col klink

Ahh, I just realized something, you completely break apart and mix all of the pork together before you serve! I just pull the butt off the smoker and then I basically have to get out of the way before my guests starting eating me as well! We basically just pull off portions and try not to get pork fat all over ourselves. I can totally see why you like a crisp bark, it adds to the overall texture.

Thanks for the advice sacre bleu, I appreciate it. It's been noted on the forum that the el cheapo water smokers that you speak of are definitely horseshit. I've had plenty of experience with the smokey mountain and I definitely encourage its use. I use a Chargriller Smokin' Pro myself and hardwood logs, whatever I can get my hands on. jmcgrath, I certainly understand your position, it's just that I'm not a fan of a crunchy and possibly tough exterior. I've also come to the conclusion that most of the flavor is in the fat so I try to maximize it (within reason) whenever I smoke. But it's all up to individual tastes. toliver, my meat theory is going to cover grilling and smoking as well as the various temperatures involved. I'll make sure to cover different types of wood as well as brining versus marinades versus rubs. It won't be a magnum opus, but it should be informitive. Hmmm, I'm starting to think that starting out with a slab of meat that will take 10 to 14 hours may not be the best to start out with. This course is supposed to encourage people to smoke more and not frighten them from the long hours. Would turkey be better? Even a 25 bird will finish in less than 3 hours when brined. Plus that will get people excited to do turkey for Thanksgiving. Actually, with the carcus, they can make stock and retrieve the fat for doing gravy at Thanksgiving. Smoked turkey fat and stock makes the best gravy.

You're in luck, September 27th I'm running a class on smoking meat. Y'all want me to go through a pork shoulder? I'm just starting on the curriculum right now. There's going to be some meat theory, how to smoke with a weber, and a bullet. I'm not sure what everyone would like to see in a class. One of the reasons I was made coordinator was so that I could bring all of this information together, but with the prepping for a wedding, the wedding, buying a house, buying a new truck, the move, the movers not moving our belongings and working on the new house, I've had quite a busy summer and I haven't been able to do my duty. However, now that I have a bed to sleep on and internet access at home, I can concentrate on what's important -- meat, glorious meat. So what do you guys want to know?

For the shoulders avec skin, take it off and leave as much fat as possible Skin blocks access to the meat and you end up with a less smokey product. Since the shoulder doesn't have much of a fat cap (< .5"), I'd still mop, but not as much. For a typical butt without a fat cap, 5 lbs to 7+ lbs, I'd start mopping with after 3 hours, repeating every half hour with you mop of choice. With a fat cap I'd still mop and start at 3 hours into it, but probably would only mop every 45 minutes to an hour. Total time in the smoker is 10 to 12 hours. The reason why I mop my butts is not so much a fear that it will dry out (though it can happen if you don't pay enough attention to the fire), but to add an acidic aspect to the final product without drowning it in sauce. Smoked pork shoulders are very heavy beasts and the acid in the mop helps to cut through that so you can add more pork fat to your arteries in a given sitting. My mops don't tend too far from a mustard vinaigrette, evoo, mustard and your choice of vinegar. I also add plenty of hot sauce too or add more or less mustard. The only thing I wouldn't add to it is sugar (sugar, if desired, can be added within the last half hour) since it tends to burn. You can make Thai and Indian inspired mops by adding curry pastes or more tradional mops by adding burbon, tomato sauce and appropriate spices. I rarely use tomato based sauces because I found early on in my experiments that they reduced the overall smokiness of the meat, especially pork.

Toliver, the butt is actually part of the shoulder, it's the top part, above the shoulder joint. And teh shoulder is the one cut of pork that doesn't really need a fat cap though it does help for smoking and long sessions in the oven if roasted dry. If you don't have the fat cap, just mop/baste every half hour and you'll be fine. As to the butchers, I'm pretty sure they're trained to trim all excess fat. The public at large demands it as part of their desire for healthier living. The meats that are put on sale either that way for a "quick sale" or their distributers gave them a deal, usually that is. I doubt that they were on sale due to incompetence. edit: The only way I can think of to get fat caps on shoulder, butts or otherwise, is to buy them with the skin on. In Seattle, the Vietnamese grocery stores in the International District would sell shoulders with skin. You'll probably have to find an ethnic grocery store with a butcher or start talking to your grocery store's butcher and find out where they buy their meat. Maybe you can talk with the distributer and get something closer to what you're looking for.

The butt is my favorite cut of pork, well, the whole shoulder is really. The shoulder is the one cut of pork that doesn't really need all of it's surface fat since the shoulder is already 20% fat throughout the muscle. However, if you have a choice between two butts and one has more fat, go with the fat.

I second the nomination for a keg of Cinder Cone from Deschutes, it's what Batgrrrl and I had at our wedding. Not only did the serious beer snobs love it but so did the relatives from the Midwest. You simply cannot go wrong with it by anyone. Make sure to talk to your keg distributer and reserve one. Of course, since it's a seasonal, I don't know if they're going to repeat it. Hale's is a great brewery and they're pale ale is great as one of your "lighter" beers. Some day take a day trip to both Hales brewpub (8th and Leary in Ballard) and Maritime Pacific's brewpub (the Jolly Roger, Leary and 15th in Ballard, right under the 15th Ave bridge). I'm a huge fan of Maritime's Nightwatch dark amber -- it's like Deschute's Black Butte Porter but lighter. A fascinating beer. While you're at the Jolly Roger, order a fried pickle and their onion rings. They smoke their onions before frying them with panko! Easily the best onion rings (and fries) in the city.

I do the opposite of trussing, I cut the skin between the breasts and the legs to allow the heat in. If I don't, I pull the chicken out when the breast reaches 165 and the inner thighs aren't finished. Blegh. Congrats on discovering brining! You'll never go back.

Of course I had to leave BEFORE the competition.

The Butcher Shoppe rocks.

That wasn't me in the photo (I wish it was though ). Here's all three winners. That's me on the left (Best Beer - Schmidt's), Elf is in the middle (Best Vittles - Deep Fried Twinkies) and of course Humpy on the right (short for Humphries) -- Here we are making ingravings for the trophies -

I'm so sorry, I'm sure I was joking! I'm also pretty sure that I also went on to explain that for a long time I've been wanting to try my hand at bacon as well, but I've been waiting to set it up old-school style with firewood. As y'all might've guessed, it's considerably more difficult to set up. But now that my new wife and I have our own house, we can totally tear up the yard! Construction will start in September (the movers still haven't arrived yet and I still need rewire a good portion of the house) and I'll be posting a lot of pictures. Congrats on your bacon Really Nice! I whole-heartedly believe you made much better bacon than anywhere else in the city. I'm jealous! By the way, I didn't take the crown with me to Duluth -- it's actually a belt (like boxing) and the belt is a regional. Right now the belt is open to anyone who'd like to take it. All you have to do is host events with your smoked meat to be crowned. As I see it, right now Really Nice is the top contender but Schielke has expressed interest and even smoked up a couple of things. However, look out for Tad! His exurberence might overtake everyone . . . And welcome Tad! Everyone here shares your joy of food and a number of us enjoy your zeal for smoking. That reminds me, making your own bacon transcends just the PacNW, we need this thread moved!

Thanks! Unfortunately all of my belongings (including my computer) are still in Seattle. Luckily though, my wife's new office is up and running!

Try the Butcher Shop in Ballard, if they don't have it in stock (usually the case except for a couple of cuts) they can order for you. edit: usually the case for most cuts of pork. Also, The Butcher Shoppe is located at 1918 NW 65th, and can be reached at 783-0454.

My wife made a lime jello/cool whip pie in a pre-made crust with chopped marachino cherries and cool whip on top: I suppose your's is equally white trash, although you might want to gussie it up a little bit with some cool whip.

We also deep fried this: and it came out like this: Mmmmm, Vienna sausages . . . This was the baking sheet of li'll smokies at the end of the night: Each smokies was wrapped in a slice of highly processed American cheese, dressed with bottled BBQ and then set in the oven until it turned to heaven. Oh yeah, here was the winner of the best costume award: Unfortunately it's difficult to make out his PBR belt buckle and his cut-off-almost-Daisy-Dukes jeans. Damn, I need one of those belt buckles.

Unfortunately my dish had to change at the last moment and I brought a crock pot with hashbrowns, two cans of Olympia beer (reduced), a 2lb brick of Velveeta and a can of hickory smoked flavored Spam. Unfortunately it didn't win. This is what did win though: Yup, deep fried twinkies -- they were really freakin' good.

So you're using coals. If it's running too hot, use less coals and/or spread the coals out so they're less concentrated. It's pretty easy to snuff a fire. I would buy the side firebox from Chargriller. It's a pretty easy installation (except for punching out a couple of holes) and you'll have a real firebox that you can use actual firewood in. You'll get better tasting meat that way. Also, with the firebox, you have easy access to the fire without lifting the lid of the smoker. I can't recommend it enough.

Actually, if you're doing a whole hog, hickory would probably be a little too much. Whole hog takes a long, long time and hickory is a very powerful wood. Maple would be better and more than likely alder would be too weak.

Here's what I wrote a while ago: Since I've posted that, I've added fire bricks, two on each side of the fire grate, 1/2" thick and I wouldn't think of going back, they're a necessity. As for "leaks", I've had mine for almost three years and I've abused the hell out of it without having any problems with leaks. What temperatures are you trying to maintain? How are you using the air intake and what are you trying to do with the smoker? Is it running too cold? too hot?

D'oh! I never answered you inquirey. Sorry about that. I learned from my father-in-law that you boil for three hours in water with salt, pepper, cloves and juniper berries. After that you peel the skin. Last night I was running out of time at my bbq and only boiled for an hour. What should've been an easy peel turned into a really tiresome project. Also, I only smoked it for five hours (people were getting restless and it was getting late) instead of six. There was a noticable lack of quality in the end product, the tip of the tongue had dried out and the base (underneath the tongue) hadn't really rendered properly and I didn't get the smoothness I was looking for. The tongue itself though was quite tasty. So in summation, boil for three hours, peel and then smoke for 6 hours at 200 to 225. Pretend it's a brisket and go by feel as to when you should pull it off, you don't really need to look at the temp. edited to add: I haven't smoked with pecan before but it's my understanding that it's not a strongly flavoring wood. Beef tongue is a tough cut with plenty of it's own flavor and woods like maple, oak, hickory and mesquite would be a little more appropriate. What will probably happen if you smoke with pecan is that it won't be as smokey as you were hoping for.

Nope, can't say that I have but I can say that I'm jealous. Luckily for me though Batgrrrl and I had another truly amazing meal served up by Hajime. We also did a sake tasting and man alive we've been missing out. I just leave this post with our first of 13 courses, raw octopus. It was a first for us and totally amazing! There's actually a good chance that I'll be able to write this meal up. No kidding!

And on the sixth day, God created bacon . . . (sung to I've got rhythm) I love bacon! I love bacon, I love bacon! Who could ask for anything more?

You'd definitely have to rotate the little guy, as there are temp variations in the bullet. More than likely the pig will be too big for your bullet. Last year I looked into smoking a suckling pig and my butcher told me that pigs under 50 lbs are considered "suckling" and regardless of actual weight, a suckling pig would cost around $130. At 50lbs, the pig wouldn't fit on my Smokin' Pro. Not only that, I could feed a lot more people with two fresh hog legs for half the price. But of course you wouldn't be eating suckling pig.

Word. http://www.buttsacrossamerica.com/ We're talking about smoking and eating butts, does this make you a cannibal?