Brisket, ribs, drumsticks

[rdstoll]

Having a going away party for some friends today so I'm firing up some brisket, ribs and chicken drumsticks today.

Just put the brisket on. 13lb packer trimmed down to 10-11 lbs. Injected with Butcher BBQ brisket injection - first time using this so am interested to see how it turns out. Layered with Kosher Salt, freshly cracked black pepper with a layer of Simply Marvelous Peppered Cow for good measure.

Will be doing the brisket at ~300* today with a combo of white oak and cherry until she's good and ready. Hopefully in 8-10 hours.

Fired up pit at 3:15am - meat went on at 4:00am.

Some early pics...

I've been making sure to measure all temps at the grate level and I'm reminded again of why this is important. My door gauge is measuring just over 275 but the grate-level probe is 50* higher than that!

 

[Titch]

Be ready about my Breakfast time

 

[DetTigersFan]

Looks like you're off to a great start to me man.

 

[rdstoll]

So about six hours in getting ready to wrap brisket in butcher paper.

But first I have a question on trimming some St. Louis spare ribs. I'm trying to practice getting these things to look "competition worthy" but I can't figure out where I'm supposed to cut.

Two picture below. The first one shows how I trimmed these ribs as wide as the widest bone (on the right). But it also shows as you move to the left some cartilage that is left over.

The second picture I lay my knife down on the ribs where I would have to trim to get rid of ALL the cartilage. The real bones taper and get smaller as you move left.

So my question is: what is the proper way to trim these? I've watched video, etc and it always looks like people get to a nice even rack of spares but I can't seem to get there unless I'm messing something up.

 

[Bafco901]

great Brisket pix

Hey RD, this is Bafco from Glen Ellyn. Looks like you got it going great-- want to know more about the Brisket: where did you pick-up the Meat?
Did you inject-marinate-or rub them first?
Did you use any wood? thx, Bafco

 

[pgyrogear]

Looks as if you will be sending or friends off with a good mail.

 

[rdstoll]

Hey RD, this is Bafco from Glen Ellyn. Looks like you got it going great-- want to know more about the Brisket: where did you pick-up the Meat?
Did you inject-marinate-or rub them first?
Did you use any wood? thx, Bafco

Hey Bafco!

I got my brisket from a Butcher in Lake Zurich Orchard Prime Meats. I've only been able to find full packer briskest in butcher shops have had no luck in places like Costco, which only sells brisket flats in my area.

I did inject this one with Butcher BBQ brisket injection. First time I had done that. I liked the results and will likely keep doing that. I kept the rub simple - a layer of Kosher Salt, layer of cracked black pepper and I threw a little Simply Marvelous Peppered Cow on for good measure.

As far as wood I used some Oak and Cherry. First time I had used cherry other than some chunks in my UDS. Good flavor and color but the wood was not quite as dry as I thought. I just had a huge load of wood dropped off a week ago and I think it still needs some good drying out.

This cook was a bit more challenging because Mother Nature just loves to &$@% with me every time I have a big cook for a party. Winds were gusting to 30mph and whipping all over the place so my plan to run at a steady 300* was instead closer to 250-275* which meant I had to pull the meat a little bit before I wanted due to 30 starving people eagerly awaiting the goods. It was still very good - actually churned out my best ribs I've ever done.

Thanks!

Rob