My cook today.....

[BARDSLJR]

Well, it has been a long time since I have visited the Forum, and even longer since I have posted, but yes, guys and gals, I am still alive and cooking. So, my best friend is coming in from Baton Rouge tomorrow for the week, and although Lee and Debbie love barbecue, he doesn't have a smoker and doesn't want to do it himself, so I am going to send him home with probably at least a whole pork shoulder, cut into serving sizes, vaccum-sealed and frozen. Happily, it reheats rather nicely, and especially since it is in a vacuum package already, sous vide is the preferred method.

I got the smoker all prepared last night so I could start this morning around 8 for a 9 or 10 hour cook and got things going around that time. I don't know if anyone else does this, but I put my meat in the cold smoker first and then start it up- as Meathead Goldwyn tells us in his great book, "Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", meat only absorbs smoke up to the point the surface temperature reaches 135* (F), so why not put your meat in the cold, in the cold smoker, and then start things up so you get the benefit of all that start-up time? Why wait until the smoker is at cooking temp goal (in this case, 270*)? Why not let the meat warm up gradually? So here we are at 8 AM (ish), the smoker just getting going, with four pork shoulders (thank you, Costco!): we are going to eat well, and and so will several of my neighbors, my two daughters and their families, and my friend Lee is going to go home with several pounds of, I hope, excellent smoked pork shoulder for pulled pork. It is now 10:45 and according to my Fireboard software, the shoulders are now somewhere around 120*, on their slow journey to 203* by late afternoon sometime.

It's nice to be back, y'all.

[BARDSLJR]

I should also mention that I prepared the pork shoulders the night before, with a heavy dusting of Dizzy Pig's Crossroads southern rub mix, then rewrapped and back in the fridge overnight. It will be interesting to see how the bark comes out on these shoulders.

[Cheesehead_Griller]

Well, how did it turn out? 

[BARDSLJR]

Well, I am very pleased to report that it turned out GREAT. Maybe the best I've done yet. Good smoke and delicious, crunchy bark. Moist and tender. Everything I could want in pulled pork. We made sandwiches for dinner on big Hawaiian buns- mine with a coleslaw base and some good Johnny Harris's barbecue sauce. It was make-your-eyes-roll-to-the-back-of-your-head-and-see-god good. Haven't had that experience since the last time I wen to LA Barbecue in Austin and had the brisket sandwich.  I think this is the recipe for me from now on. Interesting that there was such a variation in cooking time required for each of the four shoulders. I suppose variations in size and weight and maybe moisture content are the explanation, but one was at 203* at exactly 10 hours, as planned, and the last one took 11 1/2 hours to reach that temp. Interesting.....

Since we had the smoker going, threw a chicken- halved- and a few breasts on there for good measure. Haven't tasted any of them yet.

[John T]

Nice looking cook, but regarding the cold start - from the experts on this forum, I understand that the initial (white) smoke that is emitted isn't particularly tasty.  (Lots of eye burning wood alcohol in the smoke.)  The gurus say that best practice is to wait for blue smoke before putting the meat into the KK.  I confess to often jumping the gun, and the results still taste good.  But Dennis' words stick in my head.   Perhaps meat could spend a half hour in the freezer before going into the KK to lengthen the time it absorbs smoke. 

John

[BARDSLJR]

I think the freezing is an interesting idea. As for the smoke concern, perhaps one of the reasons this worked for me this time is that I used a 2/3rd-1/3rd mix of apple and cherry wood, and neither of those has a very strong flavor; if I had used oak or hickory the results might have been very different, e.g. , perhaps that creosote-like aftertaste.