I did an 11# 4 bone one. I prepped it 2 days before. Day of cooking I left it out for 2 hours (which I won't bother with next time as the temp essentially did not change) before placing on the fully preheated to 500 degree pellet smoker for 20 minutes and then turned it down to 325 degrees. After 1 1/2 hours, I placed 4 probes in it from different directions but trying to reach the center with all of them and got fairly divergent readings, which really didn't concern me at that time. No, I haven't ice and boil tested my probes, but at room temp they all read the same. I pulled it at 4 hours total cook time, actually pulling because my lowest thermometer was now reading 131 Degrees. I also had one reading 133 and the other to were mid to high 150's. I also tried pushing all of them in further late in the cook to check if they were centered and they didn't change temp up or down. Also, I smoked it with the bones cut off, but still tied to the roast and smoked it rib side down. I also did not remove any fat that the butcher left on.
Well, it came out gray, with so little pink that it was very hard to find (thought for sure I was going to get some in the middle at least). I was shooting for medium rare in the middle and figured if the ends were a little more done that it would please the ones who don't understand eating medium well steak. It tasted good but of course it could have been better. I understand I could have pulled it a little earlier and will at about 125 next time, which will also probably only be about 7# 3 bone. What concerns me is the discrepancy in temps, considering all of them should have been near the center. I always thought you were supposed to go by the lowest temperature you saw to avoid undercooking or raw meat (more important with poultry and pork I know). Any thoughts besides the ice and boil test I'm going to do?
Well, it came out gray, with so little pink that it was very hard to find (thought for sure I was going to get some in the middle at least). I was shooting for medium rare in the middle and figured if the ends were a little more done that it would please the ones who don't understand eating medium well steak. It tasted good but of course it could have been better. I understand I could have pulled it a little earlier and will at about 125 next time, which will also probably only be about 7# 3 bone. What concerns me is the discrepancy in temps, considering all of them should have been near the center. I always thought you were supposed to go by the lowest temperature you saw to avoid undercooking or raw meat (more important with poultry and pork I know). Any thoughts besides the ice and boil test I'm going to do?
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