First timer with minion method and mr. brown


 
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Mike W.

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Hi!

I'm going to be using the minion method tonight for a pork shoulder, and before I get started, I would like to make sure I understand everything. I expect the weather to be upper 50's, lower 60's tonight with no wind or rain.

OK, first, you take about 20 briquettes and light them in the chimney starter. After they ash over (about 15 minutes) and are going, you dump them in the WSM that has been filled to the top with charcoal. Then, throw in some of the smoke wood you're using, put the WSM together. Adjust the vents to obtain temp wanted. Finally after that, throw the meat on.

After reading the write-up, it sounds like there's not really any waiting time that's done between putting the charcoal on and putting the meat on.

I'm a little scared because I've never done this before and we're having a party tomorrow! Also, for the Mr. Brown, am I looking for a lid temp of about 250 for using the minion? Being that it will cook overnight, should I tone it down a little, or is that a good temp? Also, should I wrap the pork in aluminum foil before I cook them? The recipe doesn't say to do it, but my buddy at work told me the pork comes out a lot more moist.


Thanks for your help!
 
Mike W,
If you foil the butts before you cook them you will not get the bark and smoke ring that defines fine Q! I never foil mine and (so far) they have come out great. Usually people foil butts at the end to speed up the cook, depending on what time you start and how large the butts, and how many butts you do an all nighter should get you done in time for your party. 250F at the dome is perfect for the all nighter, remember it is a few degrees cooler at the grate than it is right in the dome.
For myself i would say don't foil them and set them cook to about 195F internal temp. , pull and enjoy.
P.S. dont forget the coleslaw on the sandwiches!

Arthur
 
If you wait until after about 150* to foil, you can still get the smokering (which stops forming at 140*), and plenty of smoke applied. And the outer color is there, but the bark is just a little less chewy.
 
Mike

A few points. Don't simply fill the ring with charcoal, but mound it up which results in it being higher in the middle than the sides. Then, take off about 20 coals to put in your chimney for lighting. Have your center section ready with the water pan in it. Once the lit coals have ashed over put them on the unlit and add your smoke wood. Have you water ready and at the cooker. Put the center section on and make sure it's seated. Slowly pour your water into the pan - do this through the top of the center section. Fill the waterpan completly. Go ahead and add the meat at that point and put on the lid. I don't wait for the temp to come up any, but some do. If you add it at the beginning it will take some time, maybe 1 1/2 hrs to get to a lid temp of 250, but the temp won't get away from you. When the temp get a little over 200, begin closing the vents down (they started out 100% open). Try to make small adjustments so the temp climb is gradual. With a full waterpan and the cold meat you're unlikely to see a rapid assent or it go over 250 by much. Your lid temp can certainly range beteen say between 230 and 265 - not so critical. You'll want the temp stabilized so you're not having to adjust the vents before you go to bed and be SURE the waterpan is full before you turn in.

No reason to wrap in foil before cooking, but wrap in foil and put in a dry cooler after the butts hit their temp of 195. You can hold them for 4+ hours before pulling for your convenience.

I didn't understand your question on wrapping before cooking. Certainly don't do that at the beginning or you won't have bark. With an overnighter you should have plenty of time but if you want to speed up the cook by wraping the morning, you could.

Good luck on your cook. Butts are very forgiving and make average cooks like me think I'm pretty good sometimes.
icon_smile.gif


Paul
 
OK, I think I got it, but just to make sure... :)

You said to stack the charcoal in a mound...do you mean like a pyramid, as if you would if you were using lighter fluid on a bbq?

As for wrapping it, I got the impression that he wrapped them in aluminum foil, and then put them on the smoker. When he told me this, I asked him about getting the "smoke rings" on the meat... He said that it does and that it tastes good and the meat is moist. I don't think I will do this because I like the darker/cruncher outside, and I love that smoke ring.

There was something else, but now I forgot.

Another question...how long do you have to let hte meat sit with the rub before you throw it on? The page for mr. brown said overnight, but how many hours is overnight? :-D For me, it's going to be overday, then cook overnight. :)

Thanks for all of your help!
 
Mike, I second what these fine folks have said. You only want to foil your butt in two situations:

1. Once you are finished, if you want to keep the butt warm until you are ready to eat it you foil it tightly and keep it in a dry cooler.

2. If you haven't reached your target temperature and you need to speed things up at the end of your cook you foil it and either put it back in the WSM or in an oven set somewhere between 250 and 300.

But if you do as your buddy says, you won't get much smoke flavor (if any) and you won't get the yummy bark. You might as well just put it in the oven (and then what's the point?)

Oh, and it doesn't much matter when you rub the butt. 24 hours, 12 hours, 0 hours. I usually go for 24, but to tell the truth you won't notice much difference if you just slap it on before putting it in the cooker.
 
Mike

Don't stack the coals like a pyramid but a more gentle sloping mound. The point is just to get as many on as possible so your fuel makes it through the night.

I'm not a real recipe kind of guy so I've never tried to follow the recipe you speak of. I just season my butts right before putting them on the cooker. Certainly sitting in the seasoning all day before you put them on probably would be good, but it will only affect the bark and I don't know how it can get much better. Maybe something special about that recipe. Certainly all day will be plenty.

Try to make sure your buddy who starts his in foil gets some of yours. I'll be surprised if he can't tell quite a difference.

Paul
 
Hi Mike,

I'm in agreement with the rest of the posts, here is another perspective on foiling for your consideration:

I think I'm noticing that if I can let the butts get to temp without foiling while cooking the meat is more tender and more internal fat has rendered making pulling easier (cuz I'm not picking out as much fat). Not sure if this is generally accepted as fact or controversial but there is no point in rushing to reach the temp if the *magic* hasn't happened yet.

I'll suggest avoiding foiling while cooking, at least the first couple of times, then if you do end up using it to speed things up you will see the difference for yourself.
 
IMHO you don't need to season until just before putting it on the WSM. It's a good idea to let the butts sit out for a couple of hours though, to come up to room temp. I would agree with what everyone else says about foiling, I don't do it unless I really need to speed up the process. I do, however, spray the butt with apple juice every now and then, once it gets browned up a bit. If you do foil, don't do so until temps reach 140, and then spray with apple juice before foiling.

Take out once butt reaches 195 and pull ASAP, it's easiest to pull when it's hot.

Also, like everyone else said, assemble your center section in advance, then put it on the MM started bottom section, then put in the meat, THEN add the wood. I don't add wood until the last step, put the wood in through the door...otherwise you'll get a face full of smoke whilst you are assembling.

Most importantly, have fun! It's really tough to screw up pork butt. Your only problem might come with it taking longer than you thought. If you are 2 hours away from eating time and the temp is only 175, consider foiling.

P.S. Try starting with only one bottom vent open, then adjust after an hour or so.
 
You are in for a treat. I did my first Mr Brown (on a Kettle) last weekend and I've been enjoying the butt for lunch all week. It turned out fantastic. I pulled it off at 190*, wrapped in foil for an hour, then pulled. Very little waste.

I prepared a Carolina vinegar sauce for mopping and used a little for my sandwiches.

The butt was 7.5 lbs purchased from Frys. Next time I'll buy the 12 pounder from Costco. 7.5 lbs was surprisingly not enough meat.

Edit: How's that Chris?
 
Sounds yummy. The downside of a 12 pounder would be the 2 hours per pound it takes to finish it. I'd rather do two 6 pounders and be done in half the time.
 
I probably should have changed this topic to butts, but there's a ton of posts like this out there already...

Well, after much anticipation, I finally found it at costco thismorning. For some reason, I think I was overly hungry and purchased two cryovac bags of them. All together, 4 butts. Although, on the tag, they're called pork shoulders...but we're not going to get into that debate. :-D

A few questions though...

One question, how much fat to I take off? I started to cut away but it seemed like there was too much where I would have little loafs of meat if I kept going. :-( So, I left some on. Not sure what to trim and what not to.

Second question. How many butts can I do and how long will it take, and how much do people usually eat? I just rubbed up the two, but I have two more that are sitting in a freezer. (Not frozen just yet). I don't know I should make all four of them, or just two of them and save the other two for another day. Each cryovac bag is about 12.5-30lbs. I just don't know how much to make...

Next question, how do I pull it? I've asked this before and many use heat-proof gloves, but I don't really have any. :-( They are boneless, so I'm wondering if I can just chop them up with a cleaver when I get done and put it in a pan.

Last question. (hehe) When I did the one before, it had a bone. These are boneless. When I pick it up, it's like the meat will fall apart in multiple pieces. Should I roll them up and tie them in butchers string so they stay a roast? I had to stop cutting all the fat or else it would have been little seperate pieces of the butt.

Again, thanks for all your help! I'm a little stressed because besides doing everything cleaning-wise, I also have to cook these things, and they can't go wrong! :)

Thank you!
 
No debate necessary. When you cut a pork shoulder in two, you have two pork shoulder roasts-- one is a butt and the other a picnic.

Consider that, when cooked, you will end up with a little over 50% of the pre-cooked weight. Don't feel compelled to trim away all fat. Tying them up would be OK. Pull them with whatever doesn't burn your fingers-- heat resistant gloves, or two carving forks work well.
 
Some answers:

With respect to trimming fat, you don't need to go overboard, as most will render during your cook. Just trim any big chunks. If you have a "picnic" shoulder, it generally comes with thick fat around the whole thing, and usually skin, too. It's best to trim the skin off and shave the fat down a bit on these.

I'll leave the quantity question to one of the pros, but my credo is, when in doubt, make more than you need. You can always have the extra for leftovers.

I just pull the butt apart with two forks.

As for boneless butts, I've never done one, but from other posts on this board it does seem to be a good idea to tie them up to keep them in roast shape. The only downside is that when you untie it, some of the bark will stick to the string. I would just consider that to be the cook's prerogative!

Good luck, and enjoy your smoke!

[Rats, Doug beat me to it. You're fast, D!]
 
Mike

I usually have bone-in butts and I remove the fat cap and large portions of fat. Plenty left to retain moisture.

Your WSM would certainly handle all 4 butts. Plan on 1/2 lb of cooked meat per adult. You get about 1/2 the wt. of the raw meat when it is cooked. It freezes well so extra shouldn't be a problem.

I don't recommend using a cleaver to chop it - remember, "pulled pork". I take a couple of meat forks and seperate into chunks, break them up a little and they will quickly cool enough to pull with your hands. I like to seperate the strands as much as possible but this is a little more work.

I would use butcher's twine for the bone-less Some bark will pull off when you remove the twine but you can salvage it.

I'm sure you'll do great and then your bigger problem will be when your friends say, "when are you going to do this again !"

Paul
 
Yeah, the WSM can handle all 4, just put the bigger ones on top. If you use water (I used to use sand, still prefer it), I wouldn't pour much in until it gets up to temp...4 butts is a huge heatsink.

I don't think I've ever trimmed off any fat from my butts, it either renders or I just pull it off when pulling. Use 2 forks or simple food-prep gloves over jersey gloves like I do, it's cheap! Or wait till it cools down just a bit.

Enjoy!

P.S. Costco doesn't carry bone-in butts anymore, Sam's does.
 
Wow, I just lit the coals and put the meat on. How cool is this. There's nothing like the bright, beautiful, calming glow of the charcoal as you put it over the unlit coals. :)

That, and all the smoke puffing out of it...I never realized how much the smoke travels. At night, you can see it really well!!!

I'll let you know how everything turns out. 4 pork shoulders and then some baby back's tomorrow.

Thanks for all your advice!
 
Don't worry if the visible smoke dies down. Don't keep stoking it. It is there and doing its magic. Temp control is the most important thing.
 
Yup, the smoke died down. Thank god! I think my neighbors were wondering what the hell was going on because you could smell the smoke all over the place.

Right now, the lid temp is about 220 and the vents are still 100% open. I closed them to 25% at around 200, but the temp started to drop once I did it. I'm planning on keeping it all open until it reaches 250, then close them half way and see what happens. Hopefully, go to bed. :)
 
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