So, we had a nice 8-1/2 pound picnic roast and we're making pulled pork.
The picnic comes with quite bit of skin on it, so yesterday morning I trimmed all of that skin off and tried to leave just a thin layer of fat over the meat on that side. Removing the skin means more delicious bark! I used the skin to make fried pork rinds. More on that later.
Then I dry brined it, scattering Kosher salt all over the meat, like you'd cover your sidewalk when you're trying to melt ice. That sat in the fridge uncovered for 20 hours.
At 6:45 a.m. this morning I pulled it out of the fridge and got the PBC fired up. While waiting for the coals, I rubbed it down with some mustard and a homemade rub with no salt in it. I believe it was two tablespoons of brown sugar, a tablespoon each of paprika, onion powder and black pepper, a teaspoon each of mustard powder and garlic powder, and a dash of cayenne. Anyway, I rubbed that bad boy down and it was in the PBC by 7:30 a.m. I didn't fool with the hooks and just set it with the (formerly) skin side down on the grate so the fat would drip on those coals creating the trademarked Pit Barrel Cooker "fog". Scattered some hickory and cherry chips throughout the coal basket before lighting it up and threw a couple handfuls right on the fire when the meat went on.
The PBC runs kinda hot... and the roast hit 160 in a little over three hours. I mopped several times with a sauce made from a cup of water, half a cup each of vegetable oil and apple cider vinegar, a couple tablespoons of my rub, and a squirt each of Worcestershire and soy sauces.
At that 160 point I put it in a pan with a rack in it. Mopped one more time, dumped a little bit of the mop sauce in the pan, hit it with some more rub, and covered it with foil. Didn't really stall at all. Right now we're almost 5-1/2 hours into the cook and it's at 193. I will now take the foil off and glaze it with some BBQ sauce thinned with the pan drippings. Back in the cooker uncovered for another 30 minutes or so, and then it gets covered with foil and into the beer cooler surrounded with towels for a nice rest.
The PBC kicks ass. It would have taken twice as long to do this on my old offset smoker.
The picnic comes with quite bit of skin on it, so yesterday morning I trimmed all of that skin off and tried to leave just a thin layer of fat over the meat on that side. Removing the skin means more delicious bark! I used the skin to make fried pork rinds. More on that later.
Then I dry brined it, scattering Kosher salt all over the meat, like you'd cover your sidewalk when you're trying to melt ice. That sat in the fridge uncovered for 20 hours.
At 6:45 a.m. this morning I pulled it out of the fridge and got the PBC fired up. While waiting for the coals, I rubbed it down with some mustard and a homemade rub with no salt in it. I believe it was two tablespoons of brown sugar, a tablespoon each of paprika, onion powder and black pepper, a teaspoon each of mustard powder and garlic powder, and a dash of cayenne. Anyway, I rubbed that bad boy down and it was in the PBC by 7:30 a.m. I didn't fool with the hooks and just set it with the (formerly) skin side down on the grate so the fat would drip on those coals creating the trademarked Pit Barrel Cooker "fog". Scattered some hickory and cherry chips throughout the coal basket before lighting it up and threw a couple handfuls right on the fire when the meat went on.
The PBC runs kinda hot... and the roast hit 160 in a little over three hours. I mopped several times with a sauce made from a cup of water, half a cup each of vegetable oil and apple cider vinegar, a couple tablespoons of my rub, and a squirt each of Worcestershire and soy sauces.
At that 160 point I put it in a pan with a rack in it. Mopped one more time, dumped a little bit of the mop sauce in the pan, hit it with some more rub, and covered it with foil. Didn't really stall at all. Right now we're almost 5-1/2 hours into the cook and it's at 193. I will now take the foil off and glaze it with some BBQ sauce thinned with the pan drippings. Back in the cooker uncovered for another 30 minutes or so, and then it gets covered with foil and into the beer cooler surrounded with towels for a nice rest.
The PBC kicks ass. It would have taken twice as long to do this on my old offset smoker.
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