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What’s on the grill/smoker today? 2020

Did you trim a lot of fat off of it, or was the cut you got more lean? Pork butt (shoulder) is a very fatty cut and pretty forgiving for higher temps/over cooking. I'm just wondering if your chunk of meat was leaner than expected.
 
H. Vachon said:
Do you wrap yours or just let it go. Also what temp do you smoke at. I love the super dark bark you guys get, mine didn’t seem to get nearly that dark
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I go between 250 and 275 for pork butt, don't stress much about it because it's a really forgiving cut of meat. Same with wrapping, have never found it necessary. Now brisket, that is a while other story. Guessing the bark is more from charcoal and my rub (sugar content) than temperaure. You just don't get the same smoke flavor from pellets, other than RecTecs (from the ones I've used) for some reason.
 
I didn’t trim any fat on it. I’m kind of wondering being boneless if the butcher trimmed too much off when packaging it. I got it from a box store rather than my normal butcher because I was low on time and everyone was panic buying at that time so it was one of the last few shoulders on the shelf and I wanted to make sure I had one for the weekend. It did not scream impressive, I can tell you that. Lol. Next time I’ll get it from our actual butcher shop.

I also read somewhere that leaving a run with salt in it overnight can cause it to dry out, but my rub is not salt based, it’s just one of the ingredients. So I don’t think that was the case. I’d be inclined to agree with Black Cloud that it was possibly a rather lean piece of meat.
 
Sounds like it. The rub I used is not heavy in salt content either, so maybe that has something to do with it. The butcher may have trimmed off some of the fat as well. The rub I use(d) seems to make the meat “wet” when I remove the wrap in the morning before the smoke. Maybe it’s pulling some moisture out of the middle of it, I dunno. With the pellet smoker, does it use a water pan or no? If so, did you put water in it?
 
{tpc} said:
Sounds like it. The rub I used is not heavy in salt content either, so maybe that has something to do with it. The butcher may have trimmed off some of the fat as well. The rub I use(d) seems to make the meat “wet” when I remove the wrap in the morning before the smoke. Maybe it’s pulling some moisture out of the middle of it, I dunno. With the pellet smoker, does it use a water pan or no? If so, did you put water in it?
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I noticed the rub was wet as well. And yeah, it has a water pan. I used apple juice instead of water but I made sure it never went empty
 
I don’t think Apple juice instead of water hurt anything. Only thing I could say is that you might not need to use that much Apple juice but every water pan is different. Mine would hold a ton of it so I think that would just be a waste.

I would try staying low and slow on the next one, wrap at 165-170 (whenever u get past the “stall” if or when it does). Smoke all the way to the wrap time, and maybe after the first 1-2 hours, spritz it with Apple juice or Apple juice water mix. After you wrap, don’t bother with the smoke, pull it off about 200, wrap in some big towels and put inside a empty cooler for an hour, then look at it. :)

Im not sure what a “smoke cycle” does, but I just replace chips every time it seems to not have much smoke out the vent. It’s kinda hard sometimes, especially when it’s cold out, because you can mistake steam for smoke. But I smoke that sucker all the way till I wrap. That and the spritzing I think will get you to the bark your looking for. :)
 
H. Vachon said:
I didn’t trim any fat on it. I’m kind of wondering being boneless if the butcher trimmed too much off when packaging it. I got it from a box store rather than my normal butcher because I was low on time and everyone was panic buying at that time so it was one of the last few shoulders on the shelf and I wanted to make sure I had one for the weekend. It did not scream impressive, I can tell you that. Lol. Next time I’ll get it from our actual butcher shop.

I also read somewhere that leaving a run with salt in it overnight can cause it to dry out, but my rub is not salt based, it’s just one of the ingredients. So I don’t think that was the case. I’d be inclined to agree with Black Cloud that it was possibly a rather lean piece of meat.
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I put salt on the night before with any meat I'm smoking, and then the rub right before smoking. Learned that trick from amazingribs.com and have been really happy with the results, definitely has not ever caused dry meat (though over cooking has!). Read up on that site, it's a great resource.
 
smellysell said:
I put salt on the night before with any meat I'm smoking, and then the rub right before smoking. Learned that trick from amazingribs.com and have been really happy with the results, definitely has not ever caused dry meat (though over cooking has!). Read up on that site, it's a great resource.
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Will do. Thanks!
 
I’ve got bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers on the smoker right now. I usually do them in the grill but wanted to give them a try on the MB. Looking for opinions on glazing them with bbq sauce (which I’ve never tried) or doing them natural like I normally do. What do you veterans like to do?
 
Well I did chicken thighs, brats and a sausage tonight. I’ll update with some pics later after I save them so they aren’t upside down lol.
 
These turned out well! Wanted to make a batch for the crew at work for busting ass all week. Had a few stray pieces of bacon I threw in there too. Best bacon I’ve ever had! 220 for 2.5 hours.

17F3706D-BA30-40F4-B4C3-7AC8287346D4.jpeg

55F2909E-EA2E-4BC0-AEBC-472F17C8F4DE.jpeg
 
H. Vachon said:
I’ve got bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers on the smoker right now. I usually do them in the grill but wanted to give them a try on the MB. Looking for opinions on glazing them with bbq sauce (which I’ve never tried) or doing them natural like I normally do. What do you veterans like to do?
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Looks like you already did them. Looks great. When I've made them I didn't add any glaze and they turned out excellent. Although I don't think some sort of glaze would hurt 'em.
 
I just took some of my favorite bbq sauce and mixed in a few drops of honey and some
Brown sugar. I heated it up so it would thin out and did a very light glaze. I do not regret that decision lol.
 
@H. Vachon, getting back to the pork shoulder, I think you may have just had a lean cut. Every pork shoulder I've worked with has had a serious fat layer like the one below. Actually, this one is obnoxious and I'll have to trim some off. I don't remember seeing a thick fat layer on the chunk you smoked unless the camera didn't capture it.

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Jeff Krueger

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

This one I've split in two (2 approx 4~5lbs halves) and will go on the smoker tomorrow. I'm salting it overnight, according to Justin's M.O.
 
The Black Cloud said:
@H. Vachon, getting back to the pork shoulder, I think you may have just had a lean cut. Every pork shoulder I've worked with has had a serious fat layer like the one below. Actually, this one is obnoxious and I'll have to trim some off. I don't remember seeing a thick fat layer on the chunk you smoked unless the camera didn't capture it.

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Jeff Krueger

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

This one I've split in two (2 approx 4~5lbs halves) and will go on the smoker tomorrow. I'm salting it overnight, according to Justin's M.O.
Click to expand...
Curious to hear your results! Going to do a pork loin this weekend, probably Sunday.
 
The Black Cloud said:
@H. Vachon, getting back to the pork shoulder, I think you may have just had a lean cut. Every pork shoulder I've worked with has had a serious fat layer like the one below. Actually, this one is obnoxious and I'll have to trim some off. I don't remember seeing a thick fat layer on the chunk you smoked unless the camera didn't capture it.

photos.app.goo.gl

New item by Jeff Krueger

photos.app.goo.gl photos.app.goo.gl

This one I've split in two (2 approx 4~5lbs halves) and will go on the smoker tomorrow. I'm salting it overnight, according to Justin's M.O.
Click to expand...
Yeah, had probably an inch thick strip on the bottom. Nothing like the one you have there. Looking forward to the results. I have two racks of ribs I plan to do tomorrow assuming the weather holds off.
 
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