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Valentine's day picnic

James Freyr

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posted 5 years ago

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It's about 1:15am on Valentines day as I type this, and I just put a picnic on the grill to smoke all day. Maybe readers thought this was going to be about a meal on a blanket in a grassy field, with a little basket and homegrown food. Not that kind of picnic

A picnic is also a name for one half of a pigs shoulder, with the other half being the butt. The picnic is the upper arm part. I don't know who came up with the names, but it can be confusing to those not familiar with pig parts. I've included a couple handy charts showing basic pig butchery part names. This picnic weighs 10.5 pounds and came from a Gloucestershire Old Spot raised on pasture at a small farm near Nashville TN. My wife and I trimmed and salted it Wednesday, applied a spice rub Thursday, and it's now on the smoker this friday being smoked with Pecan. I hope readers stick around, I'll be updating with more pictures throughout the night and day. I think I planned right, and hopefully this chunk of meat will be done by 5pm.

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Gloucestershire Old Spot. Not the actual piggy this picnic came from.

source

picnic-on-the-grill.jpg

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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posted 5 years ago

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4:48am. Ate breakfast, mmm! The smoker had been running a little warm 300-320°F. I may have overdone it a little bit trying to compensate for the below freezing temps with a little too much charcoal. The picnic just reached the stall at 162°F. The smoker is cruising at about 240°F right now and my fire is dying out. Starting 3rd batch of charcoal, and will make it a small batch and do my best to keep things between 225-275°F for the rest of the journey.

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

Artie Scott

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posted 5 years ago

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That looks mighty tasty, James, we all may just invite ourselves over to enjoy the Valentine’s Day Picnic!

“All good things are wild, and free.” Henry David Thoreau

James Freyr

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Thanks Artie! C'mon over and join us!

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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posted 5 years ago

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6:12am I just took a picture of daybreak. Todays forecast is a bright sunshiny day, highs in the upper 30's. Good weather for being outdoors.

daybreak-02-14-20.jpg

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

thomas rubino

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posted 5 years ago

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Sounds good James! We will be by around dinner time! We will bring our own bib!
So wow 1 AM till 4-5 PM that's a long time!
I normally bring a pork roast to room temp in the morning, put it on the smoker around noon. Try to keep it at 240 F or so.
By 6 PM its falling off the bone and internal temps are around 200F .

Charcoal? Hardwood lump ? Or is it Kingsford?

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James Freyr

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It's 8am, and I dozed off on the couch for about 30 minutes. Coffee at 5:30 didn't last as long as I hope it would. Time for some tea. Meat has been hanging out at 165°F and hasn't budged for a little over 3 hours. Time to start 5th batch of charcoal.

Hi Thomas! I was thinking about you this morning, I know you like to smoke, was hoping you would chime in. Based on figures I've found, I tried to allot for about 1.5 hours per pound. I did take the picnic out of the fridge at 7pm last night so it wouldn't go on the smoker cold. My target finish temp is 200-205. My wife and I eat supper early around 5-5:30 so I'm hoping I can get to my target temp anytime before 4pm, so I can wrap it up foil and a couple old towels, and toss it in a cooler to rest for at least an hour. It's what I've done in the past and has always given excellent results.

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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thomas rubino wrote:

Charcoal? Hardwood lump ? Or is it Kingsford?

I have hardwood briquettes on hand and they were on sale at the store, basically ground lump hardwood and a corn starch binder pressed together into uniform size pieces. I've also used the hardwood lump and like it a lot. I choose not to use the big name charcoals as they can often contain things I don't want like some amount of actual coal, and binders like paraffin.

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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Progress pic! 8:45am

picnic-on-smoker.jpg

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

thomas rubino

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Looking good James! Before it's finished the whole outside will look burnt... but oh boy, inside... hmmm that's why I'll bring a bib!
Glad to hear what your smoking with, good stuff! Name brand is, lets say questionable at best.

Are there hickory trees on your place? Cut a small one down and turn it into smoker wood. Be sure to peal off the bark after it drys.
It's my personal favorite when I have it. Not available locally so I only get when a visitor takes pity on me and brings some. Mountain Maple is my local go to wood.

Now that I think about it... cut down two and stop on by (Sunday drive) I'll put on a pork roast!

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

James Freyr

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Hey Thomas!

I do have some hickory trees, but they're sparse. I have at least two kinds, one is shagbark, or at least a variety of shagbark, and the other is unknown to me, but there are ten hickory species native to Tennessee according to the University of Tennessee Extension. I missed my timing last year to gather some hickory nuts to plant and the squirrels got them first. I'm sure they missed a couple, maybe I can transplant some this fall. I would love to have some more growing about.

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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2:05pm and 13 hours on the smoker. Getting close! The picnic stalled at about 165 for about 4.5 hours, and has been creeping upwards. I wish y'all could smell it.

picnic-temperature.jpg

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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3:42pm, the picnic reached 203°F, just a little shy of 15 hours. I don't know why but every time I smoke something, those last 8 or 10 degrees seem to take forever. Smoky picnic is bundled up and resting in a cooler until supper time. I'll come back with a couple more pics in a few hours.

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

James Freyr

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It was a long day but worth it. I'm going to stick with smoking smaller pieces of pig like a 6 or 7 pound butt, as those can be started at sunrise and be done in time for supper allowing for a normal nights sleep. The picnic turned out real nice. This is the first time I did not wrap the meat in foil to finish cooking after the stall in temperature rise. The bark turned out much chewier. I hope readers enjoyed the thread, and happy valentines day!

picnic1.jpg

picnic2.jpg

picnic3.jpg

valentines-day-supper.jpg

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

Artie Scott

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You just made me real hungry, James, and I just finished dinner! Boy that looks good! What kind of bbq sauce on top?

“All good things are wild, and free.” Henry David Thoreau

Carla Burke

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The picnik is my favourite pork cut, to roast!

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

James Freyr

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Artie Scott wrote: What kind of bbq sauce on top?

It's called Noble Made and I think it's pretty good. I only bought it because it was one of the very few on the shelf at the store that didn't have offensive (to me) ingredients like corn syrup and soybean oil, and it also is packaged in glass instead of plastic.

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

thomas rubino

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Well James; we enjoyed the thread but not nearly as much as you guys did your dinner! Good Job! You've earned the diy smokers badge...

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

Morgan Lawson

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Location: Reston

posted 5 years ago

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James Freyr wrote:It was a long day but worth it. I'm going to stick with smoking smaller pieces of pig like a 6 or 7 pound butt, as those can be started at sunrise and be done in time for supper allowing for a normal nights sleep. The picnic turned out real nice. This is the first time I did not wrap the meat in foil to finish cooking after the stall in temperature rise. The bark turned out much chewier. I hope readers enjoyed the thread, and happy valentines day!

it looks like a stone in the picture before the cutting :D:D:D
anyway, i think it came out really delicious!

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