Super Best BBQ

@purr1n When the pandemic lets up, I'm bringing a minivanload of Texas SBAFers to your town and we'll find our own lodging and we'll buy the meat. You can just use the speshul nugget dropping smoke magic machine to make good brisket and maybe we'll listen to headphones or maybe we'll just shoot the shit.
Sound good?

 

I have a 4x4 but imagine I'll likely need to bring the wife's van to haul people. Looking forward to the brisket, shrimp, good people and good music!

 

I bought a Green Mountain Grills Peak Prime pellet grill and used it for the first time yesterday to do a pork loin. (Sorry I forgot pictures.) I first started looking into Traeger but it looked like GMG was going to work better for me. The pork loin came out great. Really juicy. I started it out on a mat based on the recommendation of my dealer, - to minimize cleanup - but I'm undecided on the mat for meats. I had previously used the mat on the gas grill or Weber kettle for veggies. Anyway I removed the mat about 3/4 of the way through the cook because it seemed like it was taking too long, but maybe it wasn't. I cut a 7.5 lb loin in half and it took about 2 hrs at the recommended 320 deg, turning it every 15 mins.

Today I'm doing brats and hamburgers. I have a sear plate to get the grill marks and we'll see how that goes. I'm still in the learning phase. When the weather gets cooler in the Fall I'll try cold smoking cheddar and mozzarella blocks. I also bought the pizza oven attachment which I can't wait to try out.

 

Forgot to post this a while back, but have played with beef ribs a few times in the last 5-6 months.
It's gotten better each time, but I don't have pictures from my more recent and relatively better attempts.

Here are some pictures from one of my earlier runs. Not "on paper perfect" by any means, but was very happy none the less.

edit:
0. Trim off excess fat. I don't want more than 1/4" or 1/3" of fat anywhere or it won't fully render down by the time the rest of the meat is done in my particular setup. Prime vs Choice will be per your own preference - this is a relatively fatty piece of meat with well distributed fat already.
1. I slather because I don't like a super duper dark, thick, and cripsy bark on my beef ribs. It doesn't contrast properly with fatty beef ribs per my own preference. You may skip the slather if you feel otherwise. I use a light slather of a somewhat vinegary hot sauce (whatever is on hand, happened to be Roux which is a Lousiana style this time), red wine vinegar, and a tiny bit of mustard (any type except honey / sweetened). Vinegar b/c it "cleans" the smell up a bit but not so much that my beef tastes vinegary. IDK how to describe this "smell" more precisely - the easiest way is think of when you buy cows that were raised their whole lives in an clean open field or if you've had game (i.e. hunting) animals that live in the wild eating good food VS mass industrialized farm animals or game animals that ate mostly human garbage their whole lives.
2. Rub with a mix of coarse kosher salt and med/fine pink Himalayan salt + coarse ground black pepper with a tiny bit of mustard, onion, and garlic powders mixed in - not enough to drastically change the taste, but I like the smell of it more this. Added a tiny bit of truffle salt once and while the truffle component burned a bit, it imparted a nice subtle smell to the meat as well.
3. Spritz was a combination of beer , red wine vinegar, and possibly a bit of water, applied about every 40-60 minutes.
4. Most people say 5-6 hours anywhere between 260-300F, but I've found for my setup it's closer to 4-5 hours at a target temp of about 280/290F, indirect heat. It's done if I can poke a probe through effortlessly until it hits a bone, I don't check internal temp on this. I rest the meat for about 20-30 minutes, going by feel.

 

$15/lb for that type of marbling is just incredible, especially with prices these days

 

Damn! Wish I: 1) had found this place 3 or more years ago whilst I was still in Hill Country, and 2) connected with you for tunes and ‘q… I moved my Pitts & Spitts 8’ long offset smoker from Boston area to Texas - long story - because I love using it so much…. We did some amazing q during the Shamdemic whilst living down there from 2018 until 2022.

LOVED Corpus. Bought my killer 2008 Lexus LS from a dealer there who had it as a “take away” from an 80 year old dude whose wife was shutting him down. Can’t remember the name, but there’s a fabulous Thai restaurant downtown (walking distance from the boardwalk), that we LOVED.

Alas (in some ways), I’m now back in New England, with a scaled down for retirement smoker (Mid-size Pitt Boss Pellet). I have cracked the code in this first year and am making some killer pork butt, pork and beef ribs, and other rando stuffs, but haven’t (yet) done a proper, 16+ hour (wrap at stall), Texas-style brisket.

From that picture, you clearly have the Texas skill.