Hickory Smoked Pork Shoulder Roast
It was time to get off my Butt 
so I picked up a nice 8.59lb Pork Shoulder Roast from my local butcher, Fagundes Meats, for my 1st Pulled Pork. Using my Bradley® Electric Smoker at 225ºF with 5 hours of Hickory smoke. Figuring on 18-20 hours for some succulent Pulled Pork.
Slathered the Butt with some CT and John Henry’s Pecan Rub Seasoning. Wrapped in plastic food wrap and into the fridge overnight. The Pork Shoulder Roast was well trimmed and had a nice small fat cap on it.
Into the OBS for 5 hours of Hickory with the PID set at 225ºF for 30 hours. 20 minutes later is when the troubles reared their ugly head. First off the Smoke Generator would not advance any bisquettes. After many attempts I unloaded all the Hickory pucks and to make a long story short I loaded a bisquette manually every 20 minutes for 5 hours. Hey, I got my exercise So the bottom line is I need to clean the SG more often 
Then I noticed a large pool of water under the OBS. Turns out that the foil which was holding 4+ cups of hot water had a hole in it and the water was all over the bottom of the OBS and leaked out through the front left leg assembly. Long story short – got a new pan, mopped everything up and continued on with my 1st Butt Note to self: Don’t be too frugal (that’s cheap to everyone else but in Ripon the Dutch like to say they’re ‘frugal’)
Here’s the Butt after 22½ hours. Fortunately I’ve read so many posts from everyone that I knew not to panic when the Butt stalled. In the first 6 hours it went from an IT of 48º to 156º. I’m thinking this is gonna be done in no time … Wrong!!!! That’s when I remembered about the STALL. It’s gonna stall – it always stalls – and yup … everything slowed to a crawl. But then I was in no hurry. It took another 15½ hours to go from 156º to 198º. That’s when I pulled it. I will say that I’m really glad my Son installed a 2nd element in my OBS cause with the PID it performed flawlessly. Got me some nice bark on that porker.
Here it is after a 3 hour FTC. I was going to do 4 hours FTC but my appetite got the best of me 
Using the new pitch forks the wife picked up for me I pulled my first Butt. Everything was so moist and tender that I didn’t even need the meat puller. It literally just fell off the bone.
Wife had a nice Sammy but I just grazzed 
So here’s the money $hot with the bark mixed in. All in all, it was a huge success and I just received a call my two granddaughters who just loved the meat. That made it all worth while! I need to do me another one or two real soon. But after my first 24+ hour smoke/FTC I think I’ll just kick back and get some zzzzz’s
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1st SRG Roasted Chicken and Spuds
Is a Yard Bird roasted in the SRG as good as everyone says it is? Why YES it is … and then some
Rubbed some Roasted Garlic EVOO and some of my local butcher’s seasoning, Fagundes Meats, inside the chicken cavity, on the skin, and on the meat under the skin. When using the SRG you need to use rubs/seasonings/marinades/brines that are low in sugar.
Using my new Green Egg Vertical Chicken Roaster sitting inside a circular non-stick pan to catch the grease/drippings and to facilitate cleanup. Rubbed the potatoes with EVOO and the same seasoning I used on the chicken. Rubbing the potatoes with just some Kosher salt works really good too. Using the ET-732 meat and temp probes. SRG on high, ambient temp @ 53ºF, and chicken IT was 43ºF. Used some ½ rack Char-Broil accessories for the taters.
After seeing photos of all that snow everywhere I decided to show what the Central Valley of California looked like today. All in all, not too bad a day
Chicken and taters being lowered into the SRG. Notice the Maverick ET-732 temp/food probes to be used to monitor the IT and chamber temp.
I always smoke and roast to Internal Temperatures and not time. Depending on what you are using a large factor concerning the chamber temperatures is the ambient temperature and conditions. Wind is your worst enemy. Time is used as an estimate for planning purposes but always be flexible. Don’t take shortcuts … It’s not worth it and it’ll come back to bite you.
Took 2 hours to reach an IT of 165ºF and the spuds were done to perfection. Boy did that bird smell good!!
I am finding that an IT of 165ºF works better for me then the 160ºF that is commonly recommended. The white meat is perfect at 160 but I have found over time that the legs/thighs don’t always reach the recommended 180ºF IT. So now I prefer to smoke/roast/grill chicken/turkey to 165.
Here’s a shot of all the grease/drippings that I collected. The SRG did not require any cleaning. Need to research to see if all that fat dripping into the chamber does anything special for the bird during roasting? Course, if you choose, the drippings make for an excellent gravy!!
The chicken came out extremely moist. Applying seasoning/rub under the skin is a must in my book. Turned out great and the skin was to die for. I don’t eat much skin anymore these days but it was so good that I couldn’t help myself.
The money $$hot … A little steamed broccoli along with the SRG roasted spud for side dishes. Even though I shouldn’t, I had to eat some of that crispy skin and man-o-man was it ever good. I know it’s been said many times over but this is by far some of the best if not the best chicken I have tasted. The SRG is worth the investment
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Smoked Turkey Breast … Bradley Smoker & Char-broil SRG combo
Wanted to baptize my SRG and what better way than doing a 9 lb bone-in turkey breast. The Bradley / SRG combo turned out to be a killer for the breast!! It turned out so moist and the flavor was to die for. I don’t think I’ve ever had such tender turkey. SWMBO started grazing on the breast and barely had any room left for the rest of the trimmings.
I have read where people smoke a turkey and/or a chicken and then finish them off in the SRG, MAK, Traeger, etc. but have not seen any photos of someone using the SRG basket in the OBS and then transferring said basket directly into the SRG. So I figured … why not!?
Here’s a shot of the 9 lb turkey breast fitted into the SRG basket ready for the OBS. Used some Roasted Garlic EVOO and Jans Dry Rub. Since it was a little brisk by California standards (55ºF) I decided that the Chef needed a little rub for the old innards … hence the Jim Beam Black Note how I used 2 half SRG racks to keep the breast upright. I also used my new Maverick ET-732 cause I figured that it should be able to withstand the higher temps of the SRG.
Here is the SRG basket with the turkey breast sitting on the bottom rack in the OBS. I doubled the racks and used 2 frog mats to help balance the basket. Note that there’s actually plenty of room for the SRG basket in the OBS. Set my PID to 250º and applied 3 hours of Special Blend smoke.
Here’s the breast after 3 hours of special blend smoke ready for the SRG. No fuss no muss since it’s already in the basket. After 3 hours of smoke at 250º the breast IT was 135ºF.
With the breast roasting away, here’s a shot of my setup under my covered patio. I was able to just set my ET-732 right on the table and monitor the temp. The ET-732 worked great in the SRG.
Here’s the finished product. It only took me an hour in the SRG to get from an IT of 135º to 165º. Total time was 4 hours for the 9 lb bone-in turkey breast. The last time I smoked a bone-in breast just in the OBS it took me 5 hours. Maybe it’s just me but this is the best tasting turkey breast I have produced to date … Got so wrapped up that I forgot to take a $$hot. Oh well … we had mashed taters, gravy, stuffing, and green beans. Who says you can only have turkey on holidays and special occasions. Everyday is special when you’re retired.
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Shrimp and Corn Chowder
1 medium onion chopped and some celery
2 cans each of cream of mushroom, celery and potato soups
1 quart of half and half
1 cup c
2 tsps
2 tbsps Worchestershire sauce
24 ounces of your favorite seafood(shrimp, crab meat, etc) We use crawfish tails because we like ’em Used shrimp
2 cans of Niblets corn
Cajun seasoning mix to taste. Soileau’sor Tony Chacere’s would work! Used Veron’s Cajun Seasoning
In a large pot, saute the onions and celery in the melted margarine or butter. Combine all of the other ingredients in the pot with the onions and celery. Stir together and heat through. That’s all there is to it.
It was delicious … I can see myself using this as a base for other soups like Clam/fish/seafood Chowder. I think dicing up some taters in there would be a great addition. I do like the corn in it.
Here’s what I had on hand
The $$hot … Thanks again for the recipe. I enjoyed it
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Smoked Stuffed Pork Loin Florentine
Picked up a 4 lb Pork Loin the other day from my local butcher, Fagundes Meats in Manteca, CA and while buying it I asked him if he would butterfly it for me so that I could stuff the Loin before smoking it. Figured ‘Why not …’ I’m paying good money for it. So he proceeds to show me what they do for all their stuffed meats rather than the old butterfly routine. Having a senior moment and can’t recall what he called it but basically he cuts a slit in the Loin and creates a pocket down the inside length of the Loin and that’s where you inject the stuffing. Frank the butcher tells me that I’ll like this method better. What have I got to lose right !
Chose to sauté mushrooms, celery, and onions with a bit of minced garlic. When cooled I mixed it up with 6 oz of fresh spinach and diced smoked Swiss cheese for the stuffing. Give it that Florentine touch. The Swiss cheese was Cold Smoked in the OBS a few months ago.
You can see the slit that was cut for the creation of the pocket and the mixed stuffing.
All stuffed and ready for the Bradley Smoker. Smoker preheated using the PID to 225ºF. Note that all I had to do was use a few toothpicks to close the opening rather than butcher twine to tie up the whole Loin.
Here is the smoked stuffed loin after 3 hours of hickory. Pulled it when the IT hit 155ºF. I know this is high by many standards but I have a squeamish better half that is set in her ways when it comes to pork 
You can see just a tad of Swiss cheese oozing out.
Here is what it looked like after a 45 minute FTC
The $$hot … Little baked tater and some corn
