Behold My Butt! (2003–2006)

[Abra]

Lovely, Mike. If I were home I'd show Riley that he's supposed to do what Arlo's doing, instead of skulking off in disgust because we won't feed him pork.

I'm going to do ribs next weekend for a Walla Walla wine tasting. Have I mentioned on this thread that Col. Klink's rub is awesome when applied lightly to ribs?

[lancastermike]

Here they are a full twelve and one half hours after they started, the WSM is still holding at 250.  They are now resting in foil, prior to being pulled.

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Here is the final result, a big pile of pulled pork, all smoky and wonderful.

A nice day and a nice smoke. We won't be able to finish all of this so some will be given away to some lucky friends. Arlo may even get a piece or two if he is a good dog.

[alanz]

In an earlier messages, someone asked how long butts or shoulder take to cook for pulled pork.

The length of time the meat needs to smoke is determined by the temperature of the cooker and the thickness of the meat.

I typically cook 8 lb butts at 225-240 degrees for 16-18 hours. Also keep in mind that the meat stops absorbing smoke after the first few hours.

One nice thing about cooking butts is that three cook in pretty much the same time as one does, and the resulting product freezes beautifully in foodsaver bags which can be defrosted as boiling bags.

Edited August 29, 2005 by alanz (log)

[Marlene]

So here's a question. Should you smoke beef and pork together, or should they be done separately. Now that I'm going to be staying put at home finally, I might be able to try this new smoker we have. I've got a couple of pork shoulders and a mess of beef ribs that I'd like to try. I figured I could put the shoulders on top and the ribs on the bottom rack of the Smokey Mountain, but I thought I should check first.

[woodburner]

Are they whole shoulder's? In my opiinion you will fare quite well with the shoulders on the top rack. I dd a few racks of beef ribs yesterday for dinner, and let them cook for about 6 hours on the top rack along with a 5 1/2lb spacthcocked chicken which cooked for 5 hours.

Both were outstanding.

Once you have reached a nice level of confidence with your abilities , experiment cooking the shoulders, sans the water pan.

woodburner

[Marlene]

They are whole, bone in shoulders. I've 3 racks of beef ribs as well. Since the shoulders cook longer, I guess I should start them first and then add the beef ribs later?

[woodburner]

Yes, the shoulders should go on first, and they will average about 1 1/2 hours per pound to cook. They are also fairly forgiving regarding temperature, so anywhere between 225º and 275º should be fine.

By doing the ribs on the bottom rack the temperature will be a little bit cooler than the top rack, so that will work out fine. Personally I like to keep the ribs at about the 225 mark, so they don't dry on the surface.

As a side note, If your ribs look like this, remove the membrane from the back side, before cooking, as this will provide a better mouth feel when eating.

Cook the ribs, bone side up.

woodburner

[snowangel]

Why bone side up? I always do fat side up so that the melting fat bastes the meat.

[woodburner]

Conventional wisdom would lead one to believe that melted fat and heated meat juices will only flow down. If you ever have seared a steak over hot coals you'll see that juices also flow from the top of the steak, which is not facing the fire.

Ribs are naturally contoured, with the bone side being curved. By cooking bone side up, you keep the meat away from the direct heat source on a WSM which comes from above. After 6 hours of cooking beef ribs, there is still some melted fat which will lay in the curvature, keeping them self basted the whole time.

I'll document this next time, with some digital images.

woodburner

[Stone]

Why bone side up?  I always do fat side up so that the melting fat bastes the meat.

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I usually smoke my ribs vertically.

However, the general wisdom with briskets leans towards fat-side down. Butts have so much fat that I don't think it would make a difference.

[snowangel]

By cooking bone side up, you keep the meat away from the direct heat source on a WSM which comes from above.

woodburner

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Ah, that explains it. I'm smoking over indirect on a Kettle.

[alanz]

More importantly, it's lovely to have pork fat (from the shoulder) dripping down onto beef ribs (or brisket). Great basting!

[fifi]

More importantly, it's lovely to have pork fat (from the shoulder) dripping down onto beef ribs (or brisket).  Great basting!

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I have always wanted to put some chicken on the bottom rack of my WSM under some pork butts.

[woodburner]

A friend and luckily a fairly close neighbor, has approached me and inquired about a pig cooking party in mid October. I can fit a 60lb pig in my cooker. I countered his offer with me cooking about 6, 7-9lb butts for his 35 guests. Unless presentation was his goal, I explained that he would get more smoked meat for his dollar.

I can purchase a 60 lb. whole pig for $1.00/per pound. Does anyone know what the edible yield might be from a pig this size?

I do know the butts will yield about 5-6 lbs each after cooking and pulling the bone, pricing for the butts are at $1.69/lb.

woodburner

[jackal10]

Marinating and after smoking..

Mixed with Abra's special sauce (Thank's Abra!) it soon disappeared.

In fact about 100 people quickly disposed of 20Kgs of meats, 20Kg bread, 50 bottles of champagne and a whole heap of other stuff..all that was left was a little coleslaw...

Edited September 19, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[Abra]

Wow, 50 bottles of champagne! It sounds like your cider pressing party was a great success. I'd have given a lot to hear your guests exclaim over the turducken, not to mention the American BBQ sandwiches, and my very own sauce. I think I should rename it Transatlantic Sauce in honor of your party.

What did you serve for sweets after this extravaganza?

[rooftop1000]

Yesterday at our motorcycle club meeting a member announced a Pig roast at his place in 2 weeks, he also mentioned alot of the details would depend on the chef...pointing at me Ok fine I am a genious I know that ....fine I will drive across 2 counties and go cook a pig in 2 weeks.

We go on our last schedualed ride and I oops and ask "ed" if he is coming to the bbq, spend the rest of the snack break discussing Jewish dietary law, Trichinosis and Tradition

Then last night out of the blue I find my husband researching smokers online...we use a weber, oh wait I use a weber kettle, he hasnt touched a grill since I pulled off better wings than his in the oven .

He just called from Home Despot he bought a Charbroil Silver Smoker and said go get a butt

http://www.charbroil.com/smokers/offset_smokers.asp

guess I have to run to the store

tracey

[rooftop1000]

So, if you build it there will be pork

yes that is a log cabin....after a meaningful discussion about where to put the beast...( lakefront home streetside is back door/kitchen door - normal homes front yard) so we have a smoker on the "front lawn" I won ....for now. Neighbors dont care they want meat

Fired it up last night to burn off the packing oil and this morning puppy and I cook

three hours in this uses alot more charcoal than the Weber

tracey

[lancastermike]

Thats nice looking butt, tracey. As to charcoal usage, I use a Weber Smokey Moutain so i can't compare. Some folks with offset smoker burn wood only. I think Abra is one of those wood burners who uses an offset and maybe she will post about the charcoal usage. Any smoke is a good one. I just finished my lunch at work which included two smoked chicken thighs that i did this weekend.

Edited for spelling and real lousy grammar

Edited October 18, 2005 by lancastermike (log)

[rooftop1000]

9 pounds of fresh ham and 8 hours of smokin' New grill isnt bad takes alot more fuel and needs to be shoveled out unlike the Weber, but I just happen to have a wood stove shovel.

The meat probabley could have gone another few hours, was more of the slicing than pulling texture but I was hungry Should reheat very nicely...

for your tuesday drooling pleasures....I really need to get a job

tracey

[woodburner]

Headed for a smoke bath in the morning. Among the two 8lb butts, are a brisket flat and a few racks of beef ribs, plus a few chicken halves.

I'm a Chris Lilly pork injection covert, apple cider, water, brown sugar, and wooster sauce.

There is some leakage, but for the most part it stays inside the pork.

wish me luck.

woodburner

[Abra]

I do burn logs in my offset smoker, and have only used little bits of charcoal when I needed just a tiny tweak to the fire. I would think that all charcoal would really use a lot. If you can get hardwood logs, then you can use smoke chips for additional flavor.

Edited November 6, 2005 by Abra (log)

[fifi]

My offset smoker (now in a foster home) is about identical to yours and used a lot more fuel as well. At least as compared to the Weber Bullet. I also found that logs did better. I did as Abra says and typically used briquets to get it started and used logs after that with maybe some briquets to pump up the temp if I needed to. Looks lovely. Now that it has cooled down enough to hang out on the balconey, I have to do some smoking.

[lancastermike]

Have butt on the WSM as we speak. Right now it is stuck in plateu and will be for a while. Also did a freezer check and found some hot sauage and a couple of pork chops.First butt in a while, I will go look for the camera

[maui420]

hi everyone,

what do you do to 'kick' up pulled pork? i like some crunch, so sometimes i add some crispy bacon. i was wondering what else everyone does? pulled pork is not that big up here in NJ. i also find that i dont think spicy rub goes well with the bark. maybe sweet is the best way to go. ideas?

im planning to introduce pulled pork to this week long upcoming christmas church party we have here. maybe from there, i can see if its good, and maybe take some orders since most people at the party will be family.