Sunday Smoke x2 - Always Learning

[Firemunkee]

Baby backs were on sale and I haven't made them before so of course I picked up a rack. I also smoked a butt to give some to a neighbor who just had a baby. The plan was to smoke them both at the same time and have the ribs done in time for dinner, all while taking care of my toddler.

Unfortunately things didn't go as well as I planned. First off I was way behind schedule on getting the cook started, and my kid woke up in the middle of me prepping the pork butt. I had to let her cry until I finished because I was behind schedule. After I got everything going I thought the temp was settled around 255 I ran an errand which took a little longer than an hour and came back to find the grill at 345! I extinguished some coals and eventually got it settled back down to 250. It was solid the rest of the cook. I was using my SnS and I think what went wrong was the vents were more open than what I normally have for low and slow but I attributed that to the cold and very windy weather we were having (20-40mph winds all day). But the way there vents were it make sense that it got no all the way to 350 despite the weather. Next time know to just trust the vents. But I think that's a real testament to how solid of a cooker the kettle is!

I took the ribs off after 3 hours. They could have used another 30-60 minutes but dinner was late and I needed to start the bed time routine for my daughter. The ribs looked good but were a little tougher than I expected for baby backs, but I guess that's probably due to the high temps. I could still tell they were more tender compared to spares and they *pulled* clean off the bone. I really enjoyed them and might pick up another rack to try again soon.

I wrapped the pork butt after it got to 165. Normally I don't bother wrapping but I think it speeds up the time and I wanted it done hopefully before midnight. In the end it took 7 hours. I was disappointed in the pork though. There wasn't much of a smoke flavor and also in the hurry or prepping it I didn't coat it enough so the bark wasn't that flavorful either. No pictures of the pulled pork but it looked good... I think I just need to use more wood next time? Was it because there was more stuff in the kettle or because it was in the back and the ribs got most of the smoke? (Yes I did have the lid vent opposite of the coals). I used apple and cherry chunks. I always have trouble gauging how much wood/how many chunks to use. Any advice on that? Also there was juice from the pork after wrapping so needless to say the bottom bark wasn't there; is there any way around that when wrapping?

I guess the good news is we can still eat it with BBQ sauce and make nachos, tacos, etc. I haven't tried any of that before with pulled pork so feel free to suggest any ways to use it.

[namtrag]

That amount of wood is about what I use, and I seem to always get a good flavor.  I use pecan and apple mainly.

I am always surprised at how forgiving our kettles can be. I have had the thing do the opposite of yours, go down to 150 while I ran an errand, but I always manage to bring it back!

Do you use a rub for pork as well?  I smear yellow mustard on the butt, and then put copious amounts of my homemade rub (stole recipe from by brother-in-law, and substituted maple sugar from Colin in place of the brown sugar.  I can post or send you the recipe if you want!   

[Firemunkee]

That amount of wood is about what I use, and I seem to always get a good flavor.  I use pecan and apple mainly.

I am always surprised at how forgiving our kettles can be. I have had the thing do the opposite of yours, go down to 150 while I ran an errand, but I always manage to bring it back!

Do you use a rub for pork as well?  I smear yellow mustard on the butt, and then put copious amounts of my homemade rub (stole recipe from by brother-in-law, and substituted maple sugar from Colin in place of the brown sugar.  I can post or send you the recipe if you want!

Thanks for the reply. I did use a rub, but I think in the rush to get done quickly to tend to my crying child I probably didn't put nearly as much on as I should have. I would appreciate the recipe. I'm just about finished with Meathead's Memphis Dust and I haven't started looking at what to make next.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[namtrag]

Sure thing!  Here you go:

1/2cup-paprika
1/4cup-fine sea salt
1/4cup-chili powder
1/4cup-onion power
1/4cup-cumin
1/4cup-granulated garlic
1/4cup-maple sugar (or brown sugar)
2tbl-mustard powder
2tbl-blackpepper
2tbl-cayenne

It's got a sweet heat flavor.  I'm almost out, and may up the maple/sugar in my next batch to see how it tastes.  Maybe 1/2 cup would be good?


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