Daederik
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2014
- Location
- Darlingt...
Hi all,
Had a challenging but ultimately successful cook over the weekend that I wanted to share.
From a Hardware standpoint I'm just running a Weber Kettle with a Slow N Sear. Cherry and Applewood chunks. Big K Charcoal which...well out here in the UK is what I had available. The briquettes are a bigger than Kingsford, and I decided to only light 8 of them instead of 12, and load things up with a bit less fuel wise. Last time I did a cook I had a really hard time keeping things below 300.
I also picked up some binder clamps for the lid, as I was having some leaking problems with it.
From a software standpoint...Pork butt. Bone in and skinned, usual fare (although not so usual to find out here in the UK. Had to ask for it special). Dry brined overnight, and rubbed with Memphis Dust.
The cook didn't start off very well. I've always had issue getting these Big K Charcoals lit unless they're from a brand new bag (which they weren't). I don't know if they just absorb moisture from around or what...but after about an hour and 5 or so fire starters we were ready to go.
Put the pork on about 8am.
Once we were lit, things worked great for a while. Weather was good, temps were holding between 230 and 245. Hit the stall after about 6 1/2 hours (170f if I remember)
...then the "Light passing shower" which had a 35% chance to hit...well it hit. Hard. It was no light passing shower, it was a monsoon that came in and just started dousing everything.
I didn't know what to do! I opened vents up and was going to stand out there with an umbrella (I didn't have anything else!!) and that just wasn't working great. The temps did drop, but not terribly. We were hanging around 210-220.
...and then I remember "I'm able to tell the temps because of this electric wireless thermometer!". So I wrapped that in a bag, but it certainly got wet.
The storm passed and became on and off light rain for the next couple of hours. During this time the temps just seemed...off. It looked like it had gotten out of the stall and risen nicely up to like 178, and then instantly dropped to 172, and just went back and forth with that.
After that went on for a good couple of hours it seemed, I popped outside with an instant read and it was probing at about 170 in most places. During this time I dried off the instant read a bit more and put the probe in one of the "170" areas, and it then was reading that it was at 189!
Eventually, I just took the probe out of the meat and decided that I was going to BBQ by feel, as that's what you more experienced Brethren seem to do. I have no idea if the grill temps were right, but they seemed to be reacting a bit more reasonably to things.
I did add some more chacoal (and needed that to come up to temp), and we did go through another shower.
But...eventually I popped a probe in kind of by the bone, and it just slid in, like putting it through air, or water or something. There was no resistance at all. I've never had that before - I must have always been pulling too early.
...I still gave it another hour on the 'Q
At 9PM I pulled, and let it rest for an hour.
The results were amazing. The best I've ever made.
So, yes a 13 hour cook time was really long, but I can't argue with the results. I learned a few things, and improved on some problems I had previously.
Some pics for your pleasure
Had a challenging but ultimately successful cook over the weekend that I wanted to share.
From a Hardware standpoint I'm just running a Weber Kettle with a Slow N Sear. Cherry and Applewood chunks. Big K Charcoal which...well out here in the UK is what I had available. The briquettes are a bigger than Kingsford, and I decided to only light 8 of them instead of 12, and load things up with a bit less fuel wise. Last time I did a cook I had a really hard time keeping things below 300.
I also picked up some binder clamps for the lid, as I was having some leaking problems with it.
From a software standpoint...Pork butt. Bone in and skinned, usual fare (although not so usual to find out here in the UK. Had to ask for it special). Dry brined overnight, and rubbed with Memphis Dust.
The cook didn't start off very well. I've always had issue getting these Big K Charcoals lit unless they're from a brand new bag (which they weren't). I don't know if they just absorb moisture from around or what...but after about an hour and 5 or so fire starters we were ready to go.
Put the pork on about 8am.
Once we were lit, things worked great for a while. Weather was good, temps were holding between 230 and 245. Hit the stall after about 6 1/2 hours (170f if I remember)
...then the "Light passing shower" which had a 35% chance to hit...well it hit. Hard. It was no light passing shower, it was a monsoon that came in and just started dousing everything.
I didn't know what to do! I opened vents up and was going to stand out there with an umbrella (I didn't have anything else!!) and that just wasn't working great. The temps did drop, but not terribly. We were hanging around 210-220.
...and then I remember "I'm able to tell the temps because of this electric wireless thermometer!". So I wrapped that in a bag, but it certainly got wet.
The storm passed and became on and off light rain for the next couple of hours. During this time the temps just seemed...off. It looked like it had gotten out of the stall and risen nicely up to like 178, and then instantly dropped to 172, and just went back and forth with that.
After that went on for a good couple of hours it seemed, I popped outside with an instant read and it was probing at about 170 in most places. During this time I dried off the instant read a bit more and put the probe in one of the "170" areas, and it then was reading that it was at 189!
Eventually, I just took the probe out of the meat and decided that I was going to BBQ by feel, as that's what you more experienced Brethren seem to do. I have no idea if the grill temps were right, but they seemed to be reacting a bit more reasonably to things.
I did add some more chacoal (and needed that to come up to temp), and we did go through another shower.
But...eventually I popped a probe in kind of by the bone, and it just slid in, like putting it through air, or water or something. There was no resistance at all. I've never had that before - I must have always been pulling too early.
...I still gave it another hour on the 'Q
At 9PM I pulled, and let it rest for an hour.
The results were amazing. The best I've ever made.
So, yes a 13 hour cook time was really long, but I can't argue with the results. I learned a few things, and improved on some problems I had previously.
Some pics for your pleasure
