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Behold My Butt! (2003–2006)


Al_Dente

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The Hickory is indeed a good thing...it leaves a familiar flavor....like bacon :biggrin:

I delivered one butt this morning...delayed fathers day present

2 more in the fridge with just a little bit missing

they are for tomorrow today I am going to a pig pickin...

this board is killin me I am going to sprout a little pink tail soon :wub:

tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

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Couldn't resist looking after 5 hours. It has stayed right at 240 with one spike that I noticed to 270, but I closed some vents for a bit and got it back down pretty quickly.

Looking good so far:

gallery_7851_477_6947.jpg

Bill Russell

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gallery_7851_477_8112.jpg

After 8 hours I pulled it off - it was registering a temp of about 180 and the cooker temp was still solidly 240. I'm a believer in the Minion method.

Sandwiches were served on buns and topped with some basic creamy coleslaw.

gallery_7851_477_15930.jpg

Not overly smoky - I think next time, if I want some more smoke I'll add some chunks of wood about 4 hours in. But this was the most meltingly tender version I've made. I'm glad I made the Carolina sauce for this - my other standby, my own KC style sauce might have been a little too unctious with the pork. At least for the first time.

Happy 4th of July. :cool:

Edited by bilrus (log)

Bill Russell

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WOW!! have I got BBQ on the brain after reading through this post!! I am having 30 people over for my inlaws surprise anniversary party on sunday. Here is my meat product inventory as of 10:41 PM Wednesday July 6th:

one 9 pound whole picnic shoulder (bone in, skin on)

6 racks of Baby Backs

also have 3 untrimmed briskets.

and 10 pounds of chicken wings.

That should be enough, don't ya think?!?

What are your thoughts on brining the brisket and ribs?

I use my own brand of dry rub that is a kosher salt, brown sugar based rub. It tends to draw liquid OUT of the meat so I try not to let em sit too long with the rub on them. I also will smoke the meat for 3 hours at 200 degrees then wrap in foil after the internal temp reaches 140.

Would love to know if any of you have brined BB ribs or Brisket.

Thanks,

Eric

President

Les Marmitons-NJ

Johnson and Wales

Class of '85

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Do not brine the brisket, but brine the pork and chicken. Brine the butt far longer than the other cuts.

As I recall, brined brisket is corned beef, but I could be wrong.

If you intend to not smoke the meat for long and then foil and stick in the oven, make sure your meat is above 140 degrees (F) before doing so. Don't rely on time, rely on a thermometer.

And, remember to put your meat on the grill/smoker as cold as possible, if you want it really smoked.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Bill, that butt looks fantastic! Nice work!

Eric, that sounds like p-lenty of food but in all seriousness, you may want to add a butt or 2 (and cut it back to 2 briskets, maybe). I only say this as an often-neurotic host who worries that each guest won't get enough of each item. With only 1 butt, you may come up a bit short with 30 eaters, especially when you consider what the actual yield on a 9 pound, skin-on, bone-in butt is going to be.

6 slabs of ribs will be enough for everyone to have a taste (a little over 2 ribs per person if everyone eats them). If the whole briskets are as big as the ones I got last weekend, you'll easily have enough brisket for everyone if you make 3 and probably even have enough if you make only 2 of them.

I would definitely brine the butts and the ribs. I always brine those items and for my taste, I think it produces a noticeably superior product -- especially when you consider that brining is a step which costs nothing but time.

But, I'd skip brining the briskets. They'll essentially end up corned, which isn't what you want.

Edited to add: I agree with Susan; brine the chicken, too.

=R=

"Hey, hey, careful man! There's a beverage here!" --The Dude, The Big Lebowski

LTHForum.com -- The definitive Chicago-based culinary chat site

ronnie_suburban 'at' yahoo.com

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Good news, just ate the butt i made today, 13 hours on WSM, 1 hour rest

Good news, I got the digital camera to work!!

Bad new, can't find the #%*&! USB cable.

Pictures to come when I get another cable

No beer, butt sandwiches go good with Oregon Pinot Noir

Edited by lancastermike (log)
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As I recall, brined brisket is corned beef, but I could be wrong.
But, I'd skip brining the briskets.  They'll essentially end up corned, which isn't what you want.

Edited to add:  I agree with Susan; brine the chicken, too.

GOD YES! Brine the bird! Best smoked chicken I ever did was brined.

Both Susan & Ron nailed the brisket question. Last month I was asked to smoke a 10lb brisket for a local beer tasting. Little did I know the brisket had been brining for ... well, a long time. Read about it HERE [CLICK]. The results, while tasty, were not what I was hoping for. I was apparently smoking under false pretenses :hmmm:

A.

PS: Awesome butt Bill!

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I found the USB cable, have the camera working and here are some pics from last week

The WSM fired up

gallery_12506_1417_128019.jpg

temp at 250 at dome

gallery_12506_1417_257710.jpg

butt on top rack and chicken breasts on bottom after 3 hours

gallery_12506_1417_130661.jpg

chicken done

gallery_12506_1417_224587.jpg

I hope I now have all my camera issues resolved and will post more pics.

Smoked butt is wonderful stuff

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I have just put a defrosted butt smoked on July 2 into a nice warm oven, got some rolls and just have to pick the bell peppers out of the coleslaw I bought :huh: ...ooops have to go make up the vinager dressing for the meat

2 whole weeks we lasted without pulled pork....well I mean we did go out for ribs last weekend :biggrin:

T

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

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  • 2 weeks later...
temp at 250 at dome

gallery_12506_1417_257710.jpg

Be carefull that your thermometer doesn't block the top vents. You need to let the smoke out, or you may get a chemical taste.

The picture does not show it but the thermometer is inside a cork cut down to fit. The other two vent holes are wide open. I want my meat to taste like the smoke. I do not use chemicals to start my fire, Weber chimeny works great.

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Best But I can Imagine....... would be confit in duck fat for 6-8 hrs @ 240F Then after being deboned while hot presssed into a desired shape under refridgeration. Then hen you wanted to serve it cut out the portions and coat them weith BBQ sauce and grill em, or rub with brown sugar and salt and sear them untill the fat side is crispy. Do the same with the belly it's darn good eatin'...

-J

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, so today I had some time to cook a big old butt. And I did. All 10.5 lbs of it.

On the weber, at roughly 250, until it was about 180 or so. It took the bigger part of the day, but I wasn't really timing it. We hit 95F today and it rained twice. I don't time too good when I'm working outside in the giant bamboo steamer that is South Louisiana in August. I worked on my porches all day, as I am in the middle of the "Big Renovation" (news to follow, tonight, on the thread that I started centuries ago, Mayhaw Man gets mad and the Result will be a new kitchen).

Anyway, some of you reading this may be aware of my bizarre horror/fascination concerning spending hours (or days) making the best meat that you can possibly make-buying just the right pork, slaving over it for hours, carefully watching the temperatures, staying up all night, etc and then taking this near perfect meat, chopping it to unrecognizable bits, and then, to add insult to injury, taking what is basically vinegar and sugar and pouring it all over this, just moments before, perfectly fine pork.

Clearly, with so many people in love with it, there must be something to it. Still though, I have a hard time with it. Seems like it should be against the law or something.

Anyway, overtaken by the heat and a need to acclimate myself to this supposed delicacy before I head into the heart of the beast.. So, by reading a gillion posts on eGullet, a couple of BBQ forums, and then doing some recipe comparing online, I came up with a sauce that seemed pretty representative of what I understand this stuff to be. And then I made the sauce. I actually followed, mostly, some instructions.

As for the meat, it was perfect. It had a nice spicy/slightly sweet rub coating it and it was smoked with a combination of hardwood charcoal and pecan wood. I have a might fine supply of pecan, especially with all of the rain recently-I just pick it up out of the yard. It was gorgeous. Even Susan would have been proud of me.

Like I said, I pulled my butt at 180F (I love saying that, it's that same thrill that I used to get telling fart jokes in third grade-men never grow up). I let it rest for an hour. Then, I chopped off about a third of it and pulled the bone. The meat was, i a word, as good as it gets. I was having second thoughts about this whole project and beginning to question my motives, the meaning of life, and other stuff that I should spend less time thinking about. But, as the fun part was coming up, I forged ahead. I took two huge carbon steel cleavers that are 50 years old if they are a day and whacked it up, two handed and with much style and ceremony, just like some white boy-wannabe Ed Mitchell (I think that I may have gotten closer to the heart of the matter by doing this-it's really, really fun to do). It looked pretty realistic and I think that it would have passed Pit Master Ed's test.

Well, at that point, I started ladling on the sauce, a little at a time until it looked about right. Not soupy, but not dry. Did I mention that the meat was already just about perfect. I am pretty sure that at this point anything that I was doing, no matter how right, was only making the pork different, not better. Anyway, I toasted up three buns on my griddle (read the new post in the kitchen thread Sunday, you'll be able to see the griddle-it's my current heat source for all indoor cooking), toasted them nicely, and added a good dollop of meat (that in itself is part of the problem-meat, especially good meat, does not deserve to ever see a spoon in it's noble trek to your belly) and some very nicely done fresh coleslaw that I made at the last minute so that it would be extra crunchy at the time of consumption (very few things are worse than soggy slaw).

So anyway, I sat down to watch the end of a stupendously good movie that I had never heard of until today, Open Range and to try out these monuments to The Tarheel State.

Can I tell you they were good? Can I tell you that they were just about the best thing that I have eaten in a year? Right now, were I not here on this newly revamped Rated PG website, I would be using some language that would make a sailor blush. That, my friends, was some seriously good eating. I killed all three sandwiches and then, just for good measure, made another and watched it while Kevin Costner made up his mind about being in love with Annette Benning (it's not like that took alot of thought). They were great.

This may be pretty bold talk, but I would not have been scared to have that in some kind of North Carolina BBQ Throwdown. It was really good.

So now, I have the rest of the butt, a quart of really, really great sauce, and a very. very full stomach. I got some work done on the house, Kevin Costner got a stunningly beautiful woman, and I ate some fabulous bbq tonight. All is right with the world.

Now, over to cry my heart out on the, now year old, kitchen thread.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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Right now, were I not here on this newly revamped Rated PG website, I would be using some language that would make a sailor blush.

I miss that. If there is anything that justifies dropping some GD's and MF's, it's a good pile of barbecue.

Bill Russell

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I just came back to read your post again, Brooks. For some reason, the print on my computer screen was not coming in real clear last night when I read it. Great post!!

I must say, that sounds like the best butt I ever beheld [<---a word?]. Yeah, I agree about the rating of this site, because this abso-F-ing-lutely calls for superlatives. Congratulations.

And, when I return our DVDs to Blockbuster, I'll look for Open Range.

Life is short; eat the cheese course first.

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I smoked 2 butts (cheeks?) Friday. Can relate to the weather situation, it was closer to 100 here in S.W. La. 8 hours on the weber and falling apart, hubby was in heaven, I was in heaven (and a little drunk....you gotta have fluids in this weather) kids were in heaven. A little latin spice mix as a rub, no brine. I will try a brine next time, but this butt would be hard to improve upon. The weber kettle is PERFECT for this, used wine barrel chips which gave a divine flavor. I usually use pecan (the branches fall daily between the tree rats and the afternoon thunderstorms) and I will next time.

Anyway, some of you reading this may be aware of my bizarre horror/fascination concerning spending hours (or days) making the best meat that you can possibly make-buying just the right pork, slaving over it for hours, carefully watching the temperatures, staying up all night, etc and then taking this near perfect meat, chopping it to unrecognizable bits, and then, to add insult to injury, taking what is basically vinegar and sugar and pouring it all over this, just moments before, perfectly fine pork.

all I can say is I can relate. made a bourbon bbq sauce, lite on the catshup just to thin it out a bit. yummy. I would have taken pictures, but my oldest got smart and went on vacation in the mountains with my dig. camera. Next time, cause they're pretty butts.

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Oh, Brooks.

More than saying "I pulled my butt at 180," I like saying "hon, my butts are stalled." Good woman that I am, I always do two butts at a time. A woman can never have too many.

Do tell more about your sauce.

Perhaps you need to stop in these here Twin Cities on your way to Canada for a butt Cook Off?

I've smoked many a thing in my day. I find Butt the most satisfying, although I dare say I prefer mine nekked.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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by reading a gillion posts on eGullet, a couple of BBQ forums, and then doing some recipe comparing online, I came up with a sauce that seemed pretty representative of what I understand this stuff to be. And then I made the sauce. I actually followed, mostly, some instructions.

And that sauce would be what exactly?

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by reading a gillion posts on eGullet, a couple of BBQ forums, and then doing some recipe comparing online, I came up with a sauce that seemed pretty representative of what I understand this stuff to be. And then I made the sauce. I actually followed, mostly, some instructions.

And that sauce would be what exactly?

It's here, in the archives of Recipe Gullet

I make no claims that this is "authentic", only that it is damn good.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was at Costco yesterday and bought a cyro package of boneless pork shoulder. Two pieces, total weight 18 lbs. as ususal one a little bigger than the other. Fired the WSM using the minion method with Kingsford and hickory and apple chunks. It was foggy this morning at daybreak when I started. Temp at 225 and holding.

gallery_12506_1417_105623.jpg

One on top rack one on bottom rack, this is about one hour in remote temperture transmitter on table

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picture of Arlo the Dog, assistant to the smoke, he has the proper idea of what to do when the butt is smoking

gallery_12506_1417_98804.jpg

After 3 and a half hours internal temp has reached 144. That stall will arrive soon and do not expect these to finish much before 7pm.

More pics to follow

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gallery_12506_1417_98804.jpg

After 3 and a half hours internal temp has reached 144.  That stall will arrive soon and do not expect these to finish much before 7pm.

More pics to follow

I think Arlo's protecting what he feels is HIS butt!

How long will the butts be smoking in total? I'll live vicariously through your smoking this time ... I'm away for two weeks of vacation next week and there's no room for the smoker :sad:

A.

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gallery_12506_1417_98804.jpg

After 3 and a half hours internal temp has reached 144.  That stall will arrive soon and do not expect these to finish much before 7pm.

More pics to follow

I think Arlo's protecting what he feels is HIS butt!

How long will the butts be smoking in total? I'll live vicariously through your smoking this time ... I'm away for two weeks of vacation next week and there's no room for the smoker :sad:

A.

They have now been on for 5 and one half hours and temp is right at 170 in the famous "plateau" Hard to ssay how much longer as each smoke is different. However I was thinking about 12 hours or a little more total. This also depends on wether or not I use the foil to help things along.

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