Details on 10lb Picnic

[tukson]

Well, I have been playing with my new Father's Day gift for a while now and it is thoroughly blackened and greasy...LOL.. My family is having a Church group over in August and I need a bit more confidence that I can deliver a palatable product.. as noted in my Roll Call.. I have done many turkeys for the holidays and an occasional butt with my ole trusty brinkman electric that is now in the scrap pile after many years of what I thought was wonderful service.. it was in hind site, a great first smoker for me( a novice ) , but now with the new horizontal offset I have found a whole new world of taste and versatility.. I am retired and do have time to tweak as I go, so this is fun and not hurried.

Since I have found detailed threads that have helped me on this site, I thought I would do one on this my largest pork at 10+ pounds ... I am trying to get it ready for a small bible study group of 6-8 men tonight at 1900hrs tonight Az time. I did a 6lb one last week and it was the best to date.. so here goes. all suggestions and critique are greatly appreciated.... I have a thick ole skin so you don't have to be gentle...

 

[tukson]

Last night I rubbed the picnic down with about a 1/2 cup mustard then used about 1/2 cup of my dry rub that is basically salt, brown sugar, a little powdered NM green chile and spice (garlic,onion,etc) put it back in the fidge wrapped in plastic.. at 0530hrs this morning I took it from the fridge and uncovered it and put it on a platter to come to room temp for the next hour while I built the fire...

The smoke chamber is at 240deg after an hour....

 

[tukson]

For the fire I used about 20 kingsford briquettes lit in the chimney and then placed four 10-12in mesquite logs that were trimmed from our trees last winter and well cured... they are now well lit and beginning to settle down...

 

[tukson]

Ok, heat at 240deg and the picnic goes on at 0630hrs skin side down... chimney wide open and intake set at bout 3/4 in open to help keep the temp stable...

 

[tukson]

0830hrs, the temp probes inserted and another mesquite log added to the fire box....

probe 1 reading 119f and probe 2 reading 120f...

 

[tukson]

0930hrs: 3 hours into it and probe 1=138deg probe 2=140deg and the smoke chamber is at 230deg... I won't do anything right now except sit here at my office and keep my fingers crossed...

MY OFFICE:

 

[Bearcarver]

Wow----Nice fire!

Can't wait for the final Qview!

Bear

BTW: Are the horse shoes for luck?   Can't hurt.

 

[pineywoods]

Looks like a great start!!  Have you tried splitting any of that wood yet I find I get a better more consistent fire using splits tho I do have to add wood more often

 

[tukson]

Bear; Neighbor brought a case of shoes over last week and I have just been cleaning them while watching the smoke rise...LOL.

.

Piney; I thought the exact opposite, so the answer to your question is no, I haven't, but thanks I will next time and see how it goes, never thought about splitting them for consistency...

1030hrs; probe 1=159f probe 2=161f.......... 

smoke chamber started dropping down to a low of 200f, so I put 2 more logs of mesquite on at 4hrs into the smoke... and basted the pork with EVOO..........

 

[smoking gun]

 Thats a fine looking smoker you have. Everything looks great so far, and I would agree with Piney about splitting the wood, seems to work better for me that way as well. I would recommend using a finishing sauce on the pork. SoFlaQuer's is really good and really brings out the flavor of the pork.

 

[tukson]

Smoking Gun; Thanks, and yes I found soflaquer's finishing sauce in the wiki and used it on my last 6lb butt for pulled pork, last week. It was fantastic to say the least but I am partial to a thin vinegar taste more so than a thick and sweet taste... I guess it depends on where you are from and I grew up on a farm in eastern Okla. and all the rodeos and family gatherings used the thin vinegar sauces and also a lot of mustard sauces that I don't hear much about anymore.

 

[tukson]

1130hrs;  probe 1=168f probe 2=169f

opened door long enough to coat with EVOO.

TEMPS HOLDING WELL AT 230f.

5hrs into the smoke and everything seems to be going as planned....

 

[deannc]

Sounds like everything is going along nicely!  I too really like that smoker you have there!  I started at it a month or so ago now with a gasser and have been keeping an eye out for a nice wood burner to add on and I really like the one you have there.

What are your plans, are you going to foil at any point during the smoke or finish it off without foiling?  Just curious what internal temp are shooting for and how long you plan to take to get there?  My curiosity is because the couple larger 9 pound butts I've done took upwards of 14 or 15 hours to hit 200* internal temp.  

Looking great so far and thanks for sharing! 

 

[smoking gun]

You probably used more than I normally do. I usually don't notice a vinegar taste but I don't put it on very heavy... I'm pretty sure soflaquers is on this site as a sticky post somewhere.

Here it is....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/49892/finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork#post_3455

You've already tried this so just experiment and find the right way for you. That's the beauty of doing it yourself. You can fine tune your smoking to suit your taste.

P.S.

SoFlaQuer added this advice later in the thread to add to the recipe......
[h3]Re: FINISHING SAUCE (for Pulled Pork)[/h3]
Glad to see a few more hits on this Post.............Thanks!

"Bear, feel free to make what ever changes fit your taste - I do that with alot of recipes. I suspect though, if you're tasting too much vinegar, your probably using too much. On an 8 to 10 Lb. Butt, I may use half or less of what's in the bottle. Too much vinegar will break the Pork down to mush!"

 

[eman]

 Tukson,                                                                                                                                How about posting up a recipe for that vinegar sauce? We had a new member here this morning looking for a vinegar sauce for his wife.

 Great looking pig BTW!

 

[smoking gun]

I posted a link to soflaquers above but I'd be interested in a thin vinegar bbq sauce as well if you have one. Variety is the spice of life.....and if that don't work cayenne is always good.

 

[scubahsteve69]

I'm liking that smoker as well!  Dumb question....what's EVOO?

 

[smoking gun]

extra virgin olive oil.

 

[tukson]

1230hrs; probe 1=174f probe 2=175f and smoke chamber holding at 230f.....anxiously waiting now!

DeanNC; Thanks, the smoker is a Fathers Day gift from my son in New Mexico, he got it in a Home Depot there.... I love it!

the last 6lb shoulder I did was foiled at 195f for about 2 hours and it let the bone slip out and chunked up nicely.. , but I am going to try something different with this one and since I left the skin on I am going to let it go to 195 then let it stand in a insulated box while I transport it to our Church's kitchen where we will eat it.

Smoking Gun; Yeah, the 1/3cup of finishing sauce was just right for me on the 6pounder and most of the family, except the 7year old granddaughter and she carries a lot of weight on grandpa's lists, so I will probably only use 1/3cup of this same sauce on the 10+pounder I'm doing now. If she approves (she is my official sampler) we will keep the ratio of 1/3cup per 10pounds.

eman; I saw that and put it there on that thread for him... it is on the wiki and was submitted by soflaquer ... and I love it!

scubahsteve69; Not a dumb question, it stands for extra virgin olive oil... I had to go to the wiki and print a list on there that translated for me from okie or texican.. whatever dialect this forum is written in.... LOL.. you would think after being raised in Okla and educated in Tulsa, that I would be able to read threads on this forum....

 

[tukson]

1330hrs; probe 1=178f probe 2=177f ...........7hours into the smoke and it looks ok so far.....

I thought I had too much brown sugar in the dry rub mixture since my first shoulder was a bit charred looking, but I am now beginning to think that the basting with EVOO every hour helps to keep the outer skin a nicer chocolate color and not black color... or is it something else that causes the color change... I have used the same wood and the same dry rub and same temps around 200 to 240 deg on both, just the hourly coating with EVOO on this particular one...