Butt and Ribs on WSM Pict Heavy

[jjrokkett]

Looking good Dude!

 

[the dude abides]

Thanks FiU. The brisket was covered in EVOO, and part of a jar of premixed pickling spices, and a light dusting of Old Bay.

Not to break my arm patting myself on the bacck but I'm very happy with this smoke. Really, everything went according to plan. Which as we all know, doesn't happen very often.
Thanks for the comments.

Thanks wmarkw. It was a fun one. Borrowing the WSM was a good idea for this weekend.

ALX, thanks for everything. It wouldn't have gone as smoothly without your advice and wisdom. You get points from me for the advice.

Thanks Rivet. I will let her know. If she can't be in front of the camera, she loves to be behind it.

Thanks Jim, I really appreciate your advice going into this smoke. It was very helpful. Points to you as well for the advice.

Thanks Visilor. LOL...yeah, that didn't happen.

Thanks morkdach. The warpped siding really isn't all that bad. But it is an important lesson learned.


Everything came out great!

Thanks Rivet. I recommend a chimney starter. Great tool.

Thanks Meat Magician. I appreciate the comments.

Thanks JJRokkett, I appreciate you looking.

 

[the dude abides]

Thanks to everyone who followed along on my maiden voyage into the world of the WSM. This thing was a treat compaired to my Weber Kettle. I've got Father's Day and a Birthday coming up. So I think I know what I might hint to the family if they're looking for gift ideas.

As promised here are the final pictures. I decided after the perect day of smoking I would join some of the guys for beers (my head is pounding this morning) and poker. So I decided to save some time and just chop it up instead of pulling to save me some time.

I took some samples of the butt and the brisket to the bar and everyone said it was the best they'd ever had. So I feel pretty good about that.
It was very tender and really juicy.

Thanks for watching everyone.

 

[grothe]

Outstanding smoke Dude!!!

 

[the dude abides]

thanks grothe. that means a lot.

 

[1894]

Great post and smoke !!!
Hope the cards were as good to you as the wsm

 

[chisoxjim]

nice pics Dude, looks like you got the hang of the WSM pretty quick.

I am going to be sad to see my WSM loaner go, I offered to buy it from the guy, but no deal. Oh well I guess I will save my pennies, and get one someday.

 

[the dude abides]

Not quite. But I'm still feeling the effects of all the booze two days later. Ugh, guess I'm not a young guy anymore.

Oh I know that feeling. I've still got to get dad's cleaned up from this past weekend. He's a neat freak. When I picked it up it looked like it'd never been used.

 

[reasnor]

I'm curious if you could tell me how long it took your butt to get to temperature and also your ribs? When you take off the ribs, do you check their temperature, or do you go by the meat pulling off the bones? Thanks!

Matt

 

[the dude abides]

Hi Matt,

I was cooking at anywhere between 225* to 240*. Closer to 235* for a better part of the day. The butt took about 10 and a half hours to get to 170* in the smoker. Which is plenty hot for eating. I wanted to go higher yet to break down the meat more so it would fall apart. I put it in a glass casserol type dish and covered with foil and into a 240* oven for about 2 hours and took it up to 190*. In hindsight I should have gone to 200* or so and let it rest longer. It was very tasty and juicy, but I'd made plans for that night so I skipped the resting period and just chopped it up. The "rule of thumb" which does not always hold true, is to estimate 1.5 hours per pound for cook time. This does not take into account the hour or more than you should foil the meat and let it rest in a cooler covered in towels to let the juices redistribute. If you have any questions you can PM me or there are lots of people on here that have done a lot of butts. What are your plans? Start a thread and ask away.

For the ribs I never have taken a temp on those. I usually do some variation of the 3-2-1 method. With these I did 3-1.5-1.5. I just watch for the pullback and then you know.

 

[bmudd14474]

Dude,

That looked like an excellent smoke. I must also give you points for this one. Very nice job again.

1 question for you. What 1 thing have you learned from SMF that you would say was the biggest factor of your successful smoke? Tough one isnt it.

 

[welcometomyworld]

Great job!!!!

 

[billbo]

Great post and smoke Dude! Very well done!

 

[the dude abides]

Thank you for comments and the points. I appreciate that!

Not reallly. And I'm not being a smart butt. So I'll answer that in two ways.
First thing I learned from the Smoking Meat Forum is not to be afraid. Anybody can do this! I don't mean that to sound overly silly. But seriously. I've always loved to cook and always been the cook in my house. My wife of almost 11 years doesn't enjoy cooking. And most of what she makes can be done in a few minutes, or with a couple of ingredents. I've learned that the food I really enjoy is BBQ. Whether that is at somebody's house or at a resturant. The SMF has taught me that it's not some "magical mystery" that only someone that was raised doing it can master. Anyone can do this. It's true. It takes a little dedication, a little money to invest in the equipment (I've always cooked on the basic Weber Kettle), and a little knowledge (maybe even gut instinct) of what is going to work.

I love food. I love food that is a pleasure to eat. Sometimes a bologna sandwich, a PB&J or a hotdog is fine. I had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for lunch today and thought it was good. But I really love BBQ and I wanted to do it. I wanted to do it myself. And I wanted to do it right. So one day I googled "smoked meat" and I ended up here and I learned a lot, really fast.

But I also believe that meal time is something that is rapidly becoming a "lost art". Maybe that's my midwestern upbringing. But I believe that the family should sit down together, every day if possible, and eat and talk. The center piece of this is not the food. It is the conversation. It's about being together. But I also believe that as long as you're all together you might as well have a "quality meal". Sorry I'm getting off topic a bit. But not totally. If you look at a lot of the posts where you see some trying to get their kids involved, those are the people who are passing on that tradition. You/me may not realize it, but one day our kids are going to say "remember when" then they hopefully will strive to follow our lead and bring their family together for a meal. God willing, BBQ.

Secondly, (LOL yes, only part two) cook low and slow and let it go. In this day of rush, rush, rush, there's something peaceful about a nice long smoke. Everyone who's read this post knows that this last weekend when I did this smoke, it was something I needed. It was about the process. It was about me not really being in control of everything. It was about me planning on allowing the meat and the smoke to do what it needed to do.

Ok, so I know I went on a bit of a Zen-like rant there. But I mean every bit of it.

You want the short answer? Ok, Between 225*and 240* is the target smoker temp for most beef or pork that you will smoke. See, that really wasn't as fulfilling as a lot of the other stuff I got from this little off ramp on the information super highway, was it?

Thank you. I hope I've either educated you or inspired you in some way.

Thank you. I'm grateful you took the time to look.

 

[bmudd14474]

told you it was a hard question to answer.

 

[smokingscooby]

Dude,
I'll give ya A Big "AMEN" on your answer. Don't think it could of been said better!
Points for "Hitting the nail on the head".

 

[the dude abides]

Bump. Just cause I think it's worth it

 

[erain]

i am glad you bumped it dude!!! just reading this post right here made my day!!! yup maybe its just us mid west folks i dunno but meal time is really the only time when the family can get together for a little bit each day. hammer hits nail on head!!!

 

[mcp9]

hey dude! just wanted to let u know i like how u put the grate thermometer thru the piece of wood. seems like a really good idea! does the wood old up over time?

 

[firewillie77]

Man it all looks good!!