First Smoke, Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned :)

[Samalie]

Greets all...

Got my Bradley Original last week, seasoned her in & prepared pork "steaks" for Smoking Sunday.

Unfortunately, this was my first smoke, and I know a mistake or two I made, while I of course appreciate any further insight this community has :)

My first issue (I think) is that I seriously over-estimated the amount of cooking time required.  I based all of my timings/etc off of Baby Back info I found here, and with a boneless 1/2" thick pork steak I found I dried those bad boys out badly.  I know it wasn't due to temperature (I watched her like a hawk, never went above 205) and my water bowl still had plenty of water, so the only other factor I can think of is just a sad case of me overcooking (and I will admit as well I didn't start spritzing early enough, but the damage was already done).

Speaking of overcooking, I also believe I oversmoked just in general.  The smoke (Hickory & Maple in a 3:1 ratio) was absolutely overpowering the meat.  I did a full 5 hours of smoke with a 3 hour FTC with mop at the end.  Too much smoke.  Definetely too much smoke :)

DOnt get we wrong, it wasn't inedible or anything, but I at least now have a better feel of what I'm doing.  Next time will be better :)

[icerat4]

Any questions just ask. ;)

[SKSmoker]

Hey Samalie. You live, you learn! I have never done pork steaks, but steaks in general are best left to the grill. If you want to smoke them, you need to cold smoke them and throw them on the grill to cook.

Do you have a digital thermometer? Put that in your meat and you watch the internal temperature of the meat <IT>. I cook my pork on the grill it 152-156. Perfect for me at that temp.

Also, with smoke, less is more sometimes. Especially with the bradley, start less and move up. My first smoke I only used 40 mins of smoke!

[icerat4]

My frist smoke i used 15 hours of smoke. :o :o :P

[Habanero Smoker]

Samalie;
Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure what you mean by pork steaks. Is that cut from the loin, ham, or leg? If it is from the loin, and it is only a 1/2" thick, that is a lean cut of meat and will get over cooked fast. As SK states it best to apply smoke and finish off on a grill. It the cut is from the loin, I wouldn't take it any higher then 145°F. Also for thin cuts of meat that have a large surface to mass ration, I would cut down on the smoke; maybe applying 2 hours of smoke.

[Tiny Tim]

If it's the same as the pork steaks we get around here, they're from the shoulder. 

They're freakin' awesome if you season and grill them right.

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum Samalie.  These guys have you going in the right direction.  As an addition, hickory is pretty strong.  I love hickory on bacon, beef steaks and ham, but for other pork I like either apple or maple with possibly a single hickory thrown in on the longer smokes.

[West Coast Kansan]

Samalie, welcome.  :D You have a baseline and your theory about the next time.  Go with it and keep track of your changes so you know where you are.  Good advice on the forum - to help with new baselines, the key is zeroing in on what you like the best and share your experience.  ;)  It is pretty fun overall  ;D

[LilSmoker]

Welcome Samalie, part of the fun is the learning and experimenting, and once you've mastered the BS there's no looking back ;)

LilSmoker