That all looks really good!

I didn’t watch the video, but it did list the ingredients underneath, and I was surprised there was no water in the pickling liquid.

Most recipes that I’ve seen is 50/50 vinegar/water.

Also, if you didn’t want to add water, you could go to a less pungent vinegar, like white wine vinegar, or champagne vinegar.

Here’s one recipe, and the lady lists in her “tip”, that she does 50/50 for the same reason you mentioned:

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pickled_eggs/

Great observation, NWG. I thought about that before I did it . . . but went for it anyhow. :) It was interesting tasting the brine, though, it was really quite mellow. Maybe apple cider vinegar is more forgiving than the white vinegar I've used in the past? Or maybe it won't be so mellow in a couple of weeks....

But yes, cutting back on the vinegar is definitely a "may do" next time. BTW, the onions only have a 50-50 mix with water and white vinegar.

I should also note that I used BOTH of my Instant Pots and BOTH of my smokers today . . . so all previous impulse purchases have been justified.

I tend to do 75/25 with the vin/water on ours, and I use apple cider vinegar,

I may cut that back to 50/50, as we haven’t been eating them up as quickly, and if they sit too long...

Small brisket leftovers.

I had been looking forward to doing a repeat smoke of chicken with the plum wood all week to see if it was just a fluke or not.... HOLY HELL --- it certainly was no fluke!!!! Yesterdays cook was even better than last weeks!!!




I decided to flip the chicken half way thru --- most say its not needed, but it really made a huge difference as to how the skin rendered and crisped up --- no need to crisp on the gasser after smoking for 2.5 hours @250 - it turned out pleasantly crisp, tho a bit on the papery side, but still great. No sauce whatsoever - just the rub and the smoke - it would've been sacrilege to add any sauce to it --- it was really difficult to keep from want to sauce it on the smoker...

I was chatting with my neighbor about last weeks cook to see how she liked the seasoning - I had suggested that she use Montreal Chicken on her breasts ---- she said it was good, but on the salty side (she is sensitive to salt, like me). I suggested that she mix some brown sugar into the MC to help cut the saltiness --- she said 'OMG - we were just discussing that!'. Needless to say - it turned out perfect - her and the family loved it! I'm trying to convince her to switch from the b/s breast ($$$) to thighs or quarters to feed the family... I keep telling her that her picky kids WILL eat chicken skin when its done like this, and they will probably finally learn that dark meat actually tastes better.

I am so hooked on this plum wood now --- and I think I have just ruined my neighbors forever now too - that plum has SOOO much flavor!!! We are both dying to get some pork butts to smoke with it.....

Getting ready for Saturday.... its gonna be a good day!



Pork butts at QFC for $1.29/# --- FINALLY.
Thinkin I'm gonna go back and get a couple more for later....

Are you going to do all four of them??

You can invite ALL the neighbor's!

One for me, two for one neighbor and the last for a 'surprise' for another one.... but.... I did a dry fit test on the WSM last night --- I 'could' stuff them in - two big on top rack and two smaller on lower rack --- but I'm a little concerned that the lower rack is going to be overcrowded - parts hanging out over water pan that will be in high heat zone leading to over cooking problems/massive 'rearrangements' that I'd rather not deal with..... So three it will be. If the butts had a more 'cubed' shape to them, they would've fit, but unfortunately they are flatter/wider. After giving another neighbor shit for wanting a bigger smoker (than his big egg), I'm now wishing I had a 22" rather than an 18" WSM.... but not really - just have to know the limits/capacity of what you can do well/easily.

Funny - I went down Wed to scope out the pork --- I was horrified to see that they had opened and cut ALL the vacpac'd butts and cut them in half!!! Nothing over 5#. The butcher said they would be getting another shipment in Thurs - so I went down there.... NO pork butts! I asked what happened???? --- the girl said 'some dolt didn't place the order for more.... and that was me --- more will be here Sat'. Bummed out, I headed 2 miles down the road to the other QFC where they had 1 butt and 4-5 cut ones in the case.... Asked the butcher if there were more and she said 'sure - what do you want?' Nothing over 7#, so more were bought -- I wanted 3 8-9#ers. She said that they don't cut the butts down until the display is empty --- baffled why the other store would cut the whole load right away....
Guess 'most' people don't like big butts.... 1...2...3.... go!

I like big Butt's, i cannot lie...

ya smaller ones don't have taste.. hmm maybe later i'll have to check my qfc

Gratuitous meat pics of 25#s of pork....


After 7.5 hours on the smoker --- time to wrap!



Jumped the gun.... still WAAAAY too hot to pull down.... but looking FANTASTIC!


All pulled down


Realized that three butts is my logistical limit for both the smoker and the refrigerator/pans that I have --- and that the incremental work to do three is ALOT more than going from one to two -- doable, but not unless I have to again.

Gotta say, for some reason I was panicking in the last part of the smoke --- I kept moving the top butts inside/out to even up the bark - I kept licking my fingers afterwards - first couple of times I thought 'Mmmmm.... tasty rub, maybe too much?' - the last two times was 'Where did all this bitterness come from??? Oh shit, I fucked up the smoke....' -------- I didn't put 2 and 2 together to realize that I was tasting the ACV in the spritz So happy once I tasted the meat.....

The plum put a really nice color in the meat!!! And the flavor was awesome! Pretty drunk by the time I pulled it down, so I'll have to get a real taste tonight. As I was pulling it down, I ran across a 'sheet' of meat on the bottom -- ~4x7" by 1/4" that had a perfectly seasoned and rendered fat bark on one side and sheet of rendered fat on the other.... HOLY SHIT that was a tasty piece of meat!!!! I set it aside and kept nibbling on it as I pulled the rest down --- and tasting other parts. Needless to say it was just a meat meal over the pan last night.

It surprised me that the biggest butt finished (temped) out first - followed by the smallest ~15 minutes later ---- the middle one took another hour+ to reach temp!?!?!? (~1# difference btwn biggest and smallest) Just goes to show how important it is to treat each one individually and go by temps.

What was total cook time on all 3 and is that pan all 3 butts pulled together??

Took ~10.5-11 hours til the last one temped out.
No, that is only one butt pulled in the pan --- two of them were for my neighbor's family of five - I figure they will go thru two butts in the time I go thru one. It was really nice of them --- they bought my butt for cooking two for them Win - Win!!!

Looks tasty, JMB! Nice job.

What temp did you pull them at? And were they "probe tender" and did they pull apart very easily?