Smokin-It User Forum!
Smokin-It Smokers => Model 3 & 3D - The Big Brother => Topic started by: Airchair on December 31, 2016, 02:15:13 PM
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Happy New Year everyone,
Just wanted to give an update......
Received the smoker yesterday @ 5:00 p.m. Celebrated my son's birthday 5:30. Unboxed the 3D @ 8:30. Set the Auber to 250 @ 8:30. At 12:30 she was done seasoning. Set my alarm for 4:00 a.m. to take the pork butt out of the 12 hr brine. Rinsed, patted dry, and rubbed. Threw it in the smoker @ 5:00 a.m. Getting anxious ;D
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Gonna be a good day. Congrats!!!
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Well, it will be a very happy new year, Court!
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Sounds like you were well prepared! Enjoy.
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The inaugural smoke is always the most memorable.
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Well, we pulled the the butt at 10:30 pm at 188 degrees. I couldn't wait any longer. First impression it looked amazing. Wrapped in foil and into the cooler for an hour. Pulled and tested.
Flavor was great but it was really dry. Disappointed......Looking back at what I might have missed. I put the fat cap down instead of up. This, I believe, was a huge mistake. All that fat rendering down through the meat. Plus, I forgot to score it before the rub.
Ribs are on sale right now for 1.99/lbs. Next smoke baby backs on Saturday.
Any advice is appreciated
Court
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Well, not much advice here, I've been smoking ribs at 250 with hickory for 3 hours then wrapping in foil the rest of the cook and whether it's been beef ribs or pork they have always been amazing .
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Court - I always smoke butts fat side up. I feel confident that if you smoke the butt fat side up on the next go-around you will very pleased.
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I don't think not scoring the fat cap was a big deal, but smoking fat cap down might have been.
Next time, try starting your smoke around 11:00pm to 12:00am and smoke at 225.
This is how I smoke all of my butts and never really had a bad one and my butt is always ready by dinner time with a very healthy rest of 2-4 hours.
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Thanks for the help. Gonna take a shot at a couple of whole chickens this Saturday. Gonna use Tony's poultry recipe. Looking forward to some playoff football and a good meal.
Court
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I guess I am the oddball here but I have ALWAYS smoked butts and briskets fat side down, facing the heat source. I've done this on Kamados, my #3 as well as offsets that I've had where the heat source comes from the side but below and on my KBQ. So I don't think that's the issue. There is a LOT of fat inside the butt, the fat cap is not what makes the butt moist, it's like an old wives tale that keeps getting perpetuated and argued about on BBQ forums the world over and it will continue to be that way, lol. My take on having the fat cap act as a way to "baste" the meat only serves as a way to wash off rub and weaken your bark. As a matter of fact, I've trimmed the whole dang thing off and cooked one and it gave me more bark on all sides. I usually don't bother with that though and I have never ever scored a fat cap.
So what do I think you could do to better your results? Use a small mini loaf pan full of water placed next to your smokebox and buy a better butt. Crazy I know, but all butts are not the same. The SI is a fantastic smoker but it can't work miracles with poor meat. You get out of it what you put into it. I have bought butts from Costco, Sams, Restaurant Depot, Kroger, Publix, Food Depot (local little crappity stores in the South) and Wal-Mart. The best ones I have found are actually Smithfield butts from Wally World/Sams. They are nicely marbled and come PRE INJECTED (brined) with a sodium solution. So while it sits in its cryovac waiting for you to buy it, its getting marinated/brined and it ALWAYS comes out tender and juicy. I have never cooked a bad Smithfield butt. The butts from Kroger and RD are fine but definitely NEED to be brined in Tony's brine to come out good. You did brine it so we can't blame the brine. We can't blame the smoker because we know what it can do. What can we blame? The meat.
Food Depot butts are absolutely terrible. If I were to use it in a dish that hid it, I would use one in a pinch but I'd buy one at Kroger or Publix before I'd stoop that low again and to be quite honest, Publix butts are TOO high and not all that great either. Wal-Mart is my go to for butts as well as ribs. I am a big fan of Smithfield products. If they win Moe Cason awards then they're good enough for me!
I am by no means a know it all. More like a know nothing but that's my experience for what it's worth. I have faith that the SI will redeem itself and that you'll be singing its praises soon ;)
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Flavor was great but it was really dry. Disappointed......Looking back at what I might have missed.
Sorry if I missed it in the posts... did you have water next to the firebox? Did you put it as high in the smoker as it could go? Did you brine?
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Next time, try starting your smoke around 11:00pm to 12:00am and smoke at 225.
This is how I smoke all of my butts and never really had a bad one and my butt is always ready by dinner time with a very healthy rest of 2-4 hours.
I follow Gregg's advice here and it has always worked out great for timing dinner the next day.
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Couple of opinions. 188 is not high enough for butts. I know many here claim that 190 is a good temp to smoke butts to, but I have had better luck with 195+. I see a theme on the forum where people claim their butts are "dry" when cooked to less than 190, when I think the perception is "dry", because the collagen has not as thoroughly converted to gelatin at that temperature, and there is not that sticky/moist mouth feel. And I agree butt quality is important. I see all sorts of crazy cuts of meat called "butt". If it looks like a "slab" of meat, avoid it. My worst butt ever was a Smithfield, but I made another Smithfield last weekend, and it was my best ever! I think I got a really weird Smithfield that first time. Sometimes you just can't predict, but butts in general are pretty foolproof, so keep going.
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Kari brings up another good point. 188° is too low for pulled pork. I pull mine off at 195° to 197° but I have let it ride to over 200°. When it jiggles like butta and the probe of the thermometer slides in and out with no resistance, you're good to go!
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Court, they're all right! Could have been a bad butt (it happens), so try again! I've pulled butts at 188-190 that were fantastic, but it depends on what RG says...how does it feel? Once it gets through the stall, and is climbing steadily, 188 is possible. But, I've had many butts go into a "secondary" stall in the 180s. As for fat caps, I don't leave much of one on my butts. There is enough internal fat that they come out great - assuming good quality meat!
If you have a Sam's near you, check them out. Costco only sells boneless butts, which I personally don't like. You also want to make sure your cut is a bone-in Boston butt, not a picnic shoulder; totally different cut, that certainly would be dry at 188.
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Tony,
Thanks to you I know better to buy a picnic. I just realized I have an addiction to buying meat on sale all of a sudden. Pork butt .99/lbs so I couldn't resist and bought a couple. We love pulled pork so I will have a chance to redeem myself.
Also, my sis in law just brought us 25 lbs of venison from Michigan today. Need to get schooled in Jerky. My freezer is at capacity due to my addiction and the venison.
Last Saturday I used your Poultry brine and smoked 2 whole chicks. Everyone said it was the best Chicken they have ever tasted. Thanks for all your help
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Sorry if I missed it in the posts... did you have water next to the firebox? Did you put it as high in the smoker as it could go? Did you brine?/quote]
Hi Larry, I put some of my home brew next to the smoke box, placed the butt as high as I could, and brined 12 hours with Tony's recipe.
Guess I'm gonna have to smoke some more butt to improve....darn
Court
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I did that quote wrong sorry
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Jason "RG" Thanks for your constructive reply. All suggestions noted
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Jason "RG" Thanks for your constructive reply. All suggestions noted
No problem at all. I don't post much but when I do I try to make it somewhat useful, lol! Good luck with the next one, I'm sure it'll be good eats!
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Tony,
Thanks to you I know better to buy a picnic. I just realized I have an addiction to buying meat on sale all of a sudden. Pork butt .99/lbs so I couldn't resist and bought a couple. We love pulled pork so I will have a chance to redeem myself.
Also, my sis in law just brought us 25 lbs of venison from Michigan today. Need to get schooled in Jerky. My freezer is at capacity due to my addiction and the venison.
Last Saturday I used your Poultry brine and smoked 2 whole chicks. Everyone said it was the best Chicken they have ever tasted. Thanks for all your help
Venison jerky is so good! I use my regular equilibrium brine jerky method with deer, when I can get my hands on it! I don't hunt anymore, but sure enjoy freebies, when my buddies give me some...of course, I split the batch with them!
Thank you, for the complement on the poultry brine! Glad you liked it!
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Pork Butts ::), welcome Court!