My favorites have become brisket, baby back ribs, and smoked chicken legs/wings.
Here's what I did this weekend for my OU football watch party of 14 people. I mention it because I was preparing 3 different types of meat and had to get creative with my equipment.
I had a 4.5 pound flat brisket, 2 racks of baby back ribs, and chicken legs/wings (20 of each).
I only use my 22.5"
Weber Kettle for my smoking so it's actually indirect cooking, technically speaking. I light up a full chimney of coals, pour half of the chimney into each charcoal basket on either side of
the kettle, and periodically add both hickory and mesquite chips onto the coals for my smoke. I close down the vents to get a pretty decent temp between 275* and 300* for the cook. My seasoning for the brisket and ribs is just salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's creole seasoning, and Head Country's Championship rub. The chicken legs and wings are all thrown into a large bowl and I pour over a mix of 1 cup wing sauce, 1/4 cup olive oil, small pour of apple cider vinegar, about a tablespoon of Valentina hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, Tony Chachere's creole seasoning, and Head Country's Championship rub.
Well, given my logistical issues of only having one
Weber Kettle, 3 meats, and only one afternoon to get it all cooked I had to plan accordingly. Obviously the brisket would need the longest time, followed by the ribs, with the chicken last. Basically I started my first chimney at 1pm and did the brisket for 2 hours on
the Kettle. At 230pm I started my second chimney so it would be ready at 3pm, at which time I double foiled the brisket and put it in my Weber propane grill with only the back burner on very low. It took a few small adjustments, but the propane grill stayed at a very stable 225*. At 3pm I reloaded the hot coals and put the 2 racks of ribs on the Kettle. At 430pm I started my third chimney so it would be ready at 5pm, at which time I double foiled the ribs and put them in the propane grill with the brisket. At 5pm I reloaded the hot coals and loaded up all the chicken on the Kettle for a 3 hour cook.
At 7pm I took the brisket and ribs off of the propane grill and put them in the oven in the house (not turned on) just to rest. So, it was a 6 hour cook for the brisket and a 4 hour cook on the ribs. I could have towel/cooler treated them at this point, but I just went with oven resting. At 8pm (kind of a late dinner, but kickoff was 930, so I shifted dinner a bit later than usual) I pulled all the chicken and made my best attempt at cutting the ribs and brisket... both were literally falling apart more than cutting.
The ribs and brisket went VERY FAST. within 10 minutes both were killed. lol. The chicken worked out as not only a supplement to dinner, but it got snacked on throughout the game.
It was the 4th time I've made ribs and about the 8th or 9th shot at brisket, and without even the slightest doubt both were the best I've ever made. I didn't quite know what kind of results I would get given my limitations, but they came out very, very good. My next attempt will be similar but might substitute pork butt for the brisket to see how that goes.
