Hey,
I've picked up a Pork Picnic. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. Skin on or off? Final internal temp before removing from heat? Smoke for 5 hours?
Thanks in advance.
You can smoke them either skin on or skin off. In the Bradley I smoke them skin off, because the skin never crisps up and it acts as a barrier for the smoke.
For skin on, I remove the skin and trim the fat to about 1/8"-inch; removing most of the silver skin. I generally don't apply more than 4 hours of smoke. For pork I love to use pecan, but any of the fruit woods work well. You can also use hickory. Smoke/roast at 225°F. For slicing I would bring the internal temperature up to 175°F - 180°F. For pulling 190°F - 200, start testing for tenderness around the 190°F mark. I place the skin on a separate rack and apply smoke to that. I then cut it into stirps, place them in a freezer sealable bag, and use them to flavor soups, and stews. Or you can make crackling out of it. If you search this site you will find a few ways to do that.
For skin on, just trim the silver skin, and any thick pockets of visible fat. The smoking/roasting directions are the same, except you will need to remove the skin before either slicing or pulling.
For the skin;
Thank you good sir. I'll do skin off and look for the crackling how to.
You're welcome.