Which is better to cook a day ahead of time

[rez667]

So my friends all chipped in for a big meat smoking extravaganza.. Not so much extravaganza now, but still will be fun. I have a total of 6 butts and 1 or 2 briskets to smoke by Sunday late morning. I planned on taking off work Friday to smoke one of the meats, and then the other on Saturday. Which do you think would be best smoked on Friday? I was leaning towards smoking the brisket(s) and not slicing them until Sunday morning, but I have never done this before. I know the pork will be awesome even 2 days after it is pulled. So my question to y'all is:

Which meat should I do Friday? Brisket, or pork butts?

I appreciate all your input and comments.

Rez

 

[SmokyMose]

I would do the butts first.

 

[D.W.]

Pork Butt first. I put the pulled pork in a tray with the renderings from the wrap time. When time to serve a day or two later I hit it with some rub and heat up directly in the tray, mix it up, and serve how you like.

 

[noboundaries]

No question. Butts first. Brisket can be tricky to reheat and stay moist.

 

[kruizer]

Butts first and brisket next.

 

[GATOR240]

I would do the butts first also.

 

[rez667]

No question. Butts first. Brisket can be tricky to reheat and stay moist.

Either way the brisket is going to get reheated. I’m dropping everything off Sunday afternoon.

 

[Fueling Around]

Don't have written notes, so going by memory on pork butt ... no we're discussing reheating a brisket.

This goes back a few years.
I smoked a brisket and it was almost probe tender.
A few days later, I steamed it in my toaster oven for around 4-5 hours. It was very tender and good smoke flavor. Co-workers didn't complain. 1 hinted so I gave him left overs.
This was kinda a Katz Deli method on how they serve brisket and pastrami.

Are you serving all the meat ready to eat (RTE)?

 

[rez667]

Don't have written notes, so going by memory on pork butt ... no we're discussing reheating a brisket.

This goes back a few years.
I smoked a brisket and it was almost probe tender.
A few days later, I steamed it in my toaster oven for around 4-5 hours. It was very tender and good smoke flavor. Co-workers didn't complain. 1 hinted so I gave him left overs.
This was kinda a Katz Deli method on how they serve brisket and pastrami.

Are you serving all the meat ready to eat (RTE)?

Yes. Every thing will be cut, and portioned into aluminum trays

 

[1MoreFord]

Butts are very forgiving and like others I agree the butts should be done first.

Back when I read Mike Mills' book he mentioned that Mike "Sarge" Davis of the Whole Hog Cafe and The Southern Gentlemen's Culinary Society BBQ team cooked his briskets over two days.

I've also seen others talk about cooking brisket till time to wrap(in foil for this) and then allow to cool and finish the next day from the wrapped stage. This can be done in an oven since little more smoke would reach the meat due to the foil wrap.

 

[Fueling Around]

Reheating pulled pork is so simple. Hopefully you reserve some of the fat and meat juice to dump into an electric roaster.

Local smoke house and caterer smoke cooks his brisket fully.
Slices cold and then reheats/ steams in covered aluminum trays in the oven to serve.