Porky Goodness

Ahhh it's that time again... time for smokin! I had planned on making a brisket for Memorial Day weekend, but those plans changed when I was shopping and BJ's (that's a wholesale club like Sam's or Costco, in case you didn't know that or don't have them in your area). They did not have any brisket at all the day I was there. So looking around I thought I'd go with ribs, but then like a light shining down from the heavens, the pork shoulder revealed itself to me. And at $1.59 a lb. it was meant to be!


Isn't that a thing of beauty! Oh yes. It was technically called a Pork Shoulder Butt Roast. Shoulder Butt... not sure how that works, but whatever.

So, the night before this baby is to go on the smoker, it needs to be rubbed. When I make a dry rub, I basically just look around at what I have in the house and toss it together. This was no exception.


3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup kosher salt, 1 T. dried oregano, 1 T. lemon pepper, 2 T. paprika and about 2 T. of Penzy's Northwoods seasoning (which contains salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, rosemary, garlic and chipotle).

Once it's all mixed together, the shoulder butt gets a massage and then gets put in the fridge overnight.


In the morning, and you better believe it needs to be early because this shoulder butt is going to take a LONG time to cook, get your fire going. I use regular charcoal and when it turns an ashy gray, it's ready. This should take about 20-30 minutes. And while the coals are getting ready, have your wood chips soaking. Generally I use hickory, but this time I tried apple wood. Make sure you have your water tray in place and with water in it (this fits in in the middle of the smoker).



As soon as you put your soaked wood chips on the hot coals, the smoke starts and you want to get the smoker closed and as sealed as you can, as fast as you can. Losing smoke is bad!


My smoker does not have as good a seal on it as I would like it to have so I usually end up needing foil to wrap around the lid and try and keep in as much smoke as possible. This time I got to thinking that if I make a foil lip and put it all around the lip of the smoker, then put the lid on, maybe it would fit more snugly. And it worked! It took a little longer than I would have liked, but it worked



Now, the shoulder butt is on and all we have to do is wait. This is where you have to learn to trust. Trust that the smoker is doing what it should be doing. And after 5-6 hours, add more coals to the bottom. But DO NOT open the lid, ever.

And unfortunately my friends, things did not work out well this time. After about 3 hours of smoking time, we got a huge downpour. I kept my trust in the smoker, that it was doing what it was supposed to, thinking it was pretty sealed up and therefore, still cooking. I added more coals (I used a charcoal chimney to get them ready) and I thought all was well. It wasn't. It was a very very sad day when, after 10 hours, I opened that lid.



Looks nice and all, but it was not even close to being done. So at 7:00 pm on Memorial Day, we had no pulled pork :(

The next day, the shoulder butt went into a 300 degree oven for 6 hours. And then, the heavens parted!! The angels sang!!! Harps were played!!! Porky goodness was achieved!!!


Oh yeah, that is a thing of beauty! It didn't work out exactly how I planned, but the end result was damn tasty. Take a look at this bark!



I served it on some nice Kaiser rolls, with vinegar slaw.


And we lived in porky heaven for close to a week! Yeah that was one big shoulder butt!

First Time Smoker!

Ahh smoking. It seems like such a guy thing. But this girl has been wanting to try it for a long time and when I acquired a smoker, I just had to find my nerve. What's the worst that could happen? The planets were aligning... the smoker was ready, charcoal was bought, wood chips were ready and pork shoulder was $1.09 a lb at BJ's. I'm in!




The first thing to do is make a spice rub. I've watched enough BBQ shows on Food Network to know the basics of making a spice rub so I just winged it. Here is my recipe:

1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1/8 cup cumin
1/8 cup garlic powder
1/8 cup dry mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt (you can go half a cup with the salt if you want)
and a touch of cayenne




Rub it all over the meat. Do not leave a spot unrubbed! Believe me, the pork is so happy to have this massage of flavor it almost just sighs into the dish.




Cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Get an early start the next day because this is an all day affair. The work is minimal, but the process is long. Follow your smoker's instructions (and then, if you're anything like me, call your brother in law who has a similar smoker and ask him what the hell you're supposed to do!) Start your charcoal in the bottom. It needs to burn for about 20 minutes before you do anything else. While that is getting read, soak your wood. I went with hickory. You need to soak the wood chips for about 20-30 minutes.

Once the fire is ready, drain your wood chips and then put them on top of the coals. If your smoker has a water pan, make sure it is filled. And then, place your beautiful hunk of pig on the grill.




Put the lid on and then DO NOT REMOVE IT. My lid is a little off kilter so we wrapped foil around it to keep in the heat and smoke as best we could. After about 3 hours, add a few more coals to the fire and then a little after that, add more soaked wood chips. Check your water pan. You do not want it to dry up. Add water if needed.

I let my pork cook for about 7 hours. The hardest part was not lifting the lid off, but I didn't. Not even once!




It was absolutely delicious! It wasn't fall apart soft like you often see pulled pork in TV, but it was amazingly good. I think another 2 hours would give it that fall apart texture but neither Nick nor I complained about this juicy tender pork. The rub gave it a very nice crust with a bit of a kick. I'm not sure what it was from, the black pepper, the dry mustard or the cayenne. Maybe a combination of them since I used such a scant amount of cayenne.



For my first time, I'm very pleased with the result. You can even see the pink smoke ring around the top under the crust!