3rd Smoke Underway!


 
Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor

TVWBB Member
Hey all! I'm an hour and a half into my 3rd smoke. I'm doing 4 pork butts, for a total of near 29 lbs trimmed. I'm following the mustard and rub recipe in the cooking section but using a foiled saucer instead of water. Things seem to be going fairly well so far. My temp seems to have stabilized at 232 on my Maverick right below the top grate. I'm using apple, oak, and hickory 3:3:1.

Here's a pic of how I was looking right at start. I forgot to take a pic of the meat, but you all know what that looks like anyway.

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A happy WSM indeed. I am trying to feed it often!

I picked up that umbrella at Costco yesterday. It seems like a great purchase. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone whose WSM sits near some grass. It's a beach umbrella that screws into the ground very securely. I was going to buy a canopy, but saw this and thought it was worth a shot at 20% of the price of the canopy I was looking at.
 
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8 hours in. Flipped and basted. Jostled the cooker just a touch. Took some temp readings and put the meat probe of the ET-732 in, and by all accounts it looks like I'm stalled out right at 160.

Here's how it was sitting just before I flipped it:

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Ed, at this point, neither can I! I'm doing this as an experiment to see how well the pork will freeze and transport. That's why I started in the morning rather than doing an overnight cook. I'm ready to be done though. For sure.

The good news is that I haven't had to add any fuel yet. I'm stuck at 180 though and my grate temp seems to be stuck as well, so I may have to give in.
 
So, I pulled the butts off the smoker at 10:30, after 14 and a quarter hours. Wrapped them and put them in a cooler for an hour. This was my first smoke without water. Here are some things I noticed.

1.) I can't remember why I went with oak as part of the wood. I'm not sure I would do that again.

2.) I pulled the meat off at ABOUT 190. There's a chance it could have been a bit lower. My thermometer isn't very good, but remedied that by ordering a Thermapen today. Any excuse for another toy. Luckily, my fiance supports my investment in any tool that will help me produce better food, however how incrementally so.

3.) The meat was less juicy and a bit tougher than my first attempt at PP. I'm not sure if this is due to a longer cook time, too low of heat, no water in the pan, taking it off too soon, or a combination thereof.

4.) This may be a reason for the dryness, but I hit a second stall at 180. I have no idea why this is, so I wasn't prepared for it. I responded by raising the heat from 230ish to 250 to 260 (as high as I could get it to go).

I vacuum sealed all of it, and tested out the reheat by boiling it in water. It did seem more tender after a thorough heating, so I'm operating under the assumption that I took it off too soon. Overall, not too bad.

If anyone has made it through reading all of this and has any tips, I would appreciate it!

And, finally, some pictures of the final product.

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Looks good to me Andrew! Not sure why they came out on the dry side. I always put mine in a pan and foil at 160 ish and use the liquid left in the pan if on the dry side. The last two I did were finished and very moist after about 6 hours. I also run my WSM around 275 to 300 or more.

Thanks for posting the final pics.
 
My hunch is that by cooking with no water at 230ish, I allowed to much time for the fat to render out. I contemplated adding the liquid (fat) back in, but my health-conscious mother's voice in my head prevented me from doing so. I know that I should have, since that was likely the moisture that I was looking for! When I reheated it, I used some chicken broth, and it helped to moisten it back up, just not the right type of moisture. I so think that letting it rest for longer would have been beneficial.

Either way, I know that the cook is often the harshest critic. It is still 'pretty' good.

Thanks for replying Ed!
 
You are correct, we usually are the most critical of our own cooks. I only use a foiled pizza pan in place of the water pan. When I have butts and brisket on the top, I put an aluminum pan under the meat to catch the drippings. I do that until they get to 160 ish, then, I get a new pan and foil up the meat. Not sure if I'm helping, as I use a high heat method, but yours sure look good to me. You could add some apple juice and maybe a little rub to the pulled pork to moisten it up. I have always found I like my smoked meats better after a rest in the fridge or freezer.
 
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You could try a finishing sauce although by now you may have it in the freezer. Alternatively when you serve it consider some of the Carolina Sauces to mix in with it. There are tomato based and mustard and vinegar based sauces that go real well. Something else really good when doing a PP sammich is to add coleslaw, it's awesome on the sammich.
 
Bob, that's a good question. I would swear it was more tender a while before I took it off, but the temp was still quite a way below 190. I tried with 3 different therms, but they all had similar readings. Should I have pulled them earlier?

Gary, I like my PP with vinegar sauce, so I applied a good amount of the Lexington sauce on this forum. It was delicious!

Overall, I'd still be ok serving the pork, it just wasn't quite what I hoped it would be.
 
Andrew, don't think the pan or lack of water had anything to do with it. Sometimes you just get a butt with not too much fat to render. Did the bone come out with little or no effort? That's how you tell if it's done. I always let the meat rest 1 1/2 to 2 hours wrapped in foil and towels. You can add some of the drippings in if it's still too dry. I 'd rather add some of my finishing sauce(tweaked number 5 sauce).
 
I used boneless butts, since that's what Costco stocks. They (I did 4) seemed to have a decent amount of fat to them, but I trimmed off quite a bit of it. Mainly the fat cap though. One of them did turn out pretty moist, though I can't really figure out why, as they were all roughly the same size.

I'm going to try using water and slightly smaller butts again. The first time I did PP, I was happy with the results, so I'll see if that makes the difference. If it does, then I can move on to tweaking rubs and trying injections and such. Either way, I know that cooking is a combination of art and science, so despite doing all the research I can tolerate, I'll need to get a feel for things as well. All part of the fun!
 
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