I smoked my first pork butt on my new Traeger this weekend. It came out awesome. I used my standard "Dad's Best BBQ Rub" but only let it sit with the rub on it for two hours instead of overnight.
I smoked the butts using a 50/50 pecan/apple mix. Smoked it on medium (275 degrees) for 90 minutes, then on smoke (~170 degrees) for 2 hours and another 3 hours back at medium. I pulled it off the smoker at 190 degrees and wrapped it in foil and some heavy towels and let it sit over night (I didn't pull it off the smoker until 11:00pm).
Three discoveries. Less time under rub resulted in a more subtle flavor but still had a wonderful bark and smoke ring. And wrapping and resting overnight produced a very juicy final product that was so easy to pull that I didn't even use a knife once. It literally fell apart.
And finally the Traeger was better than advertised. Having total temperature and smoke control, plus a huge grill area, made this the easiest smoke I've ever done. I did have to monitor the hopper to make sure I kept it full of pellets but that was easy and just part of learning the equipment. Even my wife reluctantly concluded that maybe, just maybe, the Traeger was worth the ridiculous price (her words) I paid for it.
I can't wait for next weekend!! Happy smokin'
I smoked the butts using a 50/50 pecan/apple mix. Smoked it on medium (275 degrees) for 90 minutes, then on smoke (~170 degrees) for 2 hours and another 3 hours back at medium. I pulled it off the smoker at 190 degrees and wrapped it in foil and some heavy towels and let it sit over night (I didn't pull it off the smoker until 11:00pm).
Three discoveries. Less time under rub resulted in a more subtle flavor but still had a wonderful bark and smoke ring. And wrapping and resting overnight produced a very juicy final product that was so easy to pull that I didn't even use a knife once. It literally fell apart.
And finally the Traeger was better than advertised. Having total temperature and smoke control, plus a huge grill area, made this the easiest smoke I've ever done. I did have to monitor the hopper to make sure I kept it full of pellets but that was easy and just part of learning the equipment. Even my wife reluctantly concluded that maybe, just maybe, the Traeger was worth the ridiculous price (her words) I paid for it.
I can't wait for next weekend!! Happy smokin'
