Thanks Bill BBQ_Bill . You are the motivator through your photography and cooks. Looks fantastic.
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lostclusters
First off, get upper pork shoulder.
Do NOT buy cuts with mixed in pork loin, or you will have two types of pork, one with lots of collagen that generally requires low and slow to ~195°F and a different one that needs 145°F max I.T. or it will severely dry out.
(Trust me on this, I know as I suffered this butcher mixed meat thing before, recording it in my old notes as an unknown problem until I discovered what had happened much later on)
The lighter pork was loin and the darker pork was the shoulder.
Have this upper pork shoulder, AKA butt cut into 2" x 3" x 6"-8" pieces as the thinner cuts got a touch dry in the long cook.
As to why an upper front pork shoulder is called pork butt, or Boston butt... I had to look it up.
Read the next post to find out.
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Next, I soaked for 14 hours with up to even 24 hours being okay from what I have read.
The marinade is Spanish (Cuban) style Mojo Criollo.
Many brands to choose from and most all contain the same stuff, such as orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, garlic and cumin.
I add a foil packet of Sazon Goya powder with Azafran into each gallon bag of marinade and mix.
Finally, add the meat to the gallon zip lock baggie.
That's it for the marinade.
Refrigerate/hold at 33°F.
Put 2 to 3 bags max per bowl or pan due to weight considerations.
I put the baggies inside containers to prevent a mess if the bags leak.
I like to massage a bit and gently shake to move the meat around in the bags to help the marinade contact all surfaces. I do this every two to three hours while the meat is soaking.
This was a royal pain, but I did it anyway.
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So...
SOAK, then after 14 hours or so, remove and pat the meat dry with paper towels if searing.
Next...
SEAR evenly over a hot mesquite flame. (Optional)
I like to spritz prior to adding my rub (with apple cider vinegar, plus just a bit of Soy sauce and Worcester sauce)
Some pre-rub with bottled mustard to make dry ingredients stick. I always spritz, but that's just the way I do it for all my meats.
RUB (with 1/16" cracked black peppercorn, 1/16" garlic flake, 1/16" onion flake, 1/16" mild red Hatch pepper flake, 1/16" cracked medley peppercorn)
(All of the above dry rub ingredients were added by "eye" with the spritz added after each item and/or as needed to make each one "stick" to the meat)
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NOTICE: SOME MARINADES DO CONTAIN SALT.
I did not add salt to the dry rub for this reason.
After reading my old notes mentioning if I add Lawry's Seasoned Salt to add it VERY lightly must have meant to prevent over salting.
Anyway, this time I tasted the marinade, and detected salt.
So this is why I did not add any salt when putting the dry rub on.
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SMOKE in a moist KBQ with water and Lava Rock in the cookie tray in the bottom, and a pan above that to catch the dripping oil.
Add some water to that pan as well so the drippings from the meat do not burn and smoke.
(To me, the drippings burning on the metal pan stink and the smoke is NOT the type that I want coating my product)
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The temperature that worked was 250°F. (Measured at the center rack in my KBQ)
Spritz the meat with a fine spray (When it appears to be dry)
The spritz will add to the bark and in time will look like a darker than normal candy apple type coating.
Smoke until about 195°F to 200°F internal until the meat is tender.
Note that the fat will be incredibly tender and the probe will basically "fall" thru it.
I spritz more often near the end of the smoke which makes me feel good, and think that I am helping the meat to stay more moist inside.
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Did try some glazed with KC Masterpiece, but the eaters said they did not like it added, so I stopped.
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This worked for me.
Your "mileage" may vary.
Good night my friend.Last edited by BBQ_Bill; March 22, 2019, 06:29 AM.Comment
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HISTORY of this pork cut...
In pre-revolutionary New England and into the American Revolutionary War, New England butchers would generally take lesser requested pork like this shoulder cut I smoked, and would pack them into barrels for storage and transport.
These barrels were known as a butt, which comes from the Latin word "Buttis" meaning cask or barrel. This particular shoulder cut became known around the country as a Boston specialty, and hence it became the "Boston butt".Comment
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KBQ bacon
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We moved late last year and had to leave the firewood behind - ouch. After a bunch of hurdles through the winter, the weather is back to being nice, and things got even better after having this delivered today. I need to fire up the KBQ and do some ribs!
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Well, I cooked up this separated brisket a couple of weeks ago and posted it to SUWYC, but it really belongs here. The KBQ still makes the best BBQ on my patio. Hands down! (Thank you Ernest for getting my mind right and helping me realize that this needed to be posted here!)
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Spinaker can you share your procedures? Especially cook temps, time, meat temp for Point, for flat? Thanks. Every time I trim my Costco prime briskets, I end up essentially separating the point from flat.
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Yes, I would be happy too. Give a little time here and I will put it together for you. Dr. Pepper -
Dr. Pepper I don't bother with trimming briskets. Season and smoke
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Dr. Pepper First, when I am buying a brisket, I always buy Prime full packers. I find that I am able to get a thicker flat, with more inter-muscular fat, which is what I want. This gives you the best chance of not drying it out during the cooking process, especially on the edges.
As of late, I have been separating the point from the flat every time. These pieces of meat cook differently, and thus, they are almost always done at different times. Plus, you get more bark that way!
One little trick that I like to use when I am done trimming the brisket is to make a notch at the bottom corner of the flat. This tells me where I should be slicing when the cooking is done. Often times, you can not see which direction the meat fibers are running. (As you know, we want to slice the flat against the grain.) So you can see where I cut the notch on the bottom left of the flat. Then I will know exactly where to start slicing when it comes time to do so.
For the start of the cook, I like to place my briskets in the freezer for about 1/2 hr to get the surface of the meat down in temp as much as possible before the cook. I don't want to freeze the brisket, just give it a shot of really cold air. (We know that cold, wet meat attracts more smoke.) Once I have the pit up to temp and ready to rip, I take the briskets out and put them on the pit. I give them a light and very fine mist with a cocktail of 1/2 water, then I add equal parts Apple Cider Vinegar and about a table spoon of liquid aminos. You want to make sure the mist is very fine and you are not too aggressive while spraying, as you don't want your rub to run off the meat. I will spritz the briskets every 1/2 hour or so, for the first 2 hours. This helps your bark stay nice and moist through out the cook. I will spritz again when the meat hits about 180 F or when the bark gets that dark mahogany color to it. Just to make sure that I am not getting any hard, crusty spots in the bark. As you can see in the picture just below, the bark is very present, but it is moist and packed with flavor.
The next picture down is a whole brisket I did that had no spritzing done at all. You can see the crispy edges, the first part of the flat was dry and over cooked. Not good!
For time and temp, this last cook took me about 10.5 hours to complete. You can see in the graph below, I started to see the meat climb up to about 180 F at about 8 hours in. I opened the KBQ and probed the meat with my Thermapen to find the coldest spot in the briskets. As you can see below, I moved the probes once I found the coldest spot in the flat and point. I then wrapped these in butcher paper to take them all the way up to about 198 F for the point and the flat to about 202 F. But really you want "probe tender" All pieces of meat are different so it can vary on exactly what temp is considered to be "done". If the probe is sliding in and out like butter, it is done cooking and ready for a hold the in the cooler. I generally run the pit at about 240-250 when cooking brisket. Any lower than that and it take way too long too cook. (which is fine in the BGE, but for the KBQ, a 10-12 hours cook is plenty long for me) You can see how I bumped up the temp, once I have all of the pieces of meat in the butcher paper. I have all the smoke I need, now I just need heat.
Then comes the hold. (More on that here) This is a very important part of the cook, and one that I consider to be essential. Once the meat has reached finishing temp, I will add another layer of butcher paper, wrapped tight, and I place them in a pre-heated cooler. I line the bottom of the cooler with a cotton towel. Then I place the meat in the cooler and any open space is filled with more towels. This helps to keep the heat in the cooler for much longer. I will allow them to hold for at least 2 hours but I aim for 4 hours, if possible.
I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions about anything. I am happy to clear anything up that I did not explain with enough detail.
Keep the smoke rollin' !Comment
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I have not used it in a while. I like to mix it up. I need to throw some on a Brit int he near future. It is still one of my favorites. lostclusters
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My online wood supplier isn't answering the phone. Now I'm in a panic and need wood this weekend. I seem to remember reading to NOT use kiln dried woods in the KBQ, of course, this seems to be all I can find on Amazon etc. Am I remembering that right, if so would placing a water pan in the bottom offset the dry wood?
Better yet anyone know a supplier that ships today, second-day air?
Am I over thinking this?
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Check Craigslist - I see a few people in your area that are selling firewood. Give one a call - https://lincoln.craigslist.org/searc...ewood&sort=rel
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Have you tried Craigslist? I have scored some good smoking wood from a local farmer via Craigslist.Originally posted by Smocalypse View Post
Not sure how to answer the kiln dried issue - other than it will likely burn quickly and not near as much smoke flavor.
Do you have any friends that own a farm or land? Sometimes you can find some downed limbs that are fairly "fresh", ready for cutting into KBQ size ;-)
Last, when all else fails - check your local Home Depot. In my area (Rochester NY) they often sell Mesquite wood logs (1 cu. ft in a bag) and Chunks. Both will work although a little pricey.
Don't bother with wood chips if that is all they have...Last edited by JGrana; June 5, 2019, 05:39 AM.Comment
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EDIT: Found the people that supply hickory to some local restaurants and they are willing to sell. Crisis averted.Last edited by Smocalypse; June 5, 2019, 08:33 AM.
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Fast and Hotter Brisket on KBQ?
KBQbretheren, I have a nice 14lb Costco Prime packer that I want to smoke on Friday. It's been wet aging about a month. I am out of town on Sat. and the weather Sunday and Monday looks rainy. I am going to bring at least half to my kids in Tacoma mid next week. So, this Friday is my best window.
I have done Troutman 's great QVQ brisket but time is running too short for this method....
So, I want to cut the time down a bit this Friday. I see more and more "hot and fast" brisket cooks. Anyone tried this on the KBQ? Since it cooks a bit unique, any advice on temps? I normally smoke around 230-250. I plan to separate the point and flat.
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I've done 375* hot and fast until bark sets. Then hydrate, wrap, and oven at 250* until probe tender. Turned out great.
Harry Soo YouTube hot and fast brisket method is worth checking out. Also BBQ_Bill has some good posts on KBQ brisket. Haven't seen him here for a while but maybe he'll chime in.
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