First pork butt - SM045

It's going to be great. Use your thermometer and probe for doness. It will be delish

Thanks Ranger. I have the probe in and will cook by temperature!

Some butts are DONE @ 195, others @ 205. Start poking with a bamboo skewer (I'm sure you can find one of those ) @ 195. Most important is to wrap & rest at least an hour (2+ even better). Next time skip the brine then decide if it's worth doing. Enjoy your new "friends" they will be coming out of the woodwork!

I have never brined a PB. I am very interested how it turns out. +1 on the suggestion to wrap and hold. But you got to sneak a bite when it comes off.

I went outside at 5:30am. After 9-1/2 hours the meat's internal temperature is at 170 F.

That's the stall. You can either wait it out or wrap in foil and power on through. It can hover around 170 for a couple hours. Just remember, "if you're lookin', you're not cookin'!
Once in foil, you can finish inside in your oven.

quote:

4.2 ounces Apple (2 pieces), 2.7 ounces hickory (1 piece)

Seems like an awful lot of wood. Almost 7 oz total.

I'd agree about the wood. Even for a almost 15 lb butt, I'd probably use 4 - 5 oz. Although it may only affect the flavor of the bark since an IT of 140 would probably have been reached relatively early in the smoke. I hope your result is great!

Yes I know it's a lot of wood, but I figured that most of it's milder apple. Will see when it's done :-)

Speaking of done, it's been 16-1/2 hours, I haven't opened the door, and the meat registers at 186 F. Geez. I'm hoping it's done within another 2-1/2 hours because I have ribs that need 4 hours in the smoker, and a group of hungry people coming in 6-1/2 hours. I did a lot of reading beforehand -- I never imagined it would take this long to cook.

After 18 hours and 15 minutes, the meat temperature finally hit 190. It seemed to fluctuate between 188 and 190 but finally settled. However, I decided at this point I should finish it in the oven because I needed to get the ribs in. When I opened the smoker, I saw a thing of beauty. On a whim, I tried my instant read thermometer, and it read 195 in multiple locations. When I tried moving the butt it practically broke apart in my hands. I'm wondering whether my meat probe that came with the Cookshack is not accurate, or if I somehow had it in a pocket or too near the bone? Anyway I'm glad I checked before throwing it in the oven.

As I transferred the butt to my foil, a small piece detached (stuck to the grate). I took this as a sign from above that I should taste it. Oh my god it's amazing. The bark tastes amazing, the meat is melt in your mouth. Not oversmoked, not overseasoned, not overbrined. Whew!!

It's resting, wrapped in foil and towel in a cooler. I'll pull later before company arrives. The ribs are in, can't wait for dinner.

Andy

Here is the butt before I removed it from the smoker.

That is a thing of beauty.

Looking Good

Oh Baby!

Gonna be some happy guests......

What a great evening. It's great serving bbq here in Thailand -- nobody at the table had ever eaten anything like it, so there were no expectations.

The pulled pork was terrific. I tracked down a bakery not far from home where they bake burger buns daily. The bone dropped out of the butt, and pulling was easy. I got quite a bit of fantastic bark. Both light and dark meats were delicious. I made one mistake -- I should have scraped away the soft fat remaining on the top before pulling, but I got excited and forgot, so I was scooping small bits of fat out as I pulled. Next time I won't forget. I also have some claws on order, which should make it easier to pull.

I made a few racks of dry rub ribs as well, and they were fall-off-the-bone delicious. 3 guests requested to take some of them home.

Most of the guests preferred the Kansas City bbq sauce, but they also liked the heat in my Carolina sauce. In a nod to Thailand, I made some Mango Cilantro Slaw which finished the sandwich nicely. My mom's sesame noodle recipe went well with the meat, and is always requested by guests.

Quite a long couple of days. I have plenty of leftovers to last for a while. Thanks for all the help and encouragement. I plan to smoke a brisket soon, I'll post when I do. Andy

Ribs ready to be served


Sesame Noodles and Mango Cilantro Slaw


Best sandwich I've had in a long time

Great looking sandwich. Willing to share a recipe for the mango slaw?

And the sesame noodles?

I found the mango slaw recipe online, and followed it to the letter:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/2...mango-cilantro-slaw/

The sesame noodles is my mom's recipe. I always add additional peanut butter :-) and make sure to really whisk together the ingredients long enough until it becomes a uniform creamy texture. Note these are served cold, but the longer you store them in the fridge you may have to add a few drops of water to bring back some sauce.

https://drive.google.com/file/...U1U/view?usp=sharing

Thank you! I love sesame noodles. I guess I was assuming that to be authentic asian, they needed to be soba noodles and to include gochujang paste for heat, but obviously that's Korean, not Thai. I will try your Thai version very soon! Thanks again!

Thanks. I'll be making the slaw very soon!

The butt looks great. We're going to give the sesame noodles a try. Thanks.

For information, my pork butts have often taken up to and more than 1.5 hrs/lb when smoking at 225*. Don't be afraid to smoke them between 235-250*. It will speed up the process.

The brining probably sped up the cook by 10% or more, so when you try it without the brine, adjust accordingly.