Sunday's Smoke

[MattS]

Today is pre-prep day for a big smoke I am doing this Sunday. I have played with brines in the past and always had great success. Just usually never think of it ahead of time or make the time to do it. I got another big event coming up that is going to require some pulled pork. I am going to smoke it this weekend to serve next weekend. Also in the mix will be some deer, elk and probably some salmon. A buddy is going on a big hunting trip to CO next weekend with several other guys (no I don't get to go). He asked me to smoke up a bunch of goodies to take along on the trip with them for some camp grub.

So today I decided to put 8 butts and some deer loins/roasts in a brine for a couple days. Everything is frozen solid so I like to let them thaw out in the brine. Saturday morning I will inject all the butts with the brine and Saturday night I will rub everything down for an early start on Sunday morn.

Here is everything so far. The brine is my favorite recipe. Water, Salt, Tenderizer and a few other random spices that I can find laying around. That how my marinade recipes always turn out also. I cooked up the concentrated spices over the stove to melt everything together. With the 8 butts and deer in a big cooler full of water, I pour the concentrate in and mix it up. Today I went ahead and threw in a good helping of rub for a little extra. Will find out Saturday what else I will be smokin.

I will let it all sit as it is till tomorrow afternoon. It will take a little while for everything to thaw out. Will throw ice in it tomorrow.

[rlmax02]

hey matt...how r u storing and reheating the pork for service next week?

[MattS]

I vacuum pack it in big bags and freeze it. For reheat it can be done however. Usually doesn't need any juices added as I normally add a finishing sauce after pulling. Reheating for big mobs like this usually is done in roasters.

[Tom_Heath]

Its not the only way by any means, but I like to vac pack and then reheat in boiling water, still sealed in the vac bag.

I do pull or slice before I vac it tho.

When its still sealed, you can even put it in the microwave. Comes out of the bag just like it went in, perfect.

[Gizmo]

I've had great success putting a bunch of thawed pork/brisket/ribs in a disposable alum roaster pan then pouring a can of beef broth over it and sealing it with heavy tin foil. One hour at 300-350 in the oven/traeger and set it on the table. I don't own a roaster... for what it's worth...

[MattS]

Those dang pork butts were so frozen, I never had to add ice to the cooler. I pulled them out last night to rub down and they were still partially froze. So I never go to inject them. But I don't think they needed it. They smelled great with the brine and seasonings I put in there. I got them all trimmed up (I prefer to trim a lot of the cap off) and a good rub down. Since they were still partially froze, I put them in pans and foiled them up to sit in the kitchen over night. Mainly to get them to room temp before putting on the smoker. That helped a ton because the smoker was easy to get to temp once I put them on this morning.

Here are the butts and deer after prep last night followed by the butts on the smoker this morning.






The plan for the morning was to get the butts on the trailer first thing in the morning. Then later morning to put the deer on the UDS. Last night I pulled the UDS to get it ready for this morning. When I opened it up the dang thing it was filled with mold. Not a happy camper. I ended up cleaning out the whole thing with comet and fired it up last night to reseason it. The mold I think was caused by some standing water that got into the UDS and sat there for a couple weeks. So I thought I would just drill some holes in the bottom so if any water got in there again it would drain out. That was a mistake. After firing it up this morning, the temps would not get below 330 and I couldn't do anything to get it down. I knew it had to be those holes in the bottom so I tried several things to from sitting the drum on foam to laying a blanket around the bottom, nothing worked. There was just enough air getting in that bottom to keep the heat rollin. So a quick discussion with Frank and we decided to put some foil tape over the holes in the bottom of the drum. Eureka!! that worked. Now I can control the temp and all the deer is smoking away.

Also last night I decided to smoke up some deer jerky. I grabbed a 5 pound bag of ground deer/beef mix to make up a batch of jerky. So I grabbed smoker #3 and fired it up. Used my jerky shooter to shoot out the 5# of jerky. Now I sit and wait and watch all three smokers.

[Frank_Cox]

Lookin good matt! Glad the foil tape thing worked
I need to get one of those jerky shooters one of these days... And a grinder... And a stuffer... Lol

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[MattS]

Well everything is done and right on time. The butts took 10 1/2 hours and they are now are all in bed resting for the night. I am too tired to pull 8 butts tonight. I got the deer roasts done and sliced up. I sliced up a couple of them thin for sandwiches and a couple thick. The jerky turned out great and I have been munching on it all afternoon. My buddy ended up picking some salmon and trout fillets in case I had some extra time to smoke. The jerky got done so the fish went right into the smoker in its place. All and all it was a great day working 8 butts, 4 deer roasts, 5# deer jerky, 2 salmon fillets and 4 trout fillets. Now I must find my chair.

The fish. Didn't get any after smoke pics


Deer roasts. Smoke open grate till 150 then put in pan with Diet Coors till 160-170. After slicing I put all the meat back in juice pan and roll around.




And the Jerky

[Frank_Cox]

Diet Coors? LOL never heard it called that
hafta try that sometime. looks great Matt. them guys are gonna eat perty good on that jerky and stuff!

[Tom_Heath]

So a quick discussion with Frank and we decided to put some foil tape over the holes in the bottom of the drum. Eureka!! that worked.

Yatzeeeee!!!

Leave it to a refrigeration guy to come up with that fix. LOL

Nice work on the cook Matt. Everything is looking very good. Just gotta love that jerky.

[Frank_Cox]

That stuff fixes everything that duck tape dont

[PoPs54]

Awesome job Matt! I bet that was a nice day sitting and minding the smokers, not much I would rather do that just that.

[MattS]

Not much sitting PoPs. I pulled my back out the day before trying to load the smoker on the quad. It hurt to much to sit in a chair. Spent the whole day on my feet so my back wouldn't hurt. But I did get the garage cleaned up and some work done on other things. It was a good day.