Newly laid green egg. First ever on my deck. Hatched its first picnic rost. See pic

Dmax007

Got my first egg 9 days ago and have already gone through 20lb bag of BGE lump.  I'm egging everything - I Feel like a fry fanatic, though I have not tried to egg a twinkey or cool aid...  Bet someone has though (post some pics please!). I have done steaks; great cuts and some less expensive cuts, pork chops, scallops, hot dogs, hamburgers, left overs, veggies of all sorts, and even cooked air just to see how to manipulate the temp. The best surprise thus far has been Nachos with sharp cheddar!!  Usually just nuke them to melt the cheese... But why let a hot egg go to waiste.  My daughter has even joined in helping to assure a good hot egg doesn't go to waste...  Last night after grilling up some dogs and sausages she cut some green apples in half coated them in butter sugar and cinnamon and they were yummy.

Finally decided to try my hand at smoking a picnic roast Sunday night...

First I have to say that researching anything related smoking or grilling will result in MANY differing opinions and most are firmly embedded in their way of thinking.  I.e.  Wrap or don't wrap, turbo or low and slow?, FTC (still not sure what this means), when to rub? Brine or no brine, you have to marinate vs no you don't, inject or don't inject, what kind of wood, how to light your lump, how much Lump, how to place your lump, size of lump pieces, how to mix wood in lump, chunks or chips, soak or don't soak, and if you get curious about grilling your steak...  Flip or don't flip, when to add seasoning, what seasoning, reverse sear?, cast iron or light grate, hot or not too hot,  yea lots of questions and differing opinions - even conflicting "Scientifically Proven" answers.  

Back to the roast---  11 lb  Picnic.  Left Skin on.  Fat side up.  Coated in Mustard and generously applied home made rub: Nothing special... Dark brown sugar, granulated garlic and onion, black pepper, cayenne pepper, sea salt, smoke paprika, zatarans, Banda seasoning mix.,etc...

Lump - I layered lump and Hickory chunks (some like small logs).  Wood started at bottom.  Lump size was totally random and I think average size was quite small as this was my final cook on the bag

Stabilized at 210-225 for about 30 mins-  lots of good smoke - NO black smoke.

Added roast- on the roasting rack.  Did not have a drip pan for first 3 hours. I just didn't think to do it..added one at about 3 hours into the cook

Let it roll for about 8 hours before first IT check - it was 175ish and the bone was just starting to loosen up.  Juice poured out of the probe hole.  It was sad to see all that juice flowing out!!!  I wanted to plug the hole...  Haha.

I went back to bed for an hour.  Did another IT - was around 185 - still not there.  I took a quick glance at the dome temp and PANICKED -  the daisy wheel slipped last time I checked IT (opens the lid) and the temp jumped to 300.  I shut it down a bit to get the temp back to 225 - as I suspected - temp was not going to go down anytime soon! "Eggs hold their temp".   We'll a few more hours and had an IT of 195 and the bone was nice and loose!!  

I carefully pulled it off and covered with foil.  Let it rest for a couple of hours the pulled the pork. 

Looks. 8.5/10:  I could not resist...  At the 8 hour check I tore a chunk off to taste! 
Taste. 7/10:  Nice pork flavor, may be hair bit too smokey and completely absent of seasoning,  bark was a tad bitter and not as crisp as I would have liked.  I Will stuff the next one with garlic and marinate over night.  May also back off a bit on the hickory and blend in some Cherry
Moisture. 10/10 perfect...  I can't see wrapping due to concerns of "drying out". 
Texture. 9/10  some of the meat was almost mushy- might just have been high fat content??

blasting

Welcome.  Looking good.

jcaspary

Welcome aboard.  Looks as though you are hooked like the rest of us. 

logchief

First off welcome and it definitely sounds like your hooked.  Pork looks great.

I've gotten so much great info from folks here.  

Couple of comments, I would recommend using pork butts instead of picnic shoulder for pulled pork they will cook up faster and have better bark.  Sounds like maybe you put in too much smoking wood.  I'm no veteran like a lot of folks here, but usually only use half a dozen chunks (2-4") when I do butts.

Scottborasjr

Welcome. Did you set the drop pan directly on the indirect piece? If so that could be the source of your bitter taste. Needs to be space between the pan and the stone otherwise drippings burn giving you a bitter result. Or it could have been from before without the drip pan. Either way looks pretty darn good!

lousubcap

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  You definitely hit the deck running.  Great start.  And you captured one of the great BGE qualities, there are many roads that will get you there.  Eggsperiment and find the best for you.
About "FTC (still not sure what this means)".  FTC= foil, towels and cooler.  A faux cambro  generally used to hold low&slow cooks if finished early.  If needing to hold for many (4-6 hours or more), pre-warm a cooler with hot water; double wrap the finished meat in HDAF; warm some garage quality towels in a dryer-dump the water, load the foiled meat and towels and shut the cooler.  Don't peak-food will stay above 150*F for the duration. 

theyolksonyou

Welcome. Looks good to me and you've been given good tips from those above. 



Now, why you holding out on us with nachos and apples?  That's the kind of stuff we HAVE to see!   

Hi54putty

solid 

gmbbs

Make sure the screw on the daisy wheel is facing the front, that will keep it from sliding open due to gravity when you open the lid. BTDT!

henapple

Welcome 

RAC

Welcome aboard!

bluebird66

Welcome and an awesome cook!

johnkitchens

You have hit the ground running. Great job. 

cook861

Welcome 

ChillyWillis

Nice looking cook!

Sammi

Great looking cook, "not your first bbq" i would guess.

JohnnyTarheel

Welcome.  Great cook....   You are addicted!!

Dmax007

Thanks Guys,  Lot of good tips and info here.  Yes I am addicted.  PS... I tried to post a response earlier to several questions and for some reason my posts did not stick. 
- I am using a large
- The drip pan was on the grate - not the PS.  The roast was in a roast/Rib holder on top of the drip pan.
- When I ate leftovers, the next day I thought the amount of smoke was perfect.  I think just had too much smoke, hanging out by the egg so thought it was too much on day one.
- Thanks for all the other advice!!