North Carolina BBQ Forums Q&A

I've lived in NC my whole life....over 40 years. Me and my 2 sons have become addicted to smoking food. For their 14th birthday I smoked a 15# shoulder, using a weber bullet. Why is my meat a reddish color rather than the typical light brown color you see at eastern NC restaurants? I smoked at 225-250 using kingsford charcoal with oak wood from the fire wood pile. Kept the water pan full the whole time. Cooked until internal meat temp was 155F then wrapped in foil and allowed to rest for 45 minutes.

Sounds like you did a good job on your cook. You should end up with a quarter to a half inch red ring around the outside edge when you cut it and brown in the middle. By what you say it turned out good.

Sounds as if what you got was a (pink) smoke ring.  Most eastern places are gassers these days, so their meat doesn't have one -- doesn't have any flavor either, if you ask me.