---k---
is One Chatty Farker
What ever doesn't kill you...Makes you a better cook?
Well, this weekend was going to be bone chilling cold, but my wonderful wife requested pulled pork for her birthday. How could I turn that down? (I also desperately needed an entry for the Virgin TD, since it was my idea and I'm running out of time :-D )
I was a little worried because I'm still learning my drum and I planned on mixing in several new variables: 1) It was going to be windy and cold cold, 2) I was going to use a 16" terra cotta pot diffuser, 3) and I was switching from K to Royal Oak bricketts that I got cheap from Menards. I was wise enough to get up earlier and start the drum at 5:00 am rather than doing an overnight sleep. So, how did it go?
Here's my beautiful 7 lb pork butt from the neighborhood polish grocery store.
I do a quick vinegar wash, light coat of mustard, and then rub. This time I'm using Lee Ann Whippen's Pig Powder.
It then got wrapped in saran wrap for about 18 hours, until it was ready to go into the drum. I was worried about the temps and the recommendation I got was just to fill it up and not worry. So, I filled my UDS basket up with (almost) everything I had. It had about 4 lbs of K and 14 lbs of RO bricketts (~18# total), and probably 9 chunks of hickory. (no photo) It took probably 40 mins to get the drum up to about 235* and nice sweet blue smoke. So, on went the butt. It looks so small lonely the big drum.
I watched the temps for about 15 minutes, then went back to bed. It was chugging along pretty good until about 12:30, when the temps started to fall off. I opened the vents up some more, shook it the drum, and that helped for about 45 minutes and then the temps started to drop again. I shook again, and stuck a steel rod through a vent to shake it, and nothing was working. Around 2:30, with my temps dropping to around 200*, I decided it was time to take the meat off, remove the diffuser, and check the basket. Wow! The ash was up to the bottom of the grate and 3/4 of my charcoal was gone. I dumped some of the ash in to the bottom of the drum and added another 4 lbs of charcoal to the basket. Reassembled, got the drum temp back up, and put the meat back on in foil to protect it from some bad smoke. I probably lost an 30 mins in this process and the meat dropped about 8* in temp.
The pork took off again and was moving along, but started to really slow down as I approached 195*. Then, the drum temps started to drop again. It was around 5:30 pm at this time. So I started to get the oven ready to take over if needed. I pulled the pork and the bone was wiggling. Oven averted! So, I gave it another layer of foil and let it rest for an hour.
The results:
Very tender and moist, great smoke ring. Pulled very easily. Then plated up with some of my wife's homemade applesauce (yum!) and a macaroni salad. Pretty tasty. I had enough sandwiches so I could try Blues Hog Blue, Blue/Red mix, and Stubb's sauces. (Love the Stubb's.)
Oh, and here was my charcoal basket after I was done. Not much left of 22# of charcoal. And here I was hoping the RO bricketts would have less ash. :crazy:
I think I'm going to see if I can find some welding blankets before my next below freezing smoke. I'll also probably raise the basket 1/2" and maybe even remove the pan to give me more room.
Well, this weekend was going to be bone chilling cold, but my wonderful wife requested pulled pork for her birthday. How could I turn that down? (I also desperately needed an entry for the Virgin TD, since it was my idea and I'm running out of time :-D )
I was a little worried because I'm still learning my drum and I planned on mixing in several new variables: 1) It was going to be windy and cold cold, 2) I was going to use a 16" terra cotta pot diffuser, 3) and I was switching from K to Royal Oak bricketts that I got cheap from Menards. I was wise enough to get up earlier and start the drum at 5:00 am rather than doing an overnight sleep. So, how did it go?
Here's my beautiful 7 lb pork butt from the neighborhood polish grocery store.
I do a quick vinegar wash, light coat of mustard, and then rub. This time I'm using Lee Ann Whippen's Pig Powder.
It then got wrapped in saran wrap for about 18 hours, until it was ready to go into the drum. I was worried about the temps and the recommendation I got was just to fill it up and not worry. So, I filled my UDS basket up with (almost) everything I had. It had about 4 lbs of K and 14 lbs of RO bricketts (~18# total), and probably 9 chunks of hickory. (no photo) It took probably 40 mins to get the drum up to about 235* and nice sweet blue smoke. So, on went the butt. It looks so small lonely the big drum.
I watched the temps for about 15 minutes, then went back to bed. It was chugging along pretty good until about 12:30, when the temps started to fall off. I opened the vents up some more, shook it the drum, and that helped for about 45 minutes and then the temps started to drop again. I shook again, and stuck a steel rod through a vent to shake it, and nothing was working. Around 2:30, with my temps dropping to around 200*, I decided it was time to take the meat off, remove the diffuser, and check the basket. Wow! The ash was up to the bottom of the grate and 3/4 of my charcoal was gone. I dumped some of the ash in to the bottom of the drum and added another 4 lbs of charcoal to the basket. Reassembled, got the drum temp back up, and put the meat back on in foil to protect it from some bad smoke. I probably lost an 30 mins in this process and the meat dropped about 8* in temp.
The pork took off again and was moving along, but started to really slow down as I approached 195*. Then, the drum temps started to drop again. It was around 5:30 pm at this time. So I started to get the oven ready to take over if needed. I pulled the pork and the bone was wiggling. Oven averted! So, I gave it another layer of foil and let it rest for an hour.
The results:
Very tender and moist, great smoke ring. Pulled very easily. Then plated up with some of my wife's homemade applesauce (yum!) and a macaroni salad. Pretty tasty. I had enough sandwiches so I could try Blues Hog Blue, Blue/Red mix, and Stubb's sauces. (Love the Stubb's.)
Oh, and here was my charcoal basket after I was done. Not much left of 22# of charcoal. And here I was hoping the RO bricketts would have less ash. :crazy:
I think I'm going to see if I can find some welding blankets before my next below freezing smoke. I'll also probably raise the basket 1/2" and maybe even remove the pan to give me more room.
