Wednesday, May 07, 2014

I Smoked Hog for 7 Hours

A guest post by BaconBaking. Our favorite chef, Hugo from the Dub, hooked us up with a smoker for no other reason than he is a very nice guy. Last Sunday, while I stressed out over a grad school project, BB went to work...




A couple weeks ago our good friend and chef extraordinaire gave me and Mr. BaconBaking a gift. A brand new charcoal smoker. While we enjoy grilling on our propane grill the traditional burgers, brats, dogs, and chicken, this was a mighty big culinary step.

This weekend Lesbopeep and I tried out the smoker while Mr. BaconBaking worked on his school project. Our first culinary adventure was a smoked pork shoulder.


After reading every website I could find, we decided to use 100% hardwood briquettes—not the self-starting ones. I only used lighter fluid to get the fire started, but let the fire burn for a solid 20 minutes to get rid of the lighter fluid. While I was getting the fire started, I left the pork out on the counter for like 45 min to an hour with a homemade dry rub. The rub was a mix of brown sugar, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, cumin, oregano, and thyme. I was told not to put tooooo much rub on, but you can see how much I used.

Keeping the temp up was the hardest part for me. Anytime I threw in more charcoal the temp would dip. I was told that I should make a small fire in an old coffee tin with holes in the bottom and throw in hot burning briquettes instead of cold ones and then the temp wouldn’t dip. I’m lazy, and that sounded way difficult for my first go at it. I was also told I should have spritzed the pork with apple cider to keep the pork moist, but the smoker we have has a water bowl and I made sure that was at least ½ full throughout the entire process. It was a little tricky to refill the first time, but after you get the angle and such you are golden.

It took about 7 hours to come to 180 degrees. (7 brutal brutal hours of tanning on the patio, chatting and catching up on reading. Smoking is hard work.) 180 was good for slicing and falling apartness, but not quite to pulled porkness. I think you have to be up to 190 to 200 for that and I got a late start. After we took it out of the smoker, we let it rest for a solid 30 minutes. I read it should rest for at least 30 min-1 hour. That is a brutal part of the process because you want to dive in.


I was super excited that I had a smoke ring (the red edge right under the bark) and that while I sliced the pork, it was really starting to fall apart. We ate the pork straight up with BBQ sauce the first night, the second night it was tacos…with homemade tortillas of course, and tomorrow I’m going for a smoked pork pizza.

65 comments:

T.J. said...

#Pray4Nene

rob said...

hibbert's first half makes total sense

T.J. said...

The Bynum Theory ©

mayhugh said...

I respectfully request that Mrs. and Mr. Baconbaking adopt me for a week of dinners while Mrs. Mayhugh is out of town. Smoked. Pork. Pizza.

And do you remember the Wiz from the regular season that would get complacent or disinterested and go down 15? That team seems to be gone, and I hope they are not coming back any time soon.

mayhugh said...

John Wall's shot is really off tonight.

Shlara said...

its ok, we knew we weren't going 4-0 in this series

mayhugh said...

Gosh you're an upbeat lady.

Shlara said...

and, I know I say this every day, but I LOVE KEVIN DURANT.

Whitney said...

In the government world Shlara would represent an OCI.

Geoff said...

So, what is everybody here gonna miss the most about the print version of Jet Magazine?

Greg said...

What am I gonna do without my "Jet Beauty of the Week"?

Shlara said...

I really enjoy the BaconBaking food posts--I hope this does stick as recurring segment

Danimal said...

I second that.
We have a built-in smoker in our grill. I know, it's not the real deal but it's pretty good nonetheless. I feel your pain on the wait. To make that less painful, we put the rub on the night before and let it sit in the fridge. The next morning, we'll light the fire early and just let it go. all. day. lawng. We have a good sauce recipe we use too but I'd guess BB and TJ would like to discover their own. I think we'll do one of these quite soon due to your inspiration.

Danimal said...

very random obersvation - lauren tannehill is overrated.

T.J. said...

Mayhugh, tonight is the smoked pork with bonus pineapple homemade pizza

zman said...

Smoker? I hardly know 'er!

Mark said...

Lauren Tannehill is way overrated. That forehead!

mayhugh said...

Teej - I just had some string cheese and a spoonful of peanut butter. Your life > mine this week.

mayhugh said...

Of Hard Knocks football wives, I was always an Ashley Heap fan.

Mark said...

I was always partial to Tony Gonzalez's wife. Terrible name (October) but quite easy on the eyes.

Danimal said...

Bold predictions this eve? Manziel....top of first round or bottom?

mayhugh said...

Roger Goodell does not like being booed. You can tell it gets to him.

mayhugh said...

I predict the Teddy Bridgewater stock bounces back from the hating over the past several weeks and he goes earlier than projected.

mayhugh said...

I just baked some processed fish sticks. Things are looking slightly up.

mayhugh said...

9 minutes in and Berman already has some impressive lip sweat.

Danimal said...

I just crossed off Mayhugh from my "potential babysitters from GTB" list. We are down to zero now.

mayhugh said...

Poor Sammy Watkins. But, I guess congratulations, Zman.

Mark said...

I assume Z is excited about Sammy Watkins. Danimal and Blake? Probably not so much.

Mark said...

Wait? I didn't make the cut for babysitters, Dan? So offended.

mayhugh said...

I'm really digging Manziel's watch.

mayhugh said...

Barry Sanders might have pulled his suit jacket from my closet. It's clearly not as nice as most of the draft picks and it's a bit big.

mayhugh said...

Tight end at 10 - thoughts?

zman said...

I'm excited about Watkins. I'm not excited about having EJ Manuel throw to him. So they have Stevie Johnson, Robert woods, mike Williams, Watkins, and spiller. And no QB.

Barry sanders hasn't aged.

zman said...

TE at 10 is silly.

Mark said...

Ebron is a beast. I would've been cool with Bucs trading into the teens and getting him. 10 is a little high but he significantly upgrades the Detroit offense. Stafford's gonna throw for 5k. They'll still be average though because their secondary is shit.

zman said...

If I'm about to be a first round draft pick I'm not getting engaged. That type of poor judgment should knick him out of the first round.

mayhugh said...

I like Ebron a lot, but I find it hard to believe that there wasn't a greater need for Detroit and a guy still available to possibly fill it.

And this is only first round tonight? Do the guys in the waiting room have to come back tomorrow if they don't get picked?

Mark said...

That's the issue with the Ebron pick for me too. Detroit has much bigger holes to fill. That's why they're the Lions though.

And I too question his judgement. Never get married in your early 20s, especially when you're about to be rich. Dummy.

Mark said...

That Rams DLine is scary.

zman said...

Would the cowboys take manziel?

zman said...

Being a baby is like being wasted.

TR said...

I am terrified the Jets may grab Manziel. My dream picks were Ebron and Beckham. They need a playmaker in the worst way.
#couchscotch

TR said...

I like that Jerry Jones brought road beef to his war room.

TR said...

Rex Ryan has never valued safeties very high. No idea what they'll do at 18. Ha Ha seems unlikely.

Mark said...

Brandon Cooks would be a nice pick for the Jets. Super productive, great speed and tough. Could be more than just a slot WR but even if he's just a slot WR he'll be elite.

Mark said...

More defense!!! Oh, Rex.

TR said...

Jets needed a CB in the worst way. And he was first team all-AAC!

Mark said...

You realize he's a safety, right?

Mark said...

Come on Dolphins. You can fuck this up. I know you can.

TR said...

Of course I did.

TR said...

That may be a lie. I blame the scotch.

Mark said...

Cooks is going to be unreal in the Saints offense.

zman said...

Ja'Wuan is a name that hits all the high notes.

rob said...

gtb hearts drafts

Mark said...

Good article on Cooks. http://grantland.com/features/brandin-cooks-nfl-draft-oregon-state-wide-receiver/

Clarence said...

Jon Stewart just made a joke about the NY State bird being the kind you flip. I think he overheard Pi Lam initiation back in 1984.

mayhugh said...

First round must be brutal for the commentators. Just sitting around talking about a draft pick for 10 minutes. I'm not sure I could cover 10 interrupted minutes talking about Jerry.

zman said...

Is Ray Lewis the least eloquent talking head on TV?

Mark said...

It's. About. The struggle. Zman..

Mark said...

I'm truly happy for Dominique Easley. He was the best defensive player in the country thru four games last year before he blew his knee out. And the unquestioned leader of Florida's team. If he can stay healthy he'll be a monster 3 technique DT.

Mark said...

Teddy to the Vikings? #TeamTeddy

Professor G. Truck said...

hey ghierghies!

Danimal said...

I'm going to be one of Bortles' bitches until I'm forced to do otherwise. There are definitely concerns, 3rd down completion %'age being one of them. Seems like a very solid citizen though with smarts and attitude. He's probably the only guy we could have picked that WANTED to come to Jax. I do predict we select another QB in the 5th round where we have 3 picks.

T.J. said...

new post up

T.J. said...

A-Bortles