Pork Back Ribs and 7 lbs of Pork Butt on the 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain

Today's smoke... back ribs on top, 7 lbs of pork butt (cut in half) in the middle on the 18.5" WSM.

Smoking with apple wood, water in the pan, 255 degrees on average in the pit. Will keep it running until the pork butt hits around 203 degrees and will wrap at the stall. The ribs will be done 2.5, 1.75, 0.25.

I'll be grilling Chicken later in the late afternoon.

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The ribs were wrapped after 2.5 hours.  The pork was wrapped 3 hours into the cook.  The stall happened at 156 degrees.

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Ribs were unwrapped after 1.75 hours and left on the grate for 15 minutes before considering it done.  The final product was great!  Good bite to them and a bit of a kick too.  I added some cayenne pepper to the Costco Rib Rub & Seasoning.  Decent smoke ring as well.

The pork finished in about 6 hours, but I left it in there longer so that the pork would reach a higher temperature.  By 6 hours it had reached 203 degrees internal temp.  I left it going until it was 207 degrees.

The bone pulled out quickly, easily and cleanly.  This is how much juice comes out of a 7 lb pork butt!  Very little apple juice was poured into the pan (perhaps less than 1 cup).  The rest is juice from the meat.

While the pork pulled very easily, it was a bit stringy and dry.  I think I left it in the smoker too long.  I probably should have taken it out when it hit 202 or 203 degrees.  Still ok for my use in my flatbread panini's however.

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Update:  Several days after smoking the pulled pork, I am finding that the pork is totally fine for the way I make my "diet" panini's.  While dryer than the past, after adding back in the separated (of oil) juice from the meat back into the pulled pork, it seems to help keep the meat moist enough for when I heat up the panini's.  Works just fine.  I use this Oxo separator:

Kingsford Charcoal Sale at Walmart

After conflicting comments about whether Home Depot would have their annual Memorial Day sale on Kingsford charcoal or maybe they won't and only have it on Father's Day, I decided instead to go to Walmart to pick up their $7.88 for two 15 lb bags sale. I bought 12 two packs for a total of 24 bags.

Cost is roughly identical to the Home Depot deal by cost per pound and it's actually lighter and easier to carry.

So with tax, I paid $101.66 for a total of 24 bags of 15 lbs each.

Believe it or not, I don't think this is going be enough for the year! I went through even more than this last year! Got to buy this stuff when it is a two for one sale!!

This past year, I estimate I went through about 25 bags of 18.6 lb Kingsford. Since these are only 15 lb bags, I don't think this amount will be enough. I will likely buy another 5 two-packs (10 bags) more on July 4 or Labor Day if the deal is available then.

My Usual - Reuben Sandwich with Fries and Diet Pepsi at Ram Restaurant & Brewery

Celebrating my brother's birthday once again, my friends and I went to Ram Restaurant & Brewery.  I ordered my regular sandwich: Reuben with Fries along with a Diet Pepsi.  Calorie count for this is 1798 calories.  This is essentially more than I should be having for the entire day while on my diet!

Actually, in the past, I'd order a strawberry or raspberry Ice Tea and put in sugar-free sweeteners.  But since the diet, I just order Diet Pepsi... not that this is any better for you!

14.88 lbs of Pork Butt on the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker

Once again, I'm smoking up some pork butt for pulled pork!  Today's cook features a total of 14.88 lbs of meat!

The middle grate has pork with Kick Butt Rib Rub -  Chipotle Honey and the top grate features  Costco's Rib Rub & Seasoning - Flavor Connections.

The initial pit temp is 256 degrees and had been adjusted to hover around 245 degrees.  The cook began at 7:40 AM.  Water is in the water pan.

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Three hours into the cook and it's time to wrap.  I put each split pork butt into aluminum foil pans and covered each with aluminum foil.  The internal temp was 162 degrees.  The pit temp rose to 275 after opening the lid, but started going back down after it was closed again.  I left for a birthday lunch for my brother with two of my high school friends at Ram Restaurant & Brewery in Wheeling and will check on the cook when I get back.

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After returning from lunch and waiting a while, at 7.5 hours into the cook, the internal temp of the meat rose to 191 degrees and did a second stall.  Pit temp was at 225 degrees, so I stirred up the coals to remove the ashes and opened up the bottom vents fully to get more air to the coals.

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The finished product!  10 hours of cook time to finish both pork butts.  They both pulled extremely easily.  Even better than my last cook and I thought that one was good!  I think the key is to keep the cook going even if you think it is done.  I let these go a lot longer than I typically do.  But I found that the butt in the middle grate finished BEFORE the meat on the top grate which was a surprise to me since it usually goes the other way around.  I let the meat get up to 205 degrees this time.

50 lbs As Of Today!

I have finally hit 50 lbs down since starting my diet on November 2!

I had hoped to get 60 lbs of loss in 6 months, but that was probably a bit too ambitious.  Still, 50 lbs  in 6.5 months isn't too bad.  I will try for 75 lbs of loss in one year now.  25 lbs more in six months seems like a very good possibility at this point.  We shall see!

Mother's Day Dinner at TGI Fridays

My daughter took us to TGI Fridays for Mother's Day dinner.  We had the full slab of ribs special!  Totally fall off the bone, it was good, but I think I can still make a better rib!  Still, good to have dinner on my daughter!

Weight Changes Over Time

I asked my students to send a photo of me before I started my diet.  Nobody sent me one.  I guess they were all afraid to insult me by showing me how overweight I had gotten!

But this photo of me at one of my guitar get-togethers shows my weight in my face, if not my body (obscured by the bass) compared to the 2018 photo just six months later.  It was taken last year just a couple of days before I started my diet.  Compare this to the recent photo I posted just days ago.

I think you can see the weight in my face.  OK, you can see it in the upper body too!

My April 27, 2018 photo is after losing 47 lbs in 6 months.


The photo of me teaching in 2012 was taken by my student, Barry Nagle.  (Thanks Barry!)  Someone finally sent me a photo of me!  The 2007 photo was taken at one of my Wedding Photographer's Roundtable Discussions at my old office.  I am about the same weight in that photo as I am today in May 2018.

7 lb Pork Butt on the 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain - The Best Pulled Pork To Date!

I'm doing it again! 7 lb pork butt for pulled pork on the 18.5" WSM. I'm using hickory wood for smoke and keeping the pit temp around 260 degrees. The pork butt was cut in half for a faster cook and more bark. The rub is a combination of Kick Butt Rib Rub - Hickory and also Chipotle Honey. Water was placed in the pan.  I also cut off the fat cap.  I've never cut off the entire fat cap before.

I'll post more about the cook as it goes on...

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The meat hit the stall at 3.5 hours into the cook at 161 degrees.  I put the pork into an aluminum pan and covered the top with foil.

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Had to add more charcoal because I didn't put a lot in the basket initially.  The pork seems to be stalling once again with the internal temperature at 195 degrees.  The pit temp was hovering around the 230 degree range.  I also opened the lower vents more and cracked open the door slightly too.  The cook is close to being done, but not quite there yet.  Time currently is 6 hours 45 minutes into the cook.   After adding the few additional charcoal briquets, the pit temp hovered around 265 degrees.


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I had to add more charcoal again to get the internal temp to reach 203 degrees.  The pit temp had dropped to around 220 degrees, but after adding a new chimney full of charcoal, the pit temp rose to the 255 range.  When the meat finally reached 203 degrees, the total time of the cook was 8.5 hours.  This was perhaps the BEST pulled pork I have made to date!  This pulled like butter!  No resistance at all.  The bone came out totally clean and easily.