Dual Cook suggestions for Brisket and Pork Butt?

[TrickyDick]

Hey,

I am hosting a superbowl party tomorrow. Have a whole brisket from Sam's club, and two pork butts (well actually 1 1/2 - made carnitas with half of one already) from the same. Going to cook them tomorrow and would like to have ready to serve by 5:30-6:00 PM. I know its gonna be an early morning for me already...

So I was thinking about cooking at 275º and Foiling at 165º IT then cooking to between 195-203º for both the beef and pork, with a 30 minute end of cook return to smoker to tighten up the finishing sauce. Then slice/pull time.

So here are the major decisions I think about. For the initial cook to 165º: in a pan, or naked on the grate? elevated grate or primary surface grate? I'm also wondering if I should put them both on one side and use smoke for the opposite pot (on the MAK 4 star), and if so which side to put the meat (smoke or 275º)? Also if I use an elevated grate position this would mean the divider, which seems to me that it might diminish the contribution of the opposite pot to both heat or smoke depending on which side I put the meat on. Finally if I use a elevated rack, water pan or no water pan?

My initial plan is to use the smoke/275º setting and set the meat on the primary grate on the smoke side, possibly with a rotation after a few hours. No divider and no water pan. Also, I am thinking the brisket will take longer to cook. I'm planning to FTC the meats before the final 30 minutes of smoker time with the finishing sauce. This will let me able to get both meats ready for serving at the same time.

Last off, planning no injection on the butts, and for the half butt, I'm going to probably put it on the smoker and hour to 90 minutes after the whole butt is on. I believe the half butt is bone-in with the half remaining containing the bone. Gonna use BPS Sweet Money on the pork, maybe with some Cherry Balsamic glaze on top, or else some regular old mustard. I'm not sure on layers, but maybe layer a bit of Jallelujah Jalapeno Maple Bacon and Happy Ending on the pork before the glue.

Thanks !

Since my Lions aren't in the game, I can devote my attention to the cooking. No preference on either team for me...

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

Well, since it was such short notice... Going to answer a few of my own questions, and make some self suggestions for next time I do brisket. As background, this is my 4th brisket - First one was a hit on the crummy Masterbuilt smoker; second was a hit last year on the MAK for superbowl; third was a flat only and a miserable failure, each cooked a different way..sort of. The first ever Brisket I followed the advice in the Book "Smokin" by M.Mixon. It turned out good but I had to finish in the oven as my smoker couldn't hit 350º, after the bark had formed. The second one I did from A.P.Lange book and it turned out great, though I did not take notes, I don't recall if I used a water pan or not, or if I cooked in a pan or not. I suspect both. This time did the same as the second brisket, but put on main grate and no water pan. It went on at 6:15AM after about 45 minutes out of the fridge and a paste rub, a dry rub, and an oil glue rub. I went back to bed, woke up around 8:45 and sprayed juice on the brisket. Had a nicely developed bark, temp was over 100. When I checked on it in another hour temp was up to 154º I tested around with the termapen and found different temps, some as high as 180, near the end of the flat. I decided to pull it here and foil. The last time I did this recipe, I woke up late and cooked at a higher temp to finish it up in time for kickoff. It turned out great. I think that I used a water pan last year, which would also require use of cooking on a higher rack. Anyway, a few points to consider for my next brisket. I think I will start using a water pan on them all and cook with elevated rack. I worry that water pan I'll get less bark though. Also, my Sam's Club Brisket was loaded with fat, and not the marbled kind. Unfortunately not many markets near me sell whole brisket so maybe next year I'll get a strube ranch from bps....

pork is going well. I didn't remove the fat cap, and am cooking fat side down. I also didn't apply rub to the fat cap.

Anyway, if any of y'all have tips, comments, etc.

TD

 

[Darwin00537]

I know it's too late by now, but I think it would have been a good idea to cut the whole butt into halves so you'd have three halves that cook similarly... Just makes it a little easier on you really.

Good luck!

 

[TrickyDick]

All turned out good. I'd have preferred a bit more moisture in the brisket, but after I sliced it, it was tender and moist enough. I put the slices in a half pan with with apple juice with a splash of cider vinegar and that helped to keep it warm and moist. It went fast. The pork turned out fantastic. One of the best I've cooked. Mustard plus sweet money, simply marvelous spicy apple, jallelujah maple bacon jalapeño, and happy ending in layers of decreasing quantity.
Thanks!

Splitting the butts so they were all equal would've been a good idea..

TD

 

[scooter]

TD, I'm curious why did you put the brisket slices in apple juice? Didn't you have any foil jus to lay the slices in?

 

[TrickyDick]

Good question.. I did have foil juices. I drained these just before the FTC step, then used a fat separator and removed the fat portion. I saved some of this and mixed with some BBQ sauce for the final painting/mopping. This was applied after the FTC (which lasted a few hours while the pork finished cooking) when the meat was placed back on the smoker for the sauce to firm up. The rest of the reserved liquid was discarded. In retrospect, I should've saved this to use in place of the apple sauce, or maybe mixed with some dilute apple sauce. It seemed to be fairly salty, but not overwhelmingly so. There was also a very tiny amount of foil juice after the FTC step, but it was an insignificant amount. I overshot my final IT on the brisket as well, though I didn't test in multiple locations, just the meat probe on the MAK. Next time I'm setting the alarm. DOH!