Need help with a cook


 
D

Dennis Russo

New member
I'm hosting a party on Friday night and plan on cooking 3 pork butts and 2 briskets and I only have a WSM 22.5". I'd like to be done cooking everything by about 6am on Friday (I have plans for morning/early afternoon). My plan is to put the pork on on Wednesday night around 6pm and cook it for about 12 hours(ish). I want to then put the beef on on Thursday night for the same (6pm until 6am).

Food won't be put out until about 4pm on Friday. What's the best way to keep the pork and beef until it's served? Can I just wrap the pork in foil and towels and put them in a cooler or should I pull it, fridge it and re-heat on Friday? Can I just wrap the beef in foil, place in a cooler and wait the approx 10 hours until serving it?

Any thoughts/advice?


Thanks!
dr
 
I think you will be serving A LOT of reheated meat. Just doing that will be quite a task.
Leaving the briskets without refrigeration for 8 - 10 hours would be sketchy, imho.
 
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My opinion is that the pork suffers a lot less from being reheated than brisket does. I'd cook the pork first then fridge and reheat. I wouldn't hold the brisket that long. 10 hours seems like a really long time. In an oven if you can maintain a low temp like around 170 then fine.
 
Question, why can't you fit it all in? I have cooked two 13/14 pound packers on the top shelf, side by side. 3 butts on the bottom should be no problem, even if you have to cut one of them in half to fit it in . . . . . . .
 
You shouldn't bank on the pork taking only 12 hours to cook. It's not totally rare for pork to take upwards of 18 hours. Depending on your temps of course.

If you can hold the brisket in a 170 oven for a while it will actually help to produce great moist brisket, since collagen will continue to render at these temps even if the meat isn't cooking further.
 
Thanks for the input everyone!

I'm now thinking about cooking everything together (it will be one full WSM!). If I do go this route, how long should I allocate for the cook? The most meat I've done at one time is three butts and that took about 12 hours. With the addition of the briskets, will it take longer to cook or do I need to add more fuel to keep the temp up? My understanding is that with more meat in the smoker, you'll need more fuel to get the temp up since the meat is absorbing the heat (more meat absorbing the heat requires more heat?)

Apple wood should be ok for both the beef and pork - correct?


Thanks,
dr
 
Dennis Russo said:
Thanks for the input everyone!

I'm now thinking about cooking everything together (it will be one full WSM!). If I do go this route, how long should I allocate for the cook? The most meat I've done at one time is three butts and that took about 12 hours. With the addition of the briskets, will it take longer to cook or do I need to add more fuel to keep the temp up? My understanding is that with more meat in the smoker, you'll need more fuel to get the temp up since the meat is absorbing the heat (more meat absorbing the heat requires more heat?)

Apple wood should be ok for both the beef and pork - correct?


Thanks,
dr
Click to expand...


You'll definitely need more fuel to maintain the heat, and I'd also bring the WSM up to a higher initial temp before putting the meat on. BTW, this doesn't just mean that you add more briquettes into the bowl. You need to have more lit at any one give time as well.

Apple is fine for pork, but in my opinion, it's too light of a smoke for brisket. I'd either go with hickory or a mix of the two.
 
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