Smokin a Pork Shoulder tomorrow

[MikeFishes]

Got some from Costco, going to fire it up tomorrow morning. I'll grab some pics.

[scott080379]

are you using a rub....care sharing how you are planning on preping this hunk of meat....what kind of wood are you using?

[MikeFishes]

are you using a rub....care sharing how you are planning on preping this hunk of meat....what kind of wood are you using?

It's in the smoker now.

Since this is my first try at smoking a pork shoulder I'm going pretty basic. Just a basic rub with salt, brown sugar, paparika, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and celery seed. I put it on just before getting it in the smoker. I'm using mesquite wood chunks. I wanted hickory but couldn't find any (and didn't want to drive around the county looking for just wood).

I heard it could take up to an hour and 15min per pound to smoke. we'll see.

[scott080379]

the time is going to depend on your temp as well.

[The Quadfather]

are you using a rub....care sharing how you are planning on preping this hunk of meat....what kind of wood are you using?

It's in the smoker now.

Since this is my first try at smoking a pork shoulder I'm going pretty basic. Just a basic rub with salt, brown sugar, paparika, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and celery seed. I put it on just before getting it in the smoker. I'm using mesquite wood chunks. I wanted hickory but couldn't find any (and didn't want to drive around the county looking for just wood).

I heard it could take up to an hour and 15min per pound to smoke. we'll see.

Rac, I know you live near Lake WA. but if you are ever in Ballard you should stop by http://www.sutterhearth.com/

in old Ballard. They have a Woodinville location also, but I can't vouch for what they carry in Woodinville. Anyway.... this place has EVERY KIND OF SMOKING wood that you could ask for. And it all is in CHUNK forum. They have a ton of bbq and smoking supplies also. But they are def. the place for wood variety.

[saltyseadog]

doin up a pork shoulder on the treager tomorrow as well.

[MikeFishes]

10 1/2 hours later, the meat finally reached 180. One thing that I'm wondering about. There's a smoke ring, but it's not that deep. I've seen some meat that the smoke ring is in deep. How do you get it so deep? Not that mine doesn't taste good.

One thing that I will change next time is I will let the meat go up to 190 to make sure all the connective tissue is broken down. Some of it wasn't falling appart like I was hoping.

Oh, and speaking of temps, my meat got stuck at 160 for about an hour. I know that brisket hit's a plateau, but I didn't think pork would.

Here's the finished results:



The thing that I love is the smell. It smells just like what you would think a BBQ would smell like. Notice the smoke ring (sorry about the size, I did resize it at PB):



And the final product:

[saltyseadog]

did you foil it after smoking it?

[tommytitan08]

Mike Home depot also sells hickory and mesquite in the form of chunks and chips.

[Kfisherman]

Looks yummy. Building a Smoker is on my To Do list for the summer. Right after the yard, garage, canoe modifications, new target stands, work bench, shelving the garage, painting the house, extending the patio, and fire pit. I'll get there.

[MikeFishes]

did you foil it after smoking it?

Yep, last 2 1/2 hours it was in the foil, let it stand for about 20 min after.

One thing I didn't do that I thought about was using a mop. That would have enhanced the flavor a bit more. But to be honest, it was just about perfect as it was. Not too smokey, not to salty, not to spicy.

[MikeFishes]

Looks yummy. Building a Smoker is on my To Do list for the summer. Right after the yard, garage, canoe modifications, new target stands, work bench, shelving the garage, painting the house, extending the patio, and fire pit. I'll get there.

Good luck! Are you going to make one you can do cold smoking in to? After smoking some cheese, I'm convinced I need a smoker that I can use for cold smoking.

[RJD]

Mike You inspired me to do the same. I just finished making my Rub and Vinegar basting sauce. Can't wait. I do have a question though. I have an electric Brinkman Gourmet smoker and I plan on using steam as well as apple wood. My smoker heats up to about 225-240 degrees. The meat I'm smoking is a Pork Butt of about 3 1/2#'s. You mentioned smoking yours for 10.5 hrs. Is your smoker heating like mine? Can I expect 10 plus hrs tomorrow too? Did you smoke it for 3 hrs or so then wrap it in foil or did you smoke it longer. This is my first time smoking something other than fish. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[MikeFishes]

Mike You inspired me to do the same. I just finished making my Rub and Vinegar basting sauce. Can't wait. I do have a question though. I have an electric Brinkman Gourmet smoker and I plan on using steam as well as apple wood. My smoker heats up to about 225-240 degrees. The meat I'm smoking is a Pork Butt of about 3 1/2#'s. You mentioned smoking yours for 10.5 hrs. Is your smoker heating like mine? Can I expect 10 plus hrs tomorrow too? Did you smoke it for 3 hrs or so then wrap it in foil or did you smoke it longer. This is my first time smoking something other than fish. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Well, I'm not really sure how big mine was since it came in a two pack. What I did use was a meat thermometer to make sure the shoulder got to 180. As I said it seemed to get stuck at 160 and took at least an hour to get to 161. So once it got close to 170 I pulled it out and wrapped it in foil and cooked it the rest of the way in the foil. If you don't get one of those thermometers that you can keep in the meat while it's in the smoker then get an instant read one so you can tell when the meat is done.

As for temp, 225 should be perfect. No need to go much more above that. Also, you probably already know, you don't need to smoke it the entire time. If it's 1 hour 15 min per pound then you may be looking at 4 and 1/2 hours total time. But the big thing is temp.

Next time I do this I'll go to 190 and maybe foil a bit sooner.

Good luck! let us know how it turned out!

[smoke14]

I prefer to smoke the butt for 4-5 hours with a mix of hickory and apple wood. Put on a cajun spicy rub after basting with olive oil, helps keep the rub on the butt. After smoking I tranfer to a roasting pan place it in the oven at 300 until it falls
apart when trying to pick it up.

[RJD]

After a night of tending the smoker I pulled the Pork Butt out this morning. Looks good and smells good. I learned a few lessons. I should of spent less time smoking it and more time cooking it with the foil on it. Regaurdless it turned out well. I like what smoke14 had to say and will try that next time around. Thanks Mikefishes for inspiring me to try something other than fish. Just a side note for all you guys wanting to smoke something unique. Try "Dog Fish". Yep you heard me right-it smokes up nice and is pretty good to eat. I'll try to attach a picture or two but I have never done that so I can't say how it will come out.