Meat!! and more questions.

[BrewMasterJosh]

Ok, so I went a little overboard today at the meat market. I got a 5# brisket, 4# pork butt(bone-in) and a chicken. Oh and I have a ham that has been curing for 2 weeks, (gonna cool smoke it in the other smoker.). Anyway, I know this is not a lot per se, but only wife I to eat it(me mostly). Any suggestions on rubs, times, temps. First attempt on most(did 1 brisket before, but those that have read posts know how that went). Cant wait til tomorrow! As always, thanks for help

[BBQ Engineer]

Hey Josh,

Assuming by looking at the weights that the brisket is a trimmed flat? What kind of chicken...whole, or pieces?

Here's what I would do...if it is a whole bird, brine it, otherwise wait till tomorrow and rub it if it is thighs. Choose a rub...there are lots of recipes around here.

Some like to rub the night before, but I haven't found there to be an appreciable difference. Some like to slather the meats with mustard as a sticking agent for the rub (the mustard taste magically disappears in the smoker)...sometimes I do some times I don't.

Fire up your smoker and then prep your meat. Quick and dirty here...keep the temp in the 225-275 degree range and keep the smoke thin...no billowing white stuff (I like fruit woods like apple and cherry, or Pecan...some of the stronger woods like mesquite get really bitter on long smokes).

Cook the brisket and butt to middle 160's and wrap in foil with a bit of liquid so they can braise...back in the smoker until 200-205 degrees. remove and rest...slice the brisket, shred the butt. Save the foil juices...defat and add back to the respective meats.

Chicken must be on the bottom if you have a stacked type of smoker...you don't want the chicken dripping on the other stuff (at least I wouldn't). Take that to above 155° (by USDA standards) to be done...I usually shoot for about 190° internal for fall off the bone chicken.

That ought to be a good starting point, and get you a decent meal. Be sure to take notes on what you did...that way you can adjust for next time or repeat if it is awesome!

Take lots of pics along the way so we can watch with you.

Good Luck

[Meat Hunter]

Duplicate post, sorry. My fat sausage fingers got in the way LOL

[Meat Hunter]

Ok, so I went a little overboard today at the meat market. I got a 5# brisket, 4# pork butt(bone-in) and a chicken. Oh and I have a ham that has been curing for 2 weeks, (gonna cool smoke it in the other smoker.). Anyway, I know this is not a lot per se, but only wife I to eat it(me mostly). Any suggestions on rubs, times, temps. First attempt on most(did 1 brisket before, but those that have read posts know how that went). Cant wait til tomorrow! As always, thanks for help

All good things to smoke. I can't help you with the cold smoking of the Ham, but the others I can offer some advice/tips.

On the brisket, a smoker temp of 225-240 is great. Make sure you have an accurate thermometer. As far as rubs, just search the forum here for what others have used. If you want to slice it, pull it at 190 degrees, wrap in foil, then wrap a towel around that and toss in a cooler to rest for about an hour. Many recipes available. Sometimes just keeping it simple is good too. A good mop/spritzing of something might be in order as well. A simple one is your basic apple juice. You can also mix it with something like captain morgans or even a burboun. Really, whatever you think might taste good on it.

Pork butt the same thing as above as far as smoker temps, but once it hits 165, pull it, wrap in foil and take it to 205. Once there, remove from smoker, let rest. Carefully open the foil taking care not to spill the juices. Collect juices and put in a jar or something and set in the fridge to separate the fat. Skim fat and add the liquid gold into the pulled pork. MMMMmmm.

A finishing sauce for pulled pork is almost a must. This is a popular one among members here.


1 Cup Cider Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning
1 Teaspoon Course Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Warm the Vinegar up enough so that it disolves the Sugar well. Then add the remaining ingredients.

I use it in one of those clear Ketchup bottles you can get from Wally World for about $0.99. Snip a little bit larger hole out of the spout with a pair of scissors. Once all your ingredients are mixed together, put your finger over the top, and shake vigorously.

Randomly squirt this over warm freshly pulled Pork, then kind of mix it up with gloved hands. This adds very little heat (despite the Red Pepper) and mellows out the stronger, gamier parts of the Shoulder. The Vinegar also helps break it down even more for some REAL juiicy pork.

The chicken, you might want to try a light brine. Poultry takes a brine better than anything. Same temps for the chicken, but when it comes close to getting to temp, jack the temps of your smoker up to around 300 if you can to crisp up that skin. Otherwise, its like chewing on a rubber band, the skin that is. You can also crisp the skin on the grill, works great.



Here are a couple rubs that I have used in the past.

Poultry brine.

Soak a poultry in this mixture overnight or 10-12 hours in the fridge

6# poultry
1 gal water
1 cup kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 cup satarains liquid crab boil
2 tbs black pepper
1/2 tbs rosemary
1/2 tbs thyme
1/8 cup molasses
1/8 cup white wine, not cooking
1/8 cup worcestershire


Brisket rubs

2/3 cup Brown Sugar / Raw Sugar
1/4 Paprika
1/4 Cup Kosher Salt
2 Tbl Onion Powder
3 Tbl Garlic Powder
3 Tbl White Pepper
2 tsp Cayenne
2 tsp Ground Mustard

#2

1/2 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup sugar in the raw
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 T granulated garlic
2 T granulated onion
2 T paprika
1 T chili powder
2 T black pepper
1T ground thyme
1 T ground cumin
1t ground nutmeg
2t cayenne pepper

Pork butt rub
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 T black pepper
2 T kosher salt
1 T ground ginger
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground mustard
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 T paprika
1 tsp ground thyme
2 tsp ground rosemary

Like I said, these are some that I have used and they taste pretty good. Do some searching here and online for other rubs, make them and adjust to what YOU like. Thats the fun part of doing this. Make the rub your own.

[BrewMasterJosh]

Wow, thanks for all the pointers. It is a whole chicken, that I will brine. The brisket is trimmed, it is all they had left. Gonna try and get better one next week from a farm I found only 10 mins away, goes to local farmers market on Sat mornings and will bring custom orders if you call ahead. BTW, both get my for the day!

[lynsey123]

Aint this place great !!!

[dwayne]

All you gota do is ask! ... Remember we like pics' here ... Dwayne

[BBQ Engineer]

Another thing you can do if you want to turn it up another notch, is periodically pop the smoker open and spritz or mop the meats. On the bird, make a compound butter (take some room temp butter and add some spices and herbs to that...I suggest some sage and thyme) to rub under the skin on the breasts before you throw that in the smoker...just be careful so you don't tear the skin when you stick your finger under it to rub on the butter mixture...It will be delicious!

Here is what I use to spritz...I use frozen concentrate apple juice and reconstitute it so it is strong...some times I add captain morgan to it, but I find that more of that ends up in my pie hole than on the ribs or butts! You can get this sprayer at home depot for about 6 bux...quite a bargain.

[BrewMasterJosh]

Of course! Pics to follow. Cant thank you all enough for the help

[BrewMasterJosh]

Thanks BBQ, was wondering about mopping or using wet pan. May use some bourbon. Of course will be more like little for bird, lot for me... haha

[DDave]

Ok, so I went a little overboard today at the meat market. I got a 5# brisket, 4# pork butt(bone-in) and a chicken.

Sounds like a good selection and a good Sunday smoke.

Looks like you're set for recipes and tips so sit back, relax, have fun, enjoy it, TAKE PICS, and keep us posted.

Dave

[Slanted88]

Stand back! Dat Cat is on it! Get er done Hot Rod!