Edit: Pictures weren't working so they have been added in comments further down the page.
First chance I’ve had in a while for a long cook since my wife had the kids out and about most of the day. I opted to use a Performer with SnS over the pellet pooper since I haven’t shown the SnS enough love since I got it. Well, I was clearly a little rusty and made a few boneheaded mistakes. Fortunately, none of them noticeably affected the food.
Mistake #1: I don’t know how I possibly forgot to put in a drip pan (DnG covered in foil) when cooking a chuck roast, pork butt, and pork belly burnt ends, but I did forget. I had lots of delicious food, have plenty of leftovers for the week, and have a mess of a Performer sitting in my backyard waiting for all the grease to be cleaned. Anyone have any tips to de-greasing and making a Performer look all purdy again?
Mistake #2: I knew I could fit it all the food with the help of an upper rack, but didn’t really consider all the drippings. When it came time to cook, I wasn’t thrilled that I had to have some of the pork belly sitting below the chuck, getting beef drippings on my burnt ends. Fortunately, whatever may have dripped before I wrapped the beef wasn’t enough to make much a difference considering all the flavor is in the belly, the rub, and the sauce of the burnt ends. No harm done, though lesson learned for next time when I might not be so lucky.
Despite the lapses in judgement, it was a successful cook.
Pork Belly Burnt Ends – Pork belly from Costco leftover from making bacon a few months ago (2 lbs)
Pulled Pork – Pork butt from Butcher Box (4 lbs)
Pulled Beef – Chuck Roast from Porter Road (3 lbs)
Saturday early evening – Dry-brined all meat.
Sunday 9:30AM – Fired up the Performer. Added hot water to the SnS reservoir. Was aiming to cook around 275. Got distracted helping my wife get the kids ready for the day. Overshot the temp and had to wait a while to bring it back down.
10:30AM – Rubbed the Butt with Memphis Meat Dust, the Chuck with ABC’s Not Just For Beef.​​
10:45AM – Butt & Chuck on the Weber. Cut the Belly into pieces and rubbed with MMD.
11:45AM – Belly on the grill. All meat now on the cooker, time for a beer. I have a Spaten variety pack to work through. Start with a Spaten Lager.​​
1:30PM – Chuck hit 160. Wrapped in double foil and back on the grill. Open a Spaten Optimator (Dopplebock).
2:15PM – Belly moved to a foil pan, tossed with sauce (Cherry Pasilla BBQ Sauce I saw on sale at Whole Foods a while back), back on the grill.
3:00PM – Chuck hit 205, put into faux cambro. Tossed burnt ends in a little more sauce. Open a Spaten Oktoberfest.
3:40PM – Temp started dropping while the Butt was sitting at 170 IT. Pulled the burnt ends, cleared ash, added charcoal, got temp back up. Burnt ends seemed like they could use a little more time, so I popped them in the oven at 250 degrees.
4:30PM – Burnt ends out of the oven. Official taste test, followed by a second, third, and fourth taste test to check. Hey, I had to make sure they were consistent, right? Then one more taste test just because. Taste test passed… with honors.
5:20PM – Wife was on her way home with the kids. Decided to wrap the Butt and finish in the oven so I can be inside to help out feed them. Chuck out of the cooler and pulled. Great beefy flavor. Planning to try some enchiladas tonight, simmering leftovers in the Mexican Herb Seasoning that EasyMoney posted last week.
7:00PM – Butt hits 203, moved to faux cambro.
9:00PM – Pulled pork. It’s later than I had planned due to the late start I got managing the temps, so dinner was already done. But I still had to "sample" some of the pork. It came out great. Better bark than I get using the GMG, though I did cook at a higher temp than usual.
10:30PM – Crawl into bed, still smelling of pecan smoke. It was a good day.​
​ ​ ​ ​ ​
First chance I’ve had in a while for a long cook since my wife had the kids out and about most of the day. I opted to use a Performer with SnS over the pellet pooper since I haven’t shown the SnS enough love since I got it. Well, I was clearly a little rusty and made a few boneheaded mistakes. Fortunately, none of them noticeably affected the food.
Mistake #1: I don’t know how I possibly forgot to put in a drip pan (DnG covered in foil) when cooking a chuck roast, pork butt, and pork belly burnt ends, but I did forget. I had lots of delicious food, have plenty of leftovers for the week, and have a mess of a Performer sitting in my backyard waiting for all the grease to be cleaned. Anyone have any tips to de-greasing and making a Performer look all purdy again?
Mistake #2: I knew I could fit it all the food with the help of an upper rack, but didn’t really consider all the drippings. When it came time to cook, I wasn’t thrilled that I had to have some of the pork belly sitting below the chuck, getting beef drippings on my burnt ends. Fortunately, whatever may have dripped before I wrapped the beef wasn’t enough to make much a difference considering all the flavor is in the belly, the rub, and the sauce of the burnt ends. No harm done, though lesson learned for next time when I might not be so lucky.
Despite the lapses in judgement, it was a successful cook.
Pork Belly Burnt Ends – Pork belly from Costco leftover from making bacon a few months ago (2 lbs)
Pulled Pork – Pork butt from Butcher Box (4 lbs)
Pulled Beef – Chuck Roast from Porter Road (3 lbs)
Saturday early evening – Dry-brined all meat.
Sunday 9:30AM – Fired up the Performer. Added hot water to the SnS reservoir. Was aiming to cook around 275. Got distracted helping my wife get the kids ready for the day. Overshot the temp and had to wait a while to bring it back down.
10:30AM – Rubbed the Butt with Memphis Meat Dust, the Chuck with ABC’s Not Just For Beef.​​
10:45AM – Butt & Chuck on the Weber. Cut the Belly into pieces and rubbed with MMD.
11:45AM – Belly on the grill. All meat now on the cooker, time for a beer. I have a Spaten variety pack to work through. Start with a Spaten Lager.​​
1:30PM – Chuck hit 160. Wrapped in double foil and back on the grill. Open a Spaten Optimator (Dopplebock).
2:15PM – Belly moved to a foil pan, tossed with sauce (Cherry Pasilla BBQ Sauce I saw on sale at Whole Foods a while back), back on the grill.
3:00PM – Chuck hit 205, put into faux cambro. Tossed burnt ends in a little more sauce. Open a Spaten Oktoberfest.
3:40PM – Temp started dropping while the Butt was sitting at 170 IT. Pulled the burnt ends, cleared ash, added charcoal, got temp back up. Burnt ends seemed like they could use a little more time, so I popped them in the oven at 250 degrees.
4:30PM – Burnt ends out of the oven. Official taste test, followed by a second, third, and fourth taste test to check. Hey, I had to make sure they were consistent, right? Then one more taste test just because. Taste test passed… with honors.
5:20PM – Wife was on her way home with the kids. Decided to wrap the Butt and finish in the oven so I can be inside to help out feed them. Chuck out of the cooler and pulled. Great beefy flavor. Planning to try some enchiladas tonight, simmering leftovers in the Mexican Herb Seasoning that EasyMoney posted last week.
7:00PM – Butt hits 203, moved to faux cambro.
9:00PM – Pulled pork. It’s later than I had planned due to the late start I got managing the temps, so dinner was already done. But I still had to "sample" some of the pork. It came out great. Better bark than I get using the GMG, though I did cook at a higher temp than usual.
10:30PM – Crawl into bed, still smelling of pecan smoke. It was a good day.​
​ ​ ​ ​ ​
Attached Files
Comment