Smoking Chops

Lesson

As they say down South: “Pork smokes up real nice.” But like most meats, certain cuts do better in the smoker or in a barbecue grill that you’ve made into a smoker. Choose pork roasts, shoulders, and chops that have a nice layer of fat around the meat. This will add flavor, moisture, and tenderness to the meat as it cooks, and most of the fat will melt off the meat itself.

Although you have many woods to choose from, the most popular are fruitwoods like cherry, apple, peach, or hardwoods like oak, hickory, and mesquite. Mesquite can be bitter, however, so we recommend only using this wood for beef brisket or other hardy beef roasts.

Prepping chops for smoking

We recommend brining meat before smoking it, as the long, low cooking temperature can dry it out. (See our Brining lesson.) After brining, rinse quickly, pat the meat dry, and add any type of rub you like. (See our lesson on Rubs for some flavorful ideas.) Then allow the meat to dry marinate for 4 to 8 hours in the fridge.

Smoking temps and timing

An ideal smoking temperature is around 220°F, with acceptable ranges between 215°F and 235°F. The higher the temperature, the less time you need to smoke the meat. The lower the temperature, the longer it takes.

A good guideline for figuring out how long to smoke your meat: for every pound, smoke for 1-1/2 hours.

Roasts and racks of ribs may smoke for 4 to 6 hours; pork butts and shoulders for 6 to 8 hours. Chops will smoke in 2 to 2-1/2 hours. During this time, you’ll need to turn the meat once. Spending these long hours in the smoker gives the meat a chance to soak up the delightful smoky flavor.

Note: Before you begin, open the top vents of the smoker or barbecue to create a constant flow of smoke. Otherwise, the smoke can settle into the meat and cause it to taste bitter.

Knowing when it’s done

Once the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150°F remove it from the smoker, cover it with foil, and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. During that time the internal temperature will rise to 160°F, at which point it’ll be ready to slice and serve. Chops, however, need to be cooked to 160°F, because they are too thin to increase in temperature after leaving the grill.

If you cooked a shoulder or butt and plan on pulling the pork, let it reach a temperature of 170°F, remove and cover it, and let it rest for 30 minutes so it can reach 180°F. Next, uncover it and let it cool for another 30 minutes, so it can be pulled by hand.

Ready to get smoking? Check out our chops recipes!