Smoking Pork Picnic - Looking for tips, advice & hints

[csubi]

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.

[Habanero Smoker]

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;

[csubi]

Thank you good sir. I'll do skin off and look for the crackling how to.

[Habanero Smoker]

You're welcome.