My posts asking questions about preparing and cooking fatties smoking-fatties went without response; so I gotta figure somethings wrong an' I'm blamin' it on the deodorant! :yahoo:
I found an 8# 'bone in' butt at my local supermarket at $1.58 a pound. It was vacuum packed and looked good without too much fat but a good cap. It came home with me.
Yesterday afternoon, I unwrapped it, washed it off and patted it dry and then did a dance with mustard and Jeff's rub. It has been in the refrigerator about 24 hours; so it's time to start thinking about cooking it. I have done 2 of these before and was not too pleased with the results. I did them not long after I got my MES and before I had done much of anything but grilling. They came out too dry for my taste, but that didn't keep family and guests from gobbling them down.
I'm going to smoke the butt in my MES because I don't fancy trying to control the heat in my mini-WSM or the Weber kettle. Although I think I've made every mistake and learned every lesson about the MES, I'm old enough to know that just ain't so. I need the advice and support of this group to keep me sane. I don't want any more catastrophe's like my Cheese Disaster.
Here is my plan. Please tell me how you would change it and why.
1) Check batteries in Maverick and sync transmitter and receiver. I have the smoker probe in a block of wood which I'll place on the second rack.
2) Place pellets in AMNPS (I'll load it all the way), spray with ISO alcohol and light with propane torch. I'll blow out the flames when I see a good smoke.
3) Plug in and set the MES being sure to get the maximum time setting (20 hours) and the temp to 240° and verify that temp with the Maverick. I've cussed the MES readings too many times to trust just it. If need be, I'll increase the temp on the MES until it and the Maverick agree.
4) Place rubbed butt in a disposable aluminum tray. (This is to keep the drippings from making a mess. It might limit smoke but electricity won't give me a smoke ring anyway.)
5) Insert meat probe in the butt from the side being careful to avoid the bone.
6) Set the Maverick smoker temp (240°) and meat temp (165°) settings and verify them and be sure that the xmit and rec are still sync'd (Can you tell I've screwed this up before?)
7) Place the butt in the pan on the top shelf of the MES and the AMNPS on the rack at the bottom left with a foil tent over it to be sure no grease or anything will douse it.
8) Close the MES and check all the settings again.
9) Leave it alone until the meat IT hits 165° then place foil over the pan, spritz with apple juice. Check and repeat hourly until IT reaches 205°.
10) Pull after reaching IT and wrap in foil and then towels and place in cooler for several hours.
I re-read the sticky on doing butts and plan on the 1.5 hours per pound (8lbs x 1.5hrs = 12hrs); so, being the night owl and late sleeper that I am, I'll put it on about 10 pm.
'What did I miss? What's wrong with the plan?
I found an 8# 'bone in' butt at my local supermarket at $1.58 a pound. It was vacuum packed and looked good without too much fat but a good cap. It came home with me.
Yesterday afternoon, I unwrapped it, washed it off and patted it dry and then did a dance with mustard and Jeff's rub. It has been in the refrigerator about 24 hours; so it's time to start thinking about cooking it. I have done 2 of these before and was not too pleased with the results. I did them not long after I got my MES and before I had done much of anything but grilling. They came out too dry for my taste, but that didn't keep family and guests from gobbling them down.
I'm going to smoke the butt in my MES because I don't fancy trying to control the heat in my mini-WSM or the Weber kettle. Although I think I've made every mistake and learned every lesson about the MES, I'm old enough to know that just ain't so. I need the advice and support of this group to keep me sane. I don't want any more catastrophe's like my Cheese Disaster.
Here is my plan. Please tell me how you would change it and why.
1) Check batteries in Maverick and sync transmitter and receiver. I have the smoker probe in a block of wood which I'll place on the second rack.
2) Place pellets in AMNPS (I'll load it all the way), spray with ISO alcohol and light with propane torch. I'll blow out the flames when I see a good smoke.
3) Plug in and set the MES being sure to get the maximum time setting (20 hours) and the temp to 240° and verify that temp with the Maverick. I've cussed the MES readings too many times to trust just it. If need be, I'll increase the temp on the MES until it and the Maverick agree.
4) Place rubbed butt in a disposable aluminum tray. (This is to keep the drippings from making a mess. It might limit smoke but electricity won't give me a smoke ring anyway.)
5) Insert meat probe in the butt from the side being careful to avoid the bone.
6) Set the Maverick smoker temp (240°) and meat temp (165°) settings and verify them and be sure that the xmit and rec are still sync'd (Can you tell I've screwed this up before?)
7) Place the butt in the pan on the top shelf of the MES and the AMNPS on the rack at the bottom left with a foil tent over it to be sure no grease or anything will douse it.
8) Close the MES and check all the settings again.
9) Leave it alone until the meat IT hits 165° then place foil over the pan, spritz with apple juice. Check and repeat hourly until IT reaches 205°.
10) Pull after reaching IT and wrap in foil and then towels and place in cooler for several hours.
I re-read the sticky on doing butts and plan on the 1.5 hours per pound (8lbs x 1.5hrs = 12hrs); so, being the night owl and late sleeper that I am, I'll put it on about 10 pm.
'What did I miss? What's wrong with the plan?
