high heat

High is a relative term. For someone who tries to cook brisket at 200, 250 would be "high".

I routinely cook brisket, pork, chicken, and sometimes ribs at 300 or better. You don't use the usual time/temp formula. You gotta use the demon foil to get it to work. Cook at whatever temp until the color is right on the meat (usally about 1.5-2 hours)...foil it...internal at this point doesn't matter (but then brisket and pork will usually be around 150-165)...go about another 2 hours for brisket (total 4 hours) and about another 3 for pork (total 5 hours)...check internal temp...the brisket should be about 195 in the POINT....pork should be about 205....

Remove the meat, keep it foiled, DON'T put it in a cooler unless you want mush...a better strategy is to put the foiled meat on a table wrapped in some towel or a couple of old blankets....let the meat rest for 4 hours or so...it'll still be above 165 when you finally get around to pulling or slicing.

Chicken and ribs are different -- you've gotta watch them closely or they'll go straight to overdone!

Tim and I have placed in all four meats using this method...the process is, of course, constantly being refined....I no longer do ribs and chicken at these temps...and I've found that I can pretty much hit the target times with temps above 275 but below 300.

Chad, as you know I still have my "hot-n-fast" training wheels on. Between you and Tim and Ed my notes are getting longer, and my briskets done this way are getting better. I really appreciate all you guys reporting on the fine tuning of this technique.

Butts have always come out good for me. But I was wondering instead of taking brisket to 195°, Have you tried taking it to 185° then going into the cooler for 4, 5 or 6 hours?

thirdeye said:

But I was wondering instead of taking brisket to 195°, Have you tried taking it to 185° then going into the cooler for 4, 5 or 6 hours?

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I don't know if you could push 185 that far. In my opinion it would be tough. Sometimes even when I pull at 190 it doesn't come out as tender as I would like.

Flavor Dave said:

I've been hearing alot about cooking with high heat. Some people even swear by it. Anybody out there use this method of cooking? If so, how high is high? Is time a factor or do you pull it when the meat thermometer says so? I'm sure it cuts down on cooking time. Thanks for any advice

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It's become my method of choice for the crappy "select" grade briskets I get here in Michigan. On my WSM, I put the cold meat on as soon as I start the fire, and ramp it up as quick as it will to around 300 - 325 degrees at the grate. When the meat temp hits about 170, I wrap in foil with about a quarter cup of liquid (broth, juice, beer, whatever) and back in the smoker.

Don't take its temperature! It's not sick! :idea:

After about 90 minutes, use the "probe" test for doneness, then at 30 minute intervals. When it feels like it's "almost" done, take it off the smoker and wrap in towels, then into the cooler, microwave, etc., to cut the heat loss. Let it rest like this for at least two hours. Do to the residual heat, it will continue to cook for a while, then go into the "rest" mode that makes it so good!

Hope this gives you some ideas,

JimT

Here are some Baby Backs I did last evening in a little over 2 hours.
A little tricky, but they weren't bad. 400 degress, added a beer and foiled at 1 hour, left foiled for 45 minutes, uncovered for the last 45 minutes.
I will experiment just a little more on these, but I liked them and we ate the whole rack and sucked on a few bones, too.
Fork The Pork!!!
Smoke On!!!!!