Pork Brisket experiment (Pigsket)

[Red Man]

Did the ambient temp in the cooker change? I’ve had this happen before.

[patcrail]

Is a "double stall" or "mini stall before the real one" common? Honestly this is the first time I didn’t crutch my cook, but it seemed like it stalled at 150, but short, maybe 45 minutes, but now, it’s stalled about 165 and hasn’t budged in over an hour.... I’m not worried, and sure I’m in the "real" stall, but WTH was that at 150?

[patcrail]

3 hours in, climbing a little, at 158 & starting to get that BARK!

[patcrail]

2 hours (3 beers) in:
Weird, I expected they might go a little fast, but I’ll be damned if they haven’t hit a stall at about 150... I really expected a higher stall, if much at all, because they’re so small. Interesting. I’ve been keeping them at right about 225

[patcrail]

RichardCullipTroutman , For what it’s worth, here was his response when I asked him about trying it with such a small cut:
"I just smoked a few that size this morning and they turned out great."
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So we’ll just have to see! He was a really gracious dude, and I sweet talked him into sending me some of his salt-free rub (he doesn’t sell it, but he’s a good guy, and I keep reading all these over-the-top reviews of his meat, gotta taste what he’s using)... he wouldn’t come off the recipe, but if it’s that good, I’ll try to reverse engineer it...

[patcrail]

RichardCullip
For what it’s worth, here’s the PM from the guy at Gambling Stick that made Pigsket famous in Nashville (that’s his sliced in the first pic):

”I generally start them hot about 300 and taper the temp back once they get some good color and bark develop. Takes about 4-5hrs. I only wrap once I pull them off for resting. I would pull it off before you hit 200 to factor in carryover. We use a the same paprika based rub we use for our pork shoulders.“
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So, since his Pigsket is why I took a chance on this cut, I’m following his recommendations, for better or worse.

[patcrail]

Thanks brother, happy to be the guinea pig here, meant to tag you, glad ya found it! I gotta say, I got pigsket envy over the size of your cut, lol 😆..l they’re shipping another, but yeah, I’d much rather buy per pound... gotta say, though, this is first I’ve ever been dissatisfied

[patcrail]

They went on the grill a lil over an hour ago, with the trimmin’s over the coals for flavor! I’m

[RichardCullip]

Good luck. My pork brisket came it at 1.35lbs. Just barely above Porter Road’s minimum. It’s sleeping in the freezer until I get brave enough to cook such an expensive cut of meat. I wish Porter Road would price it per pound instead of the flat rate they offer this at. Hope to learn some technique hints from your cook.

[patcrail]

Trimmed & salted both cuts last night. While the new grill was burning in this morning, I trussed the steak pieces up & rubbed both that hunk & the brisket down with the last of my batch of Memphis Dust... ran a little shy, so gave each a light dusting of some similar store-bought salt-free rub I had for emergencies.

[patcrail]

Troutman
Breaking in the brand new Weber 22” & SNS with a smoked pork brisket from Porter Road, alongside a science experiment of mine: a "poor man’s Pigsket" ( cause a 1# brisket at $21 is insane, but I had to try one).,. A little background: the Porter Road pork brisket was inspired by the owner of the BBQ truck they host at the Nashville store, Gambling Stick BBQ.... his Pigsket gets rave reviews all over Nashville, and looks incredible sliced. (first pic below this post). So I bought one (and so did a couple other brothers here).... but when it arrived, it was INSANELY TINY! It was 1.08lbs! The advertised size was 1.25-2.25 lbs ($21 each, not per lb)... past experience is they usually hit the middle of the weights, so I was expecting something close to 2lbs, give or take. Nope, I was literally dumbstruck, it was below the min weight.
They’ve shipped another, but I have a brand new cooker here, it’s a holiday weekend, today’s slow-cooked pork day, & everything else in that order is fast-cook.
So, since it’s just me & Mrs, I wanted something else to cook, but wanted to stay similar in time, flavor, and ideally, tenderness as the Pigsket... so I found a pack of pork blade shoulder steaks at Kroger, deboned & trimmed the big fat (for burnt offerings!!), and cinched those pieces up real snug into a similar (but thicker) hunk of meat as the brisket.
Gonna do a side-by-side trial here... a shootout (Pigout?). I figured shoulder is probably as close as I’m gonna get to Pigsket at the supermarket, & my budget was blown, so I’ll gladly sacrifice a $6 pack of pork for the greater good!
I hope to learn:

1) Is Pigsket really all it’s cracked up to be, or did I just get robbed?
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2) Can I make a semi-sliceable, poor man’s Pigsket for 1/4 the price from shoulder steaks?
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3) How many beers does it take to cook pork to 190 ish in my new Webber kettle/SNS setup?
....
Stick around kiddos, we’ll find out! (I can telll you it takes 5 beers to assemble the 22” Premium Kettle, insert SNS, light it, and burn it in for an hour while prepping the pork)
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Here’s what I’m shooting for with the Pigsket: