HELP!!! Not enough time but still want to impress.......

[huskerthor]

Saturday Oct 16th is the day ALL of us Husker fans have had marked on our calendar since last years Big 12 Championship game.

We are playing the Longhorns in our backyard and though we are very confident we will win this game, I also want to WIN since I am bringing the main dish.

I want to impress my tailgate party friends with some mouth watering smoked meat.  I was hoping to bring some "smoked Bevo butt" (thinking along the lines of a brisket), but this is really not something that I can do just yet for a couple of reasons. 

1.  The main reason is I have to work Friday night and won't be home until Sat. morning around 7:00 and my buddy will be here waiting to leave for the game.  So as soon as I get home we are out of here.  Game time 2:30pm, tailgate starts at 8:00am.

2.  This will be the first time I use my new MES 30" Smokehouse smoker.

So because of reason #1, I was thinking of doing chicken quarters on Thursday (today) or tonight as I will be up until 5-6am Friday, and taking them to the game on Sat.  Is this even feasible?  Is there anything that I could smoke a day early and still be good on Saturday? Can I reheat (or will it be necessary) something for an hour and still be juicy?   I'm sure many of you have had a situation come up like this. (Not enough time to do this perfectly) 

 

[walle]

Thor,

Couple of ideas for ya... pulled pork is pretty forgiving when it comes to reheating and juicy.  Save the juice, add it back and reheat.  Crock pots work well for that if you have someone that will assit given the fact you only have an hour to reheat and hit the road.

On the brisky... here's what I've done in a pinch and have had good results.  Hot sear that bastage good on both sides on our BBQ grill (I use a hickory smoke bomb to try and get some smoke into it), foil it up good or pan it up, toss it in the oven at 225/250, and let it go while you are at work.  Pull it out, wrap it up in towels and take to the big game.

That's about all I have for quick/clutch Q given our time frames.  I'm sure someone will be along with a better idea!

 

[mudduck]

i think some times that butts or better the next day or two after they or cooked

I'll say to go with butt to day or night smoke it to 165 foil it take 200 wrap it and put in cooler

for 2or3 hr. pull it and like walle said  reheat sat with some of its juices

do brisket same way

i like it all the next day better it give it  time for all the juices to come together

 

[eman]

If it was me .I'd do the butt and reheat w/ some of the juices Just serve w/ some buns , slaw and finishing sauce..

 

[huskerthor]

WOW!!  Thanks for the quick replies.  Now I'm leaning towards the butt, although the brisky suggestion sounds pretty good to.  Dang, decision, decisions!

 

[squirrel]

I vote for the butt too and I agree with Mudduck that they are sometimes better the next day. I do think that is in part because when I am doing a long smoke that by the time the butts are done I am saturated in smoke and my tastebuds are tasting only smoke. Just a theory. When I reheat mine I like to add some butter. It adds a little richness and makes it all shiny.

 

[smoke 2 geaux]

One more thought...  If you want to stick to the beef theme, you can get some chuck roasts and pull them for sandwiches.  Same idea as the butt, just with beef.  There have been some really good threads on here lately about doing chuckies.

Just a thought...

Oh, and by the way I hope ya'll win by 3 touchdowns.  I'm a big fan of coach Bo.  I really enjoyed it when we had him down here.

 

[mballi3011]

Personally I like the idea of smoking the butt or the chuckie. They both would be good and will re-heat nicely too. But the advice that Tracey (walle) gave you is the one I would go with and let the oven do alot of the work. But then I like to take changes and if it works you will be the TailGating King.

 

[squirrel]

I have used a method of wrapping baby back ribs tightly in saran wrap, then wrapping in foil, in the oven at 250F for 2.5 hours and then sear them up on a hot grill, lather with sauce or glaze. They are very tender, but not alot of smokey flavor. Adding a few chunks to the coals helps. Not my preferred way, but it does work.

 

[jirodriguez]

Do a butt and some ribs. To reheat the ribs, just leave them in the foil and toss them onto a low grill for a bit till the get hot again - fast, easy, tastey. Like they said... butt is very forgiving as well, so it works as well.

 

[palmburger]

I agree with JIRodriguez, do both.  The ribs and butt will offer a good variety to console you on your loss.