mguerra

I have found that pork butt really does best cooked at a low temp for a long time. Unlike a brisket which can come out fine cooked hot and fast. A pork butt will be ok cooked hotter, but it is so much more tender cooked at 225 or so until it hits internal temp of 195-205 finish. This is my experience. I have tried a hot fast and wrapped in foil thing but no joy there, either.

Royal Oak from Wal-Mart is my go to. Since I always clean out with a shop vac, I just dump straight from the bag, no sorting. I tried some Rockwood and seemed to have a lot of chips and dust, more than RO. Sometimes I put a bed of coco in the very bottom of the charcoal basket and throw RO on top of that. Frankly, I don't care what I use, because anything cooked on lump charcoal is great, to me. Whenever I see some lump I never tried before, I grab a bag.

We are balancing moisture retention against tenderizing when we cook a brisket. The longer the meat is on the fire the more moisture it loses. But a long low temp cook like you did really helps tenderize brisket. We want the most tender AND most juicy we can get. You can't argue with success. 14 hours at 200º, with no foil nor paper wrap did it for you! I would do it again and see what happens.

Yesterday I cooked a brisket and split the point from the flat prior to cooking. I removed as much fat as I could from both pieces. I cooked the point straight through to probe tenderness with no wrap. That worked fine. And I wrapped the flat in paper when it hit 165º which worked quite well as usual. My fire temp started at 200º, I left for a Memorial Day service, came back about 2 hours later, and it had crept up to about 325º The brisket was right at 165º at that point so I wrapped the flat, left the point alone, and finished both pieces by feel. Got raves from the neighbors.

We have previously referenced World Spice in Seattle. You really can't imagine the difference between old, grocery store spices that have lost their aromatics and fresh vibrant spices from World Spice. It's more dramatic than day and night. Here is another source for all you foodies out there. Pendery's in Fort Worth.

penderys.com

My wife bought a hunk of corned beef at the grocer and the cooking instructions intrigued me. There were several sets of cooking instructions on the label and I immediately went to the smoking instructions. 

" Start a fire and add your preferred smoke wood, set the fire to 275º. Rinse and pat dry the corned beef and add your rub of choice. Put it on the fire and cook to an internal temperature of 165º. Remove the meat from the fire and wrap it in foil, then return to the fire. Cook for about an hour longer or until an internal temperature of 195º."

It seems a pretty standard BBQ competition, and/ or Franklin technique, (absent the butcher paper) has made its way to the masses via the grocery store.

The Wagyu Nazi!!

I laughed so hard I got an intercostal muscle cramp . I don't know why I'm craving Mulligatawny all of a sudden...

 It seemed really hilarious in my mind, I guess not...you know, Vladimir Putin/ Vladimir Poutine. Eh whatever.

Here's one for a Canadian menu item:

Vladamir Poutine- French fries, gravy, cheese curds; and a bottle of vodka. 

Here's another way if you don't do SV. Smoke a pork shoulder, picnic, Boston Butt. Pull it apart by hand and remove all the fat, skin, connective tissue. Take all that discard and render it down in a skillet. You will have a skillet full of crispy bits and fat. Reserve all that. Throw however much pulled pork you want to prepare in a cast iron skillet. Put in some of the reserved fat and crispies and toss and pan fry it till the pork has a little crispiness. You can marinade the pork before smoking it, and / or season it with any spices or aromatics in the fry pan. I served this to a little old Mexican lady who declared it the best carnitas she ever ate. To take it to a party, throw it in an electric roaster and put it on 180º when you get there, it will be even better after it heats like that for a while.

Get nine ribs. Foil three, pink paper three, run three naked. You'll have your answer.

No ethanol involved.

I tried the ammonia in a plastic bag trick to clean my grate and had it laying in the driveway. I forgot it was out there and backed over it! And by the way, that ammonia thing didn't do jack, even after 4 or 5 days in the bag. I never clean my grates, just thought I would try it for something to do. I'm never trying to clean them again. Just a quick scrape with grill floss now and then, that's it.

First cook should be the highest purpose of a KK. Don't grill something...

Smoke a pork shoulder; and feed any and all who will show up some spectacular pulled pork. You will be the f...ing champion of the neighborhood. In perpetuity. All will bow to you.

The final product.

A few nights ago...

Thanks

People who have been here awhile may remember this little gem:

https://youtu.be/aXPIiL5dbv4

PBW didn't touch it. From now on just grill floss.

What are those little circles and stars in front of the thread names?

It's been some time back. Wasn't it fire monkey who was selling little quarter grates? They sat on top of one of the other grates. I have one but have not used it yet.

Well hell, just cook on gas then!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LugYueXpcGY

I would just as soon use the Guru port and put the food to be smoked down low in the KK.

I have a little test dose of PBW coming. But frankly I'm sure I will just revert to never cleaning the grills, other than scraping big crud off with the Grill Floss.

I let it soak for 5 days and it did not do jack. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Maybe bad ammonia. Perhaps I'll buy a new bottle and try again.