What a good small piece of meat for testing smoker?

[IdahoJim]

I want to try a few different approaches with my Weber 26" kettle to see if I can dial it in where I am happy with the results. I'd like to find a small type of meat I can cook multiple times using different charcoal, wood etc. It's generally only me and the wife eating and we don't even eat at home that much. So, something that would serve one or two people would be great.

I was thinking baby back ribs, but the last rack I bought was $18 for a small rack. It fed the two of us plus a lunch for me. Something smaller and cheaper would be nice, but something that still needs a good long four or more hour smoke. Any ideas??

[STEbbq]

Pork butt! Cut into whatever size you want after buying the 2 pack from Costco!

[Andrrr]

Basically the same thing but country style ribs would be a good choice too

[bbqLuv]

Ditto on country-style pork ribs cut from the butt.

[Mosca]

This here.

[LA Pork Butt]

If you can find shoulder pork steaks. They might be called blade steaks or St. Louis Pork Steaks. You and the wife could split them and smoke to 140 or so and then sear them off. I think the Butts are too big for you and your wife and each part of the Butt will cook differently. You could smoke and then reverse sear boneless skinless chicken thighs.

[FireMan]

How about a hot dog? Just sayin. 🤓

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

STEbbq I think you could, 200-225 I'll do brats for 4ish hours sometimes.

[STEbbq]

ItsAllGoneToTheDogs true on brats. I was thinking of the 99 cent hot dogs…

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I still think it might work. I've got some dogs I froze because they were gonna expire, I'll give 'em a shot next week

[glitchy]

Chuck roasts are good and the leftovers are pretty versatile. You can shred and make tacos or nachos for something different the second meal.

[shify]

I know you said 4+ hours but I’ll still recommend a tri tip. Takes smoke well and is good size for two people with a reasonable amount of leftovers for a steak sandwich the next day.

[shify]

glitchy - haven't done a trisket yet (I go for indirect or smoke til med rare and then sear) - in my head it sounds like it wouldn't work and candidly the pictures I've seen online haven't swayed me, but if you are saying its worth attempting, perhaps I'll revisit my belief

[glitchy]

shify I usually wrap in butcher paper at 160 and pull at 195-200. If I have beef tallow, I melt just a little and pour over as I wrap. Malcom Reed did trisket recently on his channel too.

[shify]

glitchy - thanks. If I can source two tri tips this weekend (often a challenge here in NY), maybe i'll make it two ways and see which we prefer.

[texastweeter]

Baloney

[Bkhuna]

BBQ bologna is wonderful. My wife requested it for Mothers day and I was happy to comply.

[Sid P]

Smoked bologna is delicious, but it was $6/lb the day I tried it and that was pre-pandemic!

[texastweeter]

All my homemade baloney is smoked

[jfmorris]

I bought a brisket on sale for $1.99 a pound a while back at Kroger (USDA Choice), and since its just the wife and I, I broke that 18 pound brisket down to flat and point, cut the flat in half, and after trimming, froze 3 nice sized pieces of brisket, one of which I thawed and smoked recently. That 4-5 pound hunk of brisket fed us about 3 meals. And it cooked in 6 hours plus 1-2 hours in cambro.

Brisket is one of your cheaper cuts, and this is my first time to break it down into smaller pieces, and it worked well for feeding two. Find a good buy on brisket, cut it up how you want, and get 3-4 cooks from one brisket.

I'll be doing this more, so that I can smoke brisket and not have to wait for a dinner where I am feeding 8-12 people from a whole packer.

[ecowper]

Usually my first long cook to see if I can manage the temps, etc is a chuck roast.

[fzxdoc]

When I first got my PBC, I smoked a couple of chickens a day in it for several days, eating some, gifting others to neighbors or shredding the meat and freezing it for other dishes. I purposely cooked the birds at lower temps starting from about 240° and increasing the temps for each subsequent cook. I recorded times and temps.

Since I was not going for crispy skin, it didn't make a difference if the temps were lower and the skin (thrown away or seared) was rubbery when the chicken was done. I was trying to get a handle on fire lighting and management. Just to clarify, I routinely cook chicken and turkey at 350°; but back then I was learning how to make the PBC cooks as predictable as possible with good lighting techniques using inexpensive meat.

For years after that, my neighbors wanted to know when my next chicken smoking experiment was due.

Kathryn

[Mark The Q-er]

Yes, I am still smoke cooking my chickens low and slow like I learned in the 1980s, and yes, my skin is still rubbery and I do throw it away for the most part. But nobody complains when your breast meat squirts juice like a fresh orange. :-)

[Murdy]

Small chuck roast or a meat loaf

[Mark The Q-er]

I think your first idea is best considering only two people are eating. If baby backs are too expensive, consider pre-trimmed St louis ribs which should be a bit cheaper. Or untrimmed spare ribs even cheaper, but that's a lot of meat. Good luck

[rlozinak]

I would say a small chuck roast

[Finster]

Perhaps a turkey breast?!?

[WillTravelForFood]

generic stew meat