She'll be right, mate...


 
M

MattT-AU

New member
G'day (again)

When my 18.5" WSM arrived from the US a few weeks ago I lurked on the forums here for a couple of days, shaking my head at the archived posts from hopeless newbs who left it all the last minute. Not me. No sir. I'd have it all sorted out weeks ahead of schedule.

So it's with grim amusement that I find myself 24 hours out from lighting up with:

- two gigantic butts, each around 10 lbs
- one WSM, still in its box
- no rub
- no smoke wood
- no charcoal
- no thermometer
- boundless, clueless optimism that it'll all turn out in the end.

My plan:

- head across town first thing in the morning to pick up fuel, wood, remote thermometer, rub, sauce and slaw ingredients
- come home, rub the butts around 10-11am, wrap 'em in foil and forget about them
- fire up the WSM around 10 that night, load up the butts and let it run overnight
- whenever they reach 190oF on Sunday, wrap 'em and let 'em sit in an esky (sorry, cooler) for a couple of hours
- pull 'em and eat 'em
- freeze the enormous pile of leftovers, because there's probably only going to be a few of us
- feel pretty bloody smug about pulling all that off.

(Feel free to butt in any time.)

My stupid newb questions:

The butts

Aussie butchers don't have the faintest idea what these are, so after much 'here's a picture, and here's a cutting chart' and waiting for it all to sink in I've wound up with two 'square cut forequarters'. They look near enough to the real deal. Skin on and bone in, they clock in around 4.6kg / 10 lb 2 oz each - I figure 8-9 lbs each with the skin off and a little trimming.

Stupid question 1: should I cut these in half and treat them as four butts, two to a rack? Leave them whole, both on the top rack? Whole, one per rack? Assume they go in after 10pm Saturday night, and I'd like to eat around 5-6pm on Sunday evening.

Stupid question 2: am I insane for doing 20lb for a first cook? Should I just throw one of the butts into the freezer for later? Complicating factor - fuel costs a fortune here (think a buck a pound for charcoal briquettes, $25 for a bag of hickory chunks), and the butts were a cool $100. While I'm looking to maybe minimise my total costs by doing a big cook in one go, I'd rather have a quality product - if that means two cooks rather than freezing / reheating leftovers, so be it.

The rub

SQ#3: Recs for a rub? Mr Brown looks a bit on the peppery side for me - I mean, I like it, but all the 'you really, really have to love pepper' comments have me a bit wary. There'll be kids and the in-laws who don't do hot, so I guess I'm looking for something a little on the sweet and mild side - some heat and spice is fine, but not a lot. The wife and I will just add our own hot sauce to the sandwiches.

Time

An hour per lb, 1.25, 1.5, 2, 2.5 if it's over 5lbs, or 7lbs, or Mercury is in Scorpio - is it any wonder I'm confused? If I run with 1.5 hrs per lb and 2 x 9 lb butts as a worst case scenario, I'm looking at about 14 hours to cook, a couple of hours to rest, right? One butt, two butts, same time, give or take a little? (Let's call all that Stupid Question No. 4.)

Fire

Appreciate any advice you can provide about building a Minion fire to go with your recs about butt numbers. Otherwise I'll just go with this. For smoke I have hickory, hickory or hickory. Three chunks so I don't over do it? Dare I ask water or none?

Well, I know Americans are renowned for their generosity (one of you married my Mum, after all) but I figure making you read all that and asking five, multipart questions to boot is probably stretching things, so I'll go back to watching Chris on YouTube.

Thanks in advance!
Matt
 
Matt just did three -10 pounders last weekend. Plenty of meat. Two took about 13-14 hours and one took foreeeeeeever. Almost 17 hrs. The true test of being done is tenderness not temp. Use temp as an indicator when to check the meat. Remember ,hot knife through butter in all sections of the butt.Then its' done. Good luck.
 
for reference, I did mr brown on our first. After rubbing I had my usual "why did I do that one....the wife and one kid that are big babies on the spice side are going to reject it"....but it was too late and I pressed ahead. There was barely time between pork inhalations to confirm that they wouldn't have wanted it any different. I confirmed again once there was nothing left but an empty serving plate that mr brown really isn't all that peppery.

Remember that its really only the bark where it is strongest so it is possible to avoid it some.
 
Ah the land of 'roo and vegemite. It's near the top of my bucket list to visit there.

Here we go...

The Butts
I would trim them as you talk about, however I would not cut them in half. A 9lb butt is just about right in my book. I would go whole butts, one per rack. That way they get lots off heat flow around them.

No, you're not insane for doing 20lbs. However, for the cost your quoting ($100 ouch!) I would look for something more local and a whole lot cheaper next time.

The Rub
If you want to go Mr. Brown then just cut back on the pepper if that bothers you. Don't ever be afraid to make a rub your own. Maybe do one with just a super simple salt/pepper/garlic powder rub, and the other one with something a bit bolder. Give the rub a small taste before you put it on the butts. If it doesn't taste the way you want before the cook, it sure won't get better during the cook. Adjust as needed before rubbing.

Time
I typically use 1.5 hours per pound as a VERY rough estimate. It doesn't matter that there are two butts in the cooker. I will forewarn you, the butts will probably stall out at around 160 for a while. Don't freak out, just let them continue. Once they get to about 165-170 then they are out of stall and will finish out pretty quickly. Some folks will foil when they break out of the stall. If you're going to pull then don't be afraid to go as far as 195-200 internal. Test it by inserting a temperature probe and it should slide in like going into warm butter. If you start running short on time then simply turn the heat up. There's no rule that says you can't run the temp up to finish out a cook. Going up to 275, 285, 300, 325 is perfectly acceptable.

Fire
Just follow Chris's article. It works very well.

Hickory can run a little strong so I would just go with three pieces for the first time. If it turns out a bit lite then the next time you can adjust up. Better to adjust up than ruin it with too much.

Go with the water. Even though I run dry pan, I recommend first-timers go with water. It makes the cooker more stable.

Good Luck, and report back how it went!!

Russ
 
Matt sounds like you have whole shoulders. Leave them in one piece.

I use a simple rub of course ground pepper,garlic,onion,red pepper flakes and brown or maple sugar. If you want a little more heat add some cayenne pepper. Salt the meat before you add the rub using about the same amount of salt you would normally add to your dinner. When you pull it mix some rub in the meat.

I would put them on earlier. You can always foil them and hold them in a cooler for hours if they are done early but it's hard to speed them up.

3-4 chunks should be fine.

Good Luck


Oh and I'm Canadian.
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You may have waited to get ready but you made a great choice for your first cook. I'm learning and Butts are the most forgiving thing I've cooked. You'll be fine and the meat will be delicious.
 
Well, that makes life easier. Whole, one per shelf, Mr Brown with the pepper toned back and maybe some maple thrown in, basic Minion, knife in butter - sorted! I'll be sure to take plenty of pics.

Re the cost of the meat - $8.95/kg is a pretty good deal for shoulder in Australia. When my Mum came back from Florida for Christmas she nearly died when the butcher asked her for $120 for a mid-sized rack of prime rib. If you want a real heart attack, wander into an Aussie supermarket and check the price on baby back ribs - currently $16.47/kg, which is US$7.98/lb
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have you considered mixing up 2 rubs?

If you're open to that idea I'd strongly suggest adding "A butt rub (for jane)". It has a very unique flavor profile that you're bound to like, also mix up some #5 sauce (rubs & sauce section of the forum), which should go with both butts. When I cook 2 butts I'll just throw them on the top if there's plenty of room, that way I can pick at some of that pesky bark to make sure everything is seasoned Just So...
 
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