Pork Rub

A few months back, when my oh-so-wonderful boyfriend was trying to decide what to do with his leftover tax rebate, I suggested we invest in a smoker. It turned out he didn't need much convincing!

We first ventured into the world of smoked meat this past summer. A friend of ours brought over his traditional, and more recognizable, bullet-shapped charcoal smoker to kick off Sunday night football. For one reason or another, mind you I'm not complaining, it took up residence in our garage for the entire NFL season. We ended up eating our way through St. Louis style ribs, a pork butt, and a whole chicken over the course of 17 weeks.

After a few days of deliberation we eventually decided to go with an electric smoker; a Masterbuilt Pro 30" Electric Digital Smoker to be exact. Our main reason for choosing electric was temperature maintenance. Weather conditions had made it difficult to consistently maintain desired temperatures with the traditional charcoal smoker. Basically, we were looking for something that required less babysitting and was more along the lines of "set it and forget it." Since we'd like to be able to smoke year round, especially during the cooler months, electric seemed the most reasonable choice. That and the fact it was on sale the week Jim went to buy it!

Aside from temperature, the next two important factors in smoking are (1) wood choice and (2) the rub. After trying pecan, mesquite, and apple woods, I personally prefer pecan or apple. I've also experimented with an assortment of pork rubs. The following is my go to:

Ingredients: (Yields approximately one pint)

• 1/4 Cup Kosher Salt

• 1/2 Cup White Sugar

• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

• 1/8 Cup Paprika

• 2 Tbsp Chili Powder

• 2 Tbsp Onion Powder

• 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

• 1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

• 1 Tbsp Cumin

I usually end up doubling or tripling the recipe and storing the rub in a mason jar. I also prefer to rub the meat the night ahead of time to allow for better flavor absorption.

I last used this rub this past weekend. We recently wrapped up our spring seasons of co-rec softball and, as captain, I offered to host a cook-out. I ended up having a pretty nasty cold the week leading up to and the day of the party, I blame my sister, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. The morning of the party, both the Mucinex and Sudafed had worn off by 4:30 AM. When I still hadn't fallen back asleep by 5:00 AM, I figured "what the hell," and went outside to get the smoker going. Since it's electric, all I had to do was plug it in, add some water to the drip pan, throw in some wood chips, put in the pork butt, and set the timer. I eventually ended up getting a few more hours of sleep and the meat ended getting a few extra hours of low and slow. Ten hours later, my teammates were stuffing their faces. Quite happily, I might add.

My general rule of thumb is one hour of cooking time, at 225 degrees, per pound of pork to reach doneness. The day of the cook out I was only working with about a six-and-a-half pound butt. Extra hours don't hurt, though; the pork was in the smoker for about nine hours that day. Generally speaking, the longer and lower you smoke, the more tender the end product. My next venture is brined and smoked whole chicken wings. Stay tuned!

#Pork #Barbecue