Smoking Pork Butt
This is the second part in my smoking adventures. Last time I smoked two racks of pork ribs. They turned okay. I was going to try doing pulled pork with the smoker this time. I have done pork in the electric smoker numerous times. My friends seem to enjoy it a lot. Pork butt is a forgiving meat so maybe it will turn out better than the ribs.
The pork butt I got was 11 pounds. I put the pork in brine of sea salt, white sugar, and apple cider vinegar overnight in the fridge.
The rub was ground black pepper, sea salt, brown sugar, and chili powder. I did not go nuts on the brown sugar this time. I do like it sweet and spicy.
I put the pork butt in the smoker around 5 pm. I used oak wood. I controlled the temperature a lot better this time. It seemed like a log of oak provided the right temperature for about an hour. The temperature stayed between 225-275 degrees. It was a little bit cooler this night as well.
I got this cool thermometer from a friend as a housewarming gift. It is wireless. You can leave the probe in the meat and check the temperature reading from the receiver. There are audible alerts when the meat gets to a certain temperature. The only thing I do not like is the highest temperature alert goes off at 180 degrees. I was shooting for around 185-190. I feel like I am sort of cheating with this gadget.
It took about 11 hours for the meat to hit 190 degrees. I pulled it off the smoker, wrapped it in paper first then foil, and threw it in a cooler with a towel wrapped around it. The meat would cook a little bit and stay warm for a while.
I took the meat out of the cooler around noon, and it was still hot. I pulled the pork apart pretty easy with two forks. The bone also came out without any effort.
The pulled pork turned out pretty well. Everyone liked it, and there was not that much left over when the seven of us were done with it. It tasted delicious without any sauce. Next time I will use a little more rub. I was hoping it would be spicy, but it was not. I will also rotate the meat in the smoker too. I probably lost about a half of pound of meat because some of the meat was charred closer to the fire. It probably happened when I added new wood and heat was a little high for a moment. The backside of the pork could have been done a little bit more. Hey it is called barbecue. You live and learn. Brisket, you are next.
Until next time, happy smoking....
The pork butt I got was 11 pounds. I put the pork in brine of sea salt, white sugar, and apple cider vinegar overnight in the fridge.
The rub was ground black pepper, sea salt, brown sugar, and chili powder. I did not go nuts on the brown sugar this time. I do like it sweet and spicy.
I put the pork butt in the smoker around 5 pm. I used oak wood. I controlled the temperature a lot better this time. It seemed like a log of oak provided the right temperature for about an hour. The temperature stayed between 225-275 degrees. It was a little bit cooler this night as well.
I got this cool thermometer from a friend as a housewarming gift. It is wireless. You can leave the probe in the meat and check the temperature reading from the receiver. There are audible alerts when the meat gets to a certain temperature. The only thing I do not like is the highest temperature alert goes off at 180 degrees. I was shooting for around 185-190. I feel like I am sort of cheating with this gadget.
It took about 11 hours for the meat to hit 190 degrees. I pulled it off the smoker, wrapped it in paper first then foil, and threw it in a cooler with a towel wrapped around it. The meat would cook a little bit and stay warm for a while.
I took the meat out of the cooler around noon, and it was still hot. I pulled the pork apart pretty easy with two forks. The bone also came out without any effort.
The pulled pork turned out pretty well. Everyone liked it, and there was not that much left over when the seven of us were done with it. It tasted delicious without any sauce. Next time I will use a little more rub. I was hoping it would be spicy, but it was not. I will also rotate the meat in the smoker too. I probably lost about a half of pound of meat because some of the meat was charred closer to the fire. It probably happened when I added new wood and heat was a little high for a moment. The backside of the pork could have been done a little bit more. Hey it is called barbecue. You live and learn. Brisket, you are next.
Until next time, happy smoking....
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