Actually it's 6:34AM, but who's counting, right?
Tonight is my biggest cook yet by myself. Last weekend I helped my friend with his big cook for his daughter's wedding. He did most of the meat, by the time I got there, it was wrapped and in a couple of more hours was done and resting. I did all the sides. But I got to play with his big (nearly)250-gallon locally built and I loved it. It's got some quirks, but it was... just fun. Tending the fire, etc.
So tonight I'm cooking for a gathering of 20 tomorrow (well, today, now). I'm waaaaay overdoing it, and I know it. And that's... ok.
So I fired her up around 3PM, got up to temp very fast and held steady easily. I started low, in the 225-230 range, and slowly increased temp until I put the brisket on at about 5:20PM.
The BIG Cook (Fireboard link)
For some odd reason, my Fireboard just turned itself off after 7 hours. So a half hour later when I discovered I wasn't getting temps, I just went and turned it back on and it was fine. Not a dead battery, though it was on the lower side. So I plugged in a battery pack I'd kept charged just for that purpose and rolled with the new session.
The BIG Cook - Part Deaux (Fireboard link)
So, first was the brisket.
17 pound Coscto Prime. Wet-aging in the cryovac about 2 weeks or so, I think, in the bottom of my 'MBF' - the Meat and Beer Fridge. Mercilessly trimmed All the fat off the point, left only the fat cap on the flat, so it was pretty scalped-looking.
Then I injected it heavily, about 14oz or so, most of which was retained. This was a mixture of beef broth and Lawry's Seasoning Salt. I figured - sounds like a lot of Texas BBQ places may be secretly using this product or something like it, and they're getting tons of business, and it has salt in it to hold onto moisture, etc. More flavor, more juice, win/win. Rubbed very lightly with salt and a good coat of 16 mesh black pepper I ordered off of Amazon for the purpose. Kept in a giant XXL Ziploc overnight in the fridge, sat for about 24 hours. When I removed it, I was a little trepidatious about how much liquid I might have lost, if the pepper was going to rub off on my hands too easily, etc. All. For. Naught. It leaked not a DROP of liquid into the bag overnight and the pepper adhered perfectly. It looked great. Straight out of the fridge and onto the smoker - recipe for perfection, right? Cold, wet meat in a warmed up stickburner? Sweet!
This pic was about an hour and 20 minutes on the heat.^^^
^^^^Just before pulling to wrap - about 13h, at 6AM. I slept a little late once and the fire dropped to 200 and set of my Fireboard alarm, took a bit to get it back up, and my flat dropped about 10 degrees in that time, from 159º to 148º or so. I hope that didn't set me back any, but it is what it is. Couple hours later, bark looked good (except for that pooling spot, might have to start taking a trick from Harry Soo) and I decided to pull and wrap, even though it was only reading 161º or so. Need to power this along a bit, and the bark was looking good.
<edit> I also coated it liberally with wagyu tallow at the wrap.</edit>
<edit Part Deaux> Spritzed throughout with 50/50 H2O/ACV </edit>
Couple of pork butts peeking into that last shot. Those are boneless, from WalMart, nothing special. I did salt them decently the night before also, on the outside and also some on the inside to permeate through as much as possible. Also rested 24h in another XXL giant Ziploc. Pulled out, MMD+ and straight onto the smoker. They were a couple-three hours behind the brisket, but more to the end, which is slightly warmed then the mid-zone the briskie has been in. Those are sporting a pair of my TempSpikes.
Wraptime!
Planned for today is 2 racks of babybacks, 2 whole chikkins (big uns!) and a whole pork belly, I think about 8-9 lbs.
So, the recap the menu for 20ish people, about 1/3 ladies:
17lb injected Prime brisket
~18 lbs pulled pork
2 racks of baby back ribs (~6-7lbs)
2 whole chikkins (~13-14lbs)
1 entire pork belly (~8-9lbs) - this I am going to quarter before I smoke, gonna see how it all looks, I might keep 2 of these quarters in my own freezer, vac sealed against a rainy day.
Too much? What do you think?
Tonight is my biggest cook yet by myself. Last weekend I helped my friend with his big cook for his daughter's wedding. He did most of the meat, by the time I got there, it was wrapped and in a couple of more hours was done and resting. I did all the sides. But I got to play with his big (nearly)250-gallon locally built and I loved it. It's got some quirks, but it was... just fun. Tending the fire, etc.
So tonight I'm cooking for a gathering of 20 tomorrow (well, today, now). I'm waaaaay overdoing it, and I know it. And that's... ok.
So I fired her up around 3PM, got up to temp very fast and held steady easily. I started low, in the 225-230 range, and slowly increased temp until I put the brisket on at about 5:20PM.
The BIG Cook (Fireboard link)
For some odd reason, my Fireboard just turned itself off after 7 hours. So a half hour later when I discovered I wasn't getting temps, I just went and turned it back on and it was fine. Not a dead battery, though it was on the lower side. So I plugged in a battery pack I'd kept charged just for that purpose and rolled with the new session.
The BIG Cook - Part Deaux (Fireboard link)
So, first was the brisket.
17 pound Coscto Prime. Wet-aging in the cryovac about 2 weeks or so, I think, in the bottom of my 'MBF' - the Meat and Beer Fridge. Mercilessly trimmed All the fat off the point, left only the fat cap on the flat, so it was pretty scalped-looking.
Then I injected it heavily, about 14oz or so, most of which was retained. This was a mixture of beef broth and Lawry's Seasoning Salt. I figured - sounds like a lot of Texas BBQ places may be secretly using this product or something like it, and they're getting tons of business, and it has salt in it to hold onto moisture, etc. More flavor, more juice, win/win. Rubbed very lightly with salt and a good coat of 16 mesh black pepper I ordered off of Amazon for the purpose. Kept in a giant XXL Ziploc overnight in the fridge, sat for about 24 hours. When I removed it, I was a little trepidatious about how much liquid I might have lost, if the pepper was going to rub off on my hands too easily, etc. All. For. Naught. It leaked not a DROP of liquid into the bag overnight and the pepper adhered perfectly. It looked great. Straight out of the fridge and onto the smoker - recipe for perfection, right? Cold, wet meat in a warmed up stickburner? Sweet!
This pic was about an hour and 20 minutes on the heat.^^^
^^^^Just before pulling to wrap - about 13h, at 6AM. I slept a little late once and the fire dropped to 200 and set of my Fireboard alarm, took a bit to get it back up, and my flat dropped about 10 degrees in that time, from 159º to 148º or so. I hope that didn't set me back any, but it is what it is. Couple hours later, bark looked good (except for that pooling spot, might have to start taking a trick from Harry Soo) and I decided to pull and wrap, even though it was only reading 161º or so. Need to power this along a bit, and the bark was looking good.
<edit> I also coated it liberally with wagyu tallow at the wrap.</edit>
<edit Part Deaux> Spritzed throughout with 50/50 H2O/ACV </edit>
Couple of pork butts peeking into that last shot. Those are boneless, from WalMart, nothing special. I did salt them decently the night before also, on the outside and also some on the inside to permeate through as much as possible. Also rested 24h in another XXL giant Ziploc. Pulled out, MMD+ and straight onto the smoker. They were a couple-three hours behind the brisket, but more to the end, which is slightly warmed then the mid-zone the briskie has been in. Those are sporting a pair of my TempSpikes.
Wraptime!
Planned for today is 2 racks of babybacks, 2 whole chikkins (big uns!) and a whole pork belly, I think about 8-9 lbs.
So, the recap the menu for 20ish people, about 1/3 ladies:
17lb injected Prime brisket
~18 lbs pulled pork
2 racks of baby back ribs (~6-7lbs)
2 whole chikkins (~13-14lbs)
1 entire pork belly (~8-9lbs) - this I am going to quarter before I smoke, gonna see how it all looks, I might keep 2 of these quarters in my own freezer, vac sealed against a rainy day.
Too much? What do you think?
Ed and Dale would go to Cuba to take them... supplies, 2-3 times a year. Green supplies that you can't talk about and they need desperately to support their churches.
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