Super Best BBQ

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by Mshenay, Jun 19, 2017.

  1. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Total cook was about 4 hours with one hour of rest for a 15lb bird. The dome temp on the Weber was 250-275 but I have found that to be pretty unreliable. In reality it was probably closer to 315 which is what I was aiming for anyway.
     
  2. Brad Tombaugh

    Brad Tombaugh Facebook Friend

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    That seems too high! We did ours for 7 hours at about 220-240º (varied a little due to temp changes and wind, etc.) I have a Maverick ET-732 dual probe digital thermometer (http://a.co/dYatcuD) with one probe that goes into the meat, and another that clips to a grill rack so that you can more accurately monitor the temp inside the smoker. IMO, low and slow wins every time.

    We brined the turkey night in a salt/spice mixture overnight, dried it, applied a dry rub before putting it into the smoker, then applied a homemade BBQ made with molasses and pumpkin balsamic vineger for the last couple of hours.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2017
  3. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    Here y'all go. Spatchcocked 12lb roasted on a Weber using a SlowNSear. It turned out pretty darn good. Very good moisture, the dark meat especially good. Breast meat nice and tender with a nice hard "can tap on it" skin. Used one chunk of Hickory, a very subtle smoke flavor. It wasn't overpowered by the smoke or the lump charcoal, just a touch. It tasted of turkey, which was what I hope my turkey tastes like.

    Temp ranged from 300-350. Got a little hot when I stopped watching to talk to my neighbor and it got away from me. Then my wife let me know that her timing was off and that I had to stall the cook for an additional 30 minutes. Kept the turkey at 145 for 30 min! Very surprised being so close to pull-off temp and it still turned out.

    One hour check:
    [​IMG]

    Done, ready to carve:
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    @Brad Tombaugh

    Low and slow for pork shoulder, brisket and other cuts with a lot of connective tissue is definitely the way to go. Poultry however only really needs to hit a certain internal temp and you'll be fine. I also have to contend with the skin that benefits from higher temp. I've cooked in an oven at 315 F before and it was fine, but I had a lot of tricks for getting the legs to cook faster. Just want to figure out how to do that with a bullet smoker.
     
  5. Pilsnerpunk

    Pilsnerpunk Friend

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    Looks awesome @Cspirou!

    Poultry likes high heat. No need to cook it slow. When I'm done smoking turkeys or chickens I move them to the oven or BBQ where I can get higher heat to finish them up faster and make them crispy. You have to watch it closely, for the last hour because the temp is rising fast. Use a good probe like a thermapen (or cheaper lavatools javelin) and the type of meat thermometer that you leave in, take the bird out and rest it when the coldest part is ~5 degrees lower than the internal temp guidelines.

    Smoked then finished in the deep fryer would probably be killer.
     
  6. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Fry after smoking would be so much work! This is coming from a guy that has made a turduckencornail (turkey, duck, chicken, cornish game hen, quail)
     
  7. Jeb

    Jeb Friend

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    The Smokey Mountain arrived.

    First smoke was a small Packer Brisket of about 3.5kg. I was recommended to go for imported USDA beef since it is well marbelled compared to the UK grass-fed beef. I watched a couple of videos about how to trim it. On reflection, I think I probably removed a little too much fat, especially from the channel that separates the point and the flat.

    I used the Minion method - dumping in about half a chimney of lit coals in a small well in the middle of all the unlit ones. For some reason I really struggled at the start to get the smoker above 200F, even with all the vents wide open. In the end I opened the whole thing up and dumped out a lot of the water from the pan. Maybe it was that, or just the influx of air, but that seemed to help - although in general it seemed like I would have struggled to get it any hotter than 275F if I'd wanted to. After about 8 hours the temp was falling a bit and I needed to add a few more lit coals. There actually seemed to be plenty of unused coal in there, but the fire had only spread successfully along one side. Hopefully one day i'll be confident enough to leave it going overnight!

    I used a couple of chunks of oak plus one of hickory and one of cherry, and cooked the brisket for a total of about 11 hours at about 225F. During cooking it stalled for 2-3 hours at about 150-160F, so I eventually wrapped it in foil and it went relatively quickly after that. Once it reached 200F inside I took it off and let it rest for an hour before serving.

    The end result was okay, with lots of room for improvement. Really a tale of two briskets - the point and the upper half of the flat were tender and moist. The point was really good! The lower half of the flat was a kind of dry. Not inedible - but not so good. Maybe I should wrap it sooner next time?

    Looking forward to the next one!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Thats a great first attempt @Jeb! Brisket can be a tricky beast because of the two dissimilar pieces of meat. There's honestly no real culinary reason to do it whole. Brisket was actually just meant to be shipped like that and then broken down further by a butcher. Some enterprising butchers in Texas just decided to smoke it whole and the rest is history. It's kinda like turkey, you are probably better off cooking the legs and breasts separately but stubbornness dictates otherwise. BTW, im stubborn and I do both brisket and turkey whole.

    One thing that I think would improve dryness is proper resting. This is arguably more important then the smoking itself. Do you know the temp before you started carving? After I finish smoking I let it cool to 140-145F before I start carving. This can take 2 hours or more. Be sure to leave it wrapped while cooling. I go overboard a bit and put the brisket in a chest cooler covered in towels and use a probe thermometer to track the temperature. If you do this it can take 4 hours to cool down but I find the results are worth it(i learned this from BBQ competitors). Plus its transportable so you can smoke it at home and bring it to the in-laws without rushing.
     
  9. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    @Cspirou , I never heard the resting period explained before. Just that it should be done. Thanks for the valuable info!

    I've been reading a lot about the Weber Smoky Mountain lately and watched several Youtube videos. I think I'm going to spring for one of these in the next few months. It's too cold in the Midwest to try doing this in the Winter unless you spend more to buy the insulated cover.
     
  10. Jeb

    Jeb Friend

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    Indeed, thanks @Cspirou. Very helpful. I didn't take a reading at carving time but will definitely try and rest for longer next time.

    @crazychile i'm really impressed with the Smokey Mountain so far. The build is solid and once I got it up to temp, it was very stable for at least 8 hours. The only imperfection is the door on the front, which needed to be bent into shape to fit properly.
     
  11. EeePee

    EeePee Acquaintance

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    Came for the headphones, stayed for the BBq...
     
  12. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    In my research the door got mentioned a lot. It looks like there's a gasket kit available for it as well as a stainless steel door that fits better. Considering what we spend on accessories in audio, buying every accessory available for the WSM is still pretty reasonable. I'll probably buy a replacement door.

    The biggest thing I learned by watching a crapload of videos and lurking the WSM sites is that a good thermometer is a must. It seems like common sense but on my standard Weber, gas grill, and homebrew 55gal drum smoker, I was relying on cheap thermometers, eyeballing it, and using time as the major guide to done-ness. That was daft as f**k. Even if I don't upgrade to a WSM for a while, having a dome thermometer that can be calibrated, and a remote probe meat thermometer would improve my results tremendously.
     
  13. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    i received the medium sized WSM last xmas, it's been one amazing meal after another.
    minion method is the key for the charcoal heat balance, and I whole heartedly recommend:
    a) the stainless steel door from Cajun Bandit
    b) and a great thermometer from Thermoworks such as the Smoke.
     
  14. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    Regarding the WSM, most of the owners that have posted reviews say get the big one. Some say it’s too big and get a smaller size. The smaller ones use less charcoal but I’m not sure if it’s significantly less or not. I don’t have a problem spending the extra money on the big one, but how much less food will you be able to smoke if you have a smaller model.

    I’ll want to cook a whole brisket and maybe a rack of ribs. Some time I’d probably do up to 3 chickens, and eventually I’d like to try doing a large turkey. Is a smaller model big enough to do this or should I just get the big one?
     
  15. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    there are three WSM sizes: 14"/18"/22"

    mine is 18", and can easily do one large slab/type of meat on top rack
    + another on the middle rack.

    as this was a gift, my wife received in-store advice that the middle size 18" was the sweet spot for ease of maintaining temperature + charcoal usage.

    for all 3 of your use cases I suspect on the 18" size would fit the items just fine as:
    1 brisket (middle rack) + rack of ribs (top rack)
    3 chickens (two on top, one on middle)
    1 large turkey (middle rack, remove top rack)

    now, if you have a family of 5 or are constantly feeding a hungry army- then sure, get the large 22".
    but for smoking 1-3 modest items at a time, believe the 18" serves that well.
     
  16. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    I use the 18" WSM and all the pics I've posted should show you what you can cook. One level can do 5 racks of ribs no problem if you skewer them like a crown roast. The turkey I smoked was 15lbs and there was certainly room for a bigger bird. Full size brisket is the only thing you really need to be careful for. I just make sure I dont get something too big and squeeze it in between the handles.
     
  17. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    I dont think I actually explained why. The reason as far as I understand is the same for any piece of meat. You cut too early and all that juice runs out. At a lower temp the juices coagulate a bit and thicken so it tends to stay in thr meat. Resting benefits all meat.

    There are some exceptions to this. Like if you are making pulled pork it's easiest to pull apart when hot. Whatever juices are there can get mixed it with the meat.
     
  18. Jeb

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    Does anyone have any tips for racks of pork ribs on the smokey mountain? I'm just looking at recipe books and I'm seeing anything from 2 to 6 hours. Any thoughts on possible cooking time / optimum temp for the smoker?

    So far, I'm thinking of going in with the plan of keeping the temp around 250, unwrapped throughout, and maybe spray with apple juice from time to time.
     
  19. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    @Jeb - 4 hours at 250f unwrapped. 6 hours is way too long for ribs. Spraying is optional.

    If you are limited on space you should have the ribs vertical like a crown roast, held together with a bamboo skewer. I can fit 10 racks in the 18" smokey mountain doing this.

    Also remove the membrane on the ribs
     
  20. Jeb

    Jeb Friend

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    Ribs at the weekend. A couple of racks of baby-back ribs at 250. Very pleased with the results and the relatively quick cooking time (a bit under 4 hours as suggested by @Cspirou). Smoked with pieces of old whiskey barrel and a couple of chunks of mesquite.

    Also took the opportunity to try some beef short ribs. These were pretty chunky bits of meat and took closer to 6 hours to become tender (removed at 203 internal). I would have preferred them to be even more tender but wasn't sure if going longer would be counter-productive at that point. I wonder if it might be better to ask for a rack rather than individual ribs next time. In the pic you can see the meat has retreated up the bone a little.

    Used the Thermoworks Smoke wireless thermometer recommended by @jexby earlier in the thread. Really seems like a high quality device and range is fantastic even through thick walls.

    Loving the smoker!


    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2018

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