jklich
Knows what WELOCME spells.
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2017
- Location
- Franklin, TN
I had my first cook this weekend on my PBC which was a whirlwind of ups and downs to say the least. I definitely made some rookie mistakes, but because of this board I was ultimately able to be successful. So here goes:
The Beginning - The Fatty
I had never heard about a fatty before but after trying it I am a believer - more importantly - my wife loved it as well so the fatty will be a new staple at our house when I get to cook
The Meat - 2 pork butts
One was 8 lbs and the other was 9 lbs. Definitely aimed on the high side of what I needed but leftovers are always good - especially when the food turns out great
Rookie Mistake #1 - grossly underestimated the cook time
I started the cook around 1:20 PM and thought I would be done for dinner. I'm not sure how I was able to completely research everything else and be so wrong on a critical part of the whole process.
This is where I had a big issue. I had committed to cook dinner for my in-laws and my family but the pork was no where close to being finished. That is where the fattys saved my butt (pun intended). I took the first fatty off after about 2.5 hours and it was amazing. So I pulled an audible and ran and got to more logs of sausage and a thing of biscuits and I was good to go. Everyone loved the fattys and their are now believers as well.
The Middle - 2 fattys 2 butts
Rookie Mistake #2 - not adding coals
I thought one basket of coals would be enough for the entire cook. Wrong. The meat started cooling around 8 but luckily the internal temperature only got down to around 135-140 before I was able to start it back up.
Fast forward to 2 AM when it started raining. Since I had to work the following day I tried to sleep in increments of 1.5 hours so I would not be a complete wreck. When I woke up and saw that it had started raining I thought that all hope was lost but luckily the cooker was still going strong. I was surprised to say the least but the meat was still no where close to 205 which made me wonder if it would be done before I needed to go to work.
The End
Around 5:40 AM I probed the meat and they were in the 205-210 range. They looked burnt but when I pulled them they were perfect. I added some more seasoning and sauced it a little because the flavor did not penetrate to the center as much as I would have liked.
Overall it was a success. Everyone who had it loved it and had nothing but good things to say. I don't know if I got lucky given all the mistakes and challenges I had to deal with but it was definitely a great learning opportunity.
The things I will remember to do next time:
- Always plan enough time. From everything I read the general consensus was 1.5-2 hrs per pound. I thought about foiling them but I had determined before the cook not to foil so I stayed the course
- Watch the coals as much as the meat. I probably could have shortened the cook if I stayed on top of the fire.
- Always have my Thermapen. That thing saved my life and is amazing.
I will also explore injecting the meat to get some flavor to the middle of the butt to see how that turns out.
The Beginning - The Fatty
I had never heard about a fatty before but after trying it I am a believer - more importantly - my wife loved it as well so the fatty will be a new staple at our house when I get to cook
The Meat - 2 pork butts
One was 8 lbs and the other was 9 lbs. Definitely aimed on the high side of what I needed but leftovers are always good - especially when the food turns out great
Rookie Mistake #1 - grossly underestimated the cook time
I started the cook around 1:20 PM and thought I would be done for dinner. I'm not sure how I was able to completely research everything else and be so wrong on a critical part of the whole process.
This is where I had a big issue. I had committed to cook dinner for my in-laws and my family but the pork was no where close to being finished. That is where the fattys saved my butt (pun intended). I took the first fatty off after about 2.5 hours and it was amazing. So I pulled an audible and ran and got to more logs of sausage and a thing of biscuits and I was good to go. Everyone loved the fattys and their are now believers as well.
The Middle - 2 fattys 2 butts
Rookie Mistake #2 - not adding coals
I thought one basket of coals would be enough for the entire cook. Wrong. The meat started cooling around 8 but luckily the internal temperature only got down to around 135-140 before I was able to start it back up.
Fast forward to 2 AM when it started raining. Since I had to work the following day I tried to sleep in increments of 1.5 hours so I would not be a complete wreck. When I woke up and saw that it had started raining I thought that all hope was lost but luckily the cooker was still going strong. I was surprised to say the least but the meat was still no where close to 205 which made me wonder if it would be done before I needed to go to work.
The End
Around 5:40 AM I probed the meat and they were in the 205-210 range. They looked burnt but when I pulled them they were perfect. I added some more seasoning and sauced it a little because the flavor did not penetrate to the center as much as I would have liked.
Overall it was a success. Everyone who had it loved it and had nothing but good things to say. I don't know if I got lucky given all the mistakes and challenges I had to deal with but it was definitely a great learning opportunity.
The things I will remember to do next time:
- Always plan enough time. From everything I read the general consensus was 1.5-2 hrs per pound. I thought about foiling them but I had determined before the cook not to foil so I stayed the course
- Watch the coals as much as the meat. I probably could have shortened the cook if I stayed on top of the fire.
- Always have my Thermapen. That thing saved my life and is amazing.
I will also explore injecting the meat to get some flavor to the middle of the butt to see how that turns out.
All in all it looks like you had a great cook. A little tweeking to get things the way you want is half the fun 
