Low and slow vs High and fast

[porkaholic]

Over the past several weeks I have been reading a lot of articles on line about smoking meats, especially brisket and pork butts, with high temps and short smoking times.  Is it worth a discussion on the pros and cons of how one process is better than the other or how each has merit.  When I see some of the information on how long a brisket takes, for example-overnight, and then I see how you can get one done in 5-6 hours, it just makes me wonder which method to try.  Sure, I can experiment and see what I like best but the collective wisdom and experience of those on this forum could save all of us a lot of time and teach us a few things.  I am not trying to get into competitive cooking or anything like that.  I am just looking for a bit of debate and information.  So, what do you think?

 

[SmokinAl]

The majority of us smoke low & slow. There was one guy on here a while back who did high temp brisket & had good results. If I can find his thread I'll post the link. Personally I have always had good results with low & slow, so I never tried the hot fast way. Besides there's nothing like smelling the meat cooking with some friends and drinking a few beers. For the long overnight smokes I have a BBQ Guru controlling my WSM.

 

[solaryellow]

I have done both. Low and slow is my preference when I have the time. High and fast will come out just fine and will still beat most of the crap you get from a restaurant but the smoke flavor isn't as pronounced. Too high and the texture of the meat will be inconsistent.

 

[SmokinAl]

Here's the link I was referring to.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/80976/high-heat-brisky

 

[porkaholic]

Al, thanks for that link.  That looks like something I might try.  I too have always been one to cook low and slow but sometimes you just do not have the time so you end up not smoking something that will take too long.  I would also enjoy hearing from others on success or failure.

 

[bmudd14474]

I think Rivet also likes the higher heat cooking.

 

[ecto1]

Here is the deal when you cook low and slow you have a much larger window of time to get tough pieces of meat right.  When you cook hot and fast you can get the same results but you have a very small window of time therefore are more prone to user error.  10 minutes hot and fast is enough to dry out a brisket.  you can over cook a pork butt by an hour low and slow and still have a great product.  

 

[porkaholic]

Good thought ECTO1, I never really thought about it that way.  Seems we just come back to the fact that this forum gives you enough information to make an informed decision and then you go and see what happens.

 

[flash]

I do a mixture of both I guess. When doing pork butts, I will do the low and slow until I wrap them in foil, then raise my smoker temp from 225º to 300º. I have done 8 1/2 lb butts in 9 1/2 hours this way with no ill effect to the pork. Pulled great, tasted great.

 

[porkaholic]

The comment by Flash sure makes sense.  Low to get the smoke flavor and high to get the internal temps to do their thing.  I am going to try a combinations of the two methods and when I have something to report I will post the results.  In the mean time, if anyone else has a variation on the theme please chime in.

 

[bigfoot21075]

I look at it this way, If I could only ever have one more brisket or butt to smoke ever, I am darn sure I would smoke it low and slow. To me that says it is the best way to go.

 

[roller]

I just hate to spend that money just to try it out...I am in no hurry I am retired but I know most of you aren`t...

 

[jirodriguez]

I go with what I know gives me results that I like.... and that's low and slow. It has never let me down and I figure if it aint broke, don't fix it!

 

[flash]

Here is the deal when you cook low and slow you have a much larger window of time to get tough pieces of meat right.  When you cook hot and fast you can get the same results but you have a very small window of time therefore are more prone to user error.  10 minutes hot and fast is enough to dry out a brisket.  you can over cook a pork butt by an hour low and slow and still have a great product.  

 If I remember correctly, we don't cook by time though, we cook by finished temp. If you follow that guideline, you will have no error.

 Really the only reason I will do a fast cook and this is after wrapping the butt in foil, is if I am behind on time. Alot of times the wife wants to know when dinner will be ready. I can give her a time, but all butts are different. Raising the smokers temp is not done at a specific time for me, it is done when it is necessary to present the finish product AT a specific time.

 

[ecto1]

 If I remember correctly, we don't cook by time though, we cook by finished temp. If you follow that guideline, you will have no error.

 Really the only reason I will do a fast cook and this is after wrapping the butt in foil, is if I am behind on time. Alto of times the wife wants to know when dinner will be ready. I can give her a time, but all butts are different. Raising the smokers temp is not done at a specific time for me, it is done when it is necessary to present the finish product AT a specific time.

Yes you cook by temp not by time but we all get busy.  You snooze for a few minutes and the temp can get away from you at the end.  Higher temps are also harder to maintain.  I cook my briskets at 300+ without a wireless thermometer so if I make a mistake or if I am cooking other meats and get distracted the meat could get get too mushy or go dry.  I cook almost everything else slow I enjoy a long slow smoke I was just stating that if you do not have good equipment to monitor temps it would be easier to cook low and slow.  I like you know mt equipment and know what I need to do with it to cook they way I like. I think that cooking a brisket at a high temp is a great way but you better be ready because it is a whole different ballgame than cooking a brisket at a slow temp.  I like to pull my briskets at 185-190 cooking 300+ I know once I hit around 178 I need to hang around the cooker because it is just about ready.  if I am cooking at 225 it can take over an hour to go from 178-185 that is what I meant by the time.  

 

[porkaholic]

The main reason for asking in the first place was to compare notes and that has been accomplished.  For me, I get to do most of my smoking on the weekend and then pack up the food for eating during the week.  However, sometimes I like to have a group over and cook for them.  If you couple that with the fact that Saturday morning is for catching up on sleep then the advice given for smoking high and fast will be of some use to me.  If I happen to get up a bit earlier then the low and slow is the ticket.  I have not tried high and fast yet, at least not on purpose, but I will.  Thanks for the input.

 

[big10fan]

The main reason for asking in the first place was to compare notes and that has been accomplished.  For me, I get to do most of my smoking on the weekend and then pack up the food for eating during the week.  However, sometimes I like to have a group over and cook for them.  If you couple that with the fact that Saturday morning is for catching up on sleep then the advice given for smoking high and fast will be of some use to me.  If I happen to get up a bit earlier then the low and slow is the ticket.  I have not tried high and fast yet, at least not on purpose, but I will.  Thanks for the input.

i just did my first hot and fast style.  not too bad.  was a little drier than i'd like, but i'll take it.  will try it again for sure and i generally don't have the time to invest in the slow method.  nobody complained at the party, that's for sure.

 

[cliffcarter]

This is another hot and fast brisket with a bit more detail plus pics-

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/91829/hi-speed-brisket-long-tons-of-pron

As a general rule "hot and fast" BBQ is cooking at 300°+( usually 325°-375° range) while "low and slow" is under 300°, although most old school BBQers like to cook in the 225°-250° range. I have taken to letting the kettle settle in where it wants too on long cooks and I worry less about keeping a "low" temp.