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1 - 7.5 lb pork shoulder/boston butt
July 4th, 2003 (Happy 227th America!)
I used lump charcoal, from Whole Foods.
I placed some dry out of the bag hickory wood chips all over the hot coals.
I used a 10 inch cast iron skillet for my drip pan, and I put a square grill on top
of that. On this grill is where I placed the meat. I filled the skillet up with water.
Meat Preparation:
I washed the pork shoulder off good with water. I flipped it over to the non-fat
side and cut a few slits in the meat. Into these slits I placed different spices I
had laying around. I put black pepper into one slit, lemon peel into another
and Italian seasoning in the other. I dry rubbed down the entire surface with
celery seed and kosher/gourmet salt.
Placing on grill:
I placed the meat on the grill that sat on top of the cast iron skillet, which
sat on top of the grill - fat side up.
Temperatures and time:
The dome temp was around 225-250 degrees F. I tried to maintain the dome
temp. between 225 and 250 degrees F.
I closed the lid on the meat at 8:07am(EDT).
I checked it first about 1:45pm. The internal temp read about 170 degrees F.
I added water to the drip pan and I poured one cup of apple vinegar over the
pork, which ran over the sides into the drip pan.
The dome temp had slipped down to 200 - I also had left my tin if chips dead
center in the fire, so it was blocking the lump from falling down into the center
to catch on fire, so I had to pull the shoulder and the grill. While I was at it,
I added more lump and stirred it up good, replaced everything and was back
to smoking good in 20 minutes or so. In the past, while cooking whole chickens and turkeys,
I never had a problem with the tin, but when smoking this long and using
this much lump for such a long burn, I think I will just toss the chips on the
coals. I did this earlier, but decided to use the tin also.
I then let the temp get back up to around 240-255.
I next checked it about 4:25pm or so, and the internal temp was reading
as 190 in most places and 175-180 in a few others. I decided to let it
smoke a little longer, so I added more water to the drip pan and poured
another cup of apple vinegar over everything.
About 5:30pm, I checked the meat again. I stuck the thermometer in
and it read right at 195-200 all over the shoulder. I pulled the meat off,
fully wrapped it in tin foil and sat it in a cooler. About 45 minutes later,
it was dove into by the assemblage whilst I wasn't looking. I was going
to wait an hour, but there was no need, it was very yummy.
End result:
The meat was very tender, easy to pull with finger or fork. Nice and
juicy, melted in your mouth... just like pulled pork at an actual bbq
place minus the sauce. I am very impressed with myself. It was very
good and the family unit was very happy with it. :)
This article was written by Woogeroo, Copyright 2003.
This article was found on and taken from:
Woogeroo's Smoking Page. http://woogeroo.home.mindspring.com/wsp/
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