Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I posted the same sh*t lol


You can do it !

 

I see you are on SMF as well!!

 

Yep, long time member.

 

I smoked a Wally World one a couple weeks ago. The meat was just as good minus the $1Lb sticker.



The one I smoked last night was a Costco one. I almost got an uncut tri-tip instead but the smallest one was $84. Most were over $100.

 

About time Pa. opened the season on Porkies. Like most bird hunters that run dogs I hate them, know more than one dog that has died from getting quilled. Not that I have ever shot a porky in Pa. and thrown them in the crotch of a tree so other dogs don't get quilled...

Porkies, ticks and mosquitoes. Not sure of any positive purpose in life for them and have done my share of eradication. This Mn. porky is the largest ever seen so like a dumb ass just had to take a picture



Dog was proud of treeing him, his ears are laid back because I am standing on his e collar pretty hard. Damn thing didn't stay up there long and all hell broke loose by the time put the camera back in the hunting vest and he decided to come down. That is also a picture of some seriously good ruff grouse cover.

And no I don't eat porkies. Young woodchucks aren't too bad but they need to be young, or so I have heard In the 70's used to get paid .25 cents a tail for them and I'd get enough money I'd buy another brick of .22's to get more tails.

 

I found pork "picnic shoulder" (basically a Boston butt) on sale for .99 a # here so a nearly 11# one came home with me. I think I might go back and get a few more for the freezer cause that's a really good price around here.

I looked through my smoker journal and its it's been since 2014 I last did a pork butt! Usually too expensive for me to do briskets and butts so I tend to do poultry, chuck roasts, and cheaper stuff. Also my wife, while she loves smoked food, is not a big pork eater.

Anyway, please refresh my memory on proper pork procedure. I plan for it to hit the smoke on Sunday morning. It's vac packed right now, "minimally processed" so not injected or anything. I'm thinking a brine would be good.

Is it too early to start a wet or dry brine? I was thinking of dry rubbing it now and letting it set for a few days until Sunday, is that too long? If I wet brine I usually pull it a day before smoking so it can set I the fridge and dry out.

My end goal is pulled pork. I intend to try filling muffin tins with it and freezing it in individual portions like that since my wife doesn't do pp. That way I can get a pulled pork sammich whenever. I'll toss a chicken in there later in the afternoon for her.

 

woah smoker journal?? Nice! I think if your rub doesnt have a lot of sugar it should be ok to let it sit on a few days. If its got a lot of sugar then I wouldnt because it can get more like ham than pulled pork or so Ive read. Ive had good success taking it to 195 Internal temp, but some have taken it to 205.

 

morning all!

 

Hmmmm. Perhaps I'll do a sugar free or light sugar dry brine, then add a bit of sugar the night before or that morning then.

Yeah, when I first got my smoker I decided to log details of each smoke in a little book. That way whether it's a win or loss I know what I did and what worked well and what didn't. It's a little geeky I guess. So now most of the time if I'm not sure I can look at the book and decide on a plan. I'm not religious about it and sometimes forget, or I start to log in the morning but forget to put in when I pulled the meat out and what temp and stuff later in the afternoon because I'm in a hurry to get dinner on the table and eat the fruits of my labor (the best part).

I look at smoking meat as part art, but also part science. Logging most of my smokes has helped me get a good understanding of how my smoker works and what works well for me and my family and our tastes. I recommend keeping a notebook for everybody.

Luckily most of my smokes have been good. A few dry birds, some rather "matchstick flavored" and dry ribs once but nothing totally inedible yet.

 

Looking over those notes I see I took my last Boston butt to 203* before putting it to rest in a cooler. It was 8# and smoked from 8 am to 5:30 pm so this nearly 11# one is going to take a while. I suppose i'll smoke it all day for eating on other days rather than trying to get it done for dinner on Sunday then.

This was back when I used prepared rubs, not my own home made, and I used a brown sugar and bourbon rub, and apple and pecan smoking wood. I didn't brine it and didn't note whether it was pre brined or injected from the store.

I used Kraft thick and spicy, some bacon drippings, and a bit of apple juice and cider vinegar to season the pork after it was pulled.

I gave it a five star rating so I guess I liked it. Still, there is always room for improvement.

 

All seasoned up and ready to go

 

I always used to take my butts to 203* but just this last weekend I pulled it at 194* and I couldn't tell the difference. I think from now on I'll save the hour or so of cook time and pull them around 194-195.

 

As long as they pull/shred easy enough. That's all I'm looking for. Just fall apartness. I just default to 200 and usually good enough.

 

I’ve always do butts, which are different from the picnics. The picnics have the large bone through them, and skin on. Either way, i take mine to around 205, then rest for a few hours.

 

Thanks folks.

I think I'll see how impatient I am on the day and how late it gets to decide whether to pull it at 195, 200, or 205. Since it's going to take so long to smoke I decided I'd just do a chicken in the smoker too for us to eat that night, and pull, season, and freeze the pork for sandwiches on other occasions. That means unless it gets really late I won't have to hurry, and might as well wait it out.

I've not actually done a "picnic shoulder" before either but I reckon it's going to be similar to a butt.



My Alton Brown meat magnets tell me the picnic shoulder is lower down the front leg than the butt, where the butt is higher up around the shoulder blade of the pig. Close enough. I'm not over thinking it, it's just a big hunk of pork leg and I'm pretty sure it'll end up pretty good unless I seriously botch something. It looks like a perfect hunk of meat for smoking to me and it was cheep.

I trimmed the skin off mine. I just didn't see it doing much for the meat other than blocking smoke from absorbing. I left about a half inch of fat though because I want that to sort of baste the meat. That might have been a mistake but I'm okay with it if it was.

I made and applied a rub like I said, lower on sugar (mostly salt, chili, garlic, and spices with just a little brown sugar) and it's setting wrapped in the fridge just hanging out until Sunday morning.

 

Make sure to post result pics.

 

Todays cook!