Gentlemen, start your smokers...!


 
T

ToddF

TVWBB Member
Smoke Day V and I’m inaugurating my new 22”-er with a pair of 13# briskets!
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Figure I’ll prep ‘em early and thrown ‘em on in the late afternoon for an all night burn. Full bag o’ Kingsford and MM. Hope that temps are stable by dinnertime and settings are good for the all-night autopilot. Expecting that the 3 gallon cauldron of the 22” will last the whole burn. Thoughts?

As the thin blue smoke taunts my neighbors (!), I’m gonna set up the crazy pool some friends got free and gave to the kiddos. Then the sounds of the first nails of the long-awaited treehouse will echo in MemDay 2009!

Planning to pull the briskets off mid-morning, foil/towel/hot-brick cooler ‘em for a drive out to the sticks where my best buds and I are pulling out our guitars and filling an aircraft hanger with classic rock! I’m also bringing the lime press and the GOOD tequila…!
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Apparently, there’s some race on this weekend too… I remember as a kid watching the Indy on the tube with my dad. We’d eat ketchup on saltines and call it “po’ man’s shrimp”! HA! Sure have some a long way from that…

What will YOU be doing as the coals ash over, the collagen slowly turns to gelatin, and the magic bark begins to form?

What are your memories of Memorial Day as a kid? What are your kids gonna remember about today…?

TMF
 
Nascar has a big couple weeks at Charlotte, with the 600 Sunday, and the Nationwide today. I will be tending to 2 butts and a brisket with one eye on the race, the other on the fire! Q'ing and Memorial Day go together!
 
Todd is it too late for me to invite myself over?? I'll bring beer!!
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Let me know how you like that pool? My daughter has been asking for a pool and that seems like the best value, but I'm concerned about my yellow lab and think he would either pop a hole in it or pull down the side in less than 5 minutes of it being set up.
 
Todd,we usually have a cookout on sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Everyone usually starts coming over as the 500 is winding down,but before the 600 starts. We fire up the grill and let the fun begin! This year my wife has to work monday. She's a teacher and mmonday is a make up day for a snow day. So we are doing this today. Anything to stay away from the track area!
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My wife's a teacher too--MemDay as a Snow day is heretical! *sheesh*

Well, just finished trimming and rubbing the briskets. Honestly, since I'm an ECB convert, I've never even trimmed before and I used to marinade my briskets overnight in a reduced Worchestershire, vinegar, etc potion! (Heck, I even used <span class="ev_code_RED">lighter fluid</span>back in those days! Anathema.) Occasionally, there was even a pre-party to determine how we could fit 4 briskets, each marinating in a covered crock, back into the fridge. Usually only the engineers of the group showed up for that...

So, I trimmed and rubbed this time. Happy to make the switch, actually. Nonetheless, folks used to fight over who got to take home the leftovers on the marinated method--we'll see how this new-fangled trimmin' and rubbin' business works out!

Lessons learned:

1. I need a much better knife! (Father's Day?)
2. 13# briskets do NOT double over and fit well in 2.5 gallon ziplocks--they break the "lock" part off...
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I'll get the over-priced 5 gallon sized next time, as I tend to do 12-14# briskets. Worth it. Or maybe just go back to crocks.
3. I've been feeding my peeps a load of fat, it seems. Yikes! On the other hand, I am a bit concerned that they'll turn out drier than I like without so much fat ...and without the marinade. I don't baste--fat side (such as it is now!) down, don't ever take the top off.
4. I doubled the rub (though not the salt, bad experience doing that with beef ribs) on the Midnight Brisket page, added onion and subbed cayenne and red pepper flakes for some of the black pepper (since all I had was some fancy-pants whole multi-coloured pepper corns for grinding). I found myself still wanting even more rub--didn't seem like enough. On the other hand, 'twas a very differentnose signature than the marinade of yore. Eager to see how it works out.
5. You can never have enough Soft Scrub with Bleach.
6. The wife is right: the kitchen is too small...!
7. The treehouse may only be a prelude to building the longed-for "smoke shack" (completely tiled, sink, stainless steel cutting area) that I can simply take the hose to when done.
8. I definitely need a better knife... Recommendations?

TMF
 
Yeah,she's less than excited about monday. But she's real excited about tonight's cookout. That and the fact that I and friends are doing most of the cooking! Hope all goes well. We just had a couple of showers come through,but all is well with the WSM. It is really gonna be a good day!
 
Been running steady at 230 since 3:30pm. I mean, NASA would be proud--230.00 degrees!
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I did have an initial gaff, but it may have been a moment of insight. After getting all lit and introducing Mr. Beef to Ms. Fire, I had the wife take a snapshot. Grinning ear to ear while panning through the photos on the camera, I came to the shot of me adding water to the beef ribs last week...

WATER--holy mole, I FORGOT THE WATER and the temp was approaching 200. I promptly took off the top grate (brisket and all) and added all three gallons.

Steam and smoke galore. Damn, I lost a lot of heat and smoke... Kind of like the big slide in Chutes and Ladders--all the way back to 150.
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Opened all dampers to 100% and gave her 30 minutes. Back to 200 and I went to 0/0/50 on dampers. 230, rock solid. Dinked around a bit, but went back to that setting. Seems I'll be buring charcoal at a slow rate after all! Maybe I'll try forgetting the water on purpose for the first 10 minutes next time!

At one point heard a strange sizzlingnoise?!?! Opened the door to check (which I try to never do) but quickly realized it was overspray from the kiddos playing in the sprinkler. No noticable heat loss.

Thin blue smoke for about 2.5 hours.

All is well in the universe.
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TMF

PS--As for pool: went to local pool shop to get supplies and ask advice. They were openly contemptuous of an above ground pool and laughed me out of the store, pointing me to a rival shop in a worse part of town. That shop treated me like I was in an SNL skit and told me I ought to try Wal-Mart.
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EPIC FAIL.

I came home, humiliated, and am now eight equis (4 Dos Equis Ambers!) and a fresh squeezed margarita (yes, with the GOOD tequila!) into recovering from my humiliation. Suffice it to say, treehouse is a task best begun on Monday!
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Just checked again: HA!--240--it's gonna be a good night!
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TMF
 
13 hours in and steady burning at 230 with ONE damper at 50%. All systems GO! We're going around the dark side of the moon now.

Godspeed, Volcana. We'll talk to you again just prior to splashdown.........
 
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