Wow, I'm not sure too many of us exist.....and I'm just a newbie so I don't count yet as someone who has years of practice and mad skills.
I was reviewing this site for a few weeks before I decided to sign up and ask my own questions...
Anyway, my name is Jeff....live a few miles outside of Boston. I grew up in the country of Pennsylvania so I have a love of all things BBQ'ed and smoked outside in a pit. I grew up attending many pig roasts and outdoor BBQ's with my very large, extended family.
I have very limited space in the 'burbs of Boston but I make due. I've got the very basic Brinkmann's model below.
This past weekend was my first true test and thanks to the helpful advice from all of you here, it was a smashing success! I had two Boston butts totally 18 lbs. pre-cooked. My co-worker had a graduation party and she recruited me as the "master griller". ANYONE can throw some burgers/dogs on a grill, but I wanted to do something special so I decided on the hog.
I first brined them in brown sugar and salt mixture for a few hours on Friday after work. I swabbed off the excess water and proceeded to rub them (cinnamon heavy, with many other typical spices). I started the bad boys about 10 PM on Friday night. I stayed up until about 4 AM tending to my fire of charcoal and hickory wood from Lowe's. At that point I was exhausted and figured it would be best to start keeping a constant temp because I wasn't 100% sure what was going on in the smoker, the temp of the meat had only climbed to like 125 F. I ended up finishing them in the 240 F oven the rest of the day after I hit the plateau in the smoker itself, squirting apple juice every hour or so in the oven after they had been wrapped in foil. The pieces FINALLY got done around 2 PM Saturday afternoon and I let them rest for 45 min after (party started at 5:00). I took them out of the oven at 190 F and 195 F respectively. I still have no idea why one was hotter than the other, they looked to be about the same size. Even though I didn't reach the 200 F mark, they both pulled ok....the cooler one being a little tougher than the other. I put finishing sauce (from this site) on the pan of meat once I had them all pulled and proceeded to make my own sauce. I was most impressed by the smoke ring I ended up with after just 6 hours in the smoker!
Anyway, I've already been asked what my "secret" is and for recipes! I was even impressed with myself, considering this is the first time I had ever tackled a piece of meat this big on my own. Duh people, the secret is the time spent making a masterpiece....not really in the ingredients themselves.
I think I'll be asked back again as "master griller" for more events in the future. Now that it is FINALLY warm enough here in Boston to tackle my new endeavour, I can't wait to begin my next piece!! I've even got a good friend of mine into this just by showing him what I did over the weekend....he went out and bought his own smoker yesterday! HAHA.
Again, thank you to all for showing this novice the ropes....you've made me a fan and I can't wait to try fish, ribs, you name it next. I hope to include pictures of my own for future posts. Where did I put that digital camera anyway....
-Jeff (age 29) aka BostonBBQ
Anyway, my name is Jeff....live a few miles outside of Boston. I grew up in the country of Pennsylvania so I have a love of all things BBQ'ed and smoked outside in a pit. I grew up attending many pig roasts and outdoor BBQ's with my very large, extended family.
I have very limited space in the 'burbs of Boston but I make due. I've got the very basic Brinkmann's model below.
This past weekend was my first true test and thanks to the helpful advice from all of you here, it was a smashing success! I had two Boston butts totally 18 lbs. pre-cooked. My co-worker had a graduation party and she recruited me as the "master griller". ANYONE can throw some burgers/dogs on a grill, but I wanted to do something special so I decided on the hog.
I first brined them in brown sugar and salt mixture for a few hours on Friday after work. I swabbed off the excess water and proceeded to rub them (cinnamon heavy, with many other typical spices). I started the bad boys about 10 PM on Friday night. I stayed up until about 4 AM tending to my fire of charcoal and hickory wood from Lowe's. At that point I was exhausted and figured it would be best to start keeping a constant temp because I wasn't 100% sure what was going on in the smoker, the temp of the meat had only climbed to like 125 F. I ended up finishing them in the 240 F oven the rest of the day after I hit the plateau in the smoker itself, squirting apple juice every hour or so in the oven after they had been wrapped in foil. The pieces FINALLY got done around 2 PM Saturday afternoon and I let them rest for 45 min after (party started at 5:00). I took them out of the oven at 190 F and 195 F respectively. I still have no idea why one was hotter than the other, they looked to be about the same size. Even though I didn't reach the 200 F mark, they both pulled ok....the cooler one being a little tougher than the other. I put finishing sauce (from this site) on the pan of meat once I had them all pulled and proceeded to make my own sauce. I was most impressed by the smoke ring I ended up with after just 6 hours in the smoker!
Anyway, I've already been asked what my "secret" is and for recipes! I was even impressed with myself, considering this is the first time I had ever tackled a piece of meat this big on my own. Duh people, the secret is the time spent making a masterpiece....not really in the ingredients themselves.
Again, thank you to all for showing this novice the ropes....you've made me a fan and I can't wait to try fish, ribs, you name it next. I hope to include pictures of my own for future posts. Where did I put that digital camera anyway....
-Jeff (age 29) aka BostonBBQ