Why My First Cook STILL Hasn’t Taken Place AND What I’m now Thinking of Doing for It…

[Nicolaus]

FYI, if you haven't done it yet, I would do a burn in on that new kamado and learn the vent settings to reach various temps, before trusting meat to it. It will take several hours, but is well worth it. And the burn in part is usually recommended by the grill manufacturers anyway.

I was planning on doing that. How high would you get the temperature for the burn? Would you use the dome thermometer, or would you set something like Fireboard for an ambient temperature reading?

[hoovarmin]

Your Fireboard will always be better than the dome thermometer but the Dome thermometer in the KJ is much more reliable than one in a Kettle. It's always best though to take the temp at the grate where the food is cooking.

[Nicolaus]

FYI, if you haven't done it yet, I would do a burn in on that new kamado and learn the vent settings to reach various temps, before trusting meat to it. It will take several hours, but is well worth it. And the burn in part is usually recommended by the grill manufacturers anyway.

jfmorris, I was planning on doing that. How high would you get the temperature for the burn? Would you use the dome thermometer, or would you set something like Fireboard for an ambient temperature reading?

[jfmorris]

I was planning on doing that. How high would you get the temperature for the burn? Would you use the dome thermometer, or would you set something like Fireboard for an ambient temperature reading?

Personally, I would fill the bowl with lump - literally - and light ONE starter in the middle. Leave the lid up, bottom vent wide open, and after about 15 minutes, install the heat deflector and cooking grates, and close the lid. And put a temp probe on the cooking grate above the deflector. You aren't cooking at the level of the dome thermometer. Also, this will let you know how far off the dome thermometer is for future reference.

If shooting for 300+, light 2-3 starters around the charcoal bed, instead of just 1.

For a burn in I think you want to reach 350 and hold for at least an hour, but I would use it as a learning experience to first reach and hold 225, the. Then move to 350.

Regardless, leave both top and bottom vent wide open until you are about 50 or even 75 degrees below the temp you want to reach. At that point, start shutting the vents down for the target temp.

Where the vents go varies a little from kamado to kamado, and I don’t know the precise vent settings for a Kamado Joe. On my SNS Kamado, I go to about 1 inch open on the bottom and a sliver on the top for 225. For 350, the top vent is about half open, and the bottom vent about 2 inches.

Really you need to master vent settings for 225-275, and 350ish for indirect, and maybe 500-700 if you are interested in pizza.

[texastweeter]

Leg of lamb will pull, I've done it. Those brisket seem small, probably flats. The only time I cook just a flat is when making pastrami. Might I suggest a pork shoulder for your first cook? It is hard to hurt as long as you don't undercook it. This will give you a chance to find out how your cooker runs with a big wet piece of meat in it without having g to worry about ruining a more expensive cut.

[Nicolaus]

Leg of lamb will pull, I've done it. Those brisket seem small, probably flats. The only time I cook just a flat is when making pastrami. Might I suggest a pork shoulder for your first cook? It is hard to hurt as long as you don't undercook it. This will give you a chance to find out how your cooker runs with a big wet piece of meat in it without having g to worry about ruining a more expensive cut.

How would you season a pork shoulder going into the Kamado? Also, at what internal temperature would you take it off? We normally try to get pork as close to medium rare as possible.

[texastweeter]

You can use Meatheads Memphis Dust from the free side of this site after adding kosher salt. Pork shoulders get pulled between 203-208°. You are looking at pulled pork, not a chop here.

[LA Pork Butt]

I do pork shoulders all the time. I cook than at 225 for 12-14 hours overnight. I pull them at an internal temp of 200 and wrap them in a double layer of heavy duty foil. Then I hold them in an ice chest for 2-4 hours until serving time. As for a rub my base rub is equal parts of paprika, black pepper, kosher salt and granulated garlic and onion. Then I take that basic rub and mix it with an equal amount of brown sugar. You can’t go wrong cooking a pork shoulder. I will be so, so tender!

[Nicolaus]

I do pork shoulders all the time. I cook than at 225 for 12-14 hours overnight. I pull them at an internal temp of 200 and wrap them in a double layer of heavy duty foil. Then I hold them in an ice chest for 2-4 hours until serving time. As for a rub my base rub is equal parts of paprika, black pepper, kosher salt and granulated garlic and onion. Then I take that basic rub and mix it with an equal amount of brown sugar. You can’t go wrong cooking a pork shoulder. I will be so, so tender!

LA Pork Butt, this sounds like a plan! Thank you!!!

How long do leave the rub on the meat prior to cooking?

[LA Pork Butt]

Nicolaus When I wrote pull I meant pull it from the cooker. You pull the pork after you remove it from the ice chest and unwrap the foil.

[Nicolaus]

LA Pork Butt, How long do you leave the rub on the meat prior to cooking?

[LA Pork Butt]

I don’t think the amount of time is a make it or break it issue. I am sure at least once I put the rub on and went straight to the grill, but two hours before is good and overnight or all day is preferable depending when you plan to start your cook. Also, I first rub it with yellow mustard in order to get lots of rub to stick to create a great bark.

Since this is your 1st cook here are a few tips. Plan on a 17 hour cook. One hour is to stabilize at 225 and heat soak your Kamado. Twelve to fourteen hours to get the internal temperature to 200, and a two to four hour hold in the ice chest depending on how quickly it cooks and your serving time. You could wrap during the stall, but if you are cooking overnight you don’t want to get up in the middle of the night to wrap the shoulder. You can save that lesson for another time.

I have found that for long cooks this method for stacking charcoal works best. First, make sure your Kamado is completely clean of leftover charcoal and ash. Next take the largest pieces of lump charcoal and make a layer on the bottom and then fill in the empty spaces with a layer of medium sized charcoal, and finally top that with a layer of small filling the firebox to the bottom of the fire ring. In the very centered of the charcoal burry a lighter square vertically on edge running from left to right. Light the two exposed corners of the lighter square, and adjust both the tops and bottom vent to be wide open until the square is completely burned and the dome temp is 225. Next take a fist size chunk of hickory or other wood right on top of your fire, put in your diffuser and drip pan if you are using one, (I recommend using one or at the very least covering you diffuser with foil), and when the dome temp again reaches 225 adjust the top and bottom vents to about 1/4 inch open. Put the meat on and monitor the temp to make sure it doesn’t drastically over shoot your target. A great thing about cooking pork shoulders (Boston Butts) is that they will come out great cooked at 300. Don’t worry. this is going to be fun!

[Nicolaus]

I don’t think the amount of time is a make it or break it issue. I am sure at least once I put the rub on and went straight to the grill, but two hours before is good and overnight or all day is preferable depending when you plan to start your cook. Also, I first rub it with yellow mustard in order to get lots of rub to stick to create a great bark.

Since this is your 1st cook here are a few tips. Plan on a 17 hour cook. One hour is to stabilize at 225 and heat soak your Kamado. Twelve to fourteen hours to get the internal temperature to 200, and a two to four hour hold in the ice chest depending on how quickly it cooks and your serving time. You could wrap during the stall, but if you are cooking overnight you don’t want to get up in the middle of the night to wrap the shoulder. You can save that lesson for another time.

I have found that for long cooks this method for stacking charcoal works best. First, make sure your Kamado is completely clean of leftover charcoal and ash. Next take the largest pieces of lump charcoal and make a layer on the bottom and then fill in the empty spaces with a layer of medium sized charcoal, and finally top that with a layer of small filling the firebox to the bottom of the fire ring. In the very centered of the charcoal burry a lighter square vertically on edge running from left to right. Light the two exposed corners of the lighter square, and adjust both the tops and bottom vent to be wide open until the square is completely burned and the dome temp is 225. Next take a fist size chunk of hickory or other wood right on top of your fire, put in your diffuser and drip pan if you are using one, (I recommend using one or at the very least covering you diffuser with foil), and when the dome temp again reaches 225 adjust the top and bottom vents to about 1/4 inch open. Put the meat on and monitor the temp to make sure it doesn’t drastically over shoot your target. A great thing about cooking pork shoulders (Boston Butts) is that they will come out great cooked at 300. Don’t worry. this is going to be fun!

LA Pork Butt, We are going to Restaurant Depot today, so finally I will be picking up my pork shoulder. I’ll be getting a two pack, and apparently they end up being about 7-8 pounds each. Would you cook both of them at the same time, or put the second one in the freezer for another cook at another time?

Also, if we consider one tablespoon of each of the ingredients of your rub (together with a another tablespoon of brown sugar added for each other ingredient) as one serving of your rub, how many servings of it would you prepare for each 7-8 pound pork shoulder?

I think my first cook will finally end up beginning on Friday morning of this week.

[LA Pork Butt]

As to cooking one or two buts, since you are in the learning process I would do two separate cooks unless you ate trying to save cooking time by freezing already cooked food.

In regard to the amount of rub I have never measured the amount, but I think 1/2 cup per butt should do it. Because it is my base rub I mix up a large batch and save it for future cooks. I add other ingredients for different cooks. I would mix up a large batch, maybe a couple of cups, and add the appropriate amount of brown sugar as needed.

[Nicolaus]

LA Pork Butt, After you apply the mustard and rub mixture to the pork shoulder, how exactly do you store it in the refrigerator? Do you cover it with anything?

[DTro]

I put my in a dish big enough to hold it. And I cover it loosely with plastic wrap if it going to be in the fridge for a while.

[LA Pork Butt]

I put it in a pan and cover it with aluminum foil. Plastic wrap will work, too, but it always seems stick to itself more that the pan when I use it.

[Sweaty Paul]

+1 on taking the time to burn in and a little extra time to learn how to control temps and see how the new pit works as jfmorris suggests. Can also do the biscuit or bread test to find hot and cool spots on your grates also for a visual representation of what is happening in your new pit. Sorry I'm so late to the game in responding, however, while out-of-town on vacation I try to really disconnect. Hope your cook or trials went well.

[Nicolaus]

jfmorris, It took me until this past Saturday to get sufficient help to safely move the KJIII from the garage and onto the deck. At this point, everything is ready. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do my first cook some day this week.

It’s taking me forever to get my act together on this!

[jfmorris]

Good to hear you got it moved! I would take an evening this week and do a several hour burn in run as discussed previously, WITHOUT food, to #1 burn it in and #2 learn temp control and lighting techniques.

[Nicolaus]

LA Pork Butt and jfmorris, I have dry-brined the pork shoulder with rub using yellow mustard as a binder, and it’s now in the refrigerator. Scoring the fat cap with a cross-hatch pattern was more difficult than I imagined. It must have taken me about 15 minutes!

I did the burn-in on the BJIII today. I got the dome temperature to 350 and held it there for just over an hour. (The ambient temperature probes on the grill grate were reading higher, though-the highest in front was 380, and the highest in back was 450.) After that, I was unable to get the dome temperature back below 300. However, that may have something to do with the fact that I forgot to close the bottom vent for a minute the last time I opened the lid. I remembered to close that vent briefly all the other times I opened the lid (to add the half-moon deflector plates indirect cooking and to move ambient probes around). After trying to reduce the temperature for about 45 minutes, I decided to close all the vents in an attempt to salvage any leftover charcoal.

During the burn-in, there was a difference of 40 degrees between the front and the back of the grill. After moving the ambient probes to the sides, there was also a difference of about 40 degrees between the left and the right sides as well.

I do have some questions regarding the cook itself, which I intend to start tomorrow morning.

1. Where exactly should I insert my 5 inch food probe(s) into the pork?

2. When should I add wood chunks?

3. Should I use the BJ “Slow Roller” for this cook?

4. Once I get the grill to 225, should I add the deflector plates and stainless grill grates (and Slow Roller) immediately and then let the temperature stabilize back to 225 before adding the meat? Or should I put the meat on right after adding the other items?

I’m sure I’ll think of more questions before tomorrow!

Thanks in advance for any and all of your help and advice, Ladies and Gentlemen!