Originally Posted by forgop

Digital thermometer: http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Remot...6974687&sr=8-3

For your first cooks, I've heard that pork butts are the most forgiving and absolute hardest to screw up. After that, ribs is another easy cook. Briskets are considered by many to be one of the more challenging things to get right from my understanding, although my first brisket cook was awesome.

For rubs, you can find almost anything out there. For your first butt cook, I highly recommend using this rub/injection method: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pork4.html By far the best pork I've ever made.