While visiting the fam I discovered my brother-in-law has a smoker! Dad bought the biggest pork roast he could find and we took it over to my BIL the night before our feast...and then the BIL announced he had to go to Boise on business! Plan B. We borrowed his smoker, took it to dad's house and the next morning at the crack of dawn, we got the thing fired up.
Dad lit the charcoal with a chimney/starter...on his gas grill for maximum effect...The smoke was really rolling! When the coals were nice and hot he poured them into the bottom pan of the smoker...almost setting himself on fire. Next he set the pan of water in the smoker, and the grill for the roast.
That's basically all there is to smokin' a naked roast (dad didn't want to use a rub or even salt and pepper...he's a pork purist.) The last step is to throw a few pieces of wet wood chips onto the coals to create the smoke...in this case we used hickory chips...and just as dad put the lid on top, the neighbor came running around the side of the house - he saw all the smoke and thought the place was on fire! He rang the front door but since we were outside we didn't hear it (although Sadie, the guard dog, heard it and was barking up a storm - but we thought she was barking at a bad kitty so we ignored her.) We told the neighbor it was all good - and despite the amount of smoke we were just doing a little BBQ-ing...once he was convinced we were all okay, he left, but he FAILED to tell us he had already called the Fire Department!
You know what they say...where's there smoke there's fire...so they came to check it out. Dad and I thought it was hilarious - and speaking of dad, isn't he just the cutest? (My mom had been up before dawn, then had gone back to bed for a bit but all the commotion woke her...she came out in her pj's to see what was going on and I told her she had visitors)...the firemen (and firewoman?) were very cute ... they filled out their arson report, checked on the smoker, then left. We invited them to come back for dinner and they said if there was enough smoke, they'd be there!
We put our 7 1/2 lb. boneless pork roast in the smoker at 8:00 and took it off at 5:30 - and just to be sure it was cooked all the way through, we stuck a thermometer in it - it was good to go! The BIL had told us to throw on a hand-full of chips every couple of hours...but we wanted this roast to be thoroughly smoked...so every time the smoke stopped, we tossed in more chips...which was about every 20 minutes! It's not like a crock-pot where you put the meat in and walk away...oh no, someone had to be there to make it smoke! So we took turns all day long...in between chip throwing (and putting on more coals) I spent most of the day on Pinterest, working my way up to becoming a Pinhead!
You could definitely taste the smoke...and even without any seasonings, it was dang good. The carnivorous nephew thought is was great - as did everyone else...however, my sister, the one who is younger but looks older, said she thought it was a bit dry...whatever...she was just bugged that she missed out on the firemen! She's a fool for a man in uniform...military, cop, pilot, postal worker, garbage man, UPS driver, plumber with a name tag...you name it...if he's wearing a uniform she's all atwitter!
We served the pork roast with KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce and some of us enjoyed it with home-made applesauce. It was divine - worth every minute of sitting in the sun tossing chips on the coals!
The BIL bought this Brinkmann Smoke 'N Grill at Home Depot for $25.00. It worked great...and really, for $25.00 where could you have as much fun?!?
