Hey Y’all!
Let’s Get Smokin’!!!
Ok, so I’m super excited! I just picked up my first DCR Half Hog a couple weeks ago! Let me tell you, I’m in Hog Heaven!!! All puns intended! I’m not sure how far y’all drive to pick up your order, but I have a 6 hour round trip from where I live and couldn’t even wait til the next day to to get something started. I put some of the pork bones straight into the crockpot and let them go all night. The meat you get off them is so tasty and that broth is so useful and healthy!
My selection this week was to smoke one of those wonderful pork shoulders! I’m gonna tell ya what, DCR NEVER disappoints!!
So let’s start with the smoker…
There are so many different types of smokers out there. For all y’all techie geeks that like all those fancy contraption…you do you boo boo! The only thing I know about them is I’ve heard a lot of folks say they be a little fickle. Just know your machine. Basic principle of Smoking is this, low and slow. That means, low temp for a long time.
If you’re new to smoking, have fun with it and know that every time you do it you’re gonna learn something.
I use an offset smoker for the past, oh, 18 years. It works really well for me, so well that this past year I picked up a 2nd one off Craigslist that was a great price. 🤷🏽♂️ It fits in perfectly with the rest of my grills and smokers.
So I get my fire started in the side fire box, using a nice sized pile of Royal Oak hardwood charcoal and let that get going.
I set my top and bottom damper about 1/4 open. I check the temp before putting the meat on, looking for around 250 and open or close the dampers slightly to increase or decrease the heat. Opening them more increases air flow which increases heat.
At that point I put a couple wrist sized sticks of mesquite wood onto the fire. Mesquite and hickory give a stronger smoke flavor. If you want a lighter flavor you can use apple or cherry.
Get out your pork shoulder and put it on a roaster pan that you don’t mind getting smokey.
Cover both sides with a generous amount of BBQ seasoning. I personally have never used seasoning blends from the supermarket. I would rather be in control of what goes onto my food. Over the put 25 years of smoking meat, I’ve put together a few good ones that are 100% organic. If you’d like to try them you can find them on our Instagram where we sell our All Natural products, and we do ship. https://instagram.com/biggshomestead?igshid=MjEwN2IyYWYwYw==
Put the meat in the smoker and Check your temp, make any adjustments to the dampers you might need.
Check back in about 30 minutes to see how the temp is setting and then let it go for an hour or so before checking back again.
When you’re checking the temp you are Only checking the smoker thermometer, DO NOT OPEN THE SMOKER!
After about 2-3 hours if you notice the temp starting to drop you can quickly and carefully open your fire box and put a couple more sticks in. You will want to check back in about 30 minute once they get going and adjust your damper accordingly depending on the temp.
With this one I let it go for 4 hours, this was not a full smoke. It probably could have gone a total of 8 hours until it easily pulled apart with a fork.
I didn’t have the availability to watch the fire for a full 8 hours on this one, so I took it off and put it in the crockpot to finish.
I added about 1 cup of the bone broth I mentioned at the beginning, put it on low and left it go for about another 4 hours.
The 4 hours of mesquite smoke that it got on the smoker gave it great flavor!
Shred that tender meat with a fork, put it on some bread with some sauce over top and dig in!!
I whip up a quick, no-cook, organic BBQ sauce that my family loves:
1 can organic tomato paste
2 T organic apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup organic maple syrup or raw honey
Organic BBQ seasoning to taste (Biggs Homestead if ya like 😊👍🏽)
Whisk ingredients together add a little more liquid if you like it thinner. If you like a little more tang, add more vinegar. If you like it sweeter add a little more of the sweet stuff. It’s easily adjusted!
Enjoy and have fun!
Your Cook,
Craigan