So we were originally going to do brunch with some friends to celebrate a birthday. A friend's wife was the honoree, but they now live down in D.C. and were coming up. The husband asked very politely (with the option to say "no") if I'd be willing to do some bbq for the event rather than the brunch owing to certain other events that were going on between noon and four pm. My wife asks me, and as I've been itching to do another brisket... well I said sure! The fellow (Dave) would like brisket and ribs... as a few in our party (I was expecting a large turnout) do not eat red meat, chicken was suggested. I opted to do that on the weber (grilled, w/hickory chunks). No problem. Dave bought the packer LONG DISTANCE and I picked it up. He asks me, how big? I say: oh 13-15 lbs. It was 15.8 lbs! It was from a full service butcher shop near where I worked... it cost a fortune! Trimmed it up Saturday PM, dry brined.. sat it in the fridge uncovered. Dave and his wife came by with stuff for the party (not a surprise one, thank goodness) as Dave said he'd supply nearly everything. I sprung for the ribs... it was the least I could do. And he brought by a bottle of Balvenie doublewood so I made out in the bargain! They brought enough stuff for an army and we had enough for 20... there were going to be 9 people total! Needless to say there were leftovers Dave and his wife just could not take home!
The gathering was to begin around 4, dinner would be at 6:30. I fire up the barrel at 8:30... (dry brined the brisket for 12-14 hours), not to mention a storm front was moving through on Sunday morning in these parts... on Saturday, the boss and I went to a local dollar store and picked up a popup 12x12 tent, which I anchored down with rope to two cinder blocks after the wind lifted it 6-12 inches Sunday morning! The brisket went in at 9:05 am, and the PBC eventually settled down to 250 F for most of the day. The rain came thru for about an hour, with lots of wind around 10 am and I'm sure as heck-by glad I got that tent!!! I decided against my instincts to add the ribs later on. Three racks, I figured wouldn't be too bad. Around 2:40 pm with the barrell humming at 250 I added the racks. The temp tanked to 240 or therabouts... and I struggled to keep the temp up. In fact I had the lid cracked for most of the next three hours... with the temp never getting higher than 245 F. It was a trying day... and here are some of the results:
The gathering was to begin around 4, dinner would be at 6:30. I fire up the barrel at 8:30... (dry brined the brisket for 12-14 hours), not to mention a storm front was moving through on Sunday morning in these parts... on Saturday, the boss and I went to a local dollar store and picked up a popup 12x12 tent, which I anchored down with rope to two cinder blocks after the wind lifted it 6-12 inches Sunday morning! The brisket went in at 9:05 am, and the PBC eventually settled down to 250 F for most of the day. The rain came thru for about an hour, with lots of wind around 10 am and I'm sure as heck-by glad I got that tent!!! I decided against my instincts to add the ribs later on. Three racks, I figured wouldn't be too bad. Around 2:40 pm with the barrell humming at 250 I added the racks. The temp tanked to 240 or therabouts... and I struggled to keep the temp up. In fact I had the lid cracked for most of the next three hours... with the temp never getting higher than 245 F. It was a trying day... and here are some of the results:
Comment