Ok, here it is. This is my first butt attempt since finding this site and modifying my CG Outlaw.
The mods were what I've come to call "the standard", the dryer tube for the chimney, the angle iron and steel plates for tuning, fill in the extra holes, and insulate the gaps with wood-stove insulator. I also filled the area between the angle iron with sand just for extra mass.
After the mods I spent the better part of a weekend burning it empty, based on some fire advice I'd received here earlier, in order to get a good feel for the heat, smoke, timing, etc. That all happened on 9/20 and 9/21.
I already had about a 5 pound butt in the fridge that I was planning to cook during the weekend but I pushed it to Monday (9/22) so I could have time to understand my mods.
When I bought it it was labeled as "bone in" but I found no such bone. In fact it looked like it'd been butterflied out so the meat was pretty loosely held together.
I rubbed it Sunday night with my standard rub which is just kosher salt, hungarian paprika, dark brown sugar, black pepper and chili powder.
Monday morning I got up at 6:30 (which is early for me) to start the fire. I got the smoker up to 250, put the meat on about 7:25, and took the kids to school.
I mixed up a bottle of "spray" which was about 5/1 apple cider to Jack Daniels. Probably not enough JD to notice but I thought, what the hell.
By noon I was hitting 160 and misting about twice an hour.
By 1pm I was at 165 so I gave it another good spray and foiled it to finish the ride in a 275 oven.
By about 3pm I was at 196 so I pulled it out of the oven and into an empty cooler, layered in towels.
By 5 I was still showing 175 internal temp and unwrapped it for pulling.
For starters, I still had a decent amount of bark. Still a good bite to the outer bits. But more importantly it tasted AWESOME! All the practice and advice I got here, directly and indirectly (from reading) totally paid off. I had good TBS and the meat had great flavor without a really strong smoke flavor (I've made that mistake before).
I didn't want to go looking for Tony Chachere's seasoning so I winged it on SoFlaQuer's finishing sauce after studying the ingredients in the Chachere seasoning. My finishing sauce was:
1c. cider vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
dash chili powder
dash granulated garlic
Warm it all up to disolve the sugar.
Dressed the pulled meat with the finishing sauce, just a little, not to overpower the meat.
Whipped up a mustard-based sauce from Cook's Illustrated guide to BBQ and Grilling:
1c cider vinegar
1 cup vege oil
6 tbsp. dijon mustard
6 tbsp maple syrup or honey (I increased this from the original of 2 and used honey)
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Frank's Red Hot (recipe calls for hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco)
Ground black pepper
Plopped the meat with a little of that sauce on some cheap white buns that I warmed up in the oven...and the skies opened...er..I mean everyone enjoyed them. I delivered a couple to friends and one even drove back over to my house to get more. Every bit was tender and flavorful. None of it made it through the night.
I've got an even bigger piece of meat in the freezer that I think will become the victim of a Halloween potluck.
Thanks again for all the great information. I look forward to posting more qview. I'll keep the play-by-plays shorter though.
For your viewing pleasure (need to work the focus a little better on some...sorry):
Pre-rest:
Post-rest:
Smoke ring ( a little blurry but you can see her ):
All pulled:
The mods were what I've come to call "the standard", the dryer tube for the chimney, the angle iron and steel plates for tuning, fill in the extra holes, and insulate the gaps with wood-stove insulator. I also filled the area between the angle iron with sand just for extra mass.
After the mods I spent the better part of a weekend burning it empty, based on some fire advice I'd received here earlier, in order to get a good feel for the heat, smoke, timing, etc. That all happened on 9/20 and 9/21.
I already had about a 5 pound butt in the fridge that I was planning to cook during the weekend but I pushed it to Monday (9/22) so I could have time to understand my mods.
When I bought it it was labeled as "bone in" but I found no such bone. In fact it looked like it'd been butterflied out so the meat was pretty loosely held together.
I rubbed it Sunday night with my standard rub which is just kosher salt, hungarian paprika, dark brown sugar, black pepper and chili powder.
Monday morning I got up at 6:30 (which is early for me) to start the fire. I got the smoker up to 250, put the meat on about 7:25, and took the kids to school.
I mixed up a bottle of "spray" which was about 5/1 apple cider to Jack Daniels. Probably not enough JD to notice but I thought, what the hell.
By noon I was hitting 160 and misting about twice an hour.
By 1pm I was at 165 so I gave it another good spray and foiled it to finish the ride in a 275 oven.
By about 3pm I was at 196 so I pulled it out of the oven and into an empty cooler, layered in towels.
By 5 I was still showing 175 internal temp and unwrapped it for pulling.
For starters, I still had a decent amount of bark. Still a good bite to the outer bits. But more importantly it tasted AWESOME! All the practice and advice I got here, directly and indirectly (from reading) totally paid off. I had good TBS and the meat had great flavor without a really strong smoke flavor (I've made that mistake before).
I didn't want to go looking for Tony Chachere's seasoning so I winged it on SoFlaQuer's finishing sauce after studying the ingredients in the Chachere seasoning. My finishing sauce was:
1c. cider vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
dash chili powder
dash granulated garlic
Warm it all up to disolve the sugar.
Dressed the pulled meat with the finishing sauce, just a little, not to overpower the meat.
Whipped up a mustard-based sauce from Cook's Illustrated guide to BBQ and Grilling:
1c cider vinegar
1 cup vege oil
6 tbsp. dijon mustard
6 tbsp maple syrup or honey (I increased this from the original of 2 and used honey)
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Frank's Red Hot (recipe calls for hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco)
Ground black pepper
Plopped the meat with a little of that sauce on some cheap white buns that I warmed up in the oven...and the skies opened...er..I mean everyone enjoyed them. I delivered a couple to friends and one even drove back over to my house to get more. Every bit was tender and flavorful. None of it made it through the night.
I've got an even bigger piece of meat in the freezer that I think will become the victim of a Halloween potluck.
Thanks again for all the great information. I look forward to posting more qview. I'll keep the play-by-plays shorter though.
For your viewing pleasure (need to work the focus a little better on some...sorry):
Pre-rest:
Post-rest:
Smoke ring ( a little blurry but you can see her ):
All pulled: