First big cook coming up this weekend


 
P

Paul Pearson

TVWBB Super Fan
I've been to smoke brisket and a pork butt or two for a family party this Saturday. It will be my first brisket cook so I am a bit nervous about that. It is supposed to be a 12lb packer, and I am going to do it low and slow around 250F. I am going to do a salt and pepper rub with some onion and garlic powder thrown in for good measure.

I think the pork butts will be bone in but I dont know the size yet. I plan on using the Renown Mr Brown recipe from the website.

I figured I would put the brisket on the top rack then add the butts a couple hours afterwards so the brisket ends dont hang past the waterpan edge. I havent decided on smoke wood yetbut was thinking of mixing some hickory with apple. I also have cherry and pecan available.

Does this sound like a I'm headed in the right direction? There will be 30-40 guests so I dont want to mess it up.
 
I was figuring the brisket would take at least 12? hours, wouldn't the butts be done a bit sooner than the brisket since they will be smaller in mass?
 
Butts are thicker, and take around 1.5 hr per lb at 250 while the brisket should be closer to only an hr per pound. Use foil to speed up any cuts as necessary, and a cooler to hold anything that's done early. Good luck with it.
 
Good to know. I thought id read 1.25 to 1.5 per lb for brisket somewhere but there are probably a lot of ranges floating around out there.

I just read about someone cooking butts for 16 hours so maybe I need to put the meat on earlier than I thought since the smoker will be almost full. ( I've got an 18.5)
 
You can add an hour since you have a full smoker if you'd like. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but I'd still start off with more lit charcoal. My 16 hr. butt cooks are cooking at around 225, not "around 250", as you mentioned.
 
I've only ever done one brisket, so I can't really speak to that. However, I tend to plan on 10 hours (at 225-250 dome temp) for my pork butts. I also like to give myself a little extra time to make sure the butts get pulled before everyone is starving, but I haven't done anything but ribs for anyone besides my household in a while.

That said, I think you're on the right path, and Dave makes some good points. As far as wood goes, I like a mix of apple & hickory with pork. I tend to use more apple with ribs and hickory with butts however that's just me.

Good luck with the cook! And if you have time, I know what it's like to have your hands full during a big cook, snap some pics to share!
 
Since this is my first brisket cook and the first time doing such a big cook I will try to get some pictures at various points.

I'm still a bit unsure on times, I've been seeing anywhere from 12 to 18hrs on brisket and 10 to 16 on butts. The host would like the meat to be served by 6pm, should I put it on at 11pm the night before and if Im early just hold it in foil?
 
You're right, you can always hold if you're early. I might plan on having everything ON the smoker at 10 pm the night before, just in case. Especially if you haven't allowed time for the pulling of the pork. I've forgotten to account for that once or twice and had a very hungry bunch of people by the time I was done.
 
I did forget about pulling the pork. Luckily it is going to be a come and go type party so there aren't any real set times.

They wanted to put meat in crock pots to keep them warm for people since we dont have a fixed dinner time, would that be a good way to hold sliced brisket? Im not quite as worried about the pork but I dont want the brisket to dry out.
 
At a solid 250F, my cook time for 2 butts and a brisket is right around 10 hours in my 22", and I tend to do bigger briskets than you've got. Everything goes on at the same time, and everything comes off at about the same time. Obviously you'll want to test each piece for tenderness. Generally I'll stick a temp probe in the smallest butt and another in the brisket to keep an eye on how things are going, just in case one decides to cook much faster than the other.

Oh, and I do butts over brisket in the WSM. I think that's what gets the brisket done about the same time--it's really cooking at a slightly higher temp. I measure 250 at the top grate.
 
I think since I have an 18.5 that I will do the butts on the bottom so the edges of the brisket aren't hanging over the outside of the water pan and getting burned. I should be able to fit two butts within the boundaries of the water bowl.

I think I will plan on erring on the side of caution and time things for a 225 cook and if I am early then so be it. I can always adjust temps during the cook. Better early than late from what Ive read.
 
Just made my first 2hr interval check and it was within 10 degrees of when I went to bed. Great little gadget, this smoker. Hope all goes well next check as well. If I do many more of these I will have to get myself a Maverick or something comparable. So I can sleep longer.
 
Well, after about 18 hours the temps and the probe test told me things were ready. The pork butts were excellent, one almost fell apart as I was lifting it out of the smoker.

The brisket overall was good, but the bottom and thin end of the flat dried out. The bottom was a jerky like texture but not totally burned. I think I will cook fat side up next time since the cap wasn't 100% rendered. Flavor was great and the point and the flat under it were good. The whole thing was gone after dinner so it couldn't have been too bad.

One thing I noticed is all the meats had a jet black charcoal looking crust on them, but tasted great. Not sure why mine are so much darker than others I have seen.

I only got one shot of chopping the brisket up, my helpers had the pork torn up before I got a chance.



 
So maybe I missed some of the details, but a few questions about the actual cook:
1. Did you use water in the water pan?
2. Did you foil any of your meat (during the cook, not while resting it)
3. What kind of smoke wood did you use?

As far as the color of the bark, I think that it's influenced by what you put in your rub and at least partly by whether or not you use water and/or foil your meat. I know when I use the rub from the Renown Mr Brown recipe I get a much darker bark (for what is otherwise a duplicate cook) than when I use a different rub with less black pepper and paprika.

With my first brisket, which was just a flat, a good portion of it was pretty dried out. I know that some of it I chopped up and tossed with bbq sauce, but I think the rest of it made its way into chilli. While it's wasn't the most tender meat, it did have good flavor. It sounds like you had a good cook! Keep it up and you'll be doing more and more of them!
 
1. Water pan was full, had to top it off a few hours before pulling the meat off.
2. I did not foil whatsoever until resting the meat. I am considering trying the butcher paper method next time so I do not get the "pot roast" effect.I also did not rotate the meat other than turning the grates a few times.
3. I used a mix of Hickory and apple, I put 2 or 3 chunks on top of the hot coals and mixed some small scraps into the unlit.

The brisket and butt bark was black like charcoal in spots (mainly on top) but didnt taste burned. I did have to add fuel twice; I just filled the ring back up with unlit tossed in on top of the fire. Maybe that caused some excess smoke? The food wasnt bitter at all so maybe its not a big deal. Just looked like a big lump of coal is all. I would like to avoid that in the future if only for looks.
 
Paul;
It sounds like you had a good cook. You might want to take a look at Harry Soo's basic rub. I went to Harry's rub after I tried another "custom rub" that really had about twice as much paprika in it - THAT turned my bark entirely too dark for my taste. We all have preferences and too dark a bark is NOT one of mine.

My most consistent bark came when I heeded Harry's suggestion (or direction) to not foil until the bark is set. I have tried both with and without foil, and I now foil ribs, butts, and briskets. I get consistent and tender results and it seems to me, with a wider window of "perfection".

Like most of us, I am an amateur cook (even if we don't like to admit it). I don't smoke dozens of briskets and butts daily, so I stand on other's shoulders to improve my learning curve. Harry Soo's postings on here and his web site have definitely helped me to become a much better BBQ'er faster (as have all of the VERY helpful people on this very forum). I will be forever indebted to you all. I tend to make small adjustments to recipes and techniques for my preferences but that does not mean that I ignore what is said. I also have read (have a regular little BBQ library, I do:rolleyes:) a lot of BBQ books and just the other day picked up an excellent "slather" for my salmon on a plank that has been incorporated into my "permanent" file (it was DELICIOUS and came from a couple of GIRLS:o - the shame of it, LOL).

It sounds like you are VERY close to your ideal - you just need to tweak it a bit here and there to reach YOUR pinnacle.

Just a thought or two...

Keep on smokin',
Dale53:wsm:
 
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Paul Pearson said:
1. Water pan was full, had to top it off a few hours before pulling the meat off.
2. I did not foil whatsoever until resting the meat. I am considering trying the butcher paper method next time so I do not get the "pot roast" effect.I also did not rotate the meat other than turning the grates a few times.
3. I used a mix of Hickory and apple, I put 2 or 3 chunks on top of the hot coals and mixed some small scraps into the unlit.

The brisket and butt bark was black like charcoal in spots (mainly on top) but didnt taste burned. I did have to add fuel twice; I just filled the ring back up with unlit tossed in on top of the fire. Maybe that caused some excess smoke? The food wasnt bitter at all so maybe its not a big deal. Just looked like a big lump of coal is all. I would like to avoid that in the future if only for looks.
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Paul, do try the butcher paper in future brisket cooks. It really works to keep the bark from turning to jerky in spots. Tuck the paper under good and keep the end of the flat away from the outside of the cooker. As for your charcoal, what did you cook with? If refueling with unlit briquettes, I suggest pushing lit coals to the center and adding briquettes around the outside of that. Of course, if the fire is too low, just dump lit briquettes in the middle. The only unlit that I'll put directly in the middle of the fire is lump, and even then, I don't add more than a few pieces at a time. They'll burn cleaner if they light a little at a time around the outside.
 
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