Country Ribs and Ground Turkey

Cindy wanted to get a pork shoulder to make Carne de Puerco. She couldn't find a shoulder (not knowing it was also called a pork butt) and got country ribs instead. Not to worry... country ribs are just a butt sliced into 2" thick slabs. There is actually a benefit for smoking since there is more exposed area so there will be more smoky flavor. (I should mention that while Carne de Puerco is traditionally made by boiling the pork in a pot with the seasonings, I'll start it in the smoker and then we'll finish it in the traditional method.) The other thing to cook is ground turkey to be used for some  Moroccan White Bean Turkey.

Weather is gorgeous with full sun, temperature already at 70° and wind light at 3-5 mph.

I rubbed the pork with Slap Yo' Daddy original meat rub to which I added some ground Ancho and a little ground Chipotle for a Mexican slant. To the turkey I added garlic cloves and a the spices that substitute for the PC Moroccan rub.

This is going to smoke in the mini-WSM. The turkey is in a medium Dutch oven (with no cover) on the bottom rack and the pork on the top. I'm using Royal Oak bisquettes with a mix of smoking wood including hickory, cherry and maple chunks with some Jack Daniels oak chips and mesquite chips. The water pan is still foiled from my last cook (smoking a ham last Thursday.) This is using the Smokey Joe Gold and I have a single bottom vent cracked open to keep temps low. Temperature is measured using the Maverick ET-732 with the long curved cooker probe stuck between the Dutch oven and the side of the cooker.

time	temp	comment
10:09 AM	°	Meat on!
10:24	189°	Cooker temperature is pretty much where I want it.
10:56	187°	Going to open the cooker so I can stir the turkey.
11:16	234°	Following the last opening, I opened the vent a bit.
11:40	252°	time to stir turkey again.
12:52	277°	time to take the pork off.

Turkey was very tasty.

The pork was a little heavily spiced and a little chewy. That was by design because I expected to use it in another recipe but we wound up having some for dinner. It was a little hot but still good.

The only thing I would like to do differently is put food to be smoked in a shallower cast iron pan (which I do not have.) Perhaps I should get a 12" fry pan and cut the handle off. :D