Smoker's Rite of Passage - 1st Pork Butt

[OU812]

Looks good monty, The color of the rub looks great.

Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it done yet?  ;D

[Caribou]

 :D :D :D
It does look good Monty!
Looking forward to the finished product  :)

Was it possibly organically raised or one of the "heritage" breeds that bring a higher price?
Carolyn

[monty]

Thanks everyone. Woke up at 430am to get the OBS fired up and pre-heated, and to let the meat come up to temp. Loaded it up at 600am and here we are 12 hours later at an IT of 195F  :o This was my first time using the Maverick and boy is that thing ever handy.  I only opened the cabinet twice - once to replenish water and once to pull it out!

Currently FTC'ing and will be pulled soon. The bark looks friggin outstanding! My computer is on the fritz right now (posting from a laptop) so the board might have to wait until later this week for pics. They are truly a thing of beauty!

Couldn't have done it without the Bradley forums. So much great info here.

-monty

[monty]

Was it possibly organically raised or one of the "heritage" breeds that bring a higher price?
Carolyn

Definitely not heritage pork, but the butcher I went to certainly isn't known to be the cheapest in town. I'll have to start shopping around  :)

[classicrockgriller]

You can lead a Horse to water but you can't make him drink.

If you are given the right info but you put it to work, then Monty deserves a pat on the back too.

Looking forward to the pics.

[monty]

computer is still out of order but i managed to get the pics on the laptop

enjoy

(think i need to invest in a foodsaver  :D)

-monty

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Great job there Monty. It all looks good, the rub, the bark and sure looks nice and moist. Your about the Foodsaver, it comes in handy. Keep up the good work.

[classicrockgriller]

Geat job. awesome

[Tenpoint5]

Well Done Monty I think your hooked!!

[monty]

I think your hooked!!

you can say that again  ;D

[classicrockgriller]

monty, it has been said in the forum and it makes sense and I'll pass it to you like it was passed to me. the smoke only penetrates so far.
when you pull your butt (hehe) kinda seperate the crust from the pulled meat. then chop your bark and mix it with the pulled part in a big pan.
then seperate for saving( ie vac seal). The idea is that the bark smoke meat will mingle with non bark meat and help add smoke everwhere.

I had some pulled pork in the freezer, took it out and almost totally defrosted. I re-smoked it on the Traeger and slammed it with Hab's
Vaunted Vinegar sauce.

[KyNola]

Dang Monty, that looks incredible.

CRG has given you some great advice about chopping the bark and putting it in the pulled meat.  One other trick that I do from time to time is to take some of the rub that you put on your butt prior to smoking and throw just a little into the pulled pork and stir it through.  Seems to perk up that bark flavor a little even though there may be little bark in the meat.

KyNola

[Hopefull Romantic]

Wow Monty wonderful rewarding outcome for a good days work.

With such a result, I am surprised you peeked only twice.

HR

[OU812]

Nicely done monty, thats some of the best looking bark you have there, looks moist and tender.

Like the others have said, when you pull the butt I try to do the pulling in one big pan and mix all the bark in evenly. When cooking I put a foil drip pan on the tray below the one the butt is on, (after the smoke is done) then when the butt is resting put the foil drip pan in the fridge to allow the fat to congeal. Discard the fat and add the juice back to the pulled pork and serve.

Mmmmmmmmm  Gooood

[dbrown1]

That looks great Monty, gonna have to do one of those myself soon hope my results are at least half of yours.
Great looking Butt, congo rats !!  ;)