I had an epiphany


 
G

Geo S

TVWBB Super Fan
Like I said in another post I just got a WSM22, I think this is the model Fred Flintstone uses to cook a dinosaur. I don't "need" the capacity it's capable of since Mammoths are extinct, but my daughter insisted I had to have it, and it was cheap....So I figure I need to cook more product at the same time to get some effiency out of it, plus I'm cheap and don't want to waste the charcoal. I don't usually do a long cook, but hey, it's hot anyway so why not? So I'm going to add some butts next cook. But, here's the thing, my lovely spouse doesn't care for most meats. I have to burn her ribs on the grill just so she can eat the burnt offerings off of them, pulled pork doesn't do it for her. So I get this idea, she'll eat some of the blackened bark off of stuff, why not cut the butts in half and get almost twice as much bark plus a shorter cooking time.

Am I off base with this logic? Should I just toss her a briquet to gnaw on? Anyone else have to cook for a crazy person? ;)
 
Something we do when making pork carnitas is to braise the butt in a spicy broth and shred, then reduce the braising liquid by about 75% until it's syrupy. Then the shredded port is mixed back in to the sauce, then whole mess spread out on a baking sheet and put under the broiler until the pork shreds get brown and crispy on the edges.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't do something similar on a smoker... put the pulled pork back on high heat and re-smoke for an hour or so until it all becomes like burnt ends.
 
I've done what you're suggesting, Geo, with the idea of creating more surface area for spice penetration. It worked. Quartered a boneless shoulder. Cooked fast. Lots of bark. Good smoke and spice penetration. The ratio of bark to meat was a little more than the wife and I like, but it might be just right for you and yours.
 
I always cut larger butts in half. More bark, shorter cook. Anything 8lbs and up is fair game.

Edit:

BTW, I can't even imagine having 'too much space' on a smoker!
 
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