Amateur Hour - 7# butt on the OTP

[Clint]

Here's something new - a 7# butt on the 22" grill, using Stubbs hardwood briquettes and hickory wood chips.

on at 7:00pm seasoned with SPOG

It's cranking along and not using a ton of fuel, this is what it looked like ~4 hours later when I restocked for the night:

I'm going to set a timer for 5:30am or so to go check on it - it was 155F last I checked.

Here's tonight's burgers - I wanted something a little different so I took them a little slow - ~12 minutes instead of ~6-8 min. Sharp cheddar cheese.

The only condiment I used on was jarred chipotle sauce

baci roll

the wind is blowing pretty hard, but it's been blowing hard all afternoon/evening so that's not new.

 

[Mike Freel]

I am anxious to see your update with the final product. I must add that the burgers certainly look good.

 

[Clint]

My alarm was set for 5:30am, but I woke up at 3:15 to check the time & since it was new & I wasn't using a remote thermometer I decided to go take a snack I mean a look - the grill was chugging along at 275, & the meat was tender at 195F - the bone didn't pull out (I've cooked more boneless than bone-in). I left it alone, didn't add fuel or smoke wood.

6am it was cooking at 255F, meat was 204F, time to come off:

It's resting in a cake pan but I've eaten some nice big chunks & it's decent. Not a ton of smoke flavor but it's moist & tender, the bark's a little different but good. Wishing I'd have used a little more smoke, & a better rub (and cooked 2 more of them) but this will do just fine for my purposes. I considered doing this in the instapot so this is a win for the meals this will make.

 

[Corey Elks]

Looks great!! I enjoy doing butts on my kettle. A bit more fire tending over wsm but they always come out great. Nice job!!

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I like doing butts on the 22” I start them hot and then slow everything down about half an hour in. Let them roll until the bone wants to leave home and rest in a towel and pull. Until I got a WSM, that was my normal routine. Uses less fuel, provides an excellent end product.
I still say there’s no such thing as bad barbecue, some is just better than others.

 

[BFletcher]

I still say there’s no such thing as bad barbecue...

I agree with this, which also means there isn't just one right method!

Nice-looking butt!

 

[Rich Dahl]

That looks pretty good Clint and if your happy that's all that counts.

 

[Jason Noble]

Nice job Clint. The kettles are so versatile. If I could only have one Weber it would probably be a 26 inch kettle.

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

Man, I'm liking your burgers Clint. Like the sound of sharp cheddar and really like the roll you used. The pork shoulder looks excellent too. Outstanding looking forward to follow up pictures.

 

[Clint]

Nice job Clint. The kettles are so versatile. If I could only have one Weber it would probably be a 26 inch kettle.

I was surprised how well it worked - my dome thermometer (self installed) hasn't worked since I bent it with my pizza setup (fire ring from the 18" wsm on the regular grill with a pizza stone on top of it). I used the thermopen stuck in the vent to check the temp of the cooker.

If I was watching the temp on a graph or constant thermometer I might've been tempted to fiddle with it but I really wasn't too concerned..... even when going to bed I wasn't too worried...can't say how many times I've woken up to the WSM down to ~180f, and it was running smoothly enough to not be worried.

I wonder how much charcoal I used in all - - less than 2 chimneys I'd bet but really don't know. Last time I saw meat this big on a grill, a friend cooked a brisket on his kettle......so new to me but seems I'm in good company here with all you guys.


Now how to eat it - I was thinking salad when I started, this morning I started thinking tacos (hard? soft?). Yesterday I was thinking chicken enchiladas....... I could get some buns, make slaw, & have sandwiches....

 

[Pat G]

Well done Clint. Back to the basics. Knowing how your equipment performs is key to cooking with confidence, great example right here. They didn't have electronic thermometers in the old days and it seems like they were able to eat.

 

[Barb D]

Pork shoulder and burger looks awesome, great job Clint.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Well done Clint. Back to the basics. Knowing how your equipment performs is key to cooking with confidence, great example right here. They didn't have electronic thermometers in the old days and it seems like they were able to eat.

I agree with every word of this! I started fiddling around with technique and came up with less satisfactory results for about three months. Then, while I was having a large cup of coffee and felt like doing something other than normal routine, I went out and tore all the bricks and so on out of the kettle cleaned it up, put it all back to original design format and I’ve not felt like any cooks have fallen short of expectation since. That was prior to the acquisition of the WSM 18”. That, of course, started a whole new learning curve and through the kindness, patience and expertise of the members here, I’ve learned some “unwritten” practices of how to get the most out of the various models of Weber equipment I own.
Many thanks to all of you for tips and recipes!
Thanks to you too Chris for making it happen so easily for rookies!

 

[Robert-R]

That's a good cook. That's gonna be some killer pulled pork. Burgers look good, too.