Woohoo! Successful "catering"---barely (long, vanity)


 
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Susan Z

TVWBB Guru
So my Godson turned 4 on Monday, and his mom was gonna' get (inferior, IMHO) Red Hot and Blue bbq for his party (which was today), so I sez "really, instead of my excellent REAL bbq?" and one thing led to another and suddenly I've agreed to make 2 pork butts and a brisket, plus some groovy baked beans featuring my homemade bacon.

So, tho I've never done 2 butts + brisket at one time, since I devour all the info on this site regularly, based on others' experience I figure 20 hours will be ok for a wee 5 lb brisket plus a 6 and 7 pound butt.

So I fire up the WSM and put the meat on at noon on Fri, cuz tho they want to serve it at 11:30 a.m., I need to leave my house at 8:30 a.m. Sat to babysit the kid while his mom and dad get ready for the party. My big fear is that I'll finish way too early and not know how to keep the meat warm until 11:30 a.m. What a silly fear that turned out to be... Ha ha, what a foolish mortal was I.

So my mom and brother came over on Friday afternoon for my first attempt at Raichlen's "dinosaur ribs" (fantastically flavorful beef ribs---an asian five spice-based rub, plus a hoisin sauce-based mop-----wow, how great they were!) and I'm watching the meat temps on the ET-73 climb and climb, maybe to 147 by 5 pm or so. So I'm keeping the grate temps nice and low (in the 230's or lower) cuz I don't want to finish 'em too fast, tho my ET-73 is doing bizarre updates where the grate temp fluctuates in 5 degree jumps----say from 225 on minute to 230 the next, then back to 225).

So I'm thinking these guys are gonna finish wayyyyyyy early. But no....

They hit the 160 plateau around 9:30 or 10 p.m.----and stay there! (I hadn't even peeked at them until 10, when they got their first sop mop/spray with apple juice, depending on who they were.) Even the wee brisket is defiantly hanging at the 160 mark and not budging. So at 5:30 a.m. I add 12 more lit coals and foil the butts. STILL no movement in meat temp. I'm double-checking 'em with my Thermoworks Thermapen and the meat temps that the Maverick is reporting are true.

So out of desperation, at 6:30 a.m. I pull the butts and pop 'em into a 300 degree oven. (The brisket stays in the WSM cuz I don't want to chance drying it out in the oven, and I actually like the brisket with a lower finishing temp.) Thankfully the butt temps start to creep up. So at 7:58 the butts are in the low 170s, and I'm thinking, cool, I've got an hour and a half to go before I have to leave, that will be fine, but NO, I've only got half an hour! So at 8:30 I pack everything into my cooler and head out. It's only a 10 or so minute trip, and by time I arrive the temps have risen another 7 degrees. Yay!

So I pop the foiled butts into my friend's 300 degree oven and hope for the best. (First I create a huge smoke cloud in her house because the foil is leaking where I kept poking it with the thermopen, oops.) But by 10:30 or 10:45, the butts have hit 205 so they join the brisket (which is still in the 160s or maybe 170s at the most, which is ok cuz I like to slice it rather than shred it) in the cooler.

So I pull one pork butt at 11:15 and man it pulls beautifully. PERFECTLY. Gorgeous smoke ring, and super juicy and tender pork. I slice the brisket and despite being so small it seems really tender.

So I'm still sweating it out---will it be deemed ok, or will it suck? But as the folks pass by the food they start saying, Wow, what is that great smell? And tho they run off to see the magician at 12, when they return they descend on the bbq and DEVOUR it like mad! Best yet, they keep asking the hostess where on earth she got this bbq. Hee hee hee, t'was just little ol' me.

So I eventually pull the second butt for the 16 adults and 10 kids, and they still make a huge dent in it. Even the little kids are scarfing down the Q. Nothing but kudos all around. The hostess is happy, I'm puffed up like a peacock, and it's all a happy ending.

Brought some leftovers (there were scant few) to mom, and my brother stopped by, and wow did they rave about how super tender the brisket was and how tasty the pork was. Guess it was all that time in the 160s, "where the magic happens" as you folks say. I'm still shocked that it worked out.

And I'm soooo relieved that the stuff was done on time, by hook or by crook, and that somehow it turned out tasty. Wow. What a stressful night, but what a glorious ending---thanks especially to all the stuff I've learned on this very site. Thanks, everyone!
 
Congrats, Susan. Heres wishing thats just the first of many successful family smokes. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Tony
 
You know what this means. People are going to talk and soon you'll be Qing for everybody. /infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif Glad to here it was a sucsess. Job well done /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Way to go! What pressure, huh? As Mickey Rourke's character said in "Body Heat": "There's about 50 ways you can screw up, and if you think of 25 of 'em, you're a genius..." Of course, he was talking about arson...

Anyway, I'm glad it turned out great! Congrats!
 
good for you susan... i remember way back when makin just a meesly few ribs for a small family dinner and i was sooo sooo nervous.. know the feeling.. what a stresfull time.. but you handeled it like a bro.. major Kudos do you... take care
Mords
Keep smilin
 
Nice work, Susan -- it's always gratifying to see that mound of pulled pork shrinking.

And it's funny, this weekend I had the same problem with my ET-73. Three to five degree temperature swings. Has anyone else been having this problem? Not that it's a big problem, but it could get to be one if the swing gets to be more like 10-15 degrees.
 
Great job Susan!

I was wondering what your new business cards will read:

Q'ing by Sue or maybe Suzy-Q

Just a thought!

Tom
 
Good job, Susan. I wish I would have been more insistant for my cousin's 50th birthday.

My father in law has an ECB and while it's no WSM, I'm sure with some coaxing, it could have turned out a good butt or 2. I gave him the link to the recipes here on this site and he eventually decided it was too much work. By the time I heard of his cop-out, it was too late. They already had ordered some "Hawaiian Barbecue" form some new joint near their place. It was OK, but it wasn't real BBQ. Oh, what could have been.
 
I find on the ET-73 that the probe will give a false read if you don't re-insert it at about the time it plateaus, just something you might try. Also, it's not a bad idea to foil your meat if you think the plateau if reached, gets you past that point quicker, then later unfoil and finish (unless it's pork).
 
Hey, Tom, Suzy-Q is tooooo cute! I love it.

I usually meticulously document my cooks with photos, but I was so stressed about this one (and short on disk space cuz I wanted to take lots of movies/pics of my godson's bday) that I didn't take many pics. But here's a brief look at the cook. First there are some pics of my "dinosaur" (beef) ribs done Asian style (a Raichlen recipe, fantastic as anything---who knew beef ribs were worth eating???) which are cooking indirect on my groovy chartreuse (!) weber from the '60s or '70s I reckon. I started the ribs after the butts and brisket on the smoker, which you can see (with its dutiful maverick on the job) in one pick. Then there's a shot of the pork, beans, and brisket on a table at the party, then a close up of the finished brisket, and one of some pulled porkbefore everyone swooped down on it


http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/com.hp.HPGuestLogin?username=suzzap&password=91334676.
 
Susan:
The pics look great. The beef ribs looks especially great also. Quick question: Do you ever notice that with beef ribs there seems to be a tough stringy thing beween each rib bone? Maybe it has to do with where I get them. This seems to be separate from the membrane as it was there during each time that I have done beef ribs. Just curious. Thanks for any information you can convey.
 
That green kettle is great! Definately qualifies as "groovy".

Congrats. I'm a little bummed that I can't find beef ribs around here. That is, unless I want to buy and trim up a full crown roast. Well, maybe that's just what I will have to do.

You know, of course, that your family is going to expect this every time now and no local catering service will do. If you end up as godparent to hundreds of children, you'll know the reason why. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
That grill is "like totally cool"!!!!! Nice job! Really everything looks really nice... oh and of course.. the presentation...something my wife would have done....Neways, its funny how different people are.. someone mentioned how they couldnt find beef ribs anywhere.. well those are the only ribs i know of...i never saw babyback ribs...those small ribs rollled up;-) until recentally...the ribs i cook are monsters like in suzy-Q's Q. until the butcher cuts them in quaters wich they usually do...
neways... i see that beans and slaw are the staples of these meals.. as is pulled pork but i dont do that...(not kosher) but i knokw my wife makes good slaw...gotta have it on the rye and cornbeef samich....but what about the beans.. i doubt you guys just open up a can of heinz ready made beans....and pls tell me that you make it withought pork cuz i cant do taht...so if you got a non secret beans recipe..love to try it.. i think im gonnna do some ribs and brisket for the sat..and maybe a few turkey legs.....
thanks guys
MOrds
 
Mords, first, glad your back and how are you feeling?? Second, open 3 large cans of Bushs baked beans(country style) add texas bbq rub and some ketchup and a little crushed pineapple, put on the bottom of the WSM and bang-o...suculent beans---others have beaner reciepes already posted! Again, glad your back Mords!
 
Hey, Rodgers,

Yeah, what's up with those beef ribs? I pulled the membrane off of them (just like you do with pork ribs, 'cept it was alot thicker and a bit easier to grab, and took a good bit of pulling to get it off----and they STILL had a great big tough membrane on them when they were cooked. I don't quite understand what it was. But boy, they were tasty as anything with that hoisin sauce stuff on it. My mom sez now that's her favorite bbq sauce....!

I love my groovy lime green weber, too. Came from an estate sale of a person who had all chartreuse stuff. Looks like it was the original color. I wonder what other colors Webers have come in (besides black, blue, dark green, and red----and the yellow simpsons one of course).

The welds are a bit weak on the side handles, and same with the handle on top of the lid, so I do worry about yanking it off accidentally. Those ribs were the first time I've used it, but it was a great inaugural cook...!
 
Susan
Nice looking set of food! I could have used that brisket this weekend. Perhaps I should fly you out to San Diego as my Brisket specialist /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif. Glad all went well.
 
Thanks for the recipe greg....ah, put it in the WSM cool....neways im feeling much better.. suregery went really well.. its about a week adn im up and around... thanks for asking..ttyl
mords

im gonna try the bean recipe...oh and i have to order that rub also.. dont konw what im waiting for
 
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