Burgers just don’t cut it anymore…

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tailgator

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2009
2
10
So this past weekend my neighbor had a tail gate and I got out done. I was making burgers, beans, and coleslaw. He makes a whole pig and has greens. I am not quite to the level of a whole pig but I figure that smoking a pork butt might even the score a little. I can make my own BBQ sauce and I could cook the pork butt in the oven, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice for smoking a pork butt. I have a little electric smoker that does fine with chicken, but I find that it doesn’t throw out enough smoke to really get a good smoky flavor for a pork butt.
Anyone have any advice?
Game is away this weekend and we have a by-week the following, but the tail gate is going to be at my house in 3 weeks.
Thanks,
 
Welcome to SMF glad you decided to join us. You'll find lots of good info and recipes here. Lots of our members turn out some good BBQ on electric smokers. I would suggest signing up for Jeff's 5 Day Ecourse its free and has lots of great info. Unless the neighbor is a member here you should be able to find some things here that will make him cry uncle
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Have fun and happy smoking
 
Welcome Tailgator, Glad to have you with us. This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.

For Those of you New to Smoking, be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse.
Click Here it's "FREE"... 5 Day eCourse

Everyone here enjoys seeing the Qview so be sure to post plenty of pics...

Large ones that us old people with bad eyes can see.

When you uploading to Photobucket I always use the Large IMG setting, 640 x 480 it is a nice size...

How to post Qview to Forum:
 
First off welcome TailGator to SMF. You'll like it here cause there are abunch of good folks here that would just love to help you out with just about anythignto do with smoking. We really like to have newbies here because they can bring in a new propective to how things are done. There's nothing like a new set of eyes to give and new way to make things that little differant to make things alittle better. So I hope you know about the Qview here.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=58920
Here's a link to photobucket it's free and easy to download pictures. Then if your really new to smoking Look up the E-course.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...play.php?f=127
It's also free and it will give you the basics of smoking. So after all of that you just need to go grab something to smoke and if you have any question just post them here and we will answer it quickly so you don't have any mishaps with your smoke.
Welcome To Your New Addiction
 
Welcome to smf, glad to have you here. The 5 day course is a great place to start. I also recommend looking at the pork section, and the side dish section. Dutch's wicked beans are killer in any tailgate.

As for the smokey flavor You want to ensure that you have tbs through out the cook. That will put a great flavor and smoke ring in the meat.


Good luck and the last thing I can offer is to practice. I'm looking forward to seeing the q-view.
 
Pork butt is one of the best things to get started with smoking. Very forgiving and hard to mess up. Pick you out a rub... rub it down. Put it in the smoker with a rack temp of 225 to 250 and smoke it until it hits 190 - 200 degrees. The bone will pull right out. That simple. If you can smell your wood burnin you have enough smoke. Good luck and let us know how your butt turns out.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome,

so the difference between the oven and the smoker is about 100 degrees?when i would cook the pork butt in the oven i start at 400 degrees for an hour then drop it to 300 degrees for 4 hours and then 225 for at least an hour but until i am ready to eat. Last time I did it in the smoker I tried to keep the temperature about 300, but my little smoker just couldn’t keep that high of a temperature. At a lower temperature I would have to let it cook longer, and changing out the wood chips every 20 mins cuts into my football time after the first 2 or so hours. Should I just load up more wood chips in the pan and let the smoke build up and change less often or is there another trick? i tried soaking the wood chips in water for about 20 mins before i started but it took about the same amount of rotations. i know there is a trick, I just haven’t quite figured it out just yet.

Any more advice?

Thanks,
 
To answer your last post. You don't need to soak the wood, that just makes the production of the thin blue smoke start later. You will find that if you use bigger chunks of wood it will last longer than chips. Also there is what is called the minion method whereby you light one side of the charcoal pile and let the flame slowly move from one side of your firebox to the other. This will extend your burn time. Place wood chunks strategically along the flames route to stretch out the wood smoke time. Most of us cook at 220-240f making sure that the smoke is thin and blue not billowing and white. You do not want to have too much smoke at any time , this will cause creosote to form which is bitter and will give your meat a nasty taste.
If your wood is barely smoking it is still enough to empart a nice flavour to the meat. If you can smell the wood , its smoking.

Helljack6 does it a bit different smoking at 210f and timing the cook from His past experience to tell him what time it will be done.

Remember when your roast is done it still needs at least a 1/2 hour in foil to rest and for the juices to re-distribute through out for that really tender doneness.

The minion method takes a bit of practice as does judging how much wood will make the best amount of smoke. After a few smokes you might want to give Helljack6's method a try because, done right it produces some awesome smokes. For a newbie in my opinion cooking to temp instead of time is the easier method.
 
this says it all great job on posting this beer-b-q it took me trail and error on this so
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to you for this info.
tailgator you can smoke a kickass stuffed bacon wrapped burger that will blow away some of the butts not all but lots as i have done it.
check out the threads also its great to have another watt burner on board.
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I have an MES (Masterbuilt Electric Smoker) and have often smoked pork butts. I prep the butt with my favorite rub and let it sit in the fridge overnight to flavor. When ready to smoke I let the butt sit out of the fridge while I get the smoker going but do not let it sit too long and keep an eye on the temp. I recommend getiing a digital thermometer and cook by temp NOT time. Bring the smoker to about 250 before putting in the butt as the temp will drop when you put in the butt and it will take a little time for the electric smoker to regain temp. I shoot to stabilize the temp at around 225 - 230 when cooking. Keep adding smoke as it cooks - I usually need to add wood chips approx. every 50 - 60 mins and I do soak them in warm water. When the internal temp gets to approx 165, I wrap it in foil (add apple juice and captain morgans spcied rum mixture for flavor and moisture!) and return to the smoker. At this time you do not need to add smoke any more but cook it at 225 -230 until the internal temp reaches approx 200 - 205. There will be a time when the temp will hit a plateau not inrease for a time. do not worry, this is normal - do NOT increase the temp to get the temp to increaase. It will get there! When it reaches final temp then take it out and leave it in the foil, wrap it in a few towels and place in a dry cooler to rest before taking it out. Let rest at least 1 hour before opening and pulling. I hope this helps!
 
TASTE! FLAVOR! HOMEMADE DELICIOUSNESS!
My mom makes PP in the oven, it tastes good but usually doesnt get finished.
I make it in the smoker, the response is "Wow, I hope you made 2 of these!!!"

I smoke pork butts at 230-240 degrees. When the internal temp of the meat is 165, I wrap it in heavy duty foil and continue cooking until the internal temp of the meat is 200-205. It takes about 1.5 hours per lb of meat, but the experts here are right, that is an estimate, go by the internal temp of the meat. Also, do NOT skip the 3 critical "extras" the others mentioned: the pre-cooking rub, the resting period, and the finishing sauce.

Search in the pork section, there's tons of info on pork. The guys here make me look good, I'm sure it'll work for you too!
 
Hey there - welcome aboard.

My two cents:

#1 - even if the presence of smoke taste isn't as strong as you want, it will still be MILES above anything coming out of an oven.

#2 - On this website, go to the "Pork" forum, and look near the top - for the 'sticky' thread about pork butts. OR - just click on this link:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=57139

You follow this to the letter, you will be kicking neighborhood a$$!

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Seriously - follow every step and you will NOT fail...good luck, fellow smoker!
 
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