critical cooking mass


 
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Joe McManus

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Ok nerdy question - is there an optimum mass or amount of meat that enables the WSM to perform at its best. Example, I'm cooking two slabs of ribs this weekend. Is there any advantage to throwing a butt on to cook (other than I love eating pulled pork sandwiches for lunch all week, and a local market won't quit selling them for $0.99/lb). Does the cooker perform better with more meat? Is it easier to regulate temps with more meat to absorb some of the engergy available? Y'all will have to forgive me, I'm an engineer and this whole smokin thing is giving me flashbacks to heat transfer class.
 
Joe
Your assignment is to answer that question, we expect a full report. /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
Jim
 
I think this sums it up pretty well:
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Thanks Doug! I'm thinking that an experimental approach will be better than analysis this time. It'll at least taste better! I knew heat transfer was one of my favorite subjects for a reason!
 
Well I will follow up with a potentially "dumb" question.
If cooking ribs and pork butt simultaneously, which goes on the top grate and which goes on the bottom grate? Or does it even matter?
 
Optimum amount of meat would be, "since you're firing the thing up, might as well fill it and get the most out of it."
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Jim P:
[qb] Well I will follow up with a potentially "dumb" question.
If cooking ribs and pork butt simultaneously, which goes on the top grate and which goes on the bottom grate? Or does it even matter? [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I would put ribs up top, as they will need more attention than the butt during the time they are on the cooker-- basting, turning, foiling (optional). Probably wouldn't want the butt rendering fat onto the ribs either.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by John Mason:
[qb] Optimum amount of meat would be, "since you're firing the thing up, might as well fill it and get the most out of it." [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Back in the day, before I got my WSM, I lusted after a New Braunfels Bandera. But what changed my mind was that it was not worth firing up unless you filled it up and cooked a lot of meat-- which I was not interested in doing. The WSM let me cook as little as I wished, with far less fuel, maintaining much finer control. In that light, the optimum amount of meat in the WSM is that which suits the cook and his/her household.

p.s. Speaking of Banderas, if anyone's interested, I know where there are 3 or 4 original NB (not Charbroil) units in stock.
 
Geoff U.
I work in Burr Ridge and there is a little grocery store in Darien called Brookhaven Foods. Its at 75th and Cass Ave, couple miles N of the Stevenson. They also have pretty good produce there as well. They seem to do a lot of their own butchering and have had bone in butts for $0.99 for at least a month now. I noticed they are moving to a bigger store, so I'm afraid these prices might be a thing of the past pretty soon. You might want to look for the "CertiSaver" type grocery stores in your area. They seem to be scattered around Chicagoland. They're smaller, usually have better meat counters than Jewel or Dominicks, but not alway (remember buyer beware).
 
In Southern California, Stater Brother's Markets have had Pork Butt for 99? /lb. for a few months straight as well. I'm cooking up 3 large butts this weekend for a big party, can't go wrong with feeding an army with meat that "cheap."
 
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