My first smoke: pork crown roast (Q-view to follow the smoke)

[cppbrian]

Hello, My family and I were planning on doing this for Christmas dinner, along with a turkey. Well, 6 of the planned 13 people for dinner canceled last minute, and the turkey is already baking. So we decided to hold off on the crown roast till Sunday. I just unwrapped a 40" MES for my Christmas present, and right now its outside 'seasoning'. This is a picture of the roast when we picked it up, the butcher cut it a lot deeper than I was planning for, so I'm guessing these will cook as fast as pork chops.





I need some input on how I should prepare this. I am thinking to make it bbq style. I am not sure if I should brine it or not, and what I should have in the brine if I decide to. Also a good rub to use. I am not sure how long to cook it for or what temperature. I was guessing 250 for 3-4 hours? I will have 2 meat probes inserted into the thickest part of meat on opposite sides of the roast, but I want to plan on when it will be done so the fixins will be ready at the same time. I do plan on smoking Dutch's wicked baked beans along with the pork. I have mesquite and hickory chips, as well as a bunch of pistachio shells, but I am thinking about using only hickory. With the roast cut as it is, the smoke should penetrate it pretty well.
And I do figure that the price is pretty high for pork, but it was a custom order cut of meat and my mom went to order it.

Thanks a bunch everyone for any input.

 

[cppbrian]

I got no replies for suggestions on what rub, so I combined a few rubs in the smoke and spice book and came up with :
1/2 C paprika
1/3 C Turbinado sugar
4T lemon pepper
2 1/2 T kosher salt
1 1/2 T Chili powder
1 1/2 T garlic powder
1 1/2 T onion powder
1 t cayenne (woulda used more if it was just for me, but i'm feeding my parents too)

Here's a picture of it all rubbed down.

It's now wrapped up in plastic wrap in the fridge waiting for tomorrow.

I am going to try to get it done in 4- 4 1/2 hours, so I'm gonna smoke it at 260 adding hickory the whole way. I will have a probe of course to let me know when it hits 160

Hope it works out, it is my first smoke.

 

[the dude abides]

Sorry nobody got back to you. Looks like you're off to a good start. Hope all turns out well.

 

[beer-b-q]

Looks To Be A Great Start...

 

[john3198]

Good luck. Rub looks grat. Similar to one I use on pork. Should be fine.

Don't know what to tell you about times, because I never did a crown, but gotta think 4 hours +. Somebody should come along that hasdone this before.

 

[mballi3011]

How about untieing it and re-tieing it back together and smoke it like a bone in loin. Now I have smoked a bone in loin and it can out great and very tastey too. So maybe that would be an idea. If not maybe just smoke it at about 230-250 and take it to abut 150-165 and then let it rest for about 45 minutes and then dig in.

 

[DanMcG]

I really can't add much in the way of advice since I haven't done one before.
If it was me I'd do it at a lower temp, like 225°, I'd be afraid the higher temp would dry out the fanned out sections before the center gets up to the 160° internal temp. (I'm assuming that thats the loin all bundled up inside the ribs)
What ever you do, please share some Q-view cause I know it's going to be fantastic.

 

[werdwolf]

I've not seen anyone do this before.

I'm thinking the lower temp also. 230?

Remember thin smoke

 

[cheapchalee]

Sorry I'm getting in on thsi late but, I'd smoke it at 230 -250, says 8 pounds, so I'm guessing 5 plus hours. I'd take it to 160+ and then let it rest. Don't forget your rest time when planning on the eating time, so all together I'd say about 6 hours start to table.

Charlie

 

[chainsaw]

Looks great, always wanted to try one of those. Only seen them in the old-time cookbooks.

 

[treegje]

I have no doubt,it becomes a success

look forward to the results

 

[langemr]

I was going to grab one of those for christmas but I waited to long. Would love to see the final finished product as that looks outstanding. Nice work

 

[buffalosmoke]

Looks good...can't wait to see the final pics!

 

[cppbrian]

All finished now, it turned out good, but im thinking should have put it on the racks instead of in a tray, because only the outside top got smoky. The rest tasted good and was very tender, but not a strong smoke flavor.
The temperature in the smoker averaged between 240-250, and the roast hit 160 after 4 1/2 hours, about 20 mins longer than I wanted to, but not bad.

Dutch's Wicked baked beans turned out very well, I like that recipe. I only put in 1/2 of a jalepeno because I thought it might be too hot for my parents. It wasn't hot at all, so next time I'll put in at least a whole one, maybe 2.

now for the Qview

the crown roast being added to the preheated smoker. I foiled the bones because the recipe for baked crown said that it prevents the bones from getting blackened. I also used 2 temperature probes in 2 separate thick areas of meat so that I could be sure when to take it out. they were never more than 1 degree apart.


The beans were added after 1 hour


The ABT's were added about 2 hours after the smoke started


all spread out on the table. Dutch's Wicked baked beans, ABT's, and pork crown roast


a slice of the roast.

I thought it turned out pretty well, as I said above, my only complaints were that the middle and bottom were sort of soggy because they were sitting in the drippings instead of exposed to the smoke.

 

[meat hunter]

Fantastic!!! Sorry I did not see your request for rub recipes or I would have slipped ya a couple, but I think what you came up with is pretty darn good. Everything looks amazing, great job.

 

[john3198]

Glad it worked out. One heck of an experiment!

I'm with you, I'm not a fan of smoking things in pans, except soft stuff like veggies - but even then, I use a grill tray with holes. Gotta get the smoke everywhere.