7/4/2019 – We started on 7/1 to thaw a two pork-butt pack that weighed 20 lbs. This smoke turned out great and we enjoyed a great meal with Peggy and Frank for the 4th of July.

The afternoon of 7/3 it was thawed. All the thick surface fat was removed and the fat between the major muscles to the point they opened up somewhat.

Both were dry brined with table salt. Then one was rubbed with our preparation of Stubb’s Hot BBQ Rub and the larger one with Cajun Seasoning.

By 7:45 AM on 7/4 the pecan chucks were partially smoldering with some Kingsford Blur Bag briquets in the fire pit. Shoveled them into the vertical smoker and let it heat up. About 8 am put into the smoker the chunks of meat and 6-8 small pieces with 6POGS to be uncured tasso for flavoring dishes. The water pan was 3/4 full of water.

The box temp came up to 170s and finally got up to 220s with a steady gray plume of smoke.

One hour later I pulled the small pieces that were to be uncured tasso.

By 2 pm the fire was very low and the meat was moved inside where with an IT of 130. [Should have been 140 by noon and maybe was but cooled down when the fire went low.] Each piece was placed in foil, more seasoning added only to the top side and some ACV poured in. Each piece was wrapped tightly and put into the oven set to convection bake at 375.

At 5:45 the IT was 212 in the large piece so both were pulled and let rest to about 6:15. The larger piece–that had been rubbed with the milder cajun seasoning–was opened and pulled into serving size pieces for our 4th of July celebration with Peggy and Frank. It was very good and Frank went back for seconds.

We had G90 corn off the cob and Texas Cream Peas picked from our garden that morning. For a salad, we had Blueberries Corn Salad with feta cheese. Mary made a great cornbread with G90 corn added that had been removed with the slider; i.e. partially creamed. Frank and Peg brought a Blueberry/Peach cobbler that was also great.