woodburner's Profile
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
Wow... can you even FIT a 10-lb butt on an 18-in grill and still do indirect heat, either on one side or around the perimeter? That's your issue -- keeping the heat from hitting the underside of the butt directly. The fuse will probably take up too much real estate to fit the meat in the middle and not get singed. You could probably do a small pile of coals on one side, and replenish every hour or so. More time consuming. If you did try the fuse, I would go with the smaller volume of charcoal.
Need quality beef brisket for smoking and for chili
Agree with Hawkeye... just to be clear, there is select (ugh), choice (what you want) and prime (not called for here). Angus is just a marketing label. At my Sam's (Elmsford, NY) they only sell flats at about $4/lb, which is high. At Restaurant Depot I can get whole packer cuts (10-18 lbs) for around $2/lb. That would be ideal for you. Hopefully, you get whole packers (point and flat) for around $2/lb.
I have smoked them for chili and they are great but, also, think about nice big ole chuck roasts(around 5 lbs ea. at my Sams) for about $3/lb. There will be less waste from fat compared to the briskets. Rub, smoke, then cut down for the chili. A very good outcome as well.
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
So Crunch you have an 8-lb butt and want to get it done in 8 hrs. If that's true, I think you're gonna have to speed it up with a little higher temp. At the 225-250, that sucker could take 10 or 12 hours. If you get the dome up to 275-300 (by adding another layer of coals across the top of the fuse, and by keeping the vent holes wide open), you might make it. In order for the pork to be tender, its gonna need to get to about 200 internal. If it only gets to 180, it will be sliceable but not pullable. If you get there early (dobutful), then just pull it off, foil it and wrap in towels in a cooler. It will hold for hours like that. But you must get to 200 degrees first.
Electric smoker
I agree fully with rcspott. I used a smokette for about 5 years. made like a tank. Reliable. Easy. But... for me not really enough smoke flavor, and I like a ring. Also, can't get a dry bark very well. Its great for pulled pork, ok for ribs, not so good but OK for brisket. I did end up getting rid of mine, and now I smoke on three Webers: a 22", a 27", and a 22" that I fitted with an aftermarket ring that turns it into a big bullet. I like the results better. But if you cant go with the charcoal, wood, and tending the units, do it.
Electric smoker
The reason is that you use a very small amount of wood for smoke... its heat is delivered by an electric element. Enough wood in a cook for smoke flavor (a couple golf-ball-size chunks), but not enough for a ring.
How much chicken to purchase?
First, baby shower is not usually a corral of heavy eaters. And the food sounds wonderful, but heavy for that gang. So consider that at the most, people will take only a taste of everything. You should cut items down so they can have, for example, 1/3 or 1/2 of a chicken breast HALF, a piece or two of sausage (maybe cut on the ange for 3-4 pieces per link), and either a small meatball, or a half of a larger one, with a single serving spoon of ziti. Do the math from there...
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
I understand your issues with the electric. You'll get what you want with charcoal and wood.
Most butts/shoulder cuts are pretty forgiving. 205 internal should not have been a big issue... should not have dried out significantly. Try bone-in butts for better flavor and moisture. If you have boneless, keep it well tied together -- don't let it open up in the smoker... it could dry out more that way. 3-4 lbs is a small cut, also. Better results with a bigger hunk. Full butt around 6+ lbs. That smaller piece could get done in 5-8 hrs, as you initially suggested. Full butt, somewhere in 8-12.
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
What's the weight of the shoulder? you'll still need about 8-10 hrs minimum. BTW, why did the other one fail? What was wrong?
30" vs. 36" 5 Burner Gas Cooktop
I've had 5-burner, 30-in DCS and Capital ranges spanning the last 10 years or so. They're great, but, yes, it does get crowded up there if you try to use them all at the same time. In fact, what I find significant is that I can't even use the middle with any corner if the two pots/pans are large... they're just too close. So if I want to use the larger middle burner for a big pot or saute, I can't fit a good-sized pot on ANY of the other four (and keep both centered). So I just have to use two of the corners to handle those pans. But if that's the case, why bother with the fifth burner? If you have a couple of items that are small, then you can juggle them and use everything.Its nice to have, but if you really use 5 or 6 burners a lot, I think you need to stay with the 36-in. Of course, be sure that the grate is continuous across the top surface so you can juggle things easily.
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
True... to an extent. A couple of butts can throw off nice juice but also a ton of fat... more than I would want in a pan of beans.
Any memories of "poor people food" from your childhood that you still crave?
I'm from the NYC area, and went to college upstate in Utica, NY. Upstate NY is largely a humble economic area, and one of the things I found up there was what the locals called "tomato pie." Basically, pizza without the cheese. You could get it in the pizza places, along with the full range of "regular" pizza. We used to order them for frat events. I asked someone, hey, what's the deal with the tomato pie? He replied, They're cheap!
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
just dont want to scrape the fat out of the kettle and the ash catcher!
BBQ Pork Shoulder on my Weber
Hey OldSchool. Sorry I just saw this now... hope you're still there! For me its a question of squeezing in the foil half pan to catch the drippings. Couldn't do that if I went all the way around. Nothing wrong with doing it, though. Sometimes, when I want to finish on the Weber, I just add coals every 45 min or so at the end of the fuse, under the right-hand grate hinge (rather than re-set a new fuse).
Restaurant Style Oven Baked Beef Back Ribs
I love those ribs. Do you want to find a restaurant or figure out how to make them?
The only way I have found these days is to buy a full, 7-bone bone-in rib roast, and then trim off the rack of ribs with at least 3/4-in. of meat still on the ribs. You get a great rib roast, and also a great rack of ribs.
These got S&P, a little garlic and cayenne, roasted/smoked low and slow indirectly in a Weber kettle for several hours (3-4). Used charcoal and a little mesquite.
Pulled Pork in the oven
go a little further to 200 internal, imho. if you cook at 275, about 10 hrs to get there.
Need help with my steak!
bake to finish. I get really thick ribeyes (1.5 to 2") and so on the grill I go direct on each side, then indirect and covered to finish. In the house either stovetop pan or broiler on two sides, then bake in oven to finish.
Need help with my steak!
Korsher salt and pepper fairl heavily, about 30-45 min. before cooking. What happens is that the salt first draws water out of the steak, but then when the salt dissolves in the water, IT GOES BACK INTO THE STEAK. Then you have seasoned meat throughout the steak, and you have a fairly dry surface again. Do it, set on the counter, and watch it happen -- from dry to wet to dry.
I go with the sear, flip, sear and oven. No multi-flipping.
add raw egg to un cooked oatmeal, then toast it before adding water, yum
doesnt the egg cook and stick everything together?
Is there something different to do with boneless shortribs?
Braised short rib ragout over rigatoni: sear the ribs with S&P in olive oil, set in baking dish, saute onion and garlic, add hand crushed peeled tomatoes, 1 C red wine, 2 C beef stock. Slice carrots into the baking dish, add sauce, cover and braise at 325 for 3 hrs. Remove beef. puree sauce to smooth(er). Pull beef apart with forks. Add beef back into sauce. Ladle over rigatoni or pasta of choice. Sprinkle parmesan on top.
Help please! Cropletzlach? Anything sound familiar?
Kreplach?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreplach
Fine splinters on new cutting board?
Never heard of that problem in a new board. Return it. There are so many great choices out there. Whatever you get, remember to hit it with mineral oil -- once a day for seven days, once a week for four weeks, then once or twice a year should do it.
Cooking pork shoulder overnight?
Should be fine overnight. At 225 or so, it will probably take 9-10 hrs to get to 200 internal -- perfect for pulling.
Pulled Pork Shoulder in Crock Pot with Disappearing Bone?
Have you really, actually done that? Dissolve a pork butt bone during cooking? So that there are chunks of it throughout the meat?
Shopping for a new Range - Gas, induction, or electric. Special case. Need Advice!
I love your plan. But you know what? I'm 54 yrs old now. Part young, part old. A lot of things can happen in 10 years. More things than you could possibly imagine.
I would not "get by" for a period as long as 10 years... Get a gas range if that's what you'll want, and spend the extra several hundred. A drop in the bucket for 10 years. Then you'll know what you want to do for the next renovation.
Best of luck to you and your family. Enjoy your new house -- enjoy it now and enjoy it down the road when you kick it up a notch!!
How to Roast a Pig in your backyard on a 16 inch Weber Grill
You don't even have to dig a hole in the ground... do it down south style, with cinder blocks.
Even on a concrete driveway or in the yard, lay down foil first, build up a cinder block rectangle, three courses high, big enough for a 30 lb pig dressed out by the butcher, use the Weber as your burn pit, burn down some real wood or light hardwood charcoal, transfer the coals with shovel and scatter under the hog, which has been placed between two metal grates. Need to look at some online full directions for this. Here is one of many ways to do it.
http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2007/03/cooking-whole-hog-on-cinder-block-pit_19.html
Pulled Pork Shoulder in Crock Pot with Disappearing Bone?
Someone pulled out your bone, man!! (Or girl!!)
The front shoulder is made up of two pieces, one called the Butt and the other the Picnic. The butt has a good sized bone that is hard to describe... like a deep T with flat sides... sort of a blade bone. The picnic has a traditional bone like what Wilma Flintstone would wear in her hair. They are substantial. Some people cook their shoulders at 225 for 14 or 16 hours or much more. I don not see them "disappearing" in a low setting crock pot after 8 or 9 hours.
Did you actually see the bone when you put it in? Could it have been a mislabeled boneless shoulder?
Slow-Cooking Brisket in an Oven
Yes. And if you get a remote probe ($15), you can monitor internal temp from outside the oven.
I use rubs like that on pork ribs and shoulder, but on beef, try the simple S&P.
Slow-Cooking Brisket in an Oven
Good to hear your intent, mborghese, but remember the lack of smoke will have an impact. Still, go for the uncovered cook (at least half the time) and build some bark. It will not dry out at the low cooking temp since that brisket has a ton of fat. And I GUARANTEE you that you must get it up to an internal temp of 190 min, 200 preferable, before it becomes tender. 140 or 150 will be, frankly, inedibly tough. If you're cooking a rib roast, go for 125 and let it sit on the counter and rise to 135, great. But this aint no rib roast. This could take 9 hours or 12 hours. It can vary a lot. So you may want to give yourself 12 hours and, if needed, when it becomes tender, you can foil it up and place in a cooler for an hour or two, no problem. And remember to slice against the grain.
And for your next effort, I would try what you find in most of the major BBQ places throughout the TX Hill Country: a rub of roughly 2 parts kosher salt, 1 part rough cracked black pepper, and maybe a little granulated garlic and a shake or two of cayenne. It really lets the beef flavor shine.
Slow-Cooking Brisket in an Oven
What's up? If you want to recreate a BBQ style cook, without the wood smoke, as it sounds like you do, I would either put the brisket fat side up on a rack in the pan, or over rough cut veggies in the pan (to keep it up and out of juice), or put it on the oven rack with the pan below to catch the drippings. At 225 oven set it will likely take 10 hours or so to reach 200 internal temp. You will know when it is done when a fork goes in and out easily. You could let it cook uncovered for four or six hours and finish wrapped in foil... this will retain more moisture but soften the bark (outer crust).
