Everyone Should Smoke

I never knew what I was missing out on until I started smoking...Food, that is (of course it's food)!

Barbecue has never been my bag. It's messy, which offends my girly nature; not to mention greasy, fatty, doused in salty sauce, and it can't be truly enjoyed without an enormous side of potatoes, mac and cheese, and mayonnaise-y cole slaw.
Oh! and biscuits. With butter. So...not really part of my diet, haha.

I surprised Matt last year with a charcoal smoker, and we fell immediately and hopelessly in love with this slow-cooking phenomenon that is true BBQ. I'd like to make fun of the hardcore crazy smokers on all the forums we read, but these online cults provide just the most terrific tips and tricks, so I can't say much. We've also taken to watching hours of 300-pound chefs compete on BBQ Pit Masters, until the point I want to eat the TV.

We have learned a couple very important tips:
1) Smoking is all about your rub. If you have a tasty rub on your meat, you won't even need barbecue sauce.
2) Don't peek, no matter how much your moouth waters. This takes a lot of willpower, but we're getting there!
3) Decide which flavors you want the meat to take on, and soak wood chips in water for a couple hours.

4) Trim off some fat from your pork butt (shoulder). Most of the stuff you buy from the store has a large fat cap, you don't necessarily need all that!

5) Rub your meat (I can't help myself-haha) with a generous helping of rub. You can buy pre-made rub at the store, but we like to make a big bin of our own recipe that we use on everything. Yum!

6) Smoke the pork until it reaches an internal temp of about 165 degrees, then make an aluminum foil boat. Place the pork and about 1/2 cup of apple cider in the boat, wrap tightly, and place back in the smoker.
7) When your hunk of meat gets to about 185 degrees, remove it from the smoker and get ready to pull! You can use a fancy meat puller tool, but two forks works just fine.

The beautiful thing about this pulled pork is that it yields a ton, and is even tastier the day after! We made pork tacos, pork sandwiches, pork wraps...(I sound like Bubba in Forrest Gump!) Enjoy!