Smoked Pork BBQ - Part 3 - The Fuel

Yah, it's just about 4:30AM on New Year's Eve. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one away in the neighborhood, except for whomever ran over the skunk that I can smell. Of course, as awful as it sounds, I hope that's what happened. The alternatives are not good.


It's important to smoke pork for a long time. I don't want to leave the impression that this is incredibly difficult, it's not. It just takes a while, and the longer the better, so I decided to get an early start. I do subscribe to that school of thought that a hunk of meat can actually only hold a certain amount of smoke, but the cooking time still needs to be long (more on all that later).

So, out of bet at 4, prepped up and ready to go - just waiting for the charcoal to get ready. Before all you purists scream at me, please know that I'm not claiming to be a purist. I don't have an actual smoker, so this modified version will have to do. My fuel will be reliable Kingsford charcoal (for heat), and water-logged hickory wood chunks (for smoke). I've got just under half a chimney heating up, and about that same amount in on the coal tray waiting. This is sotof a modified "minion method" that prolongs the heat without the need to add a lot of charcoal.


Here's the wood chunks, and chimney a smoking...