Recent content by Geoff U.

I always cut my pork butts into pieces, sometimes as small as 2.5 pounds. I do this because you end up with more of the best parts - more bark, more smoke ring, more smoke flavor. I think Paul's concern about the meat suffering from being cooked too fast can be avoided by making sure your...

Cutting up butts to increase bark is a good way to go. I do it pretty much every time, and never had a problem with dryness. (I haven't ever done a picnic, only butts.) See this thread for a previous discussion on this very topic.

I've made jerk ribs and pulled pork, and they're both fantastic. Of all the stuff I smoke, they may be the most popular thing among my wife and friends. A couple tips: I'd recommend using a wet paste, like John W's recipe or my own, instead of a powder. Also, for pork butt, it's nice to...

Kevin - in answer to your follow-up to my question: I was most interested in sauce techniques/recipes using the drippings, but any information for making use of them would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin - Speaking for myself, I'm interested. Any details you could provide about making sauces with the drippings would be appreciated.

Here's another thing you can try: after you rinse the meat, smear a good hot sauce all over it before you smoke it. I did this on half of the batch of buckboard bacon I made, and it turned out great. The brand I used was Arizona Gunslinger, the habanero sauce. This brand has a thicker texture...

The Charbroil rack fits in a dishwasher, which cleans it up much better than you might think. Don't know if the Weber fits. Maybe dishwasher dimensions are another thing to keep in mind for a custom rack.

My ideal rack would be pretty simple - round with a slightly smaller diameter than the bottom grate of the WSM, and with vertical dividers all the way across. Like this: It would also have crossways horizontal grates on the bottom so that you could fill it up and carry it without anything...

I just used one probe, in one of the pieces that didn't have the bone in it, under the assumption you mentioned. I didn't want to try to remove the bone, so that piece was larger than the others. But I figured that the bone in the middle of it would conduct heat and bring its cooking time in...

Rob, I missed your earlier post, or I just would have added to that thread... nice pictures, too. I just finished a big old sandwich with the last of my leftovers (mmmm.... jerk pork), and now I'm pretty sure that I'll use this method whenever I have the grate space available.

Doug, there was no difference in texture. When I've done country ribs (cut from the shoulder) I thought they seemed a little more dry than a whole butt, but with the bigger hunks of butt I didn't get that. The only difference that I could tell, compared to a whole butt, was more bark. That's...

I've used the country ribs a bunch of times, and I like them, but I think I like the "bark ratio" and juiciness better with the larger pieces of butt that I cut myself. The smaller size of the country ribs makes it harder to position the thermometer probe, and makes me a little nervous about...

I've recently changed the way I cook pork butts, and I'm really happy with it. Basically, instead of cooking that big 7-8 pound hunk of meat whole, I cut or break it apart into 3 or 4 more-or-less equal-sized pieces. I haven't seen this method discussed before... don't know if that's because...

Just remembered - on the northwest side there's a place called the Gale Street Inn that's supposed to have great ribs. I haven't tried it yet, but I've always heard good things.

If you're going to be downtown or on the north side, you have to try Fat Willie's, on Schubert near Western. It's just south of the intersection of Western & Diversey, an easy cab ride from downtown. They do real low-and-slow smoked barbecue, not an imitation. Their pulled pork sandwich is...