Picnic-cut Pork Shoulder - First time on the NTM WSM

[pbe gummi bear]

I use the parrifins blocks too! I was really surprised to see the fire go above the tiny chimney when starting 12 coal.

[HankB]

That looks great! Can we ask what was in your home made rub? (Or is that proprietary. ) Except that your cook was a picnic and I usually do butts, the story of the cook pretty much parallels mine from start to finish. Lately though, I have been going dry/foiled pan and running them a little higher. Water in the pan is good to help control temperature until the cooker gets enough smoke layered inside to seal.

It's amazing how good pork smells on the smoker and when you capture that in the kitchen, it's like heaven!

I usually do my own rubs as well.

[MartyG]

Kind of a random blend Hank, I used what I had, but in general it was turbinado sugar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cayenne, sage, garlic powder, onion powder and maybe one other thing I can't recall. The picnic was more work, I took off all the pigskin, but it is football season after all. Not hard to do, just tedious.

Now a question for you. When you reheat pulled pork, do you add moisture? What are the tricks to thawing and reheating? I plan to freeze some of this and want it to come back to life like it just came off the smoker 

[HankB]

Now a question for you. When you reheat pulled pork, do you add moisture? What are the tricks to thawing and reheating? I plan to freeze some of this and want it to come back to like like it just came off the smoker 

I usually add some moisture when reheating pulled pork. That can be a little water, some cider vinegar or apple juice. I add just enough so that it is absorbed, I don;t want soup.

I use a Foodsaver for freezing smoked meats of all kinds. For pulled pork I just chill and vacuum/seal prior to freezing. For meats with more juices like chicken, brisket or pepper stout beef I pack into plastic containers, freeze and then pop them out to seal in bags. The same strategy works well for soups and stocks.

I reheat in the microwave or in a pan on the stove depending on my mood. You're just adding heat at that point. Some times I'll also add some sauce while reheating. If I'm serving a large group I'll reheat in a camp Dutch oven or crock pot depending on the availability of electricity.

[Bman]

A simple, yet awesome, finishing sauce is this one.  I wasn't much of a cider vinegar fan, but this works great for adding additional moisture without affecting the flavor.  I usually go heavy on the brown sugar.

Carolina Red Sauce
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon (packed) brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Stir all ingredients in small bowl until sugar and salt dissolve.

[mike.stavlund]

This looks really good, Marty!  Thanks for bringing us along for your first WSM cook.

...though I gotta say, I've seen your smoker before, and it didn't have a handle like that on it!  That's really sweet.