Hello and First Question


 
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BarryKuli

New member
::Hello::

My name is Barry and I am originally from NJ but have lived in New England for the past 12 years. I was recently gifted a WSM by my fiancé, Brooke, and would like to smoke something this weekend to make pulled pork. I have already conducted a dry run and picked out a piece of meat. The butcher I talked to suggested the end of the loin that runs into the butt (a little over 5 lbs., no bones). Not doing any research until I got home, I am unsure of how I should smoke this and would rather not look like a tool the first time I use my new gift.

Any help would be appreciated and I plan to share my experiences as I learn more.
 
Pork butts are the most forgiving piece of protein one could ask for as a first smoke. I think the boneless piece is pretty good, bone in tends to be even more forgiving. No matter, are you thinking about starting early morning? The reason I ask is that the actual time in the smoker is one thing, the (most important) rest time while important, is a great time influencer.
I will be doing a 10 lb. bone in butt this weekend, planning on an early start time with about nine hours smoke and two to three hours wrapped in foil and towels in a cooler. That allows time for sides to be prepared etc., making sure that the cocktail hour is not neglected! Bad form when that happens!
Good choice for the first run! Welcome to the hot mess that this kind of cooking will give you highs and frustration! “It will be done when it WANTS to be done”!
You will be fine.
This is a great place to learn! Chris is an amazing site manager! Seek and the recipe shall be found!
 
I have never done one without the bone. However I would recommend that you start earlier than you think you should. When I did my first pork butt my temps were all over the place and I couldn't get the fire to stay lit. But now I have managed to get my temps under control and I am slowly starting to get the hang of everything after about a year of smoking now. There is still a lot I have to learn and try but I'm looking forward to the adventure. If it doesn't turn out the way you want it to don't give up! It's a fun hobby to take up and I enjoy every second of it. There's just something about sitting next to your smoker on a hot summer day with a cold six pack near by. I'm fairly new to the smoking game as well but will try to answer and questions you have! Have fun and good luck!!
 
Barry, welcome, and congrats on a great gift! :) Any chance you can take a picture of the cut of meat you have so we can get a look at it? I know that the loin and the butt are adjacent to each other on the piggy, and I'll bet what you have is butt/shoulder, but it would be good to see it to confirm. If it's from the shoulder/butt, you are good for pulled pork. If it's a piece of the loin, then it's not going to make pulled pork.....not enough fat and connective tissue. If you can get us a picture, pretty sure we've all cooked enough pig parts that we can help you figure out what you've got (it's the description from the butcher that kinda has me scratching my head.....

As for bone in or boneless, in my experience, they cook exactly the same, so that's not an issue. Don't shy away from a bone in butt, though, when cooked to a finish temp between 195-205, that bone will pull right out with no resistance! :)

Stick around, helpful bunch here!

EDIT: Oh, and if you haven't already, go to the main portion of Chris' Virtual Weber Bullet, and read as much as you can. Chris has curated this awesome resource for Weber lovers for 30 years or so, and his collection of information will help you get the best our of your new WSM!

Rich
 
Thanks for the warm welcome. So here is one picture of the pork. The instructions say to smoke at 275 until internal is 190. Does that sound right to everyone? Anything else I should do?
 

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When I did my first butt...............yeah, when I did my first butt most of my guests preferred the meat naked, without any sauce on it compared to the smaller bowl I made with killer hogs vinegar sauce on it. The way the pork tasted just from the charcoal and wood was something else. I would make sure your guest(s) have the option to have some without sauce. Even putting some sauce on the sandwich just on the top seemed really a better choice than the pork mixed with bbq sauce. Hope it helps, you cannot mess it up, just hit your temps and all will be good. Welcome and have fun.
 
BarryKuli said:
Thanks for the warm welcome. So here is one picture of the pork. The instructions say to smoke at 275 until internal is 190. Does that sound right to everyone? Anything else I should do?
Click to expand...
I would never follow directions found on a package personally, I would search around here a lot there are a lot of tips on how hot to cook at and how long to cook it for and what temperature internally you need to reach, its mostly by feel rather than a number thou. Search around you will find your answers, I recently posted a cook on a shoulder about 2 weeks ago.
tvwbb.com

First slow n low pulled pork shoulder boneless

It’s 8 20 here in southern Ontario and it’s chilly out, about 5 degrees C...just getting the charcoal lit up and hope to get the meat on by 9. I have a 4.75 lb bone out tied pork shoulder, we are looking for tasty food by 6ish hopefully.
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com
 
Barry, that looks more like shoulder than loin to me! I think that temp-wise on pulled pork, you can cook anywhere between 225-300. It's a pretty forgiving piece of meat. I will typically cook PP around 250F, and I plan for it to take roughly 2 hours per pound. I don't cook to a temp, but rather a level of tenderness (when you insert a probe thermometer in the meat, in multiple places, it should go in/out like warm butter.) In my experience, that's going to happen in the neighborhood of 195-200F internal temp, though every hunk of piggy is different, so I'd start checking for tenderness at 190F. I'd plan for a 10 hour cook, plus one hour for anything unforeseen, with the knowledge that if it's done early, I can double wrap in foil and keep hot in a cooler with some towels.

Let us know if you have any more questions, and definitely let us know how the cook goes!!

R
 
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