Smoking in an English Gale

Medium-Time Lurker / First-time Poster -

EDIT - Apologies for the image issues - if you've got words on linking images from Flickr, I'll welcome a private message - too long messing around with this post and not enough time watching pit temps = a bad idea.

Gents, as a TarHeel transplanted to the East of England (aka East Anglia) for work, I was thrilled to stumble onto the BBQ Brethren forums. You've provided me with a fair amount of research, good advice for tweaking previous recipes/smoking techniques, and thoughts regarding dry rubs and sauces. Many thanks.

Thanks to some serious encouragement in the form of recent threads regarding smoking boston butts (I'm going through some serious pulled pork withdrawal), I decided to give it a shot on this side of the pond. (Mind you, I think I've got loin back ribs, pork spareribs, and beef brisket pretty well squared for our tastes).

Despite all of the fantastic threads about meat selection, I'm afraid that I'm tied to the DoD's commissary system for much of what I can get... so I could only find a couple of smaller boston butts... boneless.. about 3.4 and 3.2 lbs, respectively. Hey, that just means that I get to use both of my traditional dry rubs on some pork and hopefully get some mean pulled pork from the deal!
http://flic.kr/p/dFohfq

I think I chose the wrong day to smoke, fellas. There's a serious gale blowing through the village today, and just getting the charcoal to light and get going was an adventure in itself! Finally, about 45 minutes later than I'd hoped, I got some heat going in the smoker... brought her up to temp, then put the kids in the sauna... my old hand-me-down offset smoker from another barbecue brother of mine from assignments around the globe: http://flic.kr/p/dFojYJ

So, as you can probably see from the million thermometers in the next picture, I'm off and running on an afternoon of barbecue smoking. The wind is frustrating and I can't get a solid reading on the temperature in my smoker... but she's merrily piping hickory smoke into the East Cambridgeshire sky, and I think I'll be forced to pull these butts and carefully finish them in the greater ease of control of our oven.
http://flic.kr/p/dFoivA

More words to follow.... Thanks again for the encouragement, the great information, and the ideas to keep me smoking great barbecue and showing the Brits what good American 'Cue is all about! I guarantee that you fellas would make an absolute killing if you ever considered bringing your grub over to "Jolly Old" England.

Kind regards,
SD

Pron Fail!

OK, thanks, Gary.

I'll go take a look at the links... work well from this end. I probably screwed it up somehow.... bloody Flickr links.

SD

Thanks, guys. I'll sort out the pictures piece later - weather turned to absolute crap as the skies opened up and it's pouring down rain. *chuckle*

Hoping that Jonboy's mention of WX vs. barbecue quality holds true.

*sigh* - I'll pour another beer and go stoke the coals a bit.

Butts easing their way from 175 to 195 before I allow them to rest.
http://flic.kr/p/dFtfpQ

I've read a few bits on other threads about folks "dressing" their pork after / as they pull it. Others mention pulling some of the juices and adding a few other ingredients.

Any thoughts on pros / cons?

First Boston Butt pulled, dressed, nibbled, and nearly devoured.


Waiting for second one to come up to temp for another tasty round of grub.

Cheers for the welcome, guys. I think I figured out the bit with Flickr's photos. Thanks for the patience.

SD