Hello, all,
Just thought I'd drop in and give a report on the maiden voyage of my WSM. We've been smoking on an ECB for lo these many years, so we... uh... okay, I decided it was time to replace it. I got the WSM, and my dear hubby of 23 years, Robert, got this: http://www.gbronline.com/kcathey/bbq/Mvc-076f.jpg . More about that later...
Friday night about 8:00 pm I fired up a chimney of coals, filled up the charcoal ring with Kingsford, and proceeded to follow the Minion Method. (This was MY all-night cook, BTW - Robert slept through it dreaming of brisket for breakfast.) Meat was on the smoker by 8:30 or so. I had an 11.5 lb lefthanded CAB brisket rubbed with plain ol' Head Country Rub on the bottom rack, a 6.5 lb pork butt following Renowned Mr Brown on top. Wasn't quite up to trying sand in the pan yet - probably next weekend.
I won't go into the times/temps/vent open percentages here, but I was simply amazed at how well she maintained heat. Almost as easy as dialing in a temperature on my indoor oven!
I didn't open the cooker or Polderize the meats until 2:30 am, six hours into the cook. I learned that when I remove the lid, I didn't have problems at all getting back up to temperature; in fact, I've learned that lifting the lid will invariably give me a temp spike to about 280 within 4 - 5 minutes after replacing the lid, and I learned to plan accordingly. I learned that she also likes a cruising speed of 237 in the lid, giving me about 233 on the top grate and 225 on the bottom. All thermometers were tested for accuracy with boiling water before the cook, BTW.
Both butt and brisket hit a plateau in the wee hours - they stayed at 161 and 162 from around 3:00 am until about 5:30 am when they were due for another flipping. Ultimately, the brisket hit 188 about 9:30 am on Saturday morning, when I pulled it, foiled it, and wrapped it in several layers of heavy towels for a rest. The butt hit 190/192 about an hour later when it, too, was wrapped for a rest.
Absolutely outstanding results! I'm hooked on cooking a butt over the brisket; I'm sure that the automatic butt-basting contributed to the brisket's flavor and juiciness. I sliced the brisket into near 1/2" slices, but they did hold together and were wonderfully moist and tender. The butt pulled very easily with a few twists of a gloved hand and a fork. Very nice bark, and positively delectable inside. Whipped up some spicy baked beans and sweet creamy coleslaw (SUGAR-FREE sweet creamy coleslaw, by the way) as sides. Nobody sauced the brisket although I had a couple of commercial KC-style sauces out, and I had saved some of the Renowned Mr Brown mop to use as a pepper/vinegar sauce to drip on the pork. (Note - the pepper/vinegar concoction S*CKS as a table sauce on brisket, but is perfect with pork. Just an observation.) I was pleased to also notice that there was NO off-flavor in the meat due to the firing of charcoal throughout the long cook, which seems to be a concern for this method.
Hubby Robert's reactions were two: first, when he finished lunch, he leaned over on his elbows, looked at me dreamily, and said, "DAMN that was good!" His second response was that he just might sell that offset trailer rig now that he had tasted how good the Que was coming off the WSM.
We'll see... /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif Perhaps they'll be a cookoff soon between His and Hers smokers, with friends and family as judges.
I have a few pictures of Que Central and the results of the Overnight B&B cook here: http://www.gbronline.com/kcathey/bbq/051703.htm
The photo quality is not great on some of the pictures, but you can tell what's happening.
Next weekend, SPARES!
Keri C
Still Smokin' on Tulsa Time
Just thought I'd drop in and give a report on the maiden voyage of my WSM. We've been smoking on an ECB for lo these many years, so we... uh... okay, I decided it was time to replace it. I got the WSM, and my dear hubby of 23 years, Robert, got this: http://www.gbronline.com/kcathey/bbq/Mvc-076f.jpg . More about that later...
Friday night about 8:00 pm I fired up a chimney of coals, filled up the charcoal ring with Kingsford, and proceeded to follow the Minion Method. (This was MY all-night cook, BTW - Robert slept through it dreaming of brisket for breakfast.) Meat was on the smoker by 8:30 or so. I had an 11.5 lb lefthanded CAB brisket rubbed with plain ol' Head Country Rub on the bottom rack, a 6.5 lb pork butt following Renowned Mr Brown on top. Wasn't quite up to trying sand in the pan yet - probably next weekend.
I won't go into the times/temps/vent open percentages here, but I was simply amazed at how well she maintained heat. Almost as easy as dialing in a temperature on my indoor oven!
I didn't open the cooker or Polderize the meats until 2:30 am, six hours into the cook. I learned that when I remove the lid, I didn't have problems at all getting back up to temperature; in fact, I've learned that lifting the lid will invariably give me a temp spike to about 280 within 4 - 5 minutes after replacing the lid, and I learned to plan accordingly. I learned that she also likes a cruising speed of 237 in the lid, giving me about 233 on the top grate and 225 on the bottom. All thermometers were tested for accuracy with boiling water before the cook, BTW.
Both butt and brisket hit a plateau in the wee hours - they stayed at 161 and 162 from around 3:00 am until about 5:30 am when they were due for another flipping. Ultimately, the brisket hit 188 about 9:30 am on Saturday morning, when I pulled it, foiled it, and wrapped it in several layers of heavy towels for a rest. The butt hit 190/192 about an hour later when it, too, was wrapped for a rest.
Absolutely outstanding results! I'm hooked on cooking a butt over the brisket; I'm sure that the automatic butt-basting contributed to the brisket's flavor and juiciness. I sliced the brisket into near 1/2" slices, but they did hold together and were wonderfully moist and tender. The butt pulled very easily with a few twists of a gloved hand and a fork. Very nice bark, and positively delectable inside. Whipped up some spicy baked beans and sweet creamy coleslaw (SUGAR-FREE sweet creamy coleslaw, by the way) as sides. Nobody sauced the brisket although I had a couple of commercial KC-style sauces out, and I had saved some of the Renowned Mr Brown mop to use as a pepper/vinegar sauce to drip on the pork. (Note - the pepper/vinegar concoction S*CKS as a table sauce on brisket, but is perfect with pork. Just an observation.) I was pleased to also notice that there was NO off-flavor in the meat due to the firing of charcoal throughout the long cook, which seems to be a concern for this method.
Hubby Robert's reactions were two: first, when he finished lunch, he leaned over on his elbows, looked at me dreamily, and said, "DAMN that was good!" His second response was that he just might sell that offset trailer rig now that he had tasted how good the Que was coming off the WSM.
We'll see... /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif Perhaps they'll be a cookoff soon between His and Hers smokers, with friends and family as judges.
I have a few pictures of Que Central and the results of the Overnight B&B cook here: http://www.gbronline.com/kcathey/bbq/051703.htm
The photo quality is not great on some of the pictures, but you can tell what's happening.
Next weekend, SPARES!
Keri C
Still Smokin' on Tulsa Time
