Sugar Maple/Jack Daniels Oak Barrel Smoked Prime Rib, Pulled Pork and Smoked Sausage (Lots-o-Q-view)

Over Labor Day weekend I fired up the 22.5 WSM and smoked a 7.8 lb prime rib roast (w/ Chef Jimmy J's smokey Au Jus), a 4 lb pork but and some johnsonville brats.  My dad saw my post of the last prime rib I smoked and I promised him one for his birthday back in June.  Labor day it was time to pay up.  But since I was firing up the WSM I figured lets fill it up with other things for lunch and a future dinner.  So after geting the prime rib roast at Costco, I picked up a small pork but and some brats.

At around 8:30 am, I seasoned the rib roast.  Not a prime roast but, but I thought it had some decent marbling and I think I got a piece from the chuck end. Costco had a decent selection and since I was armed with some good knowledge from Chef Jimmy J, I think I grabbed a good looking roast. 


Here it is with my trusty Santuko knife.  Only trimmed a little of the fat off.


Seasoned it by coating it lightly in olive oil and then applying a Texas steak seasoning rub that I have used before (garlic, black pepper, paprika, salt, and some other spices).  I tied it up just so it was uniformly shaped. I wrapped it in saran wrap and let it sit for 4 hours.


I seasoned the pork butt the night before.  Covered it in Wild Willy's One-derful Rub from the Smoke and Spice cookbook, wrapped in in saran and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  Forgot to photo the butt.

Because we were eating at 5:00ish and since I knew I was taking the roast off at around 130* I assumed that I wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to fire up the WSM.  At around 10:00 am I started the WSM with a near full charcoal ring with a mixture of Royal Oak Lump and Kingsford Blue. For the smoke I used some sugar maple chunks from a tree my friend cut down and some Jack Daniels Oak barrell chips.  Used the coffee can in the center method to start the charcoal. Started with two vents closed and one vent approximately 1/4 to 1/3 open. Water pan filled with hot water. Placed the Maverick 732 probe on the middle of the top rack and let the WSM creep up to 230* at around 10:30am.

At around 10:30 I put the Roast on the top rack and the pork butt on the bottom rack.  And sat back and waited for the guests to arrive.  Below is a chart of the time, temps and vent info for people that like to know these things.
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At around 11:30ish I threw some Johnsonville Pork Brats on the WSM.  My guests were coming at around 12:30 and thought it would be nice to have some brats for lunch.  So 7 little sausages when on the WSM.  Didnt have a probe in them and just left them on there for 1.5 hours or so.  I took a insta-read temp of one of the brats at that time and it was at 190* so they were clearly done.  Because they were cooked slow, there was no real splitting of the skins, they were nice and juicy, had a nice smoke ring and were delicious. 

Here is one of the brats that I enjoyed with a nice fritata that my mome had made for lunch. My sister-in-law says she never wants sausage cooked any other way after tasting these.  She asked that I cook them for her for her birthday...


The Rib Roast came off the smoker at 2:00pm (after only 3.5 hours) when it reached 129*.  As I noted in another post, I had some trouble keeping the temp of the WSM down in the 230* range (not over 250* but still) so it cooked a little faster than I suspected.  So after taking a few pictures.  It was wrapped tightly in two layers of aluminum foil, wrapped it in a towel, and into an Igloo Playmate cooler to stay hot.


You can see the exterior had a nice change of color from the smoke.

Here is Jimmy J's Smokey Au Jus.  I went with the 6 cups of beef broth, which produced a lot of Au Jus.  My guess is because I was using a water pan in the WSM, I didnt get a lot of evaporation from the Au Jus pan so there was a lot of it left over.  My guess 6 cups is best when you are doing a HUGE roast.  4 cups should be plenty for an average to large roast.  BUT I found a great use for the surplus.  


My mom has a great recipe for a beef rice casserole.  Very easy and a nice side dish.

The original recipe....

1 Chopped Onion

1 Cup Chopped Mushrooms

1 Cup Rice

1 14.5 oz can of beef consume

1/2 can water

Soy Sauce

Salt & Pepper

Saute the Onions in a dutch oven until softened.  Add mushrooms, salt & pepper and saute for a few minutes.  Then add rice, consume, water and about 1 tbs of soy sauce.  Cover the rice and place in 350* oven for approximately 1 hour.  The casserole should be stirred a couple of time duringt the cooking process. Dish is done when liquid is absorbed.  Serves about 4. 

So the original recipe has had to be modified over the years because the cans of beef consume have shrunk.  They are now only 10.5 oz because its easier to shrink the can and keep the price than raise the price.  Sneeky companies.  Anyway, because we were doubling up the recipe.  We had the perfect substitute for the water and the missing beef consume.  The Smokey Au Jus (before adding the wine and reducing it down).  So the Beef Rice Casserole became "Smokey Beef Rice Casserole."  

On to dinner time.  The roast came out of the cooler at 4:30 (still steaming) and onto the cutting board. Here's the roast ready for carving.


The "pitmaster" and his roast.  The Le Cruset over my right shoulder is holding the Smokey Aus Ju as it was reducing down.


Action photos of the carving.  My knive skills are so fast you can't see me.  That, or the shutter speed was slow and no flash to capture how great the roast looked.


Close up of the Roast.  Perfectly medium rare.


And the finished plate, Sugar Maple/Jack Daniels Oak Smoked Prime Rib with Smokey Aus Ju, Smokey Beef Rice and Mushroom Casserole and Heirloom Tomato and Red Onion Salad.  Dinner was absolutely delicious.  The meat had a geat smokey taste and was extremely tender.


The 7.8 lb roast easily served 6 adults.  I sent Mom & Dad and Bro & Wife home each with their own two slice doggie bag.  We kept about another 4 or 5 slices.  Plenty-o-Leftovers.  It was even better a day or two later.  Flavors melded a little more.  

AND....

If you were paying attention to the chart above, there is more to this story.  As you can see above, I finished the pulled pork in the oven because it hit a major stall and it was just easier to wrap it and finish it in the oven the same time I was cooking the rice.  The pulled pork reached 205* at 5:30 (about 7 hours total) while we were eating dinner. I pulled it out left it on the counter with a towel over it to rest.  After Dinner, and desert, (about 1.5 hours later) it was time to pull. 

Here's the Butt in the foil.


Didnt need anything except by BBQ gloves to pull this apart.  The blade bone just shot out.


And here is the finished pulled pork.  Delicious.   I let it cool a little then sealed it up in vacuum bags and into the freezer for another day.


Hope you enjoyed looking at my Q.  As always, I learned just about everything here.  Thanks to everyone!!