this weekend’s smoke

howdy, guys -

this weekend i'm going to continue my pork butt education. i've got something called a pork shoulder, bone-in "butt/blade roast." i forget the weight but i do remember the price and the price per pound, which makes itr around 6 and 2/3 lbs. i'll be doing this similar to my pork shoulder last week:

http://www.baitshopboyz.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=16808

one thing i will change is that i will be trying an awesome carolina-style rub and will change my mop. i normally do a dr. pepper/low-sodium soy sauce/olive oil mop. last weekend i added some cherry brandy to that. this weekend i think i will leave out the dr. pepper and substitute orange pop in order to give it a floridian twist.

i've also got 4 chubs of jimmy dean maple sausage. i intend to use two of them tomorrow for a standard fatty (stuffed with cheddar and anything else i find lying around) and save the other two in order to try pensacola jim's egg-fatty quiche.

finally, i've got 10 japalenos (about three inches long) and some cream cheese and bacon in order to make some basic ABTs this will be my first attempt at these and i will be de-seeding and de-veining.

smoke will most likely be just plain old hickory.

a couple of questions:

a) anything i need to know about butt roasts versus picnic roasts?

b) all i could get this week was a roast that was "enhanced/improved" with our old friend "the solution." what does a person need to know about smoking pork with these solutions. cook for longer/shorter time? different seasonings or expectations? temperatures? let me know, please. i would prefer to do one without this crap, but for now, this is what i have.

c) assuming this is 6.67 lbs, how much useable pulled pork can i expect? we've got 5 people to feed.

as always, i'll keep a running account and will provide q-view as i am able. keep an eye out on this topic and feel free to nudge me in the right direction if i start ehading off to the side!

thanks!

ron

What you have is a Boston Butt, it's basically top half of front leg and picnic is bottom half.  I try to get Boston Butts myself, they have less bone and grizzle in them.  You will find brined, cooks a little faster and normally will be a little saltier, it is not cured though or shouldn't be unless it says so.  You will find small piece of bone in BB and blade on pork has a funny hook on it, you shouldn't have too much problems pulling it.  I just boned out four of them for grinding and smoking, for another project, I'll post pics on another thread.

Bone from Boston Butt

view from top

come on over bear - should be some good stuff, hopefully ~ thanks for the picture - that's exactly what i have, it looks like!

i got a late start this morning due to a drizzle and a little wind. it is already warmer now than it was all day last sunday when i did my first shoulder, but the breeze and light rain add other difficulties.

got a pork shoulder on as of 0815 a little late but rain and wind made it necessary. should be ready to pull off at 1830 if things go right. also a simple 2lb breakfast fatty with rub and stuffed with cheddar. should be done right about noon or a little before.

later today will smoke some sausage with 6 hard-boiled eggs stuffed in it, tht fatty will be sliced and used as part of a quiche. also made up a few ABTs and will toss them on in time to use as an appetizer for supper.

alright, i've got some beautiful and sweet TBS (thin blue smoke) going and things are really looking good. temps both in the smoker and outside are a little lower than i would prefer, but i'm still way ahead of last week. for now am using the blanket from last week. i shook it out and discoverd that there's a small tear right where the smokestack should go - i had the blanket reversed last week so i didn't notice. i draped it on with the smokestack through the hole and it fits quitte well with nothing touching the firebox and am able to fold back for a double covering of the top of the lid.

things should be going good!

dogg - if i remember correctly, he removed those bones in order to grind the butts for some projects today. check out his loaf and first fatty threads!

well, an hour and 15 minutes into the smoke, i decided to give it a qucik mop - temperatures are holding pretty well but on the slightly-low side, nothing as bad as last week. here's what we've got at this point:

here's what it looks like outside roght now, but as i type this, it looks like the sun is starting to peek out a bit. note the yard flags standing horizontal. the breeze is not as bad/hard as it looks, but still a pain.

yes, we still need to rake! i'm hoping i can get the boys to do that on monday....

updates and Q-view to follow....

at 1145, i scooted all the remaining charcoal to the right nearest the firebox and added a chimney of unlit charcoal. at noon, i put the egg fatty on and put another chimney on. the temps were falling off a bit but are now on the rise.

here's what we're looking at right now - the butt is looking pretty dang good!

keep in mind that the fatty is filled from end-to-end with hard-boiled eggs that have the ends cut off in order to make a continuous hard-boiled egg. this will be sliced and put on a couple of quiches. 

alright - at 1645 i put the ABTs on - i have no idea how long they take but figured i'd better get started on them. i'll consider them done when the bacon is done - if anyone has any better suggestions, let me know!

here's a pic - the shoulder is starting to look pretty dang good ~

right on schedule at 1830, i checked the internal temperature in three places away from any bone or fat. 190 degrees exactly on all spots.

i figured there wouldn't be any better time to pull it, so i grabbed the bone and the other end and went to lift it off.

the bone came right out, with a few little chunks of meat on it!

i knew i had something special here, so i carefully lifted it out and laid it on a bed of foil, sprayed some mop on it, wrapped it up in a couple of layers and put it in the cooler surrounded on all sides by a few towels, with some on top too, of course.

ABTs are also done and waiting on the far side of the smoking chamber to be served with supper.

i picked up the bone and pulled off a chunk of meat - just a bite - OMG! near as i can tell it is perfect - falling apart, pink and smoky (but not overpowering) and tender as melted butter. there was enough for everyone to get a small taste - call it a teaser for what is to come!

it's sitting in foil and towels in the cooler right now. i'll let it sit at leat a half hour total and might even go an hour since to be honest, we're done a little earlier than expected!

my only concern is the dark, dark bark, but the darkest aprts are pretty thin and don't taste "burned," so i am not too worried. i think it is a result of the sugar in the rub and in the pop that is part of the mop - either way, i'm not letting it ruin my day, for sure!

i have plenty or RIVET's carolina pulled pork sauce left over from last week, and will be using that on my pork. i plan to do a sandwich on a bun and also will try some just by itself. we're not too sophisticated with sides this time around becuase we're getting ready for easter at my mother-in-law's - just some potato chips tonight - but next time it will be slaw, beans and hopefully potato salad.

i'll post an after-action report on the pork and the ABTs with pictures - but for now, we're getting ready to pull ~

hey, buzz - i'll ask rivet if i can post his pulled pork BBQ recipe (rub and carolina sauce). i'm sure that he will have no objections!

i'll tell you what, guys, that was GOOOD stuff - either i am getting pretty dang good at this or it was a lot easier than i thought!

we had it sitting in foil and keeping hot wrapped in towels in a cooler for about 45 minutes - when i opened it, it pretty much fell apart, just like it's supposed to:

i tried to lift it out but it wasn't going to go without coming apart, so i just slid it into a pan with the juices from the foil:

this picturre doesn't really do the smoke ring justice - the ring was good and deep, the fat and connective tissue melted away with just a little goo left, plus the fat cap, which went to the happy happy dogs:

after a brief learning curve, we used two forks and our hands to shred/pull the meat, mixing in the barky meat with the stuff from deep in the middle. here's the final product:

some of it went on sandwiches, some of it went into pita pockets, and some was just eaten on the plate. we had some barbecuse sauce for my wife and youngest son, but the other two and i used rivet's carolina sauce and WOW it was good with this - the perfect compliment for this meat!

we served the ABTs with the supper and they were perfectly done - not a bit spicy with a good smoke tang and the savory cream cheese mixture. couldn't have asked for anything better. the bacon strips shrank onto the jalapenos that they were wrapped around, forming a good seal for the cream cheese inside.

i can't think of any negatives for this barbecue, with the exception of the overdone egg fatty. other than that, this went very, very well! 

Looks excellent, be sure to throw some of that fat cap and bark in the beans.  Bark looked just right to me, I wouldn't say it was too dark, same with that egg fattie, it looked pretty good to me, I don't know about that quiche thing though. 

I may have to do a Butt, without the cure next time, looks good enough to eat, for sure.