First Smoke

So I finally have enough of the inside of my new house remodeled so I can actually start enjoying the outside and all the work that needs to be done there. But the first thing that I did this year outside was buy a smoker and start smoking. Yes it is not the normal first upgrade but it needed to be done. I did some research on it and even asked around. I decided to go with Andy's model for a few reasons. The first being that it was on sale, the second is because you can do both smoking and nonsmoking on it.

So after putting the smoker together with the sidebox (when they say don't tighten any of the bolts they are not kidding you). I was ready to go. It just so happened that pork sholder was on sale for $0.97 per pound with the bone. So I got an 8 pound and a 5 pound sholder for Sunday when I was going to have family over. It was going great woke up Sunday looked online for some rubs and inspiration before smoking and then realized that it takes about an hour to an hour and a half per pound and the family was coming at 4 had to get going. So i got the grill up to 250 to start and put the meat on the gril. I then kept the average temp at about 200 - 250 with no spikes above 250. I used Joey's going away rub and let it set over night. I also had a neighbor who cut down a maple tree so that is the wood that was used.

The family loved the meat and said it was very good. I was very surprised because it took about the right amount of time. I was a little worried because I didnt have a meat thermometer but when I took the meat off it almost feel apart and it pulled great. No I did not make any sauces but that is something for next time. I even took some over by Andy's and he said it was okay for a first run and I agree. I have attached two pictures