to burn now that Ive fixed the chip loader issue.
I feel I didn't get as much smoke as I had expected but my wife was fine with it and the smoke did stand up to the BBQ sauce I slathered the pulled pork with when I heated it up in a saucepan yesterday. There would have been more smoke had the last row of pellets burned. Still don't know when it went out. This is why I plan to use hickory wood pellets when I smoke some ribeye steaks this Sunday.
 
 
Somewheres in my wanderings I came across the term "sazon".

So a sazon is both a spice mixture and a type of charcoal cooker?
Yes a spice not a cooker I modified the pot,to fit on my charcoal grill.Works great.

Richie
 
 
Yes a spice not a cooker I modified the pot,to fit on my charcoal grill.Works great.

Richie
I guess what's confusing me is that you refer to it as a "52 quart sazon pot (mini)". That's why I thought it was also the name of pot used for making a dish called sazon. Kind of like a large, deep skillet is called a chicken fryer although it has other uses.

I once saw a Bobby Flay recipe for a Cuban meat dish (which I never made) that called for sazon as an ingredient. The only one I saw on the supermarket shelf was a bottle of liquid sazon so I bought it. Still haven't used it but I saw some recipes for making dry sazon seasoning which I just might do some day.
 
OK, the smoke was two days ago and I stated I was slightly disappointed with the amount of smoke flavor in the pork, that it was a little too subtle. However, in another post I said that I hoped that the smoke flavor would become stronger as the days went on like it had after I smoked beef brisket and cheeses. Well, it was stronger last night when I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches for the wife and I. Then, today I put a couple of large pieces in a Ziploc bag for one of my wife's clients and the client remarked how she could easily smell the smoke from the closed bag. Nope, what she was smelling was the smoke smell from my fingers from tearing the pieces of smoked pork from the leftover shoulder. I opened the bag and a blast of strong, smoky goodness was released into our noses. Looks like I was right. She was very happy and couldn't wait to bring it home to share it with her hubby. I imagine she'll share it...
 
 
I want some.

.

Nice job with a good view

.

Thanks for reporting  Jted
Thanks, Jted. I think Jeff should devise a way so that we could digitally send BBQ samples to our friends.

I also credit you and my other SMF for all the info and advice I've received. My Q has grown in quality largely due to what I've learned here.
 
Quote

 Originally posted by daRicksta

Chuck, this surprised me. When I smoked a beef brisket over oak pellets a few weeks ago all 3 rows burnt up over the 11 hour cook. So it really surprised me when I had a row of pellets left after the 10+ hours of smoking the pork shoulder. I'm still reluctant to add a chimney to my MES 30 since airflow has been very good and the AMNPS has been excellent at producing TBS. Todd says that a full tray should produce about 11 hours of smoke as Bear has also said a few times. That's just about what I get. I'm going to be smoking some bone-in ribeye steaks on Father's Day over hickory pellets to get the steaks up to 125° IT and then I'll sear and finish them up on my charcoal grill. I'll see then how the pellets burn over the couple of hours or so the steaks will be in the smoker.

Do you place the chimney or tube over the top vent of your MES 30? Why a 3" elbow? I'm not that great at understanding how the mods work and how you choose what materials to use. But I'm a minimalist when it comes to using my smoker which is why, except for the AMNPS, I use my MES 30 just the way it came out of the box.

 End quote

 

 Rick, I was responding to your lack of smoke flavor. I like a lot of smoke (more than the wife). With a bit more air flow I get a bit more smoke. I have noticed that things do seem smokier after a day or so.for some reason. 

 Just switching to hickory may give you what you want. Hickory is my go-to wood. 

 As far as the elbow goes, many people use them on MES for increased draft or to avoid wind problems if smoking outdoors. It's just a 3" adjustable elbow for vent pipe. You can set is as a straight pipe or configure it as a 90° bend or any angle in between. I took my damper out of my exhaust vent ( where your thermometer leads are in your picture) and installed it there with a 1" strip of metal wrapped around as a space to make it snug.

 Be sure to give hickory a try and see how you like it. If you want more smoke after that you can look into other things.

 Enjoy those rib steaks.

Chuck
 
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Man I'm going camping this weekend but I would love to smoke up some ribs!  What are you guys doing this weekend?
LOL---The Bear is actually doing a Smoke for a change!!

I got a small 3 pound Chucky in it's second hour right now.

Taking notes too.
biggrin.gif


Bear
 
 
Quote

 Originally posted by daRicksta

Chuck, this surprised me. When I smoked a beef brisket over oak pellets a few weeks ago all 3 rows burnt up over the 11 hour cook. So it really surprised me when I had a row of pellets left after the 10+ hours of smoking the pork shoulder. I'm still reluctant to add a chimney to my MES 30 since airflow has been very good and the AMNPS has been excellent at producing TBS. Todd says that a full tray should produce about 11 hours of smoke as Bear has also said a few times. That's just about what I get. I'm going to be smoking some bone-in ribeye steaks on Father's Day over hickory pellets to get the steaks up to 125° IT and then I'll sear and finish them up on my charcoal grill. I'll see then how the pellets burn over the couple of hours or so the steaks will be in the smoker.

Do you place the chimney or tube over the top vent of your MES 30? Why a 3" elbow? I'm not that great at understanding how the mods work and how you choose what materials to use. But I'm a minimalist when it comes to using my smoker which is why, except for the AMNPS, I use my MES 30 just the way it came out of the box.

 End quote

 

 Rick, I was responding to your lack of smoke flavor. I like a lot of smoke (more than the wife). With a bit more air flow I get a bit more smoke. I have noticed that things do seem smokier after a day or so.for some reason. 

 Just switching to hickory may give you what you want. Hickory is my go-to wood. 

 As far as the elbow goes, many people use them on MES for increased draft or to avoid wind problems if smoking outdoors. It's just a 3" adjustable elbow for vent pipe. You can set is as a straight pipe or configure it as a 90° bend or any angle in between. I took my damper out of my exhaust vent ( where your thermometer leads are in your picture) and installed it there with a 1" strip of metal wrapped around as a space to make it snug.

 Be sure to give hickory a try and see how you like it. If you want more smoke after that you can look into other things.

 Enjoy those rib steaks.

Chuck
Thanks, Chuck. I also love hickory smoke flavor; I bought two bags of it from Todd. As I posted later last night when I unwrapped the refrigerated pulled pork the smokiness was more intense in both smell and taste. I don't understand the physics of it but I know from past experience that the smoke flavors and aromas become more pronounced over time if the smoked foods are properly stored. As of yesterday the pulled pork has the smoky taste I was after. Probably not as strong as you like but I've gotten so that I prefer the smoke flavor enhancing the food instead of being in your face. That's how I intend the ribeye steaks to taste.
 
 I realize  that was the flavor you were after, but you aren't going to be eating those steaks two days later after the flavor builds. Maybe the hickory will make the difference. Either way I'm sure they will be great. I'm a big fan of the rib roast or rib steaks.

Chuck
 
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