More BBQ Butts and Ribs

[droopie69]

My mother in law is in staying with us for a few weeks. She lives in Lillian, AL with my sister in law. She got dumped on the Amtrak in Nola 2 weeks ago and we picked her up at the Memphis Amtrak station at 11pm....which is an entirely different story.

My wife says why don't you cook some bbq while she's here? Well, why not? Not like I need an excuse. So I got a 7.5lb butt, Thanks for the $1.79/lb sale Kroger. And a rack of baby back ribs. The last ribs I cooked were awesome. Thanks to Meathead for learning me how to cook ribs right!

Set up my kettle and SNS last night. I've found, for me, the best way to set it up is the night before. I load up the charcoal bin, and leave the left corner open. I drop a starter tumbleweed down there and go ahead and fill the water up.

When I stumble out early in the morning, I like the tumble weed, let it get going then move some charcoal over on it. All vents wide open. In about 45 minutes, it's up to 240+ and go set my vents...already marked with a sharpie.

My problem this morning is at 4 am I was awakened by thunder and lightning. And I can sleep thru a train wreck. Not much rain but it has been lightning non stop since 4 and it's 7:30 now. Right now we are having about the worst so far. The thunder shakes the house...it's right on top of us.

Anyway, I dozed back off and around 6:20 thunder woke me up again. I was praying for sleep when I sat bolt upright in bed and said, shoot...I gotta get the butt on. I almost forgot and didn't set an alarm. Therefore, I've got the SNS up to 255 right now. I may even wrap this butt since we are eating around 5. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it is going.

[droopie69]

Last butt I did, the bark got too dried and crusty for most people, so today I am wrapping for the first time. I thought I was an hour late getting it on, but it's already at 180 so I'll crutch it up to 195-200 and then take it back out check the bark and either fire it on the coals to crust it up or pull it and rest in the cambro. It would be nice to get it done a little early so I can visit with the guests instead of in the mad dash to pull it and shred it.

[droopie69]

There's a first for everything. I could tell this butt was going fast anyhow, so when it got to 180 I wrapped it. First time I have done that. It was 203 at about 2pm or 7.5 hrs in. I put it in a blanket and in the cooler. I threw the ribs on about 1.30. I knew the butt will 'juice' up. Dinner was set for 6:45 so about 5:30, I unwrapped it and put it back in the smoker, pouring it's au jus in the baked beans. It was just about perfect. Smoky enough...I used hickory chunks and some cherry chips. The bark got firmed back up, so it wasn't tough but it wasn't soft and rubbery either.

A big success. The last time I did a butt, I had to pick out a lot of bark that was too tough, like jerky. This was perfect!
I can't claim this success on my own. I have learned more than I ever knew about bbq here. Thanks Meathead and everyone who contributes, posts, and hangs out here!!!

[Jerod Broussard]

Yum Yum Yum!

Gotta love good Amtrak and Bus stories.

[droopie69]

Not much of a story other than they are renovating the station and there are ZERO lights in the parking lot. It's dark....very dark. And mama in law can't walk 10 feet without looking like she's about to fall over. She has a condition...what's it called....oh yeah Hypochondriac. She loves a good surgical procedure and lives on cheese and crackers.

[HawkerXP]

Congrats! Nice looking cook.

[RonB]

Congrats on a successful cook.

[Troutman]

Great cook, enjoyed your journey through it as well. I think we’ve all been there in one form or another, nice job!!

[Frozen Smoke]

Nice cook! My method for butts is to cook them to about 165 to 170. At that point all the fat and collagen is really starting to break down. I don't want to lose those fat juices to the bottom of the pit so I pan the butts at that point. I'm always doing multiple butts so I put two in a full size aluminum pan and pour a bottle of dark beer in the bottom first.

I do not cover the pan but just put it back in the smoker. So you are still forming a bark and still hitting it with some smoke. When they hit the 205 to 210 mark I pull the pans off the smoker cover with foil and put them in the Cambro overnight for pulling the next day.
Honestly these is very little pulling involved as the butts just melt apart. All you need to do is work through them and take out anything that looks like you don't want to eat. There is always a good amount of juice in the bottom of the pan between the beer and meat juices and it always gets reabsorbed back into the meat once you work it.
The beer in addition to adding moisture also adds another flavor profile.
I never have dry pulled pork. Once it's pulled I add some more rub, bag it, vac seal and freeze.

[droopie69]

Makes me want to buy another one and cook it tomorrow. But that thing called work is in the way!!!