rubs conducive to smoked turkey and pork butt

I've been recruited to man the smoker(the day before) for our neighbor's birthday shindig this weekend.

We're gonna rummage through my spices to come up with some spicing ideas for the meats. Just off the top of my head(w/o doing any real research) I'm thinking orange zest/fennel/garlic "larding" for one shoulder and, perhaps, an ancho-based rub for the other.

These flavors have to appeal to a crowd, so, where I'd go extra bold(esp. with the chile---ancho seems to be a good middleground)...I need to reel my impulses back a bit.

Then there's the turkey:

I'm thinking lemon zest, dry thyme, and coriander seed?

I imagine I'd squoosh any pastes under the skin(can't do that with pork shoulder, hence the "larding")

any thoughts?

This is my first time smoking meat...our neighbor's confident I'll do fine after his tutorial(he can't do it himself due to his work schedule).

I'm a tad nervous, but also purty excited.

I'd recommend using some sugar in the pork rub. That'll carmalize and help form the great crunchy crust on it. Just about any combo of dried chili spices, a bit of garlic, salt, sugar (maybe some oregano/ginger/onion powder) will work. I whip up a new one every time I do ribs or pork shoulder and can honestly say that they all turn out very similar once in the smoker for 20 hours. Just apply liberally, allow to "cure" on the meat for a few hours to overnight. It'll be fine.

Temperature control is the main thing you need to concern yourself with. I target a grill temp of around 215 for pork.

Rather than Larding your butt try an injection. I like a mix of apple cider, bourbon, a bit of tamarind cider and a a few tablespoons of my rub.

For the rub I'd stay away from too many herbs. For my butt I like a rub of a good bit of brown sugar, paprika, a touch a cayanne, garlic powder (the good granulated stuff from the spice house) onion powder, a bit of thyme.

Also what kind of wood are you planning on using? Lately Pecan has been my go to wood.

If you don't have Paul Kirk's book Championship BBQ, I'd recommend picking it up. There are a lot of rubs in there that you could either use or steal ideas from. I've been using it all summer for rubs, sauces, and cooking techniques.

For pork shoulder I am a fan of rubs that contain, garlic powder, paprika, brown sugar and mustard powder.

thanks much for the ideas so far

the tamarind especially peaks my interest

My standard pork rub is generally equal proportions of the following: salt, black pepper, cumin, celery seed, cayenne pepper, with two parts paprika.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling more minimalistic, I'll do two parts salt to one part black pepper, one part white pepper, and that's it.

I rub my pork butt with yellow mustard and then liberally apply the rub.

oh

and I'll post whatever we decide

thanks for the ideas and tips thus far

I use a rub made by a chef pal in arizona , its called " Survival Spice " and it can be found @ desertislandfoods.com , Scott Pinkerton aka PINK is the founder and he is retired from being the Light man for "Little Feat" for many years. Tell him johnnyb sent ya ! His food blog site is pragmaticchef.com

For butt rubs, have you checked out the very informative WSM smoking tutorial by LTHForum's very own Gary Wiviott, at www.wiviott.com?

crrush wrote:For butt rubs, have you checked out the very informative WSM smoking tutorial by LTHForum's very own Gary Wiviott, at www.wiviott.com?

I have not...but, this seems like an auspicious opportunity to do so

Saturday was the big day for my introduction to the wide world of hot smoking. I wandered nextdoor around 6:30 that morning and got my American Pride tutorial; she's a beauty...three vents...rotisserie...and oh so nimble.

Before he had to take off, the neighbor and I got the mesquite(his choice) going and started our two pork butts and one giant turkey breast.

The night before we'd hung out and he did one butt with his favorite commercial rub-Bone Suckin' brand. I'd seen it before, but never tried it(frankly I was a bit put off by the name), but I found it pretty unusual(and tasty) for a mass market rub(which I'd figured would go heavy on the salt and garlic powder...not this stuff)

I'd brought over some spices for him to ply through and we ended up with a what-the-hell Tex Mex by way of India rub:

kashmiri pepper
ancho
mango powder(he really dug the mango powder)
black cardamom
white peppercorn
coriander
longpepper
salt
sugar

all rubbed over a base of yellow mustard

I was a mite afeared, but it turned out really lovely and paired well with his homemade sauce...not that you needed any...heh...

Following his instructions I cooked everything a bit hot from what I'd researched(in his daylong absence I'd mediate his prescribed 300-350 back down to 225-250)

and I shoulda pulled the turkey(lemon zest, salt, pepper, dry thyme, sugar, canola) a couple hours before, but, again as per instructions I let everything smoke for 8 hrs or so

the turkey was definitely dry(but flavorful)

that was a disappointment, but now we know better and since we're planning on smoking turkeys for Thanksgiving we're gonna experiment with brining/injection/shorter time, etc.

the pork turned out tender and the "experimental" one had crazy bark(probably due to the mustard undercoat)

anyway...the meat

and I made my oft-requested parsleyed fingerlings

and we also had pico de gallo, eggplant parmesan, tons of odd n ends

working the smoker probably wasn't the smartest idea for my lingering chest crap, but I can't wait to do it again: next up brisket and different woods!