So I made a UDS a few weeks ago. Last week, to break it in I cooked ribs, unfortunatley it wasn't my best work. The nice thing about the UDS is it holds the temperature pretty consistently, but that gave me a false sense of security. So I took my eyes off of it too long and it apparently flared up. I think the weather might have had something to do with it (it was rainy and windy that day) So the bottom side of the ribs were done a little more than I like. Also, the UDS does not need as much wood as my offset does for the smoke. So the ribs were a little too smokey. So this week I had family in town and I decided to go for round two in the UDS, but this time with pulled pork.
This time everything went well. The UDS is so much easier to control the heat than my offset. But I did learn that if you take the lid off for too long, it will flare up. I was able to keep the temp between 220 and 250 pretty easily (every once and awhile it would get up to 275 but with a little adjustment I could get it back down) This time I didn't use as much wood chunks. I used chunks of mesquite with mesquite lump charcoal. Normaly I use El Diablo Mesquite Lump that you can get at Fries, Food City, and I think Bashas, or I use Royal Oak lump from Wal-Mart. But I saw that Sams Club has a 40 lb bag of Best of the West Mesquite Lump for $14. They said that they just started to carry it. The pork took about 8 hours to cook. I was really happy with it. The bottom turned out a little crispier than it does in my offset. For pulled pork that isn't an issue, but it does worry me about brisket. Any suggestions? Overall the taste and texture was as good or better than when I use my offset. And it is easier to use. I was really happy with this pork.
So I sat at my table to pull the pork and my 4 and 2 year old daughters kept coming to me begging some meat. So I kept giving them some, but after awhile I told them to wait till it was all ready. I little after I cut them off, I saw a hand reach into a bowl that I was putting the fat, etc in. I told my 2 year old to get her hand out of there. She promptly did, with as big of a handful of stuff that she could hold and she stuffed it into her mouth and ran away before I could take it away. I take this as a compliment because these girls are normally picky eaters.
The pork just after I put it on. All rubbed
About half way done
Just about done
Letting it rest
Clean bones
All pulled
