DarkStar11
is one Smokin' Farker
Several days ago, I moved a 9 lb. pork butt from the chest freezer to the fridge to thaw. The plan was to cook it on Thursday or Friday, but other things got in the way. It needed cooked. So last evening, it came out of the fridge, and got liberally seasoned with Hardcore Carnivore Red and some John Henry's Pecan on top. It rested on the counter for about 20 minutes while the SmokeFire came up to temp. Around 9 PM, it went on. The weather app on my phone was threatening pretty heavy rain overnight, but, hey, my RT has cooked through the same or worse. I let it go overnight with no additional temperature monitors, just the Weber app monitoring it. Might as well see how the SF would do on a rainy overnight cook. Just before heading to bed, I checked the hopper and made sure the fan was still blowing - all good.
I woke up around 7, checked the app. The meat was still in the stall, around 158. The rain never showed. There was smoke hanging in the air, though.
2 hours later, 160. I wandered out to the porch to have a look-see and stick it with the Thermapen, just to verify; yup, 160.
Checking the hopper, I was surprised to see the left side was completely empty. It was still consuming pellets from the right side, but it seemed like without some attention, it could possibly end up starved for fuel with pellets still in the hopper. Maybe not, I dunno. I'm used to my Rec Tec, and it's never favored one side like that.
After evening out the pellets and adding some more, I considered wrapping it but decided to let it ride. Added the InkBird with a probe at grate level and one in the meat to make sure the SF was being honest - it was. Around 3, the butt had climbed to 178 and was still probing tough. The plan was to eat this thing today, so I turned it up to 325. At 325, the SF was still making nice smoke - that's something my RT doesn't do. Close to 5 PM, it was finally probing like butter all over and temp was around 204. Yup, 20 hours.
The butt got wrapped in foil and rested in a towel-filled cooler until we were ready to eat at 7. While it was resting, I cranked the SmokeFire to 500 and pressure cooked some wings. After releasing pressure and drying them off, they got hit with some lemon pepper garlic rub and a spray of duck fat. They grilled up okay - didn't get as crisp as I'd have liked. I think they went too long in the pressure cooker, and I should have taken the SF hotter. This was my first time trying this method, so there's always next time. Or there's the kettle and the vortex (and skip the pressure cooker)...No pics of the wings, they weren't photo-worthy and my indoor photos are even worse than my outdoor ones.
I wish I had a pic post-rest. It looked like a meteorite. The pulled pork was served over toasted French bread with a red vinegar sauce and coleslaw on top. No plated pics, as we were hungry. Here's a post-dinner pic of the pulled pork and the vinegar slaw. Sprout is still hoping for her plate.
I know this was an incredibly basic cook and was mostly about me getting to know the SmokeFire a little better.
I woke up around 7, checked the app. The meat was still in the stall, around 158. The rain never showed. There was smoke hanging in the air, though.
2 hours later, 160. I wandered out to the porch to have a look-see and stick it with the Thermapen, just to verify; yup, 160.
Checking the hopper, I was surprised to see the left side was completely empty. It was still consuming pellets from the right side, but it seemed like without some attention, it could possibly end up starved for fuel with pellets still in the hopper. Maybe not, I dunno. I'm used to my Rec Tec, and it's never favored one side like that.
After evening out the pellets and adding some more, I considered wrapping it but decided to let it ride. Added the InkBird with a probe at grate level and one in the meat to make sure the SF was being honest - it was. Around 3, the butt had climbed to 178 and was still probing tough. The plan was to eat this thing today, so I turned it up to 325. At 325, the SF was still making nice smoke - that's something my RT doesn't do. Close to 5 PM, it was finally probing like butter all over and temp was around 204. Yup, 20 hours.
The butt got wrapped in foil and rested in a towel-filled cooler until we were ready to eat at 7. While it was resting, I cranked the SmokeFire to 500 and pressure cooked some wings. After releasing pressure and drying them off, they got hit with some lemon pepper garlic rub and a spray of duck fat. They grilled up okay - didn't get as crisp as I'd have liked. I think they went too long in the pressure cooker, and I should have taken the SF hotter. This was my first time trying this method, so there's always next time. Or there's the kettle and the vortex (and skip the pressure cooker)...No pics of the wings, they weren't photo-worthy and my indoor photos are even worse than my outdoor ones.
I wish I had a pic post-rest. It looked like a meteorite. The pulled pork was served over toasted French bread with a red vinegar sauce and coleslaw on top. No plated pics, as we were hungry. Here's a post-dinner pic of the pulled pork and the vinegar slaw. Sprout is still hoping for her plate.
I know this was an incredibly basic cook and was mostly about me getting to know the SmokeFire a little better.
