Preparing Pork Roasts to go onto the Smokin-It Smoker — 3/1/2014

Preparing 2 Butt Roasts to go onto the Smokin-It #3 Smoker (note: Smokin-It has updated their lineup since this post — the current Gen 3 version is linked here, though it differs slightly from the original model used) to make Pulled BBQ Pork.
The one on the left is 10.78#’s and the one on the right is 9.30#’s.

Both only had a fairly small fat cap and didn’t need a lot of trimming, I’d say I took off well under 1/2 a pound each in fat. Once trimmed, I applied a coat of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to all sides of both roasts.

Next a sprinkling of Fine Sea Salt on all sides of the roasts.

Then I covered all sidea of the roasts with finely ground Anaheim Chili peppers for some flavor.

Then to give it a little kick, a sprinkle of Cayanne Pepper on all sides.

Now our previously prepared dry rub is applied to and rubbed into all surfaces of the meat.

Now the meat is trimmed, seasoned and ready to head out to the smoker.

This is a short video explaining the trimming and seasoning / rub process.

Both roasts are now in the smoker, with the smoker set to about 235 right now. I’ll vary the temperature slightly as needed throughout the next 24 hours until the roasts reach an internal temperature of 203 degrees farenheight. There are 3 small pieces of wood in the smoker some Mosquite and Oak.

Notice the 2 electronic thermometers, one has a probe in each piece of meat. Since the roasts are similar in size, I do expect they will cook at close to the same rate, though here we see the smaller roast is 3 degrees warmer than the larger one just 34 minutes in. That will very likely even out later on in the cooking process.