I'm at it again! 7.5 lb Pork Butt cut in half for more bark and two small slabs of
pork ribs cut in half. I hope I didn't overload the 14.5" WSM! It's packed!
The bottom grate temp was hovering around 242 degrees when it started, but I'd say it really averaged arond 225 degrees. Water is in the pan. For smoke, I used hickory chunks on Kingsford Original charcoal. The rub is Rufus Teague - Meat Rub which was put on the butt and ribs the night before.
I'll run the butt until 201 degrees. I will wrap when it
hits the stall. The ribs I'll do 2.5-2-.5. These are rather thin looking ribs.
I haven't used the 14.5" much due to the cold weather, but it's about 26 degrees with very little wind today. Still, I wrapped the WSM in a welder's blanket. Hope it works out! I'll post the finished product later today.
I had to take a quick peek after 2 hours of cooking... the ribs are at 170 degrees.
Three of the four cut ribs after saucing, but before wrapping. I wrapped the fourth rib, but forgot to photograph it before doing that!
Ribs are done. The color of the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce changes after it's been cooked. I decided to do 3.5 hours unwrapped, 2.5 hours wrapped and that's it. I usually unwrap and run it another .5 hours, but my wife likes it more "fall off the bone" while I like it with more bite to it. But since I've done it my way so many times now, I thought I'd surprise her and do it the way she likes it for once.
The pork butt finished after 6 hours 20 minutes to reach 202 degrees. I usually don't shred it as much as some people shred it. My daughter likes it less pulled. It pulled really easily this time too! I also don't pour sauce all over the pulled pork either. Instead, I prefer to just add a little when needed. Less calories that way!
It was the easiest "pull" I have ever done. It shredded very easily! Could it be the fact that the temperature of the cook stayed mostly around 225 degrees? The pit temp did jump as high as 320 degrees, but that only happened after I opened up the lid and more air got in. After a while, it stabilized back to the 220-240 ranges.
But, favor-wise, the pork butt was a little lacking. I would have thought it would taste really good being closer to the heat source and having so many big chunks of hickory on the charcoal. A couple of things could have caused this... the pork butt was put in the middle grate and the smoker was loaded down with a lot of meat. Perhaps the smoke could not get to the middle grate meat as much? Or, it could be that the rub was not as tasty as other rubs I have used in the past for pulled pork? (This is a very good possibility as Rufus Teague tends to be more mild). I usually only used the Rufus Teague rub for ribs and the ribs today were pretty good, although a tad saltier than we preferred (probably put too much rub on them). Lastly, could it be that the meat itself was not as tasty this time? Not sure on any of these theories! They say that meat on the top grate usually gets better smoke, probably because of the circulation of the smoke from the rounded lid, I suppose. I'm just not sure why it didn't taste as good as it pulled. But on a technical cooking level, this pulled pork pulled better than any other time I've made pulled pork!
I haven't used the 14.5" much due to the cold weather, but it's about 26 degrees with very little wind today. Still, I wrapped the WSM in a welder's blanket. Hope it works out! I'll post the finished product later today.
I had to take a quick peek after 2 hours of cooking... the ribs are at 170 degrees.
Three of the four cut ribs after saucing, but before wrapping. I wrapped the fourth rib, but forgot to photograph it before doing that!
Ribs are done. The color of the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce changes after it's been cooked. I decided to do 3.5 hours unwrapped, 2.5 hours wrapped and that's it. I usually unwrap and run it another .5 hours, but my wife likes it more "fall off the bone" while I like it with more bite to it. But since I've done it my way so many times now, I thought I'd surprise her and do it the way she likes it for once.
The pork butt finished after 6 hours 20 minutes to reach 202 degrees. I usually don't shred it as much as some people shred it. My daughter likes it less pulled. It pulled really easily this time too! I also don't pour sauce all over the pulled pork either. Instead, I prefer to just add a little when needed. Less calories that way!
It was the easiest "pull" I have ever done. It shredded very easily! Could it be the fact that the temperature of the cook stayed mostly around 225 degrees? The pit temp did jump as high as 320 degrees, but that only happened after I opened up the lid and more air got in. After a while, it stabilized back to the 220-240 ranges.
But, favor-wise, the pork butt was a little lacking. I would have thought it would taste really good being closer to the heat source and having so many big chunks of hickory on the charcoal. A couple of things could have caused this... the pork butt was put in the middle grate and the smoker was loaded down with a lot of meat. Perhaps the smoke could not get to the middle grate meat as much? Or, it could be that the rub was not as tasty as other rubs I have used in the past for pulled pork? (This is a very good possibility as Rufus Teague tends to be more mild). I usually only used the Rufus Teague rub for ribs and the ribs today were pretty good, although a tad saltier than we preferred (probably put too much rub on them). Lastly, could it be that the meat itself was not as tasty this time? Not sure on any of these theories! They say that meat on the top grate usually gets better smoke, probably because of the circulation of the smoke from the rounded lid, I suppose. I'm just not sure why it didn't taste as good as it pulled. But on a technical cooking level, this pulled pork pulled better than any other time I've made pulled pork!
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