Smoked pork is a great BBQ item, not only because of the flavor but also the multitude of ways you can serve it. Sliced, pulled or shredded, on a bun or just by itself. There is also a multitude of ways to cook good smoked pork. Here is the way that I do it.

I like to marinade the pork shoulders or butts before I smoke them. The way to marinade I big cut like the shoulder is to inject it. The first step is to create the marinade. I use Butchers BBQ Pork Injection which I mix with some broth (beef or pork). I add some Worcestershire sauce, a little bit of garlic powder and some honey. I mix the ingredients together without heating up the marinade.

Before injecting the butt or shoulder, I like to trim some of the fat off the meat. You want to leave some on since it will add flavor but you can always trim off some of the fat cap. I also like to separate the Money Muscle. The Money muscle is perpendicular to the shoulder bone and it is the most succulent and tender part of the butt. You can either just remove some of the fat around the money muscle and cook it together with the butt or completely separate the muscle and cook it by itself. I prefer the latter.
​When the meat is trimmed, inject the butt with your marinade. Move throughout the butt and inject thoroughly.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap  and refrigerate for at least 5 hours.

The next step is to give the outside of the pork its flavor, a great bark will make any pork stand out. Generously sprinkle your rub mix over each butt and let it sit for an hour - this will allow the rub to penetrate the meat and pull some of the water out. For this cook I used a mix of The Slabs and Swimmin in Smoke.

Light the smoker. I prefer to smoke pork at 235 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure that you burn off the dirty smoke before you add the butts. The middle picture above has a thick gray smoke - this is dirty and could give the meat a bitter taste. You want a thin, blue smoke like the picture to the right. When it comes to pork I prefer apple, cherry or Maple.

Place the butts on the smoker with the fatter side up. Also place an aluminum pan underneath the butts to collect all the drippings - more about these later. 
Smoke for about 5 hours or until the internal temperature reaches about 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn the meat over and smoke for another hours so. The length depends on the size of the butts. You want the butts to start forming a nice red crust.

 When you have a nice bark - wrap the butts tightly in aluminum foil Keep smoking until the internal temperature reaches about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. While you wait for the butts to reach that temperature, collect all the drippings and pur into a tall container. Put the container in the fridge - the temperature will make the fat rise and get stiff. After an hour or so you can spoon out all the coagulated fat and you are left with liquid gold!! The juice from butts will be used later to add flavor to the sliced money muscle and the pulled and shredded pork.

If you have separated the money muscle, it needs much shorter cooking time. Normally I would put the money muscle in the smoker when I have about three hours left of the butts. I keep them unwrapped for about 2 hours or until they reach 165 degrees. I wrap them - just like you would do with the butts. And when they reach 200 degrees I pull them. One thing I like to do with the money muscle, is to give the outside a nice sweet glaze for a slightly different flavor profile than the rest of the pork. In this case I used some BBQ sauce, Agave honey, apple juice and marrionberry marmalade (seedless). I give the money muscle a finishing touch with the glaze and let it caramelize for about 30-45 minutes in the smoker.

The last step is to let the meat for a while. Then it is time to serve.
Use food handling gloves to pull the meat apart into nice chunks. Use a fork to shred some of the pork that is falling apart, and slice the money muscle into 3/4 inches thick slices.
​Dip the money muscle and pork chunks into the reserved drippings and pour back some of the dripping liquid into the shredded pork. Serve hot!!

Smoking chicken thighs is a messy and tiring process, but when you get it right, there are few things that beats the flavor of succulent and moist chicken with a little heat and a lotta sweet. I prefer to remove the bones - you can enjoy the entire thigh that way - but you can skip that step if you want to save yourself some time.
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The first thing you have to do is to trim the chicken - you want uniform looking pieces with about the same size. They will cook more evenly and will also look better when you serve. Start with cutting the skin off each thigh. Be careful not to tear the skin.
​After you cut off the skin, cut the thighs in uniform pieces, turn the thigh over and then cut away muscle  along the back of the thigh bone. This is where you can decide if you want to remove the thigh bone or not.

I like to either brine or inject my thighs. You can either use a very simple brine with water, salt and sugar or you can mix your own and try to get some flavor into the chicken thighs. When I inject I use chicken broth and Butcher BBQ Bird Booster and when I make a brine, I normally use water, salt, sugar and some of the Bird Booster. Let the chicken thighs rest in the brine for a couple of hours while you trim the skin.​

Scrape excess fat off the skin. I usually put the skin in the fridge or freezer for a while to make the fat more solid. Then I use a boning knife to cut the fat off first. After I gotten the thick layer of fat removed, I scrape off the rest with my chefs knife. Be careful so you don't tear the skin. You want the skin to be translucent. You want the skin to slightly smaller than the thigh but it should wrap around the skin fully covering the front and most of the back. Season the chicken slightly with your base rub. I like something with a little bit of heat under the skin and for the back of the thigh.

It is now time to reattach the skin to the thigh. I prefer to use meat glue because it will create a stronger bond with the thigh and the skin. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of meat glue inside the piece of skin and sprinkle some on the thigh as well. You don't have to worry about the thigh taking on a weird flavor. Meat glue is flavorless when you cook with it. Wrap the skin around the thigh and the wrap in plastic wrap to make sure that the glue binds effectively. Put in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
​Put your second rub on top of the skin - I prefer a cherry rub since it will give the thigh a very nice color.

Make sure that the smoker has reach about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. For chicken thighs I use apple or cherry wood chunks for smoke. Make sure that the dirty smoke has worn off and that your smoker has a clean, thin, blue smoke coming out of the chimney. Place the chicken thighs in a pan on top of slices of butter, I use about two tablespoons of butter per thigh. Smoke until you get the thighs up to 160 degrees. Baste frequently with butter. While the thighs are smoking, mix your glaze. I use one third of BBQ sauce, one third of Agave honey and one third apple juice. Sometimes I put in a couple of other things to add flavor - like a fruit jelly or seedless marmalade. When the thighs reaches  160 degree - dip them in the glaze and return to the smoker. Smoke until they reach 165 and the glaze gets a little bit caramelized. Take them off the smoker and then let them sit under some foil and rest. Let them rest for about 10 minutes. 

After the thighs are done resting - you should have some extremely moist chicken thighs with a wonderful bite-thru skin. A little smoke, a little heat and a lotta sweet - just like a chicken thigh should taste!!

​I prefer spare ribs and the best way is cooking them St Louis cut-style. It highlights the prime part of the rib bone and it has more taste. Start with large, meaty ribs. Make sure that the ribs have no shiners (ribs where the butcher has cut away too much meat so that the bones shines through).

​To trim ribs St Louis style, cut the rib between the rib bones and where the sternum and cartilage portion begins. Cut along the ribs, you are looking for a uniform, square slab of ribs. Remove the flap of meat on the back of the ribs. With a paper towel, peel the membrane off of the ribs. One of the most common mistakes people still do is leave the membrane on, which makes the rib tough.

​The next step is to rub the ribs. I prefer using three rubs. The first rub  will work as a good foundational rub and give great flavor. In this example I use Swimming in Smoke Booty Shake Hot - it gives the rub a great bite after the cook. The second rub I choose for coloring the rib. In this case I used Victory Lane Cherry Bomb BBQ rub. Cherry gives ribs and chicken a wonderful color. And don't worry, the ribs wont taste of cherry, most of the flavor disappears during the cook. The third rub is optimal - I like to use a finishing rub at the end of the cook. In this example, I used Victory Lane Gold Dust - very high sugar content - so it adds a great sweet flavor at the end. The third rub is optimal, we will produce enough sweetness in the end by using a glaze. 

After the rub is applied, lightly press the spices into the meat. Let the rub sit on the rub for 30-40 minutes, not longer. It will allow the salt to penetrate the meat and pull some of the water out (the rib will be seating). But don't let it sit too long.

​While the ribs are resting, prepare the smoker. I like to cook the ribs at 235 degrees F. I also recommend fruit chunks like apple and cherry. It will give the ribs a light smoke flavor. Let the dirty smoke burn out and when you have a clear blue, very thin smoke coming out of the smoker, you are ready to start cooking.
I smoke the ribs for about 2 hours without opening the lid. After two hours I look at them, What I am looking for is color - I want them to have a nice red/orange color.  Don't add more wood chunks - after about two hours the ribs will not take on more smoke flavor, so adding wood chunks is not beneficial at that stage.

​When the ribs have a nice color, it is time to wrap the ribs. It is important to conduct this step pretty fast so the ribs don't lose too much temperature.
Remove the ribs from the smoker. Use two large heavy-duty pieces of aluminium foil for each rib. Across the length of the foil, sprinkle brown sugar (about 1/2 cup) and agave nectar (you can use honey of you like that better). Place ribs meat down and then sprinkle brown sugar and agave nectar on the back of the ribs. Wrap the ribs very tightly with the foil, you want to make sure that there are no air pockets. These will cause the ribs to steam and not cook.
Return the ribs to the smoker for another 1 1/2 hours or so.

​Remove the ribs and check for doneness. The bones should be breaking through the meat on the backside and the ribs should have a significant bend but should not break when you lift them up. When they are done - baste them.
I like a mix of BBQ sauce, agave nectar and some apple juice. I mix 50/50 of sauce and nectar and then add some apple juice to thin out the glaze. I baste both sides and optionally this is where I add the finishing rub. You could either rewrap the ribs and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or put them back on the smoker. In this case they were slightly underdone so I put them back on the smoker to give them some more cooking time.

​When done, place the meat on a clean cutting board. Carefully slice evenly between each rib bone. What I am looking for in my ribs a light and not overpowering smoke flavor, meat that is tender but not falling off the bone (common mistake, fall of the bones are often way overcooked and less flavorful), and very sweet but balanced by the savory flavors of the rub.