Pigsket: Plan B for likely rainout

[DaveD]

Hey folks, I have a 1.7lb/780g pigsket from Porter Road that I'd been planning to smoke tomorrow, my second. When my lovely bride tasted the first one, she immediately declared it the best pork she'd ever eaten, and as soon as we were done she asked, When are you going to do another one of these??

I rolled the dice that the waves of wet weather would be spaced appropriately for me to do the run tomorrow, but it's looking more and more like I've come up craps. Latest forecast has the next set of storms coming in most of the day. The piece has been defrosted since yesterday (and hindsight 20/20, shoulda planned for today) so it has to be cooked, and I just dry brined it. It'll get some Memphis Dust a couple hours before Go Time.



My game plan is to hope for at least a few hours in the smoker, and then bring it in to the kitchen oven for the rest of the way, on a rack over some kind of baking dish. Ran the oven this morning at 225 & 250F/107 & 121C and it holds those low temps no problem.

Worst case is full on rainout from the get-go, in which case I'll have to do the whole thing in the oven. Still planning on the Memphis Dust regardless, but in this case will be able to catch the drippings, which I didn't pay any attention to the first time around, so I have no feeling for how much there is liable to be. If there's significant volume, what sorts of things might it be used for?

Wish me luck!

[58limited]

Dry brine 4-5 hours today and cook today, you'll be fine. Or, do an injection brine, rest 4-5 hours, and cook.

[DaveD]

The first one of these I did took nine hours to get to 175F/80C, although admittedly I did spritz thrice. Way too late to start today, and there's still a bit of rain to come this afternoon. Already got some tacos planned for tonight

[58limited]

DaveD I understand. Here is another pork cut you might want to try. I've made one and it was awesome! Cook to 140F or so, medium. https://wildforkfoods.com/collection...=9416769863716

[DaveD]

Oooh, that looks good... a porkanha

[bbqLuv]

I just may have to give this a try.

Pork Brisket – Porter Road



To achieve tender perfection, you need to cook your Pork Brisket at 225°F, and keep it there for about 4 hours or until the internal temperature is 200. This time allows the connective tissue to break down, and lessens the chance moisture will escape.

https://porterroad.com/products/pork-brisket

[DaveD]

That page also says "You also want your meat to be as dry as possible before going on a smoker to build a good pellicle for the smoke to adhere to." But we know otherwise, do we not? It's moist surfaces that attract smoke better.

[bbqLuv]

Sounds good to me. Cold too, from the refrigerator to the Trager. And while the refrigerator is open grab a PBR.

[DaveD]

When I was preparing for my first pigsket several months ago, I read a bunch of threads here that described getting to probe tender way cooler than 200F/93C IT, like in the low 170sF/high 70sC. That's how it worked for me too, my final was 173F/78C and it was probe tender and amazing. I would not want to take it to 200F.

[DaveD]

Welp, I'm making a run for it here this morning, trying to get the pigsket some smoke time. The doppler radar loop shows that the bulk of the rain is south of us, we're right on the raggedy edge of the system, so thus far it's been very light showers now and then. Dragged the patio table over and popped up the umbrella, which is doing the trick.

Pigsket rubbed up with Memphis Dust about 45 minutes before going in on the Copperhead's low-T "smoke" setting, which generally sits between 120-130F/49-54C. Will let that go for an hour and then raise the set point to 225F/107C and ride it out as long as the weather authorities permit.





This piece is a bit smaller than my first one, but similarly proportioned, so I'm not expecting it to finish appreciably faster than the 9 hours that one took. But I did three spritzes that clearly slowed things down, and I'll be a bit more judicious on that this time around. Wish me luck!

[MarkN]

For what it is worth this late in the game, for rainy weather I have positioned my smoker just inside my opened garage door with a fan blowing the smoke outward (at my wife's insistence). Worked just fine, but it depends on which way the wind is blowing. I should add that I have a fairly mobile PBC that I can easily haul from my backyard to the garage.

[Jfrosty27]

I keep all my cookers in my garage and roll them out to the edge for all cooks. Keeps me/them out of the wind, excess sun, and rain/snow. Never used a fan though. Garage always smells great!

[DaveD]

I definitely don't have that option - the Pitboss Copperhead has casters, but it lives on the back patio and there's no paved way to the front. But it's academic, because the rain is now gone!

[DaveD]

Well, looks like my dice roll didn't come up craps after all. The rain system has mostly moved through to the south, and the sky is brightening right up. Radar shows just one last little ragged clump of precipitation that is almost past, then it should be smooth sailing until well past when this cook will be done. I moved the patio table back and shut off the kitchen oven, since the coast is now clear.

T profile so far. Obvious where it went from smoke mode to the new setpoint, and it's definitely entering the stall:



And it's doing the "Microsoft progress bar" thing: the Meater's ETA got to 1:35, remained there for at least an hour, and has now risen to 2:12. Stallsville for sure.

After the first hour on Smoke, IT 79F/26C.

90 minutes later, total 2.5 hours in, IT 143F/61C. Some juice pooling, but much of the rest is getting pretty dried, so I gave it a light spritz (1 part apple cider vinegar, 4 parts water).


Steady as she goes...

[DaveD]

Looking very nice so far, and the weather has cleared up, sun is out, but it's muggy - dew point up to 66F/19C. Still stalling, as expected.

3.5 hours in, IT 154F/68C.

Almost 4.5 hours in, IT 157F/69C. Color looking very nice.

[DaveD]

Good long stall, a couple of hours with almost no change. Now on the upswing again, timing looking nominal for a reasonable dinner time

Latest T profile, showing all the little dips during the stall:


6.5 hours in, IT 162F/72C.

[DaveD]

Alrighty then, after-action report time. The "flat" and "point" parts of this cut were very different in the end, much moreso than were those two parts in the first one I did. The "flat" part was significantly drier and chewier, despite juice running out while I was slicing it. But the "point" equivalent was really outstanding, moist and tender. Both parts had fantastic flavor too, porknography all the way. The piece shrank significantly, and it was no challenge to eat the whole thing here on the night

Final temp profile: the Meater+ was reading consistently 10F/5C higher than did the wired probe, and the numerous times I poked with the instant read, I found temps spanning the range between the two. Started to probe pretty tender by the time the wired was reading in the high 170sF/low 80sC, at which point I pulled it out and wrapped in butcher paper to rest for half an hour before slicing to serve. Temps drifted down about 15F/8C during the rest, still plenty steamin' when I sliced it up.

Not the total epiphany that the first one was because our first bites were of the flat, but by the time we got to the point it was hog heaven

Final temp profile from the Meater+:



Out of the smoker for wrapping and resting:

Ready for slicing:


Aaaaand scene.

[FireMan]

I’ll take door number 1……or number 4 or…….
It looks great, nice work!

[Stuey1515]

Great write up, thanks for taking the time and sharing the cook

[Mojo0209]

That looks great! We loved the one we did. The pork wings r good too!