My first pigsket: Play by play

[DaveD]

Good morning Pit, I'm making my first pigsket today, so I thought I'd have a thread with more or less real time updates if anyone wants to follow along at home.
2.1 lb (~1kg) pigsket from Porter Road, and unlike a recent experience I believe by jfmorris (forgive if I misremember), it's not a thin cut folded in half Dry-brined with coarse kosher overnight, generously rubbed with Memphis dust about 45 min before Go Time:
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I've got my Pit Boss Copperhead vertical p-smoker on its low-T "Smoke" setting for the first hour or so, then targeting 225. Pigsket in at 9:15a local time. Instrumented with my Meater+ on the left, wired probe to my SnS unit.



Stay tuned...

[smokin fool]

Staying tuned....

[efincoop]

Looking forward to the updates

[bbqLuv]

The Pig's brisket. Very Interesting, but not common.
I am staying tuned for more to come.

[Waster]

DaveD Interesting.... never heard of this cut before today.... curious how it turns out (and by extension, if I should try it).... best of luck and keep us posted Dave!

[DaveD]

Howdy folks, thanks for coming along on my journey today! Note: the end of the cut with the Meater+ in it is a bit thicker than the one with the wired probe, reflected in the T differences.

And I forgot to mention, my target T is 170-175, after reading the experience of patcrail
in a thread from July 2020 https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...523#post878523 He got super tenderness at 170, and reported a much better outcome than when he took his first to the low 200s (even though that was great too). So basically I will pull it out when I feel the right tenderness once I hit that temp range.

Here it is at one hour in, after the smoke step, when I put the set point to 225F. IT on the Meater is 65, on the wired 72.



And after 1 hour at 225F, Meater reads 120, wired 140, and I'm expecting to see signs of a stall soon.



In fact, here's the T trace from the Meater app, and it's definitely showing signs of a shoulder forming...



Time for lunch, and we'll see how it's going. The brisk wind has picked up a bit, a steady 5mph with gusts between 10 & 15, otherwise pretty nice day with temps in the high 40s and only thin, high cirrus cloud that is dissipating already. And I have just begun my holiday break, out-of-office reply duly in place in the work email. Gettin the party started!

[Draznnl]

Are you sure the entire 20 degree difference is due to meat thickness? Could the thin end be in a hotter spot than the narrow end? Would turning the roast around for a while help even the temps out?

You know your smoker and have probably taken all that into consideration already. But, it is our job out here in the Pit to offer potentially useful/useless advice while we stay tuned to your progress.

[Waster]

Could also be a calibration difference between the wired and wireless systems (although 20F delta-T is quite a lot). Maybe use an additional wired probe next to the wireless Meter+ to confirm?

[STEbbq]

Great tip on the 170 IT to begin checking for probe tenderness. I would have totally gone for 200+ next week and blown it, as it didn't occur to me. Thanks!

[DaveD]

Update time! First to Draznnl 's entirely reasonable question: I've got two wired probes inside the box, clipped to the undersides of the top and lowermost racks (you can just see the lower one at the right edge of all the photos), and there is never more than about a 5 degree gradient between the two. This vertical pellet smoker has proven to be extremely consistent, provided one uses the water pan as directed. Its thermal mass really helps keep a stable and uniform temp profile in there, hardly any thermal gradient. When I first got it set up, I put all four probes in there, spaced around the box, and ran it up and down temp - super stable, I was most impressed.

Sure enough, we have entered Stallsville. Bark is setting very nicely so I gave it a spritz (5:1 water:apple cider vinegar) when I topped up the water pan, and those actions put a little hitch in the giddyup, as you can see on the latest temperature plot. It nosed down a degree even, despite the ambient temp very quickly recovering. That's fine with me, it's only 1:30 and I actually want it to sit and stall for a couple of hours so that connective tissue can undergo the magic.

Edit: forgot to note, delta-T between the two probes is now 18 degrees F. And a cool measure of the stall is how long the Meater+ estimates until target is reached. At noon, it estimated 1 hr 14 min to go. By 1pm that had risen to 1 hr 37, and now half an hour later it's at 3 hr 24. The very definition of stall!

[bbqLuv]

fun to follow
MIC, see the next post, KEY, why? because I love BBQ

[DaveD]

And we're back. The giddyup recovered after a bit. Meater temp 161, wired 178, spritzed again, producing another hitch in that giddyup. Still OK by me. Did a little poking with the insta-read and the temps are in that range, but it's got a ways to go in terms of tenderness. And since it's getting on 2:45 and I'm on my first hours of holiday vacation, I believe I'll have a beer. (Everyone needs something to believe in.)

[glitchy]

I did that too when I started using it, then one time I was having problems getting it to connect to my phone and stumbled across ‘past the line’ in the instructions is why I shared, so now I’m pushing it in till it’s closer to the plastic end.

[tbob4]

Beer taste is spot on!

[DaveD]

I didn't think to take a pic, but when I withdrew the Meater+ the "crust line" on it was pretty much right on the line. The only time I have dropouts is when I get too far away from the smoker, like when I go downstairs to the basement. But it reconnects instantly as soon as I'm back in range. I will keep this in mind though in case I do have probs!

[jfmorris]

Pretty sure my last couple of pork briskets from Porter Road I cooked to 190 to 195. I.e. until probe tender, and they always seem to take 5-6 hours. I think I wrapped in foil at 170F, just like I would with a beef brisket.

[DaveD]

Yessir, I've read those threads (learned a lot!), and would have blithely gone directly there had I not seen that other thread I linked above. Can't hurt to start check a little early if that's how it ends up I've never done a beef brisket, only chuck roasts and various beef ribs so far. Not planning to wrap on this go round, just to see how that turns out.

[DaveD]

Definitely getting my wish that it's holding at these temps for a good long while. The Meater reading has been holding at 172, and the wired at about 185, and it's getting more and more tender each time I probe. Temps are mostly in the high 170s to mid 180s in most of the piece, and I'd say about half the spots I probed are getting super tender, the rest almost there. Going to pull soon and let it rest wrapped for half an hour or so before we go for it.

4:30pm, about seven hours in:

Another hour later, 8 hours in:


T profile (you can see where I opened the door to poke):

[DaveD]

Alrighty, feels like time, so I pulled it out, wrapped in butcher paper, and half an hour in the FC before slice n serve. After-action report will be next.

[wrgilb]

Waster Here's one I did awhile back, took it to 195. This is next to a 6" boning knife.

[Waster]

Thanks for the pics, that looks amazing!

[DaveD]

Here's the wrap up. It was SO good! To me, it felt like the meat from those perfectly cooked pork ribs, when you have to tug it off the bones, that same toothsome texture and loaded with juicy flavor. Ever so slightly bacon-y, too. My beloved bride declared that it is her favorite thing in Porkdom that I've yet made - and I've made some butts and ribs that were more than passable if I do say so myself. So that's a happy outcome for sure. My sides were some orecchiette pasta tossed with butter, salt, and pepper, and some steamed broccoli. I will definitely be doing this again - my lovely bride asked, as she finished her last bite, when are you making another one of these??

My takeaway for now: start probing in the mid-170s and pull it when it feels right.

[tbob4]

Great write-up - thanks a ton

[Waster]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing your journey through porkdom!

[STEbbq]

FWIW, I don’t think you screwed up when slicing it. I have not seen a single one sliced differently yet than yours.