Pork Picninc Assistance

[silt]

I am a newbie to the world of smoking but looking forward to some tasty dishes down the road.

I am using a Brinkmann smoker similar to the linked -

http://www.barbecue-smoker-grill.com/smpitprhochs.html

I smoked a 7.5 pound pork picninc yesterday for about 7 hours in the smoker, then put it in the oven for another 1.5 hrs and then sliced up the prok and cooked the chunks in the sauce for another 45 minutes.

My inexperience is what lead to the above massacre as I am not familiar with what to do at what temperature. When I removed the meat from the smoker it was at 140 degrees and after an additional 90 minutes in the oven it was at 160.  I thought that 160 was the right temp(which I am finding not to be the case) and thus cut it up.

After cutting it up and cooking in the over for another 45 minutes, I popped it in the fridge for the evening?

Any suggestions for salvaging this, can I go ahead and eat it as is?  My understanding is that the meat is cooked at 160 but I know it won't be pulled.

Thanks

 

[mballi3011]

First off Welcome Silt to SMF.  Right off the bat I see that you need the E-course. It's free and will give you the basics on how to smoke this and that.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/list/127   there's a link to it. Now it looks like to me you were tring to make burnt ends but with pork. First they are made with beef but it was a good go at it. So the next big thing for you to do is go out and get you something to smoke and if you happen to have any questions just post it here and we will be happy to answer them for you.

Welcome To Your New Addiction  

 

[rdknb]

Welcome to SMF and I agree get the E course it is great

 

[silt]

Thanks for the advice, I am signed up!

 

[DanMcG]

I have some issue with a 7 hour smoke and only getting to 140°, thats pushing the limits on safety. If you're going for pulled pork take it to 200-205 . take it to 160 wrap it in foil (some do, some don't )  then let it cook to 195 -200 and place it in a cooler to stay warm for an hour or more and  it will fall apart.

 

[meateater]

I agree, seven hours and only 140* is not safe. Make sure your therms are accurate and calibrated to start out, doesn't hurt to have a few in the drawer. Here's a wiki on that, also browse around in the wiki section, alot of great knowledge in there.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/thermometer-calibration

 

[deannc]

Welcome aboard!  

Here's a great post with some detail on why it's important to reach 140* within 4 hours.

Also, a pretty good write up Basic Pulled Pork.

What was your chamber temp?  If you can, get a thermometer to monitor your chamber and meat temps.  Maverick makes the ET-73 which is pretty affordable and reliable.  

Have you done any mod's to your smoker?  If you have the Brinkman, you can find some great information here in the SMF on some very helpful mod's.

If you have any questions, do some searches on here and post up any questions and you're next smoke will be a great success!

 

[beer-b-q]

 

Welcome to SMF, Glad to have you with us.
 

This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.
 

For those of you new to Smoking, be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse.

Click Here it's "FREE" ... 5 Day eCourseE

 

[silt]

Thanks for the hearty welcome, I have already learned more in 14 hours of membership than I could have hoped for.  The 140 degrees in 4 hour rule was one I was not aware of I appreciate the knowledge.

As far as my chamber temp goes - I am not sure because my smoker has a dummy gauge that just says warm, ideal or hot.  I just kept it in the ideal range but it sounds like this is a more exact science and I need to upgrade my thermometer pronto.

This leads to my next question - what is best to cook with, charcoal, wood, wood chunks or a combination?  I was using a combination of kingsford's standard charcoal and wood chunks, but perhaps this was not getting hot enough and I need to move to wood as the primary fuel?

How about where to put the meat, I had it on the lower level pretty close to the firebox, is the upper preferable?