Brought them home and used Tom's suggestion of a paste of rub and brown sugar and a little apple juice; also scoring them to gain more exposed meat-thus better bark.
These guys had a fat cap like shoe leather, I hesitated not to trim-but didn't
Put them in fridge for 24 hrs. in seperate garbage bags. Had approx. 1 cup of juice in each bag. Thought I should keep juice and use for a sort of baste during smoke; but didn't.
Put in c.s. at 220 at 7 pm. At 4 A.M. I checked temp.-169 degrees. Kicked up to 250 degrees. At 6 A.M. they were 179 degrees. At 9 A.M. they were hanging at 195 degrees, so I took them out and rested 45 minutes, them pulled.
Very tender and juicy, but had to peel a lot of fat cap off.
Taste testers went back for seconds and praised the goods.
I am still wondering if I should have trimmed off the tough-shoe leather like fat cap??? After peeling it off there was no bark on this top side of meat. Bottom had good bark with some too dry to chew.
After sitting for 8 hours mixed together the flavor was much better. I had used a knife and chopped up the bark and mixed-in with the white and dark.
I had scored as deep as the fat, but think all the goodies drained around to the bottom.
What do you more experienced smoker's do as far as trimming excess fat cap???? Pork fat rules- but how much rules??
I trimmed a lot of the fat cap off finished picnic. Had thought this all would cook away and end up in drip pan--No way-barely a couple three table spoons of juice ended up in the drip pan.
Also bought a 16 lb. brisket-cause that's all they had. Subject for another post since it's in the freezer for now.
The finished product had rave reviews-cheap buns and Sweet Baby Ray's Sauce. I really liked it with Miss Sandy's Cole Slaw on top of meat and sauce. Brrrp.....
Surely they can't accuse you of being long winded now Smokin...
Also took pics--35 mm. Just started a new film and don't want to waste it. Let me know if you want them and I will get them processed asap. I promise I won't send any fishin pics.
