Memorial Day Picnic Shoulder, Ribs, & Chicken w/ Q-view

[notsbbq]

The fiancee and I decided to have some people over to celebrate Memorial Day. And since I own a catering business I piped up "I'll just cook some pork butt and ribs."  Well Cash-&-Carry didn't have very good looking pork butts left, so I grabbed the next best thing. I got two picnics that totaled just under 20lbs. Now I've que'd my fair share of ribs, tri-tip, and pork loin, but this is the first time that I've tried such a long smoke. Not realizing how long it is going to take to get these bad boys cooked all the way down to where they fall apart, my fiancee told everyone that we would eat around 4 pm.  So guess what I did @ 3:00am this morning?  Yep, I got up and fired up my pit. Now if I were using a BGE or WSM I would have just started them last night, but I have a customer built stick burner that takes about an hour to get up to cooking temp. Its about 5:45 now and I got the shoulders on @ 4:00. I will update as things progress, and when all is said and done I'll put up my Q-View. Wish me luck!!! I think I'm gonna need it.

 

[roller]

Good Luck but you want need it if you have got your info from SMF.....

 

[notsbbq]

Well here is the Q-View

Shoulder #1 (pre-cook)

Ribs (pre-cook):

Shoulder (post-cook) I cooked the shoulder to 165 F then wrapped it, I pulled it off the smoker @ 190 F and let it rest for about an hour and 15 mins. For my first shoulder I was VERY happy with the results!

Ribs:

I also made smoked some thighs and drumsticks, didn't take any before pictures but here's the finished product:

 

[scarbelly]

Great looking smoke. Looks like you did well.

 

[SmokinAl]

Everything looks delicious! The ribs look like comp. ribs, how'd they taste?

 

[notsbbq]

@Al -- the ribs were pretty close to comp ribs.  Just about 5 mins over done, but VERY close to what wins the comps up here in WA.

 

[so ms smoker]

Those ribs look amazing and the pork shoulder too!  I would have thought that you would need to trim the skin off the shoulder first, but I guess not.

 

[notsbbq]

I saw the butt both ways on here, I decided to try it with the skin just to see how things went. I'm a fan of leaving it on. I actually cooked it skin side down which I think held in a lot of the moisture in the lower half of the butt, it was awesome! 

 

[pigeyex]

Nots,

Great looking meat!  Especially the ribs!

Q:  how do you get your rib sections cut so straight and neatly?  I've tried both good sharp knives and a cleaver, but can't get them anything other than pretty jagged.  After really babying the "presentation" of what my rib racks looked like yesterday, I feel like I blew most of that after I cut them into sections.  :o(

Pigeye

 

[dtcunni]

Everything looks pretty awesome! And I'll agree with everyone else about the ribs....they look perfect!:yahoo:

 

[realtorterry]

Very nice!!

Pigeyex, what I do is cut close to the END bone so that there is extra meat on the next bone. I stand them up also & cut down. Works for me anyway?

 

[pigeyex]

Very nice!!

Pigeyex, what I do is cut close to the END bone so that there is extra meat on the next bone. I stand them up also & cut down. Works for me anyway?

With a serrated knife or non-serrated?  Yours just look AMAZINGLY clean cuts, like I see in our best bbq restaurants here in N. Florida.  I've been trying to slice mine with the slab laying flat, with a good sharp (non-serrated) knife, and also with a brand-new, sharp cleaver, and I try to cut them halfway between each rib bone.  But something about the curvature of the ribs or something, that when I cut in the right spot near the TOP of the slab, it ends up being on top of the bone when the knife gets to the bottom part.  I'll try standing them up on edge next time.