Doesn't matter. I'm not a huge fan of pork, but even unadorned, that looks pretty damn tasty.
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- Thread starter Gutwrench
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Doesn't matter. I'm not a huge fan of pork, but even unadorned, that looks pretty damn tasty.
I'm on-call and paged out three times today, so I'm just experimenting with fast and easy stuff.
The first is quartered iceberg grilled with mesquite (for the smoke and marks) then chilled. The dressing is just sour cream and buttermilk, salt and pepper. It is topped with blue cheese, fresh basil, and bacon. It really was really better than it looks. The lettuce took the mesquite smoke really well.
The other is just pancetta wrapped asparagus. It was pretty good too. Pancetta is naturally salty so I only added pepper to the branched asparagus. Next time I might try prosciutto instead.
The first is quartered iceberg grilled with mesquite (for the smoke and marks) then chilled. The dressing is just sour cream and buttermilk, salt and pepper. It is topped with blue cheese, fresh basil, and bacon. It really was really better than it looks. The lettuce took the mesquite smoke really well.
The other is just pancetta wrapped asparagus. It was pretty good too. Pancetta is naturally salty so I only added pepper to the branched asparagus. Next time I might try prosciutto instead.
It's good not being on-call and enjoying a long weekend. Here's a picture where I'm about to put on the ribeye but not before torturing the heck out of my liver first. Tomorrow it's leg of lamb for a college daughter of a friend home for the holiday.
@Uofmtiger - I've never heard of the Kettle-Q until now. I will have to check it out. Do you aim for a certain pit temp when using it?
For the burgers, I followed the recommendation on their website (littlegriddle.com), which was to pre-heat the grill to 350. Once I had it settled in at that heat for a while, I threw on the burgers. I used cherry wood when I cooked the burgers, which was too weak for my taste, since you aren't right over the flame. I would recommend something stronger like hickory or mesquite if you want it to have more of a woody taste.
Indirect at ~400 F for about five minutes then turn. I checked them often because after the first turn the time seemed to diminish. The warm peach with ice cream along with their flavors were a nice combination.
We had some beautiful weather over the weekend, so I smoked a Pork Butt.
I have wrapped in the past, since it cooks faster that way. However, I think the bark has more crunch when it isn't wrapped and that is how we prefer it. If I remember correctly, it took about 20 hours (I didn't look to see what time I threw it on). I care more about the internal temp and we usually take it out at around 203 degrees (I have tried a lot of different temps and the 200-205 range always turns out the way we like it...some people prefer it in the 195 range, so you have to test it to see what you prefer). I then spritz it with apple cider, wrap it in foil and put it in a "cooler" with paper and towels and let it rest for a couple hours.
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Wrapping meat on a grill is neither grilling nor barbecuing - it's steaming, and it's wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!
Well it really looks good. You have shoulders down, I'll say that. I'm open to any more tips or techniques.
I cook them until 165 then wrap until ~195. I let it rest for about an hour then put it back on for about 1/2 hr turning it often to get a bark. I try to have not letting it get much above 197-199. After pulling I pour the drippings over it.
I took out a SRF butt out of the freezer to thaw tonight. I hope it's ready by Saturday morning. If not, it should be by Saturday night so I'll have to resort to an overnight cook.
Hi Tomorrow. I think it depends on the technique so I don't fully agree, but I'm still pretty new at this. Most competition cook's wrap for different reason mostly to shorten the cook of course. I've cooked brisket both unwrapped (22 hours) and wrapped in butcher paper after reaching 170 F.
I'd be interested in how you cook some things if you'd share.
Wrapping the meat whilst keeping it in the heat does indeed hasten the cooking time, because you're steaming the meat, not smoking or grilling it. You're heating the moisture in the meat to above the boiling point and because the moisture doesn't easily escape the wrapping, that steam envelops the meat and steams it. I've found that this makes meat that's overcooked and underflavored - that same steam bath is keeping smoke flavor away from the meat, while washing away much of whatever smoke flavor it's already received. Same thing with using a water or juice bath in a smoker; that steam is practically boiling the meat, and it's keeping the smoke away.
Here's a technique I've used with great success on tougher cuts like brisket (I assume it would work on a pork butt, but those are already pretty tender without using this step) - smoke the meat until it comes completely up to temperature, around 195° or so - then remove it from the heat, wrap it in commercial plastic wrap (not foil or paper), and place it in an empty ice chest or cooler with the lid closed for 2-3 hours. This allows the tough connective tissue to continue breaking down without further cooking the meat.
I've never been a fan of overcooked meat. To me, anything that's "fall off the bone tender" is simply "grossly overcooked." Steaming meat, to me, takes away from the smoke flavor and makes the meat mushy. But to each his own, I suppose.
Here's a technique I've used with great success on tougher cuts like brisket (I assume it would work on a pork butt, but those are already pretty tender without using this step) - smoke the meat until it comes completely up to temperature, around 195° or so - then remove it from the heat, wrap it in commercial plastic wrap (not foil or paper), and place it in an empty ice chest or cooler with the lid closed for 2-3 hours. This allows the tough connective tissue to continue breaking down without further cooking the meat.
I've never been a fan of overcooked meat. To me, anything that's "fall off the bone tender" is simply "grossly overcooked." Steaming meat, to me, takes away from the smoke flavor and makes the meat mushy. But to each his own, I suppose.