Simply Smoked is back for an update. Last April we shared a couple of pictures of the Fuel Tank that would soon have a new life as a meat smoker. For the next month, Stephen spent his free time working on what I affectionately call Frank-n-Smokes.
By the 2nd week in May, he had fabricated a gravity-fed smoker out of 85% reclaimed materials. And it was ready for a test run. With fabricating anything there will be tweaks that need to be made. Each time we have used Frank, he has made some adjustments to make it a better smoker.
After some work during the Christmas break, we kicked off the new year with 25 lbs of pork shoulder and 9 lbs of beef.
You might be wondering what we do with that much meat. We always like to share so we gift some of it and the rest we vacuum seal and put in the freezer.
As Hailey starts cheer and Shawn’s baseball is just around the corner our nights are busy. A quick meal can be made by warming up some meat, making up a quick side, and adding a veggie. Pulled pork over mac-n-cheese with homemade BBQ sauce or pork tacos is the top two meals requested. I would love to say I always make my mac-n-cheese homemade but, to be honest, the kids prefer Kraft to homemade. (I am shocked by this but whatever pleases the masses right)
I have jumped ahead of myself because seasoning the meat is probably the most important step. When it comes to seasoning a pork shoulder I start with a simple mix of dark brown sugar (light works fine but I seem to always have dark on hand), and equal parts onion powder and garlic powder. To this, I add a good amount of fresh ground pepper. From this mix, I will change it from time to time. Smoked Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne, Dry Mustard, ground Cumin, Thyme, and Oregano, are all add-ins that I will use from time to time. We also have a variety of Peppers that we dried and ground from the garden.
Because we do such large portions of meat I usually eyeball the measurements and based on the smell, I know its just right. This time I tried to break it down but know that this really depends on your taste. If you do not like as thick of bark on the outside you may want to cut back on the brown sugar. To cover a small shoulder, 5 – 8 Lbs, mix 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed, with 1 1/2 TBS Fresh ground pepper, 1 TBS garlic powder, 1 TBS Powder Onion. For any of the add-ins I would start with 1 TPS increment at a time.
Prepping the meat entails trimming off some of the fat depending on how thick it is. On this particular shoulder, the fat was just right. I start literally rubbing the seasoning on the non-fat side first. This side will be on the grate but we still want a decent amount of seasoning on that side. Flip and continue to place rub over every inch of the shoulder. When placing it on the grate I like to go fat side up so as the fat reduces down it will flow down through the meat keeping it from drying out. It also distributes a lot of flavor throughout the pork.
Once it reaches 208, it is removed from the heat and let rest for about an hour. Then it is ready to pull. We bag immediately so we do not forget. If we don’t then we have so much meat in the fridge it goes bad. We usually weigh out the meat into 1lb portions, labeling it with what the meat is and the date we smoked it.
As I shared above our favorite way to serve it is over mac and cheese. When serving it as a pulled pork sandwich, Carolina style is our go-to, topped with homemade coleslaw. Really there are so many options. We also like adding pulled pork to chili, serving it with tacos or over a baked potato.
What is your favorite way to eat pulled pork? Share in the comments.
