Smoking a pork shoulder..

[PuffyNips]

I really like the mustard, but I'll try an oil next time.

Doing my first brisket tonight.

Looking to serve it around 4 tomorrow. Almost 12 lbs. I don't need to trim too much of the fat cap so I guess it will be around 11.25-11.5 after trimming.

Should I start it at 8 tonight and wrap it in a cooler if it is done early? That seems to be what the intrawebs suggest.

 

[buckethead1978]

You all are overthinking this.
Dry brine
Slather in rub.
Toss on smoker until 203
Wrap in a faux cambro until ready to serve.
Pull.

 

[anthonys735]

I really like the mustard, but I'll try an oil next time.

Doing my first brisket tonight.

Looking to serve it around 4 tomorrow. Almost 12 lbs. I don't need to trim too much of the fat cap so I guess it will be around 11.25-11.5 after trimming.

Should I start it at 8 tonight and wrap it in a cooler if it is done early? That seems to be what the intrawebs suggest.

Absolutely. At that size it could vary up to 5-6 hours on the finish for a novice. Not being an *** but it's your first attempt. Regardless you don't want to rush it and it's best when you have plenty of time to let it rest. Even if it's 4-5 hours resting it's better than rushing and little rest.

I slice the whole thing, don't really mess with burnt ends. Not everyone style but when you're feeding a party seems to be the best method.

 

[80 Proof]

Keep makin mediocre food, bub. It's cool, you can't taste the difference.

You're the momo saying to pull the bone out of the piece of meat before you cook it.

Major simpleton move no matter what style. Learn cooking.

 

[WettCat]

Rinse with water, then rinse with white vinegar, then water again.

What does this do?

I go fat side down for an hour, then flip it. Fat side up the rest of the way.

And this? Why?

I'm always looking for new suggestions and ideas to make it better.
Another question I've had before, if you know you are limited on time, what would be the disadvantage of cutting the meat in half to cook faster? Obviously you have more surface area/bark, but outside of that, what's the downside?

TIA

And to the OP---don't overthink the process. As others have said it's really hard to screw up....and even if you do the BBQ will still come out better than what you can buy in most places. (Even my worst has been better than anything I've found in Nashville.)

 

[BBdK]

Rack, bucket. Smoking a pork is as simple as it gets. You guys are acting like you're in some science project. There is little-to-no 'technique' involved with a Basic Butt, get real. Virtually impossible to mess up if you're breathing.



I go Mustard/Rub/AppleWood/Smoke til 200-205, wrap for an hour on the counter/oven, then pull. Spritz a few times randomly with AppleJuice/Cider mix only b/c it's fun, not b/c it really does anything other than slow down my cooking time & make me feel really cool.


It's perfect every time, and tastes within 1% of any other of the 500 pulled porks I've ever had in my life. They're all good, and they're all similar unless you have an extremely different rub or finishing baste/sauce.

It's pulled pork. Delicious & marginal at the same time, only b/c it's a boring/easy cook, and I get so full off of it I typically want nothing to do with the leftovers. Maybe tacos the next night, then I'm REALLY done for awhile.

 

[drxman1]

^Sous vides yourself out of the conversation, Simpleton.

 

[BBdK]

Yeah, I've used my egg once since I go that sucker -- and that was for a reverse sear. Cast iron works just as good for that w/ a torch, so not worth the setup process to use for 2 minutes.

But, like Cath_Back, by mid summer I'm completely burnt out on the pork/chicken/whatever rotation, kinda get grill/smoked out, so it will be a nice rotation in years to come.

I'll get the itch to grill some this fall, for sure. The start-to-finish Smoked Chili I made last fall on the Weber was probably the best thing I've ever made, just unreal. Will definitely be doing that one away-weekend once the temps drop.

 

[blueboy08]

Do y'all leave the smoke going for the entire cook, or take the wood off after 6 or 8 hours? Someone recommended pulling the wood off to me for butts not long ago, but I don't see the point on a butt (and since I am on an Akorn, that would be a serious PITA).

 

[WettCat]

The start-to-finish Smoked Chili

Can you post the recipe again? That sounded great last year when you described it. Or, is it just using smoked meat in whatever standard chili recipe one usually uses. TIA.

 

[anthonys735]

Put wood on when you light it and once it starts to burn clear you're fine. You shouldn't have to pull it off, which I don't even know how you would do.

 

[PuffyNips]

Wett, when I got the smoker I also got a book, "Slow & Low: Master The Art of BBQ in 5 Easy Lessons.

The idea is to do the 5 step by step cooks exactly as the instructions say.

For the pork shoulder and the babyback "lessons," the author explained how pork can have a slightly "off" smell when you open the package. The vinegar cleans the meat, disinfects it and eliminates that nasty odor.

There is a debate on fat side up or down, so I start with it down and then flip it. I like to have the fat on top the majority of the time so the melted goodness runs down and "bastes" the meat.

 

[BBdK]

Man, we were talking about that last night....I'll have to find it. I'm the most indifferent person to chili of anyone I know, but it was last-meal worthy at the time.

The one thing I won't have is the "smoked lard" that my BBQ buddy makes for his restaurant that is on hiatus. But, still should be fine without.

Can't we search forums now under this new format? I think its in last year's Smoking/Grilling thread. Pretty sure I posted the entire thing, in detail, from start to finish. You people who are good with that **** hook it up.

 

[BBdK]

Put wood on when you light it and once it starts to burn clear you're fine. You shouldn't have to pull it off, which I don't even know how you would do.

I take out the wood at the same time I take out the bones of my meats, about an hour or two after I'm done cooking.

 

[anthonys735]

Good call. Grab your welders gloves I guess.

 

[blueboy08]

Put wood on when you light it and once it starts to burn clear you're fine. You shouldn't have to pull it off, which I don't even know how you would do.

I more meant that you usually don't add wood after the meat hits 140 or so, but I have had people that actually tell me to pull any remaining wood out with tongs. I can't see it being a big deal, since its basically charcoal at that point.

 

[Barleycorn]

BTW: I go to a butcher that prepares my meat, you poors enjoy your Costco **** in a cryovac bag.

Costco sells two boneless butts in a cryovac bag...

I go to Luckys or Meijer for bone-in. Typically what they have. I've seen both at Kroger.

I'm in the bone-in group. Do ribs taste gamey? Nope.

The bone adds flavor and helps retain heat at low temps.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Costco sells two boneless butts in a cryovac bag...

I go to Luckys or Meijer for bone-in. Typically what they have. I've seen both at Kroger.

I'm in the bone-in group. Do ribs taste gamey? Nope.

The bone adds flavor and helps retain heat at low temps.

Thanks for your pro tip.

I hear incinerating shoulder for your typical 28-hour cook over the indirectional-heat-ceramic mat works every time.

Paddock never forgets.

 

[BBdK]

[laughing] No, it doesn't.

Nice retort. Barleycorn is a mess...hope he's got those two day cooking times under control a bit for this football season, feel bad for the dude.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

I'm going to have an egg table available in the near future. It was built for and houses a medium egg. I think there is enough room to increase the diameter of the hole so a large would fit in it. Might sit a little high though.

Going to get a large and build a table to house both with an 18 x 18 granite slab between the two.

Best advice for cooking a butt is to put a digital temp probe in the meat to monitor temps without opening the lid.

Fat side down for me. If anything sticks to the grill, I want to be fat. No need to baste a butt. Plenty moist when the collagen turns into glycerin. A butt cooked to 175 might be dry, but when cooked to 195, the same butt will be moist.

 

[anthonys735]

Yeah, I cooked 3 8lb butts at 230 in like 11 hours or something. So weird.

I start with a few chunks of fruit wood(for all smokes) and a full load of lump. I never see the fuel until I clean ashes for the next cook. I guess if you had an attached smoke box you could add wood but then you really run the chance of over smoking something.

 

[Kooky Kats]

^ DigiQ2 for the heavy lifting of the cook, then thermapen for fine tune finishing.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Yeah, I cooked 3 8lb butts at 230 in like 11 hours or something. So weird.

.

Fasle. That's 24 lbs of meat. At one and a half hours per lb, that cook should take a minimum of 36 hours. To be on the safe side, I'd go with 2 full days.

/johnbarleycorn

 

[anthonys735]

Actually planned for 15 hours and 2 hour rest. Ended up with over a 6 hour rest.

 

[Stonewall12]

So when the internal temp of the meat hits 290-295 you can pull it? No matter if it is 8 hrs or 12 hrs of cook time? The temp is the gauge correct?

 

[buckethead1978]

Internal temp of meat at 200.

I pull at 203 but I follow the amazing-ribs guy's methods. No tart washes, mustard, or other ******** that does nothing.

 

[Stonewall12]

Dang I meant 190-195.

Ok so as long as you hit that up to 203 or so you are good to go.

I feel a lot better after reading everybody's opinion and cooking methods.

 

[PuffyNips]

Well, Gary Wiviott may not be as smart about BBQ as buckethead, but he instructs to use mustard and tart washes.

http://lowslowbbq.com

I had to put up a 10x10 canopy and hold it down in the wind/lightning and rain over my Weber Smokey Mountain over the past hour and a half. It is holding steady at 225 and the smell of pecan wood making my brisket happy is fantastic.

Went with yellow mustard and some Cosmic Cow rub. I also injected with beef broth. I'm not going to wrap until it hits 203. Then I'm going to do the wrap/cooler thing until its time to chow.

The fat cap was thicker than I thought and took some serious trimming.

I'm going fat side down.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Internal temp of meat at 200.

I pull at 203 but I follow the amazing-ribs guy's methods. No tart washes, mustard, or other ******** that does nothing.

That's pretty much me too. The mustard is just to hold the rub on, not for flavor. I put evoo on to hold the rub but it's a very thin coating.

 

[Barleycorn]

Thanks for never forgetting, paddock. I love you....

Turns out my egg dial thermometer was jacked. Running about 15/20 degrees higher than a grill probe. Moved exclusively to the grill probe, and times returned to normal. I did a 14lb brisket in a little under 17 hrs and an 8lb. Pork butt in a little over ten. Both to reach 195 IT.

Other than a few long cooks, I'm not a mess you jackass. I just had a ****** dial thermometer. Even the few, really long cooks I had resulted in killer Q. Problem solved.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

My butts were getting done much quicker than I thought they should when I first started with my egg. Turns out the dome thermometer was reading 50 degrees low. You can adjust them, but I just know now what the actual temp is. Guarantee I cooked a few at 300+.

The actual temp for cooking low and slow is kind of important, but it's not critical. We're cooking for an internal temp, not a proven recipe/time. Keeping the temp within reason prevents us from ending up with a lump of charred meat with a tasty center.

Don't sweat it John. All of us have screwed something up at one time or another. I passed out on the couch during a cook one time. My wife woke me up in the middle of the night and asked about the pork. Had lots of bark on that one.

 

[PuffyNips]

My brisket turned out wonderful. It was a little dry in the thin part of the edges, but the majority was pretty much perfect. It was 11.8 lbs before trimming the fat cap down and took exactly 16 hours.

I also threw on a couple of pork tenderloins. Man, those suckers were tasty. I used a sweet & spicy rub I had made for wings. I cooked them until 145 and it went a lot faster than I expected. Less than 2 hours, actually.

 

[blueboy08]

Smoked three butts for about 15 hours starting around 6pm on Saturday. Temps were running about ten degrees low each time I checked in overnight, but came out perfect. Its really all about internal temp. I was worried about them each stalling and finishing at different times, but all three hit stall around 11 or 12, and stayed stalled until about 5am. Cooler for a few hours, shredded about 2 hours prior to served.

Cincinnati Food and Wine Classic this weekend. Definitely doing the grand tasting Saturday, but really debating picking up tickets for the pork-centric tasting/event Friday night. Have to imagine its going to be smoke heavy.

 

[WettCat]

Did three butts on Saturday, and took Willy's advise and washed all three with water/vinegar. Nothing major, just a quick wash down. However, one of them had that "rancid" smell even after a 10 hour smoke---was really strange. Cut it in different pieces and still had the smell...ended up just throwing that butt away to be safe. Anyone ever had this issue? (Willy---not in any way blaming this on the wash, it might have been worse without it.) The rest was excellent and no stomach/sickness issues. When it comes to any meat, I err on the safe side with regards to whether it's ok to eat.

Put about about 1 1/2 lbs. into my normal chili recipe and it tastes great. (Used 1/2 lean ground beef and 1/2 smoked pork.) A little rich but will definitely do it again.

Lots of built up fat had collected into the bottom of the smoker, (mine has a side fire), and didn't really want to have to scrape it out. Heated up a stack of hot coals and poured it into the bottom of where the meat usually rests---an hour later the fat burned up and now nothing more to do than whisk out some ashes.

 

[anthonys735]

-Interesting that you shredded 2 hours before eating. I wouldn't cut or shred anything until the very last second. Soon as you do it starts to dry out.

-I've had tenderloins like that. Good call on tossing it. All big cuts like that have a little foul odor, nothing overwhelming, but it should be gone after you season it. Certainly after you cook it. Brisket has the most pungent in my experience.

-Willy, with a brisket that large you're never going to get an even flat, that's why some comp guys will separate the flat and the point. Typically not a problem as some people really prefer that type of texture. I like to taste the overdone parts as well b/c they typically have a little char.

-Flank for Dad last night. CRUSHED. Perfect temp all through. One cut I don't mind throwing a little extry seasoning on(garlic, paprika, chipotle, pepper, course salt). Gorgeous.

 

[blueboy08]

-Interesting that you shredded 2 hours before eating. I wouldn't cut or shred anything until the very last second. Soon as you do it starts to dry out.

I am usually in your camp, but it was for a party somewhere else. Another buddy and I each smoke a couple of butts and bring them to the party, where the host has already done all the sides and stuff. Just too big a hassle to start shredding a few hours after the party starts when his kitchen is full of hens.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Smoked two butts to take on the lake a couple of months ago. Pulled on the spot. When one was gone we pulled the other which was still pretty hot.

Anth, which grid extender do you use? Would you get it again? Have you tried others? Getting a large egg soon and want to get everything I need at one time.

 

[anthonys735]

Spider and adjustable rig are the accessories for the BGE that I suggest the most.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

thanks, that is the set up I had pretty much settled on. Already have the pizza stone to use for indirect. Dutch oven should fit in the spider nicely as well.

 

[PuffyNips]

Wett, that sounds like a bad piece of meat. I would've done the same thing.

That is what the water/vinegar rinse helps get rid of, not causes.

Anth, I also like the "burnt ends" of the brisket.

I made a texas brisket sauce for the peeps who wanted it and also offered grilled peppers/onions/shrooms. Made a helluva sammich.

I used a Big Green Egg "Cosmic Cow" rub for the brisket. Very good.

Thinking about doing a few more pork tenderloins this weekend. Those suckers were incredible and easy.