Kyle Serlington
Full Fledged Farker
it was raining in the morning so i had to move my WSM from my back patio to the front porch. i lit off a charcoal chimney and got my smoker goin with no problems, it kinda went back and forth between 250 and 300 for the first few hours and then about 4 hours into it the whole first batch of coals was dyin down so i lit off another chimney. i went inside and shut the door so no smoke would get in the house and set off the alarms. i went to check on the chimney and there was a small fire on the porch. thankfully it wasn't in the smoker and the meat was fine, but i did melt a small plastic table, a flower pot, and a bucket. oops. i had the chimney in the same spot i lit it off in the morning and didn't have any issues the first time, but this only needs to happen once to make sure it never happens again. it's a good thing the porch is stone and brick, otherwise this could have been a LOT worse
here's the aftermath of the fire:
and now onto the positive, the food!
i smoked a packer, a couple 2lb cuts of pork belly, and then i made garlic parm salt potatoes, mac n cheese, cornbread, and 2 different sauces. the cornbread came out really good, i did something i don't usually do, i put a quarter cup of mayonaise in it.
pretty happy with the price i paid, although there was a little more fat than usual and it looked like there was a partial freezer burn, but all of that got trimmed off
i overcooked the brisket by about 5 degrees or so, but i let it cool off to about 180 and then wrapped it and let it sit for about an hour and it was good. it shredded a little as i sliced it but it didn't dry out and i managed to get some decent slices out of it. i smoked it about 4 hours with hickory and apple chunks before i wrapped it but unfortunately it could have used more smoke, but it was still one of my better briskets
the final verdict: the brisket and belly could have used more smoke, but they were both still very good. i really like the rub i used, the bark on the brisket had a great flavor even if it did need more smoke, and belly is just naturally awesome anyways. some parts of the belly could have been rendered out a little more but it was better than my last attempt where i overcooked it and it was difficult to slice. i was really happy with all the sides and overall it was a really enjoyable meal.
thankfully, we didn't have anymore fire issues for the rest of the night
here's the aftermath of the fire:
and now onto the positive, the food!
i smoked a packer, a couple 2lb cuts of pork belly, and then i made garlic parm salt potatoes, mac n cheese, cornbread, and 2 different sauces. the cornbread came out really good, i did something i don't usually do, i put a quarter cup of mayonaise in it.
pretty happy with the price i paid, although there was a little more fat than usual and it looked like there was a partial freezer burn, but all of that got trimmed off
i overcooked the brisket by about 5 degrees or so, but i let it cool off to about 180 and then wrapped it and let it sit for about an hour and it was good. it shredded a little as i sliced it but it didn't dry out and i managed to get some decent slices out of it. i smoked it about 4 hours with hickory and apple chunks before i wrapped it but unfortunately it could have used more smoke, but it was still one of my better briskets
the final verdict: the brisket and belly could have used more smoke, but they were both still very good. i really like the rub i used, the bark on the brisket had a great flavor even if it did need more smoke, and belly is just naturally awesome anyways. some parts of the belly could have been rendered out a little more but it was better than my last attempt where i overcooked it and it was difficult to slice. i was really happy with all the sides and overall it was a really enjoyable meal.
thankfully, we didn't have anymore fire issues for the rest of the night
