Recent content by Calle

Thaks guys. I just put it on just after 5pm EST and hope it will be ready for dinner time tomorrow.

I just received a pork shoulder from my butcher weighing in at 17lb. Usually it takes me around 18 hours for a butt half that size. Should I double the estimated cooking time for the whole shoulder?

Paul Kirk writes in his Championship Barbecue book that if he plans to slice the butt, he cooks it to about 165, but if he wants to pull it it should go to 190-205...

I went to a stag on the weekend where I was told there was supposed to be a firepit, and I asked you guys for tips on how to do this. Well, me and a buddy just winged it more or less, and it turned out great. We had to dig out the hole a bit so it got to be about a foot deep. The cottage was on...

Clam bake sounds interesting, but there will probably be no seaweed around. My only concern is that if I just put the meat on a grate on top of the pit, won't it get "polluted" by things blowing around?

A buddy of mine is getting married. He didn't want the regular strip joint type stag, and instead asked us guys to have something at a cottage. Well, turns out that the place has a firepit of the hole in the ground type, as well as a gas grill. Of course, I'm more excited about the hole than the...

My "bible" is Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue book - I figured that with all the contests he's won (the American Royal, BarbeQLossal, 7 world championships and a win at the Jack Daniel's Invitational, plus many more), he'd be dependable. I have looked at the Smoke & Spice book as well, but I...

When I have made pulled pork, I always knew that there would be tons of leftovers, so I had read up on how to best reheat it. The most common one was to add some apple juice before you heat it up in an oven or microwave. I found though, that if I skipped trimming off a lot of fat before cooking...

Hey thanks a lot Lots of good lessons learned there, I 'll definitely take it all into account next time I try a brisket - this was only my second attempt and it turned out way better than my first, but I just knew that it could get better.

I smoked a brisket on the weekend. I got it untrimmed, weighing in at about 12 lbs before I trimmed off unnecessary fat. I used a rub that was pretty basic - nothing too fancy or unusual - on top of a layer of mustard. Once I started the coals, it started to rain, so I just set the vents to be...

I have a book by Paul Kirk on the subject. There are what he calls "Master Classes" on basics, and how to go from there to create your own signature sauce, but there are also a whole bunch of recipes that both apply to his master class approaches, and ones that deviate. The book has the same...

A buddy of mine just asked if I had ever tried soaking wood chips for a longer period of time to give them a different flavor punch. I told him that I do have some wine-flavored chips from wine barrels, and that there are Jack Daniel's chips, but I thought it would be interesting to see if...

Thanks again all. What happened on the weekend was that I went to the butcher to pick it up (you have to pre-order briskets here), they weighed it in at around 8lbs, but I discovered that absolutely all fat had been trimmed off. It's a good butcher, but he said nobody wants the fat anymore, so I...

Thanks guys. I'll do the overnight thing then, and if it's done too early then I'll just wrap it and pack it in a cooler. From what I've seen on competition barbecue shows on TV, a brisket should be thinly sliced, but come apart with very slight resistance when it's gently pulled. I guess...

I'm going to try cooking my second brisket - the first one didn't turn out at all, but a number of things went wrong in the process (heavy rain, wind, sand in the waterpan instead of water, etc). This time I want to do it right so I'm not gonna experiment or wing it too much. I have a few...