Question for BBQers/Smokers

Yes, I know what I'm about to ask is blasphemy, but bear with me:

We've got a large menu for the smoker this year for the 4th: A whole brisket, 2 pork butts, and 4 chickens. I'm trying to avoid tending the smoker all day the day of the party, so I plan on smoking everything the night before. If I smoke everything to the plateau or just past it, then wrap and put in the oven with the oven set to 185/190, is it going to hold my meat fine for 10-12 hrs and finish it off without drying it out??

Or am I better off just dealing with it and timing it to finish around meal time.

Also, yes I realize this is going to ruin the bark, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to have all the cooking done the night before.

Well, to make jerky in the oven you put in beef at low temp for 5 hours. Even wrapping it, i think you'll be approaching jerky consistency after 10 hours.

why not set an alarm for the middle of the night, have everything ready to put on and start it at like 3AM, that way you can go back to bed and wake up and you are half way done

this is my plan at least, I have a brisket going too and other stuff.

heh, yeah that's what i've done in the past and what I'll probably do. Was just trying to find an easy way out

Actually what I may do is do EVERYTHING the night before, have it done say 3am ish, pull/slice the meat, vacuum seal it with the food saver and toss it in the fridge, and then go to bed for a few hours before people start showing up. Then around 3pm (an hour before people show up) I'll float the meat pouches in some large pots of water just below a boil and bring them slowly back up to temp. I've done this before with pulled pork and chicken and they came out of the vacuum bag EXACTLY as they were straight off the rest the first time around.

I've actually used the above method to save meat for months and the freezer then have it come out exactly as it was the day I smoked it. Had people around for the first tasting (right out of the cooler on smoke day) and the final tasting (3 months later out of the bag in water method) that all agreed there was no difference in the two.

Can't believe I didn't remember that before, but I think that's how it's going to go down.

What time do you plan to serve?

Plan to serve sometime around 4-6pm Saturday. WANT to start cooking 4pm Friday, so that I can actually enjoy my day Saturday rather than smell like sweaty smoke (I love smoked meat, I love smoking meat, I HATE smelling like smoke...usually shower 2-3 times during the day when I'm running the smoker).

Find a Maverick ETC. Set and forget.

I have modded mine to get more distance but.....

It will still let you forget about whats smoking until it reaches your finish time or temperature and then sound an alarm for you to act. Has dual probes too. One for the chamber one for the food.

As for me I am fond of Au de Mesquite. Or at least it smells better than my au naturale funk.

Although I've often considered starting the smoking the night before I've never done it. One thing to keep in mind is that the smoke flavor get's into the meat during the first 3 or so hours. After this you don't really need to use the smoker.

Maybe you can start the brisket and butts Friday night. Pull them off the smoker after three hours and let them cook over night in your oven at 225?

I'd just do the get up in the night thing. It kind of sucks, but you're back to bed before you know it and the timing is nice for having the best product on the table for the guests.

This from a guy who took 3 days of smoking to get his pulled pork finished!

That's sorta what I'm thinking Arturo for my setup 4 hrs seems to be the sweet spot for smoke, but I'm still torn on exactly how to get the serving time to line up. Really shouldn't be experimenting like this on my guests, but they'll live...I'm their only brisket supply so they can't offend me

Meh, tell the guests to cook their own damn meat.

Homercidal said:

I'd just do the get up in the night thing. It kind of sucks, but you're back to bed before you know it and the timing is nice for having the best product on the table for the guests.

This from a guy who took 3 days of smoking to get his pulled pork finished!

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Goal is to not be smoking *at all* during the day saturday; this way I'd still have to tend the fire every few hours. I'm either going with the oven method or the full smoker method, but then store in vacuum sealed bags method.

arturo7 said:

Although I've often considered starting the smoking the night before I've never done it. One thing to keep in mind is that the smoke flavor get's into the meat during the first 3 or so hours. After this you don't really need to use the smoker.

Maybe you can start the brisket and butts Friday night. Pull them off the smoker after three hours and let them cook over night in your oven at 225?

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I have read that that is a very viable option for this scenario.

I will be taking my chances, plan on firing up the smoker at 6AM on Sunday and hope things are done by dinner.

Myrdhyn said:

Goal is to not be smoking *at all* during the day saturday; this way I'd still have to tend the fire every few hours. I'm either going with the oven method or the full smoker method, but then store in vacuum sealed bags method.

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Sorry, I have an electric smoker. I'd prefer to use a charcoal smoker, but at least I just have to plug it in and replace the chips once...

If you're going to do it overnight, pull it before you store it. Re-heat in the oven with a little apple juice and apple cider vinegar. Or, just re-heat it when you smoke the chicken.

arturo7 said:

If you're going to do it overnight, pull it before you store it. Re-heat in the oven with a little apple juice and apple cider vinegar. Or, just re-heat it when you smoke the chicken.

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May just do the chicken beer-butt style on the grill, that would be the ultimate in laziness.

Definitely add a bit of apple juice and ACV when reheating, forgot to add that when I use the vacuum bag in a pot method, I add a bit of AJ+ACV (I use it as my mopping sauce but in a spray bottle) to the bag before sealing.

humann_brewing said:

I have read that that is a very viable option for this scenario.

I will be taking my chances, plan on firing up the smoker at 6AM on Sunday and hope things are done by dinner.

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Even if you are going to smoke something that *should* only take 6-8hrs I find it useful to always plan for at least 12. That way when something goes wrong, you've got a built in buffer, and when it goes right...well the cooler will keep it warm and you can spend time with your guests for a few hours before dinner.

I'm a little torn like you...I was planning on smoking a butt Saturday and re-heating it on Sunday then smoking the Brisket on Sunday and pound some 5hr energies so I can party after 2 long days of smoking. I have been debating the oven method though...

Looks like the forum's gonna have some good BBQ pr0n next week!!!

GilaMinumBeer said:

Find a Maverick ETC. Set and forget.

I have modded mine to get more distance but.....

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Can you let us in on the mod?

So...I was thinking about this more last night. If the pork is tossed in the oven to finish up will that hinder any bark forming? Has anyone ever tried this?

I dunno if it will hinder one forming (my guess woudl be not, my mother in law actually gets a "bark" on her ham when she bakes it...good stuff), but I do know that if you get a nice bark formed and then foil it up and put it in the oven, it's going to soggy up that bark.

Also, ditto to the Q pr0n next week. I'll try to remember to get some shots to post up.

I'm not going to foil it and put it in the oven. I'm going to leave it uncovered directly on the rack with a drip pan on the rack below it.

I'm thinking about cookin' this up for the 4th:
http://grillinfools.com/2010/01/06/comfort-food-beef-chuck-roast/

Damn that looks tasty. I actually made a chuck roast in the crock pot tuesday night. I used some of the last of Beirmuncher's Ode-To-Arthur stout that I brewed as the base for the broth. Turned out quite tasty.

The solution to your problem is simple (especially this time of year when it is real warm in the deep south). Smoke the meat night before as you propose, getting the largest cuts of meat to the internal temperature of your liking (for me it's 180 degrees). Get a cooler large enuf to hold all your meat. As each cut reaches the target internal temperature, wrap in foil and stick in cooler. When you have done this for all the meats, cover everything with a thick towel (note: towel will be ruined for any other use after this due to smoke smell and grease stains). Close cooler and stick it in your hot garage. Let it sit 10-12 hours. Done.

I might risk something like that if I'm the only one eating it but I would rather not send my friends home with anything other than beer and food in their bellies...if you know what I mean.

I am not sure what you percieve the risk to be. I have done this for years with zero problems. It is a very well known and time tested technique in BBQ circles. The whole point of putting it in the cooler is that it will easily hold the internal temperature of the meat with very little loss of heat over a 10-12 hour period, especially in the summer when the ambient temp is hot - just like the same cooler will keep ice near frozen over that same period where the outside temp is cool or cold. So long as you do not open the lid, the heat remains mostly trapped. But hey, its ok, BBQ technique is a personal thing and everyone has his own methods.

Guess I run in different circles. I sometimes do some risky stuff, but I would never let meat sit in cooler any longer than a couple hours. Sure it will hold some heat, but not enough to keep the nasties at bay.

The only real option is to let it sit in a cooler for an hour after removing it from the smoker, then pull it, then chill it, then re-heat it.

The risk is the possibility of the meat dropping into the "danger zone" (cue the top gun music) that might cause some bacteria to grow. I've been around some unknowingly bad food that was being eaten and maybe I'm a little too cautious but I dont want to be that person. Also, there's a big difference between having my cooler keep ice cold overnight and meat warm overnight.

Just like brewing everyone has their tried and true techniques and methods but that doesnt mean I'm willing to try all of them.

I went with my vacuum sealer method. All meat was smoked for that night, rested for 1-2hrs and then sliced (brisket) or pulled (pork butts). Then I gave it a final spray with my mop sauce and vacuum sealed it, and the next day I reheated those bags in my HLT. It worked perfectly for the second or third time now. Neither I nor anyone that helped me the day before could tell a difference in the meat from the night before and the day of.

This is going to become my default party prep method from now on. It's completely worth the waste of the vacuum bags (the fat and smell attaches to them, pretty much have to toss them). No smoke or mess the day of hte party: just toss some plastic bags in some hot water for 30-45mins, cut them open and dump into serving dishes. You could theoretically do this days or weeks in advance if you wanted to.

Also, to the guy above complaining about the towels getting the smell welded to them: I'm glad I'm not the only guy with dedicated bath towels, dedicated shop/brewing towels, and dedicated BBQing towels lol.

yea, the towels scene in my garage can get outta hand at times, but i am not complaining. i must say the BBQ towel is one of my favorites to smell, lol.

anyway, glad to hear you found a solution that worked for you - it definitely sounds like a winner.

Putting raw meat in a cooler and letting it sit in 'the danger zone' is way different than putting a freshly cooked and still hot piece of meat, wrapped in foil while still hot, in a cooler and letting the temp drop into the danger zone.

There are virtually no 'nasties' present in the second case and they don't just magically appear from nowhere. Bacteria won't grow if they aren't there in the first place.

Not saying it's how I'd do Q but imo the concern for spoiled meat is minimal.