- Dec 6, 2009
- 6
- 10
Greetings to all. My name is Randy from Troy, MI. I have a home made terra cotta pot smoker that I recently made and seem to be going through some growing pains on how to perfect the cooking process. First of all some info about the smoker: I bought a 17” pot and a plate that fits snuggly on top of it. I drilled a small hole in the top so I can insert a thermometer to keep track of the temp. I cut the bottom of the pot out to fit onto the grate on the side burner of my gas grill. So what I have is a propane smoker in which I put a smoker box full of chips directly on the bottom of the pot. I took my grill grate from my smokey joe grill and attached a pie plate to the bottom of it to use as a drip pan. Ok I think you probably get the idea of what I’m doing, now I christened it yesterday with a pork butt (bone out). I soaked the butt in a brine solution for 24 hrs then applied a rub and let that sit in the fridge for about 4 hours. I got the pot fired up with the wood chips and put the meat in it. I was able to keep my temp between 200 and 220 pretty much all day, changing the wood chips when needed. After about 8 hrs. I achieved an internal temp of 160. I removed the meat and let it rest for 30 minutes. When I went to pull it, to my amazement it was extremely tough and hard to pull a part. I was able to get enough for 2 good size sandwiches. It had a great smokey flavor but I’m confused why it was so tough. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
