4lb pork shoulder on my brand new Camp Chef WW Pro. This was my first big smoke on it and my first big smoke period. I need some feedback.
Rub: S&P, garlic, onion, smoked paprika and cocoa nibs
Cook: 225-250 for just under 10 hours, including 2 wrapped; apple cider vinegar spritz every 60-90 minutes
Wood: Traeger competition blend with hickory chips in the smoke box.
Got impatient and timed it poorly, so I pulled it at 195, then rested for 30 minutes. It wasn’t as tender as I wanted, so I’ll go all the way to 205 next time and rest it an hour.
I had a hard time keeping my smoke box going, not sure what to do about that. Plenty of fuel, just inconsistent burn and smoke.
Still mighty tasty!
by DepartureMain7650
10 Comments
Personally, I would get the cook itself straight before worrying about extra smoke chips etc.
I like bigger pork butts, 8-9lb, I start a few hours on 200, then 225 until wrap, maybe 250 then until done, but yes absolutely push to 203 range and probe tender! Looks like it was great nonetheless!
Are you opening the burn box to let the flame get to it? I heard you need to do that
I’d straight up eat it. Nice work. Maybe be a little more patient next time and bring it up to probe tender. I bet it doesn’t go to waste!
Is the pork not bone in? If not, next time do bone in. It helps too. Also going above 201-203 makes for easier to shred product.
But hey, is it tasty? Then good. That’s the main point.
Also, I can’t recommend the cocoa nib rub enough. They added a rich flavor and a nice texture when everything was shredded and mixed together.
It’s your first big smoke, don’t be hard on yourself. Learn from it.
You had a lot of variables, from the small size to the impatience to the smoke box. For your next one, treat it as a learning experience and don’t set any expectations. Simplify the variables. Pork butt is hard to screw up, as long as you take care of the basics.
1. Get a bigger cut of meat. It may sound counterintuitive, but bigger is more forgiving.
2. Budget your time better. You can always rest longer if it finishes early, but you cannot rush it if your time is running out. I’ve had 12 hour butts, and I’ve had 20 hour ones. I generally start at 8 pm the night before for a dinner, and if it’s done by noon, it just rests in a cooler longer, but if it goes 20 hours, I’ve still made my time.
3. Stick to just pellets for your learning and introduce the smoke box later as you gain experience.
I’m doing one literally tomorrow just stuffed and injected it
yeah from pic 4 you pulled too early. also just do mustard binder, SPG, no spritz needed
I have the WW Pro 24. I use two probes in the meat (aim for something like top/right, bottom/left quadrants), and I definitely learned to let the lowest temp probe go to 205 for a pork butt. You can use an external thermometer to verify as an added benefit. I found that the longer you keep it at 225-ish, the more tender it will be. If you need to speed up the cook, bump it up to 250-300 and wrap it after 4+ hours. You’ll lose any additional smoke flavor, but you don’t have to tend to the smoke box thereafter.
For the smoke box, I open the lever to 3 o’clock when initially adding fresh wood. I also use a propane torch to help the wood get going. Then, I typically just close the lever once the wood is smoking (after 30-45 minutes), and the wood takes care of itself. I add wood about every 30-45 minutes, and again, if the wood is out / not smoking enough I just hit it with the propane torch. I usually don’t leave the lever open after initial wood addition because it tends to burn the wood too quickly and doesn’t produce a lot of smoke.
Also, let the meat rest 30-60 minutes. Patience is a virtue.
For rubs, I dry the butt, slather it with mustard as a binder, then use a homemade pork rub like this one: [https://heygrillhey.com/best-sweet-rub-grilled-pork-chicken/#wprm-recipe-container-3637](https://heygrillhey.com/best-sweet-rub-grilled-pork-chicken/#wprm-recipe-container-3637)
I also then spritz the butt with whatever kind of mop sauce I concoct; I’m not specific about it but just kind of add shit to a bottle and go with it. [https://www.smokedbbqsource.com/east-carolina-vinegar-bbq-sauce/#recipe](https://www.smokedbbqsource.com/east-carolina-vinegar-bbq-sauce/#recipe)
Couple tricks I’ve learned with the burn box.
Put your initial chunks in when the smoker is in startup mode. I like to do a single big chunk to start. This point the fire will be biggest and hottest so keep the butterfly valve on the box wide open.
Once the chunk is smoldering good then close the butterfly about 80% of the way.
The rest of the cook I’ll keep that same 80% closed. If you close it more than that it seems like it puts the fire out on the chunk.