Today's Journey...First time pulled pork, first time with pellet smoker

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Looks really good for the first run
Get a pellet tube and up the smoke flavor next time as well. You maybe don't need one if you go full ride uncovered in the Traeger.
Most of my pork butt gets ground for sausage, but I save off about 3# of the premium meat (money meat and tubes) to smoke out for pulled pork. Less surface fat so the rub goes on meat. I don't use sugar in the rub to get the crusty bark either.
I collect the meat juice and fat drippings.
Stall or not, I remove the meat from the smoker, foil pan & cover, and complete cook in the oven
 
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Looks really good for the first run
Get a pellet tube and up the smoke flavor next time as well. You maybe don't need one if you go full ride uncovered in the Traeger.
Thanks for the tips! I'll look at the tube.
Most of my pork butt gets ground for sausage, but I save off about 3# of the premium meat (money meat and tubes) to smoke out for pulled pork. Less surface fat so the rub goes on meat. I don't use sugar in the rub to get the crusty bark either.
Some day I'll have to look into sausage as well. Still have a lot of traditional meats to do (and re-do with pellet vs electric).

I'd like to see how it comes out, with a bark on it. This one had very little (just hardness in the diamonds from the fat cap).
I collect the meat juice and fat drippings.
Stall or not, I remove the meat from the smoker, foil pan & cover, and complete cook in the oven
I was thinking of the oven, but never ended up covering the pork. I guess I could of anyway. I was also thinking I'll be baking other items, but with the one hour rest (or more, as temps were still in the 160s), I could do all my baking at that time.
 
Very well done…..now that you have done one you now have a reference point to make adjustments for your personal preferences.
 
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Hi!

As I mentioned under my intro thread in Roll Call forum, I just bought a Traeger 575 pellet smoker (have been using an electric smoker), and wanted to try smoking pulled pork (we always used a crock pot in the past) as the first run. I'm just cooking for my mom, wife, and myself, so no pressure...

I did some planning and posted questions under that thread, and had decided to do roughly what civilsmoker laid out in the Pulled Pork Tacos thread. I made sure I had all the ingredients needed (a few extra trips to the store, to get a few items, as I altered the plan. I started thawing the 8 lb pork shoulder on Monday.

Wednesday, I create a batch of Jeffs' Original rub recipe, and his BBQ sauce. Yesterday, I brought up a cooler, got beach towels, a rectangular roasting pan we have for turkeys, gathered my temp probes, collected together some ingredients, and loaded the smoker with apple blend.

Items for the pork...
  • 8 lb pork
  • apple blend pellets
  • yellow mustard
  • Jeff's original rub (unaltered recipe, as opposed to civilsmoker's mods)
  • Jeff's BBQ sauce
  • rectangular roasting pan
  • civilsmoker's finishing sauce (2C chicken broth, 2C apple cider, 2 tbl apple cider vinegar, 1 tbl chicken base, 3 tbl light brown sugar)
  • cooler and beach towels
  • temp probes (using two)
The "plan"...

05:00 Preheat grill to 265 degrees
05:05 Open pork package, place on pan, trim excess fat, score fat cap, add mustard and apply rub.
05:30 Start cooking in smoker, target temp 150-165 (5-7 hours?). Make finishing sauce and place in pan, next to pork.
10:30 - 12:30 Place port in pan, cover with foil with small vent. Target temp 203 degrees.
+01:00 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baked beans recipe and corn bread (mix - I'll be lazy here).
+01:30 Bake beans and corn bread.
+02:00 Place pork in pan, into cooler, cover with towels, and rest for an hour. Use probes to ensure over 150 degrees.
+02:30 Take out beans and bread, when ready
+03:00 Remove pork from cooler, pour off liquids, pull meat, removing undesireable parts, add liquids for flavor.
+03:30 Separate into pork for this meal, and place remaining into bags and vac sealed with some juices.
+04:00 Consume mass quantities.


Today is where the rubber hits the road, and I'm giving it a shot. In this thread, I'll post the journey I'm taking today for your amusement. :)
Good luck, you've got this! I've had my Traeger 575 for about a year and it was the easiest thing to use (especially after smoking on my Lang)!! The most strenuous part of owning the rig is keeping it clean (I wash the grates and vacuum out the entire smoker to clear it of pellet dust when I'm done, and before placing it back in our storage shed).
 
Good luck, you've got this! I've had my Traeger 575 for about a year and it was the easiest thing to use (especially after smoking on my Lang)!! The most strenuous part of owning the rig is keeping it clean (I wash the grates and vacuum out the entire smoker to clear it of pellet dust when I'm done, and before placing it back in our storage shed).
It came out great and we enjoyed the pulled pork! It was a bit of work, cleaning the grates. I guess I probably could have sprayed it with cooking oil or something.
 
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It came out great and we enjoyed the pulled pork! It was a bit of work, cleaning the grates. I guess I probably could have sprayed it with cooking oil or something.

Wonderful news about the results, good eating for a little while. It is a bit of work to get those grates clean. Try spraying them down with Dawn Powerwash and let them sit and soak. May need a bit of elbow grease with a scrubbing sponge, but they do come out pretty clean.
Good luck on future smokes!
 
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It was a bit of work, cleaning the grates. I guess I probably could have sprayed it with cooking oil or something.
I pretty much use a pan with a rack to cook on my smokers. Keeps both the grates and inside of my smoker(s) much cleaner.

1734301160550.png


The drip pan is foiled, so basically just the rack that goes inside the pan to clean.

The firepot on the Camp Chef has an ash dump in the bottom to give you a clean firepot for each cook, but I do disassemble and vacuum what ash is blown out into the bottom of the cook chamber by the fan every few cooks.
 
I pretty much use a pan with a rack to cook on my smokers. Keeps both the grates and inside of my smoker(s) much cleaner.

View attachment 709376

The drip pan is foiled, so basically just the rack that goes inside the pan to clean.

The firepot on the Camp Chef has an ash dump in the bottom to give you a clean firepot for each cook, but I do disassemble and vacuum what ash is blown out into the bottom of the cook chamber by the fan every few cooks.
I have a good sized rectangular roasting pan with rack. I may try that next time. For the Trager, I did get the aluminum foil liner that is placed on the drip pan. Makes that pretty easy cleaning, but no capture of juices obviously.

I've been talking to my wife. I think the next smoke will be a turkey for Christmas Eve. I've done that several times with the electric smoker and it came out great (using pecan). I'll nose around at recipes to see if there are any subtle differences, when using a pellet smoker (the electric has a water pan).
 
I have a good sized rectangular roasting pan with rack. I may try that next time. For the Trager, I did get the aluminum foil liner that is placed on the drip pan. Makes that pretty easy cleaning, but no capture of juices obviously.

I've been talking to my wife. I think the next smoke will be a turkey for Christmas Eve. I've done that several times with the electric smoker and it came out great (using pecan). I'll nose around at recipes to see if there are any subtle differences, when using a pellet smoker (the electric has a water pan).
If you have an Ollies bargain outlet around, that is where I got the rack and pan. Don't remember what I paid but somewhere between 10 and 15 bucks.

My Thanksgiving spatchcock bone in turkey breasts (and a little boneless butterball breast) on the Camp Chef:

1734302377309.png


1734302430861.png


1734302481605.png


I did the turkey a day ahead and reheated while that ham was double smoking.
 
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