Newbie smoking a picnic

[chinnie]

Since I'm a newbie I figure I'm allowed to ask really silly questions so here goes...

I've got my first pork shoulder picnic (what a dumb looking word

) on the smoker, all rubbed up and everything, should I have taken that layer of skin/fat stuff off it before I put on the rub and put it in the smoker or not?

I also seem to be having problems getting the heat up in the smoker. It's an electric one that I picked up at a garage sale and worked fine the last time I used it but this time it doesn't seem to be heating up very well. There's a bit but not lots and it's taking forever to cook this hunk of meat.
Can I switch to the oven and how do I get the smoke going in there without smoking up the whole house??

Thanking everyone in advance.

Linda

 

[danbury]

Leave the fat on. If you want to, you can score it, but otherwise leave it on.
If your smoker is not coming up to 225 degrees and you don't think it's going to get there, you need to get it in the oven. As for as smoking it in the oven... not advisable. No way to really smoke something in the house other than to use something like liquid smoke on the meat but it isn't even close to being the same.

Don't leave that meat out on that pit for very long if you can't get the temperature up or you'll be flirting with some nasties.

 

[desertlites]

linda how hot is your smoker?

 

[chinnie]

Hottest it's gotten is a whole 100F (maybe...that's the lowest temp on the oven thermometer I have). It's now in the oven.

Will take the smoker apart and see what's going on tomorrow.

 

[danbury]

You should check your thermometer as well. They do go bad. You'll need two of them when smoking on a smoker. One for the pit temp and a probe for the meat.
Good luck.

 

[bbq lover]

linda what brand of smoker is it we might be able to help with a fix

 

[chinnie]

The thermometer is brand new...I have a probe one that was in the meat and when I went out to get supplies for making sauce, I picked up an oven one that just sits in the oven/smoker/bbq/whatever.

The smoker is a True North. I think this brand may just be available up here but it seems to be close to a Little Chief. It's not an expensive one, but I didn't want to fork out a whole bunch of money if I didn't like the end result.