Your results will only be as good as the quality of meat you use.
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100 tips from pitmasters
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Club Member
- Jan 2017
- 210
- NW, PA
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Setup
- Primo Oval XL
- Charbroil 990 w/ Custom Firebox
- Fireboard w/ Fireboard Drive
- Pit Viper Fan
- iGrill 2
- Thermapen Mk. 4
- FOGO Premium Lump Charcoal
Beer: Sam Adams Octoberfest
Whiskey: Bulleit ; Weller 12
Cook: Wings or Spare Ribs
Hobby: Saltwater Fly fishing; Warhammer 40k
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Trim your packer brisket (or any other kind of beef) while it’s SUPER COLD. So many You-Tubers bring the brisket out of the fridge and then start talking interminably about what they’re going to do, and why. By the time they get around to trimming the dang thing, the fat is at room temp. Good luck keeping your fingers with that technique.
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Cook to YOUR liking and the liking of your guests. Competition is a whole different game than enjoying at the table.
Throw the rules and expectations out the window and go for it.
(NEVER forget to throw hot dogs or good sausage into the mix.)
Last edited by Cheef; October 29, 2019, 09:07 PM.
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Charter Member
- Nov 2014
- 3071
- Chico, CA
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BBQ's
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California Custom Smokers Intensive Cooking Unit
California Custom Smokers Meat Locker
Santa Maria Grill
Vision Grill
Beer
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Sierra Nevada IPA
Wood
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Almond
Oak
Madrone
Cherry
Peach
Apple
Everyone else's advice is much better but I have found that the Cambro has become one of my best friends. It used to be a device I used when I cooked too early. I now use it as a tool. I rest large meats for at least an hour any many times more, on purpose, in my Cambro. I have found it has added a dimension to my cooking.
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Still working on the 100 tips page for my site.
Found some good ones the other day. @thesmokybird on instagram
The hotter you cook a brisket, the higher the finishing internal temp will usually be. This particular brisket was smoked between 275-300 and as you can see didn’t probe fully tender in the thick part of the flat until 208 degrees. That is admittedly a little higher than they usually finish for me when I cook more in my normal 250-275 range. If I had pulled it at 203 or even 205, it would have not been properly done and ended up on the tougher side. Cook a true "hot and fast" brisket (325-375) and it will most likely need to go up to 210-215 IT to reach a fully probe tender state. When you cook hotter (nothing wrong with that BTW), the meat temp will rise much faster but it still needs enough time to break down the connective tissue and render the fat...and this does not occur as early as it normally would. In this scenario, collagen that has not converted to gelatin is the visible filmy like substance that holds the meat strands together while unrendered fat will look more white in color. Conversely, cook one at 200-225 degrees for the entire cook and your finishing IT will most likely be in the high 190’s to low 200’s (200-201). The opposite is true here as the "low and slow" brisket has ample time to take care of all that connective tissue and intramuscular fat. The science is in how the meat cooks. The art is knowing how to cook it. Change your cooking method and you better understand how that will affect the actual cook. This is only one example. One other suggestion is to absolutely make sure you rest any brisket you cook hotter (275+) long enough to allow the IT to come down quite a bit so as to not exacerbate the carryover cooking situation that will come with it. If you cooked a brisket at 350 degrees it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it rise another 5-10 degrees when done if thrown heavily wrapped right into an airtight cooler...you could easily end up in an overcooked state at this point.Last edited by Ahumadora; June 11, 2020, 09:05 AM.
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Founding Member
- Jul 2014
- 5569
- Maple Valley, WA
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Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
Some Posts in Pitmaster to check out:
Eric's Brisket Method
Eric's Method for Drunken Texas Beans
Stacy's Bouef Bourguignon
Eric's Smoked Texas Chili
Rancho Gordo Beans and Bean Club
Troutman's Ribs - Step By Step Primer
Grilled Pork Chops: Harissa Marinade
Light My (Hasty Bake) Fire
Eric
Biggest learnings I've had
- plan your cook before hand, know what you are going to do, and mise en place.
- Consistency is the critical element, especially when cooking with live fire. Whether we are talking wood, charcoal, or gas .... do it the same way, maintain the temperature consistently ..... this does not, by the way, mean to chase a precise, exact temperature. Get to where ou want your temp and then do the things that keep your temp at that point in a consistent way (vents, additional fuel, etc)
- Everything can be grilled or smoked. Cooking over live fire is what all cooks did until the past 100 years, or so.
- BBQ is always better with beans :-)
- BBQ is the ultimate comfort food
- Learn how to make your own base ingredients, like chicken and beef stock, sauces, rubs, bacon .... they taste far better than anything you buy that was made in a food factory and the joy of doing it is amazing
- Mastering BBQ is mostly about experience. You won't get experience without trying, and trying will mean failing sometimes. That's okay. I've learned far more from my failures than from my successes.Last edited by ecowper; June 11, 2020, 12:46 PM.
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Know "your" cook temp. Often times I look up cook temps and find they suggest higher than I like. Especially on pork, I like a little pink and haven’t ever got that trickynosis granny warned me about.....
and eggs.......sunny side up please!!!Last edited by smokenoob; June 11, 2020, 01:04 PM.
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Club Member
- Apr 2018
- 4911
- Western Mass
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Retired, living in Western Mass. Enjoy music, cooking and my family.
Current cookers Weber Spirit 3 burner. A 22" Kettle with vortex SnS and OnlyFire pizza oven. A Smokey Joe and the most recent addition a Pit Barrel Jr with bird hanger, 4 hooks and cover. ThermoWorks Smoke 2 probe, DOT, ThermoPop and a Thermapen Mk4. Recently added 2 TempSpike wireless meat thermometers.
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Founding Member
- Jul 2014
- 5569
- Maple Valley, WA
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Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
Some Posts in Pitmaster to check out:
Eric's Brisket Method
Eric's Method for Drunken Texas Beans
Stacy's Bouef Bourguignon
Eric's Smoked Texas Chili
Rancho Gordo Beans and Bean Club
Troutman's Ribs - Step By Step Primer
Grilled Pork Chops: Harissa Marinade
Light My (Hasty Bake) Fire
Eric
Last thought that might be interesting to your folks ....
What we call BBQ today, and treat as some unique cooking art, 100 years ago was just known very simply as cooking
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Club Member
- Sep 2016
- 1351
- Spokane, WA
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Weber 22" (4 of them)
Weber Ranch
Weber 26"
SNS Kettle
PK Grill (40+ years old)
Weber Jumbo Joe
Thermoworks Smoke, DOT, Signals, Smoke X4, and Thermopop
Slow n' Sear XL (2)
Slow n' Sear
http://completecarnivore.com is my site
Even if you aren't 100% happy with the final product it will probably be the best barbecue your guests will eat this year. Make no apologies.
In the end we are cooking weird hunks of tough meat over a controlled natural disaster. It won't always work out the way we want but even in those situations it can be pretty darn good and sometimes better than if everything goes right.
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How true. I seem to always be apologizing for my BBQ when we have guests. They love it, but I’m whining that it’s too overdone (falls off the bone) or underdone (too much tug), too little heat, not enough salt, too dark, etc, etc. It’s just not perfect according to my standards. My brother once told me to "shut up and pass some more chicken".Last edited by TripleB; June 12, 2020, 03:15 PM.
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Excellent points here. We are our own worst critic!!! It’s best to try and turn that switch off. I get the same from my family. They enjoy my BBQ fixings and that’s very rewarding, but I seem to always start off finding something I could have done better.
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