written 6/2/24, updated 6/2/24
June 2, 2024
Meats: Half-slab Pork Belly, 3.8lb boneless pork shoulder butt with net, 3 pieces Country-Style Pork Rib, 5 bone-in, skinned chicken thighs
Taste: Pork Belly (half heo quay, half not, McCormick Pork Rub marinate in pie plate meat side in sauce 4-5 hours), Pork Shoulder (injected pickle juice, salt, soy sauce, ground mustard, etc. Mustard and dry spices outside, tightly wrapped in saran wrap 4-5 hours), Country-Style Pork Rib (half xa xiu, half not, plastic bag marinate 8 hours), Chicken Thighs (pie plate marinate 8 hours skin side down, apple juice, mustard, oranges, mo hanh, spices). All have been stabbed
Fuel: 1st Round – 2 applewood chunks, half chimney starter big blok and scrap BJs charcoal; 2nd Round – half chimney big block and scrap BJs coal; 3rd Round –
Smoke: Started around 10am, poured in by 10:30am. Left to settle for 20 minutes (cut the back grass), then placed pork belly 2nd from top rack fat up and shoulder top rack. Threw in a handful of chips (apple and pecan), then cut grass in front yard ~30 minutes. After 45 minutes, spritz with apple juice and more chips. Left to do graphic RW stuff.
11:45 – spritz again. Temp sitting around 218F
12:40pm – started 2nd chimney while applewood chunks burn through
1:00pm – poured 2nd chimney in. Very hot. Applewood chunks are gone. Sitting at 240F upper level
1:17pm – Pork belly reaches 165 F. Peach paper wrap and return to smoker. Spritz.
1:30pm – added 2 more chunks and a few unstarted charcoal on top of burning coal. Refilled container to ready for 3rd round. Removed Country Style Pork from fridge
2:20pm – placed Country-Style Pork on level 3. Spritz others. Stable temps @ 247F and firebox still moderately full
3:00pm – Removed chicken from fridge, spritz all meats. Firebox burning out, but still steady. 220F opened damper. After opening door, temperature struggling at 200F, starting new chimney 3rd round
3:20pm – new coals added
4:30pm – added chicken, removed peach paper on pork belly and return to smoker to crisp, added more coals and 2 more wood chunks, wrapped country style pork. Prepped more coals to add not chimney. OPened for so long that temperatures plummeted. Slowly rising.
5:00pm – removed 1 chunk of wood. WAY too much smoke. Chicken thigh probe was out of the meat, so fixed. Added more coal to firebox. Was cloudy all day, but late afternoon sun is now out and hot. Temps after opening are now 222F and climbing. Afraid that there’s going to be too much smoke on meat. Was going to remove pork belly, but want to cook without so much smoke for a bit
5:30pm – Removed Pork belly, covered in foil placed in insulated bag. Peach papered Chicken which just hit 165F. Removed COuntry Style Ribs from peach paper and set back in smoker to finish (stuck to paper and tastes great). Ham has been stuck at 165 for a long time.
