Rank by Difficulty


 
D

Dennis T.

TVWBB Super Fan
As a beginner, learning my way around the WSM, I'm curious how those with experience might rank the "difficulty" of barbecuing the different meats. Often, newbies are advised to inaugurate their WSM with a butt ... "very forgiving" is often the reasoning. Personally, I went with shorter cooks ... baby back ribs and a turkey ... as the overnight aspects of a butt intimidated me. Having just completed my first butt, I do think it was easier than ribs.

How do butt, brisket, baby back ribs, spare ribs, and poultry rate in difficulty?

By "difficulty" I mean how much experience and skill is needed to turn out a quality product?
 
I would rate the following with the first being the easiest, last being the most difficult:

Chicken/poultry
Pork Butt
Baby back ribs
Spare Ribs
Brisket


If you are loking for an easy, delicious (and inexpensive) meat to smoke try beef chuck or blade roasts. They are quite forgiving and taste great when they're done. There is a good recipe for it in the Smoke and Spice book.
 
I'm a beginner as well. I have not done a brisket, but everything else. Personally, ribs were the most difficult because of trying to tell when they're done. Everything else has a magic temp to go by. Ribs go by "feel". My first rack of ribs, I had no clue, but with a few cooks under my belt I can easily tell now. My first cook was chicken and it was pretty easy.
 
Working with Michael's ranking, what makes spares more difficult than baby backs?

Searching through these forums while having never smoked a brisket, I would guess that most would say it was the most difficult. Why is that?
 
I'm too inexperienced to realize that brisket is supposed to be hard, and since it was my first cook, and since I always now do it with pork butts, I'd have to say they're equally easy. Now FINDING a brisket---that's the part that's hardest. Affording it is the second hardest part, lol.

Ribs hate me on the WSM (only tried 'em twice), and I haven't done poultry (I'm a crisp skin fiend), so...I guess I shouldn't have tried to answer yer post!
 
Hi Dennis,

I think spares are more difficult than baby backs for a few of reasons:

Preparation - being able to trim down a full rack of spares to a St. Louis cut takes time and some skill to make them look nice.

The cooking time for spares is at least 2 hours longer in most cases.

Baby backs are a much more tender cut of meat to begin with due to the location they come from on the hog and are a bit easier to cook to desired tenderness.

I am sure others will feel differently, these are just my personal findings. I am more than happy to cook (and eat!) either cut of rib. I know many competition teams use either cut and both will win.
 
Interesting question. Hmm. I'm sticking in some other stuff.

Butt--Low/Slow Chicken where skin is no issue

Chuck roll/other chuck cuts--Salmon--Nuts--Lamb

Turkey--Chicken w/crisp skin--Cheese

Ribs, beef and pork--Duck

Brisket

Other beef cuts--Rabbit

Buffalo

Other game meats
 
Sorry, I should have read further into Dennis's reply, regarding brisket difficulty.....

Meat preparation - trimming a large, fatty piece of meat like a whole brisket takes a little time to get right. Take off too much fat and the meat can dry out, take off too little and your rub won't penetrate the meat.

Brisket takes a long time to cook too, in many cases 16 to 18 hours. To maintain a consistent temperature for that long takes some patience and skill. I must say the WSM is a real champion because it is able to handle this without much trouble if you use the Minion Method with your heat source. Brisket is also one of the toughest pieces of meat you'll ever eat if it is not cooked properly. To master this cut for consistent tender results is something to be very proud of and it is fabulous to eat as well.
 
Don't be scared of the Brisket. As with Susan it was my first cook on the WSM and i never looked back. Here's my list
icon_smile.gif

Chuck Roll/ Butt, Both are very forgiving
Chicken/Turkey
Brisket
Ribs
 
My experience:

1)All Ribs - Pork Ribs were my first ever smoke. Only adjustments are in the Rubs. Family favorite!!!

2)Pork Butt - Probably easy as ribs, but my prep time is more in depth. Party favorite!!!

3)Whole Turkeys and Rib Roasts - Very good and not too difficult. Brining the turkey correctly can be the prep time consumer.

4)Chicken - Getting crispy skin is a pain in the hindquarter unless you take things apart or throw on the gasser (Kettle going on the side is my new quick fix). Dried my first one out a little bit but since have injected with apple juice..mmmm.

5)Brisket - Cooking flats is a tendermiser's challenge. Just about have it down now with Country Bobs and Bacon strips. Took the resting time for granted at first. Now it's 4 hours whether I eat late or not.

Hey Kevin, how does that Buffalo come out? Been meaning to try that. Hopefully I'll have some Elk meat to smoke after my hunting trip to Colorado this coming September.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Hey Kevin, how does that Buffalo come out? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If you nail it it is wonderful. It can be tricky, as you'd imagine. The key is selecting the right cut or cutting the right cut that'll suit your approach. My first time was a steamship round (not on a WSM) I was doing as the main course for an 8-course dinner. I'm telling you, the Q gods were with me. i'm not always so lucky.
 
I'm surprised at how many thought ribs were difficult. I use 3-2-1 and they come out devine all the time. My first brisket flat was what I could truly consider a failure. Very dry and tough but since then I foil at 165* - 170* and run it up to 190* - 195*. Quite juicy and tender. I have since figured that the worst that could happen is it will be a disaster and we'll order a pizza instead! Nothing seems to tough now!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Michael Plunkett:
Hi Dennis,

I think spares are more difficult than baby backs for a few of reasons:

Preparation - being able to trim down a full rack of spares to a St. Louis cut takes time and some skill to make them look nice. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Or you could do what I do and have the butcher at the counter do a St. Louis cut for you on the ribs you want. Usually if you ask them to they'll do it no charge.
 
My experience only -- your mileage will certainly vary:

1) Pork butts alone, top grate only (10+ times)
2) Pork butts alone, top & bottom grate (24+ times)
3) Pork butts over beef brisket (exactly once)
4) Pastrami (cured & smoked)

I'm still a rookie, but I know there are a lot of really good suggestions I'm going to have to try.
 
1. Pork butts are very easy IMHO. Very forgiving and easy to tell when it's ready. I've done hundreds of these over the years. Although mine have improved with time, I even found the 1st one wasn't that hard.

2. Poultry is pretty easy too. A probe therm to monitor temps helps a lot. Also training yourself not to overcook. I only cook mine to 160 in the breast. That is perfectly safe BTW. Crispy skin can be acheived at temps of 300+. Though I think crispy skin makes the finished product look pretty, I don't worry too much about it cause I don't eat the skin. Oh, and watch the smoke wook, a couple of chunks is plenty.

3. Brisket. The biggest challenge to Brisket for me is to cook long enough to be tender stopping short of falling apart. I have found if I cook it to about 185-190 and pull it, then foil and rest for an hour or so produces the result I strive for.

4. Ribs. They are kinda hard to get right. Trying to get tender before they dry out, or foiling and they fall apart. Easy to oversmoke too. I can turn out pretty good ribs (either babys or spares) fairly consistantly now, but took quite a bit of practice. Even swithching from an electric ECB to the WSM forced me to relearn the cooking part for ribs. Even though usually failures are still better than what you can get at a Q resteraunt, I've made some racks that were just plain awful.

Beef ribs are a whole different animal, so to speak, and I still can't get constistan results with them.

I've Qed a lot of other things at one time or another, and usually have pretty good results. The most important factor is three things:
1. Practice
2. Practice
3. Practice

I've also noticed the more practice in one or more areas of Q give you a better chance of succeeding in other areas you haven't explored yet. For example I had Q'ed the big four for years until I attempted goat. Though I had never Q'd goat before I'm sure much of my success was purely drawn from past successes with other meats, knowing where to turn for information, and knowing how to use that information. In other words, the more you Q, the easier it becomes to Q things you have no expeirience Qing. Just my 2 cents.
 
I would say they all require some degree of difficulty. The instructions on this site and in the forums are a great help.

Making good food to eat is not the problem. The problem is being consistent over and again. Now that is hard.

Even at your worst, you are probably making better food than most restaurants would serve you.
 
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