Who's smoking meat this weekend?

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Last weekend
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Smoked chuck roast... ~3.25#.

Temp/time?

Thinking of doing it with a typical brisket-style rub, just S&P and maybe some ancho chile powder if I'm feeling it, and aiming for about the 250 range. Wondering what time I need to be starting this thing in the morning to have it done by dinner... Wasn't planning on doing any sort of crutch/foil.

I'm thinking based on past small pulled pork chunks in that rough size that I should budget 7-8 hours for cooking, and if it rests 1-2 hours it should be fine, so start 9ish hours prior to intended eating time?

Good plan or am I going to be eating at midnight?
 
Smoked two racks tonight. Sauced them with some homemade bbq sauces. Tried a heavy tomato “backyard” style sauce, wasn’t crazy about it. Needed more sweetness or more acidity.

The little man almost ate a half rack to himself tonight!!
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Time again for a double batch of meatloaf, accompanied by a pair of med-small Pecan wood chunks staged to impart light smoke thru the initial 90 minutes of a 2.5 hour cooking session. Changed up the loaf recipe a bit and am quite pleased. Was a total hit with family who scheduled a visit (2 hour drive for them to get to our place) after learning that this was dinner

(each of those loaves contain 1.5 lb 80-20 Angus + 0.5lb Pork sausage)

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Smoked chuck roast... ~3.25#.

Temp/time?

Thinking of doing it with a typical brisket-style rub, just S&P and maybe some ancho chile powder if I'm feeling it, and aiming for about the 250 range. Wondering what time I need to be starting this thing in the morning to have it done by dinner... Wasn't planning on doing any sort of crutch/foil.

I'm thinking based on past small pulled pork chunks in that rough size that I should budget 7-8 hours for cooking, and if it rests 1-2 hours it should be fine, so start 9ish hours prior to intended eating time?

Good plan or am I going to be eating at midnight?
I've smoked one chuck before. Was a bit bigger, more like 6# if I remember right. Took 9 or 10 hours to get to 190-195 with the smoker set to 225, I believe. Plus an hour and a half to 2 hours wrapped in a towel in a cooler. 12 or so hours total. So a little more than half that size, 9hrs should be plenty.

Of course this was 4 years ago, so take my advice with a grain of salt. And some garlic, black pepper and chili powder.
 
got two lil 3 lb preseasoned pork shoulders and also a (not preseasoned) rack of pork spareribs. Stoked...haven't smoked in a few months! 🤘😆
 
Got a 10lb Boston Butt in brining now.
service will be Sunday afternoon, probably going to get it going around noon-ish tomorrow,hoping there'll be a break in the rain. get whatever time I can, then foil and cooler it till Sunday morning to finish and warm.
|Also hoping that the forcasted rain for Sunday afternoon fades out early. having the kiddo's birthday party, and not looking forward to everyone being in the house - even though all but one adults are vaccinated (the lone holdout is allergic)
 
Ran off a copy of Mississippi Po Boy. Its just as good as it looks on youtube. Having the pork version tonight. I usually draw the line at two sammiches, but, tonight I'm glad there were no witnesses.
 
Anyone ever done the "hot 'n fast" method? I've seen people do 20lbs briskets in 5 hours with it, but I haven't had success. Brisket comes out tender, but not THAT tender.
 
Anyone ever done the "hot 'n fast" method? I've seen people do 20lbs briskets in 5 hours with it, but I haven't had success. Brisket comes out tender, but not THAT tender.
I’ve seen it for pork butt but not brisket
 
3-2-1ish method for 2 racks of pork ribs in the Electric smoker then in the oven. Came out really good, smokey and tender even tho wasn't a "pure" technique.

Other notes: spritz with 50/50 apple cider and apple juice. Used Sweet Baby Ray's Hawaiian BBq sauce but didn't care for it. Switched to the Honey BBq

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3-2-1ish method for 2 racks of pork ribs in the Electric smoker then in the oven. Came out really good, smokey and tender even tho wasn't a "pure" technique.

Other notes: spritz with 50/50 apple cider and apple juice. Used Sweet Baby Ray's Hawaiian BBq sauce but didn't care for it. Switched to the Honey BBq

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I too bought the Hawaiian to try on ribs and didn’t care for it at all. Went right in the trash. Lol. I love SBR sauce, but the Hawaiian just wasn’t for me.
 
I'm trying the 3-2-1 method right now...but need to get better at it...don't have anything to spritz with...
More like 5 total hours at 260F avg...cherry wood chunks. Hoping for best!
 
She's back home. My Cookshack Fast Eddy 120 pallet smoker. It had been stored with a local FD as it was being lent out to the BBQ Brethren for their numerous charity cook events. Need a cleaning, after the rain stops :).

The WSM22 sits proudly next to her. Lots of KCBS competition awards among the two, and lots of people fed including 4 ships during Fleet Week at the Brooklyn Navy yard and one of the smokers cooking 40k meals atop the Long Beach Parking Garage in tech aftermath of Sandy.





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I'm trying the 3-2-1 method right now...but need to get better at it...don't have anything to spritz with...
More like 5 total hours at 260F avg...cherry wood chunks. Hoping for best!

try the 3-1-1. I was using it and took some nice trophies with it - including a NY State level Champion in Ribs. I thought I was doing something wrong that worked out right until I saw BBQ master Steve Raicklen's article on 3-1-1

The idea is that it can be easy to over cook ribs and often 3-2-1 produces mushy ribs. An hour in the braise step (wrapped in foil) should so the trick and you can then gauge the doneness using the bendy method and then adjust the last hour up or down accordingly. If they bend 90° then give them a glaze and remove after 20 minute. If they bend but not all the way, then gaze them in 40 minutes and they should be ready right at the 1 hour mark. If they are stiff, then check every 30 minutes and glaze when just about ready.

At 260 I cant imagine you will need 5 hours.


I do baby backs 2-2-1.


PS. I love the color cheery wood puts on ribs.
 
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Anyone ever done the "hot 'n fast" method? I've seen people do 20lbs briskets in 5 hours with it, but I haven't had success. Brisket comes out tender, but not THAT tender.

It takes a lot of skill. Basically the done window is much narrower than traditional low and slow. I know a number of competitors who do it so they can get sleep or free up a smoker. I've never had success although some things like latin pernil (pork) comes out great with Hot and Fast since the goal is knife slicing done, not pulling tender. Long rests in foil help finis hit and fast

Another technique I saw that works with meeting a serving window is basically a take off on the reverse sear. A very long cook at 185° and then fire up the smoker to finish just before serving, At 185° the connective matter will break down but won't dry out. The method in used in comps when you are trying to serve in a 10 minute window, and at home so your guests needn't wait 2 or more hours because the dang brisket is taking its sweet time.
 
try the 3-1-1. I was using it and took some nice trophies with it - including a NY State level Champion in Ribs. I thought I was doing something wrong tight work out right until I saw BBQ master Steve Raicklen's article on 3-1-1

The idea is that it can be easy to over cook ribs and often 3-2-1 produces mushy ribs. An hour in the braise step (wrapped in foil) should so the trick and you can then gauge the doneness using the bendy method and then adjust the last hour up or down accordingly. If they bend 90° then give them a glaze and remove after 20 minute. If they bend but not all the way, then gaze them in 40 minutes and they should be ready right at the 1 hour mark. If they are stiff, then check every 30 minutes and glaze when just about ready.

At 260 I cant imagine you will need 5 hours.


I do baby backs 2-2-1.


PS. I love the color cheery wood puts on ribs.
That's great advice thanks! I was visiting my parents and had to figure out their Weber gasser...the ribs were still tasty despite my mis-cues (pun always intended).
 
+1 for shoulder/butt while learning BBQ... the homebrew extract of the pit!

I prefer this sequence for the learning curve:


chicken: the easiest - it's done when the thermometer says its done.
Ribs - Cook three racks at a time and remove 30 minute apart so you know when underdone, done and overdone are
Pork - keeping the fire lit, not falling asleep, knowing the feel of done etc. requires some skill
Brisket - no comment. I've cooked literally hundreds of briskets and still have no clue what I am doing. Thank goodness for the au jus! The Cowboys and brisket are two things from Texas that pains me.
 
Did some 3-2-1 ribs today. Worked out well as the fam and I took our dog to the beach so he could swim himself to exhaustion during 3. Got home and did the wrap for the 2, gave the dog a bath, helped the kids wash the car, made the bbq sauce and prepped the mac&cheese for the 1.
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Smoked brisket yesterday. Stubborn thing wouldn't get completely up to 195° in the smoker, despite a 16 hour smoke at 225°. Kind of ruined supper that it didn't finish resting until 11:30. But it was still good this morning in a sandwich with an egg.

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I stuffed some snack sticks, smoked them, then pickled them Penrose Sausage-style this past week
 
Smoked brisket yesterday. Stubborn thing wouldn't get completely up to 195° in the smoker, despite a 16 hour smoke at 225°. Kind of ruined supper that it didn't finish resting until 11:30. But it was still good this morning in a sandwich with an egg.

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if the temp probe slides in like a hot knife through butter and it has a "giggle" to it, it's done regardless of the thermometer reading. Although after 16 hours at 225° and below 195°, I suspect a temperature misreading someplace. Take multiple readings. The thin part of the flat will cook differently than the point so you may get a variety of readings to give you a better idea how it's cooking. Also, I never trust the BBQ thermometer unless it's right next to the meat and calibrated.


how did it cone out? Stiff and dry? Tender? Mushy? I like to cook well in advance and let it rest for hours,. The sample slices in my above post pic were a bit dry and tough when I cut them the next morning, but the ones I reheated in the microwave for sandwiches during the week were absolutely perfect tender.
 
Smoked brisket yesterday. Stubborn thing wouldn't get completely up to 195° in the smoker, despite a 16 hour smoke at 225°. Kind of ruined supper that it didn't finish resting until 11:30. But it was still good this morning in a sandwich with an egg.

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If you're having trouble getting it up to temp, one solution is to finish it in your oven and raise the temperature to 300 or so. I would also second guess the temperature probe readings if it went that long. From the pics it looks fairly small and if it passes the jiggle test then I rest it in a faux cambro and cut it up.
 
if the temp probe slides in like a hot knife through butter and it has a "giggle" to it, it's done regardless of the thermometer reading. Although after 16 hours at 225° and below 195°, I suspect a temperature misreading someplace. Take multiple readings. The thin part of the flat will cook differently than the point so you may get a variety of readings to give you a better idea how it's cooking. Also, I never trust the BBQ thermometer unless it's right next to the meat and calibrated.

My thermometer usually shows it to be a little hot. Usually when it looks like it should be done we get another thermometer to double check and get about 10° cooler.

I don't like opening it up to check that often. When you're lookin', you ain't cookin'. I think I can plug another temperature probe into my smoker, maybe I'll give that a try.

I've not made that many briskets to see what the deal is with the jiggle test. It's something I suppose I should get familiar with.

how did it cone out? Stiff and dry? Tender? Mushy? I like to cook well in advance and let it rest for hours,. The sample slices in my above post pic were a bit dry and tough when I cut them the next morning, but the ones I reheated in the microwave for sandwiches during the week were absolutely perfect tender.

It came out good. I wouldn't be embarrassed to share it with family. It didn't pass the pull test, but when sliced it can be easily cut with a fork. It isn't tough or chewy. I wouldn't describe it as dry, but I bet that it wasn't as moist as it could've been.

I was wondering about vacuum sealing some, and when I get around to heating that portion up just put it in the crockpot with a little beef stock. It would probably ruin any bark that formed, but besides that I don't see a problem.
 
My thermometer usually shows it to be a little hot. Usually when it looks like it should be done we get another thermometer to double check and get about 10° cooler.

I don't like opening it up to check that often. When you're lookin', you ain't cookin'. I think I can plug another temperature probe into my smoker, maybe I'll give that a try.

I've not made that many briskets to see what the deal is with the jiggle test. It's something I suppose I should get familiar with.



It came out good. I wouldn't be embarrassed to share it with family. It didn't pass the pull test, but when sliced it can be easily cut with a fork. It isn't tough or chewy. I wouldn't describe it as dry, but I bet that it wasn't as moist as it could've been.

I was wondering about vacuum sealing some, and when I get around to heating that portion up just put it in the crockpot with a little beef stock. It would probably ruin any bark that formed, but besides that I don't see a problem.


slice and reheat in the microwave. 4 slices takes just 1min 30 seconds in my 900 watt microwave. Half my brisket has been vacuumed sealed and in the freezer. So long as you don't leave it so long that it develops freezer burn and you let it thaw (either in the fridge under running cool water while still sealed you should preserve its goodness. I used to slice and reheat with some beef stock in a pan, which isn't bad, but found the microwave is better. I would assume you could nuke it before slicing, just do it in stages on lower power. Even use the defrost feature.
 
My thermometer usually shows it to be a little hot. Usually when it looks like it should be done we get another thermometer to double check and get about 10° cooler.

When it's starting to get close to temp I always double-check with the Thermapen in several different spots on the brisket. It's not that I think my normal probe (Thermoworks Dot) isn't accurate, but the hard question is always whether it's in the hottest spot of the brisket. Being such a large and irregular piece of meat, there's always someplace on the brisket cooler than where my probe is. If it's a little below center mass, it'll read warm. So I probe a bunch of spots to try to get a sense of the differential between where the leave-in probe is sitting and the other parts of the brisket.
 
I think my next brisket (Father's Day) I'm going to foil it when I hit the stall. I always feel like when I do it uncovered that the bark gets too hard and it's so hard to keep it from drying out. And in this case it's only about 12.5#, so it doesn't have as much mass and thickness as usual.
 
Did a salmon filet yesterday and doing a small (3.5lb) brisket today. @betarhoalphadelta I've done it both ways wrapped and unwrapped and I think it depends on the smoker, I use a UDS and honestly I find a water (or whatever I put in it) pan under it makes more of a difference that wrapping or not.
 
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