Our smoker is a Mak One-Star General which is just the right size for the items we like to smoke. The fuel is hardwood wood pellets produced especially for smoking foods. While pellets can come from different varieties of wood and many people use a wood that is supposed to yield a complimentary smoke to the food they are smoking, we just use whatever type we have in the feed hopper since we can’t taste or smell any difference from one type of wood from another in the smoked food.

Inside of the smoker showing the stainless steel grill racks.

We use remote thermometers to monitor the internal temperature of what we are smoking.

Whether smoking on the Mak or grilling on the Weber, our method is to always run a block of lard over the grates as they heat up.

The pork loin ready to go in the smoker. The preparation started the day before when the excess fat was trimmed and the pork loin was cut into two pieces. Then a rub we make ourselves was placed all over the loins pieces and a small quantity of pineapple juice was injected into the pork. After being covered with food wrap it was placed in the refrigerator overnight and is removed just before being placed in the smoker.

The smoker is up to temperature and the pieces are ready to to be placed in the smoker. If you want to know more about the rub we use, search for Meathead’s World Famous Memphis Dust Rub Recipe. Part 2 should be posted tomorrow.