What to put in the smoker this weekend?

[Dave_L]

They came out pretty good. Wife and I really enjoyed them. Now that I have a baseline, I can start tweaking things. But very happy with my first go at it.

[Dave_L]

Don't judge too hard as it's my first attempt.

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[buffalobo]

Don't judge too hard as it's my first attempt.

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Looks tasty.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Still need practice with the pork butts but ribs I got down:

[Great-Kazoo]

Lookin Good. I finally hit my stride with pork butt. ALWAYS used dry rub night before, then olive oil and other layer of dry rub.
This time dry rub day before, MUSTARD then another layer of rub. Got a nice bark, good ring and tasty. Probably the mustard holding more rub than oil while in the smoke phase.

I now bring it up to 160 before wrapping. We prefer a bone in for ease of done time. With bone in it's easy to know when done, by twisting bone. If it turns easy and meat starts separating, it's DONE!

[Jer]

Pork Butts are my wheel house. I read probably WAY too much online before I ever even attempted my first one but I the first pulled pork I made was actually right there with the best I had ever eaten and it only got better from there. I take notes though and refer to them before I start another one and try to tweak small things to create a better result rather than swaying from various extremes wildly hoping to land on something tasty. It's also cheap ($2.49 @ King Soopers with sales regularly putting it below $2/lb and I've even seen $0.99/lb) to get in decent quality which is more than I can say for beef currently as I'd love to practice more with Choice Brisket but I'm not rich. When eating out I tend to lean towards brisket cut from the wet side more often than not with a good burnt ends being my guilty pleasure. I've developed more of a taste for pulled pork largely due to cost and wish they would make more cows. ;-)

Here's what I do: Fire up smoker and as it warms I rinse my bone-in shoulder and pat dry w/paper towels. I then slather in the cheapest yellow mustard I can find and sprinkler liberally w/dry rub (usually Famous Dave's in the red bottle... cheap and makes a perfectly flavored bark that enhances the flavor of the meat and doesn't try to upstage it). Insert temp probe(s) and drop into smoker set at 225deg until IT reaches 165deg. I then foil and take to 202deg IT and then remove and either let rest on counter for an hour before pulling or if I'm done ahead of schedule (almost never.. lol) I wrap in one of our ugly (but clean) bath towels while still in the foil and place in a smaller cooler for up to three hours before pulling. I've got a pretty sweet finishing sauce that consists of apple cider vinegar & apple juice with some spices but otherwise I go very minimal on my meat. I'm of the mindset that the less you focus on secondary flavorings and the more you focus on quality and preparation of the actual meat the better the overall flavor. Minimalist I suppose you could call me.

[Great-Kazoo]

. I take notes though and refer to them before I start another one and try to tweak small things to create a better result rather than swaying from various extremes wildly hoping to land on something tasty. It's also cheap ($2.49 @ King Soopers with sales regularly putting it below $2/lb and I've even seen $0.99/lb)

Absolutely. Note taking, for us on side of recipe works. Adjust time, amount of seasoning Up of Down on different spices.
Shamrock has / had Bone in pork Butt for $1.19 lb in a 2 butt pack.

I then slather in the cheapest yellow mustard I can find and sprinkler liberally w/dry rub (usually Famous Dave's in the red bottle... cheap and makes a perfectly \
Just started using it instead of olive oil

I'm of the mindset that the less you focus on secondary flavorings and the more you focus on quality and preparation of the actual meat the better the overall flavor. Minimalist I suppose you could call me.

Totally agree. it's what the products one brings to the table as is that sets the tone of the meal. ANYONE can dump BBQ sauce on any cut of meat. How it taste after sitting a few is where one shows their expertise.

Even better is left overs. I use a portion of left over pork for my green chili. Major difference in the finished product

[Aloha_Shooter]

Interesting write-up at http://www.tastymeat.net/best-smoker-buying-guide/

Quite a few points I'd argue with but some good points and information as well.

[Great-Kazoo]

2 small briskets on. Probably finished sometime this evening, just wrapped in foil now.

[blacklabel]

We did bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers yesterday along with a pizza fatty. The fatty needed a ton more cheese but they were both delicious.