Boston Butt Smoke then Sous Vide - It Works


 

Lew Newby

R.I.P. 1/26/2024
About 3 weeks ago I bought an Anova Immersion Circulator and cooked in a Stock Pot. It did fine. I had an old 48 Qt. cooler in my attic so I brought it down and set up a Frankencooler (Google it) in my garage. This Sunday we hosted a family get together and I tried it out. I smoked a 10 lb. Boston Butt on the WSM for 6 hours and that put it in the stall. I then removed it, put it in a 2 Gallon Ziplock bag and into the Frankencooler. I had the water at 165° F and left it for 20 hours. I removed it, pulled it, and served. My family raved and I had fewer leftovers than ever. My Son-in-Law and Grandson both liked the smoke flavor. The meat puled easily, had great moisture, little fat, and tasted great. For an experiment this one worked out better than I had hoped.
 
Well I am a sous vide cooker also, but I googled Frankencooler and it looks like someone trademarked the name. It's an ice chest with modifications to become an ice chest air conditioner. Back to topic. Here is a search link to Frankencooler and sous vide This method sounds doable and I might give it a try.
Russell
 
Twice now I've used an ice chest with my sous vide immersion circulator. I picked up a gross of cheap ping pong balls to float on top to minimize heat and evaporation loss.
 
Thanks Russell, I was unaware of the air conditioning version of a Frankencooler. On your link is a hit on the Anova Culinary article and I used their directions. I just used a cooler I had and didn't try to duplicate the size of theirs. A smaller cooler would be easier to fill to the minimum water line. 12 gallons in my case. I had been on the fence about Sous Vide but I decided to try it and while there's a learning curve I'm delighted that it works so well on smoked meat.

JKalchik This old Igloo cooler holds the heat extremely well and I filled it just above the minimum water line. I cooked Broccoli on Thursday and just let the water cool with the lid closed until Saturday night when I turned it on for the 20 hour cook and never added water After cooking in a Stock Pot and fighting evaporation all the time I wasw tickled pink.
 
You're right Lew. If I had a bucket list I would be checking these off my list. I've cooked over campfires, in kitchens, on a gas grill, in a Igloo cooler, on a Pellet grill that I'm happy with but Charcoal cookers are my favorite. It's fun mixing the Sous Vide with Smoke.
 
Smoke then sous vide is a great technique, especially to get it done in advance and not worry about timing. I did a whole brisket last summer - smoked for a few hours, bagged and put in sous vide cooker for about 36 hours at 155F. Refrigerated it until the day of. Reheated on the grill, slice and serve.
 
Sounds really good, Lew. Wonder what your results would be like reversing the process - start in the SV, then finish in the smoker or low-heat grill. That way, you can get some good bark.
 
<scratches head> It'd be an interesting experiment, but considering tribal knowledge that claims smoke is only taken on by the food at low temps..... I'd be prepared for a nearly non-existent smoke presence. Definitely something to try before doing it for a crowd.
 
As I understand it cooked meat will only take on just a little smoke on the surface and there is no smoke ring when you Sous Vide first.

Jim I did a rack of Baby Backs a couple weeks ago and, even though that method is all over the Internet, the ribs were just so so. This morning I smoked a rack for 4 hours at 180° with lots of smoke. The bark was set and internal temp was almost 160. I vac sealed them and put them in the Sous Vide at 165 for 7 hours. That may be too long but I'll find out at dinner. Will report on this thread on the finished product. Learning the times for the smoke then Sous Vide method is a trial and error process - but fun. I enjoy using the two cooking methods to produce a good finished product. Tender with smoke flavor.
 
Last edited:
All I have to add to this thread is I'm really enjoying the read, cause I also own a SV!

Tim
 
Here goes. I smoked the ribs at 180° for 4 hours with heavy smoke.. Meat temp was 158° when I removed the Baby Backs from the smoker. Vacuum sealed the ribs and put them in the pot with the immersion circulator set at 165° and water at temp. I was guessing at the time so I chose my high guess and cooked for 7 hours. This is copied from my log. "Good solid bark, good smoke ring, acceptable moisture, very good taste, texture was approaching too soft." I forgot to add mild smoke flavor. Talk about melt in your mouth - too sender. My wife likes fall off the bone but these were more tender than that and didn't fall off the bone. Next time I'm going to do 6 hours and see if I get more moisture and BBQ texture. Gonna work my way down one cook at a time. Tenderness is determined by SV time and temp. I'm not changing the temp.

Folks, this is a whole new world for me but I'll never Sous Vide then smoke again. The smoke comes first because of the better taste and much better bark...
 
Last edited:
Here goes. I smoked the ribs at 180° for 4 hours with heavy smoke.. Meat temp was 158° when I removed the Baby Backs from the smoker. Vacuum sealed the ribs and put them in the pot with the immersion circulator set at 165° and water at temp. I was guessing at the time so I chose my high guess and cooked for 7 hours. This is copied from my log. "Good solid bark, good smoke ring, acceptable moisture, very good taste, texture was approaching too soft." I forgot to add mild smoke flavor. Talk about melt in your mouth - too sender. My wife likes fall off the bone but these were more tender than that and didn't fall off the bone. Next time I'm going to do 6 hours and see if I get more moisture and BBQ texture. Gonna work my way down one cook at a time. Tenderness is determined by SV time and temp. I'm not changing the temp.

Folks, this is a whole new world for me but I'll never Sous Vide then smoke again. The smoke comes first because of the better taste and much better bark...

Given my access to a SV, this is really good reading!
 
Folks, this is a whole new world for me but I'll never Sous Vide then smoke again. The smoke comes first because of the better taste and much better bark...

I'm glad you added that Lew. I usually SV and grill, but was on the ledge on SV first and smoke, or the opposite.

Tim
 
I'm delighted that some of you find this informative.

I AM NOT an expert on this but I'm just passing on my attempts at combining smoke and SV. I smoked the Butt on the WSM at 240° but with water in the pan. The water kept the bark from setting up after 6 hours. I smoked the BB ribs on the Pellet grill at the LOW/max smoke temp. - 180° and no water. After 4 hours of smoke the bark was very firm and stayed firm through the SV process. I vac sealed the ribs and that ensured no water got on the bark. I think there's a lesson there - no water in the smoker. Do you folks agree?

I know this isn't for everyone and that's fine. I'm just an old man playing with his two fun toys. :wsm:

BTW Sous Vide corn on the cob is great.
 
Last edited:

 

Back
Top