Home Made Sausage, Cured, and Smoked Meats

smoking a pork shoulder this weekend on a weber charcoal. will either go really well or incredibly bad.

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

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smoking a pork shoulder this weekend on a weber charcoal. will either go really well or incredibly bad.

Low and slow for lots of hours, avoid sugar in the brine or rub. If you only salt and pepper it, it will rock. Done right, it "confits" itself.

One piece of advice, put the fire on one side and the shoulder on the other. Indirect heat.

If you can keep the temp below 300F, take the shoulder slowly up to about 185F.

If you are having trouble regulating the temp, its been told that the smoke no longer penetrates or has effect after the meat rises above 140F or about 2-3 hours. This enables you to run the weber for that time and then take the shoulder and place in a 250F/275F oven for the long, slow ries to perfection.

For the adverturous, try the same thing with a standing rib roast by method but adjust timing for the joint at hand and remember that the target temp for beef is more like 128-130F if you are going slowly.

B

my sister got me a smoker for my birthday apparently.

Originally Posted by braised

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Low and slow for lots of hours, avoid sugar in the brine or rub. If you only salt and pepper it, it will rock. Done right, it "confits" itself.

One piece of advice, put the fire on one side and the shoulder on the other. Indirect heat.

thanks for the tips. i appreciate it. i'm curious about the no sugar. i'm no expert, but almost every rub recipe i found uses sugar.

any suggestions for a rub?

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

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thanks for the tips. i appreciate it. i'm curious about the no sugar. i'm no expert, but almost every rub recipe i found uses sugar.

any suggestions for a rub?

Yeah, everything I've read is brown sugar.... That whatever spices you have that you like, adjust as necessary, add salt and pepper is what I've done and liked. Piob uses a blend, might want to look at that for next time.

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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my sister got me a smoker for my birthday apparently.

Sounds about right.

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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Yeah, everything I've read is brown sugar.... That whatever spices you have that you like, adjust as necessary, add salt and pepper is what I've done and liked. Piob uses a blend, might want to look at that for next time.

Thanks. I'll look for that next time. I'm not goin to stress out about it. The one I found is salt, pepper, brown sugar, and some cayenne and chili powder. Im not an idiot but I've never done this before so i give it a 50/50 chance of utter failure.

Originally Posted by bdeuce22

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Thanks. I'll look for that next time. I'm not goin to stress out about it. The one I found is salt, pepper, brown sugar, and some cayenne and chili powder. Im not an idiot but I've never done this before so i give it a 50/50 chance of utter failure.

It'll be good.

What I've learned as a noob is that the rub just needs alot of flavor, let the smoke give it the complexity, you'll be fine. Really it is quite hard to fail. I mean, I am yet to fail...think about that.

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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Yeah, everything I've read is brown sugar.... That whatever spices you have that you like, adjust as necessary, add salt and pepper is what I've done and liked. Piob uses a blend, might want to look at that for next time.

The sugar - carmelization reactions occur in the 320+/- range. If you have total control over the file and never get there then the sugar won't be a problem. Having spend a lot of time with WF grills and smokers, it aint worth the risk.

Also, you can add a sweet mop at the end or glaze it.

For a rub - here's my standby for pork:

1 each:
Paprika
Cumin
Thyme
Ancho Chilli (ground)
Black Pepper

1.5 kosher salt.

If you want to make it sweet add 3 brown sugar.

The above are ratios - use table spoons, bottles, whatever.

Use loads, probably 1/2c + for a shoulder. Rub it up the night before and let it go in the fridge. An hour or two before going hot, make sure that you put it on a counter to warm up a bit or the smoking will take a lot longer.

The ground ancho is far better than generic "chili powder" which is usually a combi of chili, cumin, paprika, salt, etc.

Lamb and Chili rubs are variations, we can discuss later.

B

6am


12:30pm

6pm


6:45pm - amateur plating

Originally Posted by some seinfeld episode

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I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted cured meats.

bdeuce--how was it?

MY SMOKER IS SUPPOSED TO GET HERE LAST FREAKIN WEEK! GYAR!

Originally Posted by edinatlanta

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bdeuce--how was it?

fantastic. i sort of cheated and transferred it to the oven after 9 hours. it started to get really windy and had trouble keeping temperature. it went for another 2 hours. i was reading where the meat doesn't really take to smoke after 6 hours (can't confirm or deny), so i think next time, i'll do the smoke for 6 hours then oven for the rest of the cooking time.

Nice work, bdeuce.

Edina, what type of smoker did she get you?

I made a batch of Mexican style chorizo this weekend. Did not add backfat just ground lean pork. I'm thinking that was a mistake as all the chorizon I've had is usually swimming in oil and this stuff tastes too lean. I'll make sure to add some oil when I cook it. Also, as I used my own spices, it's not that deep red. Doesn't affect taste but it's just what I'm used to seeing.

Main spices were ancho powder, chipotle powder, cummin, hot paprika and salt.