Bad Blogger! Bad! Bad! Blogger!

I'm a tease!

So, I teased in Facebook, stating a new blog was in the works. Then I did the unthinkable: I forgot to get pictures of the actual barbecuing. Sorry.

I can blame it on the lack of sleep, too excited how it turned out, too much work with the fire and didn't have time, etc, etc. But in the end, I didn't take pictures. But I still think I can salvage a decent post about my smoker's maiden voyage:

So, Saturday, October 27 turned to be a fine day (early morning) to launch my smoker and indoctrinate it with its first meat: pork butt.

I know, I know - we're in Texas and we're 'The Beef People' but my choice was due to a few factors:

• I make a mean White Chicken Chili (won best chili at work) and the family has been clamoring for me to make it again (October is Texas Chili Month after all) but my wife has developed an allergy to poultry over the past few years. Seemed unfair to make something she either can't eat, or will and get hives from it if she does eat it. So, since pork is 'the other white meat' I thought I'd try it.
• Cheapest I could find brisket at the time was $2.69/lbs A bit expensive for me as I usually see it in sale closer to $1.99-2.25
• I like pulled pork. So sue me. Probably due to my heritage of my dad and grandparents growing up in North Carolina (I even like livermush)

So pork it is! Nice 8 lbs pork butt ready for the smoker.

The Prep

Charcoal all fired up

I start my smoker to get it warmed up for the long smoke. I fill my chimney starter with lump charcoal and light 'er up and wait.

Now, part of the reason for this blog is for something for me to do, but also hoping others might pick up a tip here and there based on my successes and mistakes. This was one of those mistakes I hope you get a tip from:

After cleaning my smoker from my seasoning fire, I forgot to add back the firebox grate for the charcoal to rest on so oxygen can get underneath the fire. Yea, dumb, rookie mistake. But more on the consequences from that later.

I dumped the red-hot charcoal in the firebox (sans fire grate) when I realized my mistake. Too hot to do anything now, so I just went with it and place a post oak log on it to catch. A few minutes later, I was in business and closed the lid to get it going.

Next, I pulled out the pork and applied a rub. I'm not one to hide recipes. If others did that as well, I'd never understand how to cook or smoke. It's a simple rub of:

• 1/3 part salt
• 1/3 part cracked pepper
• 1/3 part of combined (equal parts):
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Hungarian paprika

Mix well and put in shaker.

In the past when I've done pulled pork, I add brown sugar to give a little sweetness. But I've learned that sugar burns, especially when on a smoker for 12 hours, so I left it out this time.

So, I've rubbed my butt (snicker) and my smoker is slowly warming up to 275 degrees to put it on.

The Smoker

Last post, I discussed making modifications to my smoker. Now I get to put it to the test.

No leaks here

First, the sealants. After sealing the seams & lining the lids with a high temperature gasket, with the smoker going, nary a leak detected.

Less leaked smoke means less leaked heat and better control over the cooking temperature.  Success!

Next is the new thermometer. I kept the old one and have it in place where the pre-drilled hole is in the top-left of the main door for now, just to see how much of a temperature difference there is between it and the new thermometer and its location.

290 degrees - a bit hot

First, I like how the new gauge is easier to read. Blue means a cold smoke (100-225 degree range), red means hot smoke (225-350 range) and white is just too hot, requiring immediate attention before the meat becomes a briquette itself.

So after adding a water pan in the smoker (to add moisture to the air and prevent drying of the meat), the pork butt, closing the lid and getting back up to a temperature of 275, I compared the two gauges.

Gauge one, the new one I installed, is set about meat level (about an inch above where the grate is) and at a point where I would have the tip of the meat reach so I know what the temperature would be once it hits said meat. 275. The temperature I want it.

260 - that's a huge difference
(and the last of the pictures taken - sorry)

Next gauge is the one that came with the smoker. It's high and near the back where the meat would be so I know it isn't as accurate as I want it to be, but for fun right now I have it installed just to see.

260 degrees! This was taken at the same time I took the above picture, so that's about a 30 degree difference. Granted, it's not 100% accurate - as mentioned, it's too high and not a great thermometer I'm told, but still I think it gives an idea how the temperature changes as it moves through the smoker.

So, smoker is smoking, meat is on, water pan filled, check the temperature, all good.  It's about 5:30am, so in about 13 hours, we'll have pulled pork for dinner.

Blue Smoke

Blue smoke is a new concept for me, I only heard about maybe a month ago when I was considering getting my new smoker. For those that don't know, apparently thick, billowy, white or gray smoke coming from your smoker is actually a bad thing. I say 'apparently' because with my Bradley electric smoker, that's all it produced and I assumed visible smoke = good.

Apparently that's not the case. Visible smoke means the fuel isn't burning cleanly. Not enough oxygen getting to it and therefore smolders the wood. That whiteness you see in smoke is creosote. Creosote makes your foods bitter to the taste, which, I just assumed meant good barbecue. Silly me.

The actual best thing you want for your smoker, is practically no smoke as all (how's that for irony) and you want your fuel to burn cleanly (no smoldering) and the smoke chimney should emit almost no smoke with an almost blue tint or haze to it. That's your goal. That's what gives your meats that 'smoke' flavor without the bitterness.

Now, remember above when I said I forgot to put back the firebox grate? Yea, welcome to Creosote-city, population me and my butt.

Without the grate, no oxygen was getting underneath the fire. And the ashes it's producing is smothering the heat and flames below it causing it to smolder and, you guessed it, thick, billowy, white smoke. I mean, THICK!

Plus my temperature control for the smoker was really difficult to keep a consistent temp. I was back to using a fan to blow on the coals to get the temperature up and stop smoldering. It was pissing me off. It wasn't nearly as hard keeping this temperature when I seasoned it. I felt like I was back to my bullet smoker. Now I understand why I had to work so much with it.

There were a few moments I had the right temperature and clean burn, but not many. I would say maybe 20% of the time (2+ hours not in a row) I was okay, but the other 80% (8-ish hours) it was me vs fire.

Lesson learned: Make sure I have the firebox grill installed. If not, just move the coals somewhere to add it and add back the coals. It was NOT worth it how much energy I had to put into this.

The Wrap

So, after about 10 hours of almost constant fighting, I threw in the towel (so to say): I cheated. I preheated my oven to 275, grabbed some aluminum foil, sprayed down the butt with apple cider vinegar, wrapped it and finished the cook in the oven.

I know it's cheating, but it's absorbed plenty of smoke flavor (and creosote) during that time, and now I just needed to get that sucker cooked.

A few hours later and it finally reached 165 internal temperature.  I pulled it our of the oven and let it rest another 90 minutes (still wrapped) before pulling.

The Results

So, pork is pulled. I'm exhausted & frustrated. But I got to say, even with all these setbacks, it actually turned out pretty good. Definitely a heavy smoke flavor (which I like) with some bitterness (now that I've become aware of this it's now more noticeable when I can taste it) but really, it wasn't bad.

As for the White Chicken Chili I mentioned above?  Took about 3 lbs of the smoked pork and substituted it for the chicken. I think between the smokey flavor and the pulled pork texture instead of ground/cubed chicken it's actually a bit better now. But White Pork Chili doesn't have the same ring to it as White Chicken, so I'll need to work on a new title for it. Maybe 'Honky Butt Chili' or something equally ridiculous.

Conclusion and Lessons (Hopefully) Learned

So in the end I'm marking this a success because all the pork was consumed over time. But there were some take-aways from this and hope to improve on:

1. Take pictures (Sorry about that)
2. Make sure the fire grate is in place, and if not when you dump the coals, move the coals out to some fire-retardant receptacle and add it!
3. Hopefully with #2 in place, I won't need to fight the fire so much and can keep a steady temperature more consistently, and achieve that elusive blue smoke.
4. I think I'm getting another temperature gauge and install it grate-level near the back so I can get a more accurate temperature.

So, all things considered, an exhausting but tasty maiden voyage for my smoker, and any time you can eat what you cooked, regardless of how much effort went into it, is a success.

Next post: Kroger has brisket for $1.99/lbs! Guess what's smoking this weekend!