So after a second seasoning on Friday night I broke in the new smoker on Sunday, I decided to do 2 pork shoulders for pulled pork. I did a bit of trimming but nothing too major because the marbling was pretty good on the ones I picked out. I started with 2 butts that were 6.5 lbs each.
I also did a nice fillet of salmon in my usual "dry brine" with fresh squeezed lime juice
Here's the pork all rubbed down on Saturday night
I like always made my own rub, however I had this Dillo Dust that a member on another forum sent me a while back so I decided to use it as the base for my rub. I have to say I was pretty impressed with the flavor
I decided to do the salmon on the Brinkmann since I didn't want to delay the pork and I didn't really want to start off with the fish smell in the smoker so I lined them both up next to each other. Please excuse the grass, I know it needs cut
The smoker did very well for not being fully broken in yet, it held temp at 250 pretty much the entire time except when I had to add more lump charcoal.
And of course I always have adorable little helpers there to supervise the process
Here's the pork on the smoker ready to go
I probably took 4 or 5 pics of this, but I was impressed with how well the smoker held temp for not being fully seasoned or broken in yet, but it's one of the main reasons I bought it.
The salmon was done in about an hour and was super tasty. I used apple wood for both the salmon and pork, my usual go to is cherry, but I was very happy with the results from the apple wood. I usually reserve it for poultry like my smoked turkeys, but the apple wood was great smoke on both
I sprayed the butts with apple juice every 45 mins after the first 2 hours and it gave it a very nice bark. The stall took longer than I had hoped, but the final product was worth it. As you can see, it was getting dark by the time the meat hit 190 and was ready to come off. You can see the meat already pulling back away from the shoulder bone
Pulled them off and let them rest
The meat shredded so easily I only used the bear claws to break off the large chunks and then shredded the rest by hand.
The pile of pulled pork was massive, over a foot high, tried to get a good shot but it's hard to see. We threw some in a freezer bag and some in a ziplock to take to my parents, but I still anticipate freezing more. But we have plenty of delicious smokey goodness to eat this week :thumbsup:
The meat flavor was so good I ate it on a sandwich with no sauce, just a slice of pepper cheese, and the flavor was incredible!
Can't wait to make some ribs on the WSM :yum: