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No. of Recommendations: 4
No BBQ board here...but smoking is cooking, so I guess I post here...
We had an event, and 1poorlady wanted me to smoke and pull a pork roast. At about 12 lbs, that is a 12-14 hr process. We don't have a pellet smoker, so temp control is up to me. As the event was late-lunch, that means I had to stay up all night baby-sitting the thing. 1poorlady felt really bad about that once we she realized, but we were already committed.
Used a rub from Raichlen's book, and 1poorlady adapted a few sauces she found there into one sauce. And I used my new MEATER temp probe, which turned out to be really slick.
As is typical, after about 9 hours the smoker temp became difficult to control without choking-off so much air that there wasn't any smoke from the wood. I was also tired, and didn't think smoke would add much more at that point, so I stopped the smoker, wrapped the roast in banana leaves, and put it in the oven. VERY controlled temperature. That was about the time of the smoker's pause (which took about two or three hours). Once past the pause, it continued as expected. The temp probe was really handy, and at 204F internal I removed it from the oven. Bone came out easily, pulled easily. Success!!
Though I did grab some sleep after 1poorlady woke up...she monitored it for about 4 hours. I woke up when it was about 30 minutes from target temperature.
No. of Recommendations: 3
We had an event, and 1poorlady wanted me to smoke and pull a pork roast. At about 12 lbs, that is a 12-14 hr process. We don't have a pellet smoker, so temp control is up to me. As the event was late-lunch, that means I had to stay up all night baby-sitting the thing. - 1pg
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I hear you about tending a smoker all night.
I have an old school offset smoker and enjoy making ribs, chicken, porkchops, mac and cheese, pork belly, but I never make brisket although that is one of my favorites. The same reason as you, it just takes so long I don't want to be tending the smoker all night. Whenever we go out for BBQ I always order some brisket because I am not going to stay up all night to make it at home.
I do make pork roasts often but I use the Crock Pot, set it and forget it for about ten hours, just my speed.
I was on a deer hunt one time at one of those fancy camps. The chef made all sorts of good food the three or four nights we were there. One night he made steaks on the grill and for desert, an angel food cake. He sliced the cake into big thick serving size pieces and put them of the grill for about three minutes on each side. Grill marks and smokey sweet taste, best angel food cake ever
No. of Recommendations: 5
1poorlady says from now on I will only be smoking for dinner. So, wake up early, put it on, and it's ready by dinner time. Plus, you can put the rub on the night before, let it sit for 8 hours while you sleep, and then pop it in the smoker. She felt really bad about having me stay up all night.
Waking up at 5am wouldn't be too bad. And the MEATER probe and phone app made it really easy to monitor. There are other similar probes out there, so I'm not pushing MEATER. That's just the one I have. The app displays ambient temp (in the smoker), internal temp of the meat, and target temp (which I set), and alarms when the internal temp is hit. Wake up at 5, dinner ready by 7pm or so...that can work. I'll take the same approach with brisket, but that will take less time (i.e. you don't have to hit 204F for brisket, or any other meat you don't plan to "pull"). I think the internal temp for brisket is about 165F, which is about where the pause will be...wait for the pause, some key proteins start to break, and it becomes tender.
I just watched TV all night. Had to refresh myself on Jack Ryan before starting the next season. Had the phone next to me, and check it every half our or so just to make sure the readings were OK. I need to learn how to set alarms if the ambient deviates too much from 240F (which is my smoker target). Ready now for the next season of Jack Ryan.
No. of Recommendations: 3
If you list all the reasons why an offset smoker is superior to a pellet grill, I will agree with every one of them. And I still prefer the pellet grill.
I like building and tending a fire and love the purity and tradition of it all, but it is a big time commitment, so that means smoking doesn't get done as much as I like. Still, I remained a traditionalist until I got an opportunity for steep discount on a new Traeger and I've never looked back. The ease of use means I smoke way more than I used to, and the consistency is better too.
