A long smoke

[Chris__M]

The other day, I was in Asda and they had decent sized bone-in pork shoulder. It was dirt cheap, so I bought two, on the principle that while I had the Traeger going, I may as well fill the shelf.

I've cooked pulled pork before, but always against time constraint, so invariably I've smoked for about 10 hours, then whacked the heat up to finish, before resting and pulling. The pork I have ended up with has been nice and tasty, but I know I could do better. This time I am cooking for the fridge (or freezer), so it doesn't matter how long it takes.

So having had it sit with a rub for 8 hours, I started these off yesterday, at about 8pm. I checked them this morning, and the grill was still going - the grill temp was at 180 F, and the meat was at 140 F. I've left the Traeger on the smoke setting, and the grill temp has crept up to 220 F (I expect that to fall a bit, as it has started to rain), and the meat is currently at 158 F. It has now been cooking for 17 hours, and still seems to have a long way to go, however, the temperature *is* steadily climbing.

So do I just leave it at smoke temp (200-220) until it reaches 195? Or do I need to whack the temp up to medium (approx 325) to get it to the final temp?

[joker smoker]

another option you have is whether to foil or not...this will speed up the final process or /and you can sit with the traeger and flip between smoke and medium whenever your oven temp reaches @250F

[Swindon_Ed]

I'd foil and then put it up to medium.

I'm sure you know but use the foil to protect the meat and speed up the cooking time as when i've cooked ribs in the Traeger uncovered they've ended up burning on medium.

[Chris__M]

Cheers. Up to 165 degrees at the moment, so I am going to let it continue for the afternoon. If at 6pm (after I have finished work) it is still short of the target, I will foil and boost it. I'd foil it anyway, for putting in the cooler.

[Steve]

If there's a lot of sugar in your rub be careful running on medium in or out of foil as above 275 you run in to the territory of burning the sugars.

You need to finish your temp controller project

[Chris__M]

You need to finish your temp controller project

Just what I was thinking!

By 6pm (22 hours and counting), the temp was at 170. At 6:30, the skies opened up, so I thought I would give it a hand - foiled it, and whacked the setting up to medium. It reached 200 F at 8pm (24 hours). An hour in the cooler, and I have just pulled it.

Now I know what pulling pork feels like. I thought I had successfully pulled pork before, but that was a lot more effort, compared to this time.

Meat is tasty, and succulant. All in all, I am very happy with it - I have my tea, I have two containers of pulled pork for my grateful neighbours, and I have a very large container for me.

The one minor negative is that - considering it spent 24 hours in a smoker - there isn't actually much smokiness to it. A while back I wrote about Lil Devils pellets, and how I had bought some, and been a little disappointed. I had decided that if anything would show them off at their best, it would be this long cook. But... so-so, that is all.

However, to be fair, I should reserve judgement until tomorrow. I have found that my taste for smoke gets dulled when cooking, so tomorrow's leftovers will be the test. I also want to do this same cook again very soon with the Louisiana Grills pellets I have.

Here is a picture of the shoulders at about 6:30

[Curlie028]

Brilliant job.
Have to work up to one or two of those babies on my WSM for no. 2 son's 21st in August.
That's how I justifies my smoker to The Boss.

[Chris__M]

One other thing that was noteworthy of this cook. I have successfully used a cooler for resting before, for 30 mins or so, but this time I used the hint given on another topic and preheated it with hot water.

After an hour in the cooler, the meat was still too hot to handle with bare hands. A really wonderful tip!

[Swindon_Ed]

The one minor negative is that - considering it spent 24 hours in a smoker - there isn't actually much smokiness to it. A while back I wrote about Lil Devils pellets, and how I had bought some, and been a little disappointed.

After seeing your coments about these pellets i think i'll still with the Cookshack ones for now.

[Chris__M]

The one minor negative is that - considering it spent 24 hours in a smoker - there isn't actually much smokiness to it. A while back I wrote about Lil Devils pellets, and how I had bought some, and been a little disappointed.

After seeing your coments about these pellets i think i'll still with the Cookshack ones for now.

Cookshack - they are the pellets Jackie was/is stocking? Yes, I got on fine with them.

However it's worth considering that these Lil Devils are half the price of any other pellet I have bought (except, perhaps, for some home-grown oak I bought from Jackie).

So despite my negative on the smoke, I am probably still going to keep a stock of them, for when I am cooking at higher temperatures, and the smoke factor isn't so relevent. Or perhaps start a smoke on a better pellet, but then switch to these for the long haul.

From what I have read on pelletheads, Lil Devils are 70% Alder, and 30% Flavourwood.

The thing that puzzles me is that the same sources say that the Lil Devils are made by the same company (West Oregon Wood Products) who make Louisiana Grills Pellets, which are also Alder based. However, I've found the latter to be much better on the smoke front (although twice the price, from my current source). On the other hand, I've been using their Apple and Cherry flavour pellets, so maybe that is the difference.