pulled pork 1 (pre Christmas) and 2 (pre blizzard)

[speed bump]

Pre-Christmas was a 3 1/2# boston butt- butchered and frozen in November. We smoked it  on 12/23, using a potent mix of store-bought rubs. My son was in charge of the prep and rub process.

I'd followed Bearcarver's EXCELLENT notes for temps and times on the pork. starting at 220* for 5 hours, then 240* for 3 hours and 260* for 3 hours, aiming for a final internal temp of 200-205*

Simple, right? Easy peasy- but- new to smoking- and carried along by enthusiasm and requests- we ALSO wanted to do a beef rib roast with the same rub.. so we started those 2 together with the temp probe in the beef..

My notes become somewhat muddled at that point. I didn't write down the weight on the beef- but it came out after 5 hours and we continued the pork, took the ribs inside and mowed on them.

I can't remember at what point my husband decided he wanted me to try smoking some lake trout, and- since he was making jerky- I stole a bit of the beef jerky strips from his dehydrator to run with the trout.

Whenever it was, there MIGHT have been some wine involved with that decision-making process..

   Ran the pork for a total of 10 hours, but had lost time and heat by taking the beef out. So we made the decision to move the pork inside to the oven and reload the smoker with the lake trout and jerky.

(Note to self- try jerky again and do JUST THAT with closer attention.) The trout was EXCELLENT, the jerky a little -er- DARK.

The pork came out GREAT. We ate a bit that night, but saved some to supplement turkey on Xmas.

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So- fast forward to a nice 6 1/2# boston butt I'd stashed in the freezer in January. This time I wanted to do my own rub. I looked on the forums, as well as Youtube, and came up with this;

1/3 c salt, 1/3 c brown sugar, 1/3 c white sugar.

1Tbsp dry mustard, 2 Tbsp Krimzon Lee paprika (hot w overtone of sweet) smoked dried and ground,

1 Tbsp Jimmy Nardello pepper (sweet w slight touch of heat), smoked, dried and ground, 1/4 tsp Thai hot (HOT!) pepper dried and ground

1 1/2 Tbsp cumin seed, dry fried til fragrant and ground. ~1 +/- tsp sifted greek oregano leaves. ~ 1 tsp black pepper

1/2 onion chopped fine. @ garlic cloves chopped fine. (I grow the peppers- bet you could tell that, right?..)

This all was supposed to be on the pork overnight- but life intervened (no wine this time, I swear..) and it ended up being on the meat for 36 hours in the fridge. The pork went in this am at a balmy 19* outside temp. The smoker is doing a great job of getting the temp up.

 After 5 hours the internal temp was 125* compared to Bearcarver's predicted 157*

I'm about to go out and check it again. I never have gotten the Bluetooth techno up and running for the smoker- cuz I figure I usually need to add more smoke most times. Did 2-3 charges of maple/apple chip mix, and then switched to hickory. I'd noticed the smoke seems harsh, so I dampened the hickory chips before I put them in. I think maybe the low humidity of the winter cold had dried out the fruitwood chips too much.

   I'd also finally seen 2 photos where people had put one of those dispo aluminum roaster pans on a lower shelf to catch drippings- I think it's a wizard idea so I have that in there and will see how it works. (I am getting SO HUNGRY typing this..)

   I'm hoping to be sitting back and enjoying pulled pork during our near- blizzard conditions. My husband just told me we are expecting 18+ inches. We shall see if life intervenes again..

 

[GaryHibbert]

Well, it sure sounds like you've jumped into smoking with both feet!!  That's a good thing. And, things appear to be coming along real well.

I know that a lot of people cook multiple things at the same time, but I find I have a lot better result with only one meat in the smoker at a time. You can't go wrong by following Bearcarver's Step-by-Steps.  I generally just put the butt on at 240 and leave it be--just lazy I guess, and then wrap the butt when it stalls.  My preference is hickory, but Miss Linda's is pecan, so I just switch between the two.

As for soaking the chips, it just takes longer to dry them out in the smoker and get them putting out smoke instead of steam.

One big, and very important, part of meat smoking involves a camera.  You MUST add qview to your posts.  When we're not smoking, we need to read about and SEE how your smoke is coming along and the final pics.  So...............be sure to add lots of pics to your follow up post on this cook.

I'll be waiting for the rest of this cook.

Gary