@chas1723OK..........
Here's way you can try that a lot of folks get great results on the very first outing....
Set your coals approx. like this:
Leave that gap there....that's where you place about 10~12
LIT coals to "light the fuse", so to speak.....
A 1/2 hotel pan works well for a drip pan....these things drop a TON of juice.....
I'll often fill them w/ beans...with small bean-sized sweet pepper & onion bits, some spices & honey...double up the pan if you do this, as it gets kinda heavy...
I leave the fatcap on & diamond score, or "crown" it, but you can trim that down if you'd like.....there's plenty internal fat in the piece to do what's needed....
Rub 'em down....
I just do that while the coals start lighting....you can get it ready sooner, but if it's kind of a salt-based rub, it will start to affect the taste if it sits, say overnite....
I use, usually, Big Ron's rub....from Texas, but only available over the 'Net, so you can use something on hand or make up a thing from what's in the cupboard....
If it's a commercial rub, look for it to be as low-salt as possible...some is good, a lot WILL end up making the end product salty....
Dizzy Pig brand makes stuff from spices & herbs only & has some with little to no salt at all...not available everywhere, but check into that maybe (BGE dealers have them sometimes)
You can make something up using Kosher salt, black semi-coarse pepper, maybe paprika or some other items of your liking or personal taste.....a LITTLE brown sugar can be OK...using a lot, it may end up tasting "burnt" after a bunch of hours under heat....
Some folks use regular mustard or cooking oil of some type over the piece to help the rub stick...I've taken to just rinsing them, trim a little of anything goofy hanging off, "crown", and rub all sides & down into the areas created by the crowning....
This jumps ahead a little, but shows adding in the bean pan halfway thru the cookup.....
Also, in the last two cooking pics, you can see how the fuse, or "snake" burns around....everything may not burn completely, but if you get a reasonably tight pack on your setup, most of it will go OK........
When you've got the thing rubbed down, 10 or so coals lit & placed at the start of your chain (good idea to lite up, leave all vents open, lid on & heat up the machine for 15~20 minutes) go ahead with drip or bean pan, cooking grate & set the piece in the middle.....
I use those little oven therms right on the grate @ Meat Level (<< Technical Term), but if you have a probe therm like Shoestring is using, set that in place....cap it & let 'er rip, tater chip.....
If you happen to drink beer, now's a good time....just don't overdo it & wreck dinner....
I personally aim for 260~275f grate temp....right at where he food is.......you can go lower or even higher, folks do, but lower will take quite awhile & higher has a drying out/ slight burnt edges risk all it's own....middle of the road is likely the best way on a first cook (this is NOT an attempt, it's going to happen...repeat, not pole vaulting, BBQ.....)
So go for about 1/2 hour, maybe 45 min. & then check....this gives time for the cooker to recoup lost heat from the large cold mass of meat it's just encountered & things to stabilize just a bit.....
Then, close vents down to about 1/2, top vent all open to exhaust freely, check in at this point & make sure your next coals are catching on & starting to burn....here's a little thought process on this from another story....
"Checked at about 45 min into the cook to make sure everyone's going to behave, once in the middle of the night (don't need a Maverick or a Guru, the dawgs wake me up to check, they know I'll want to know if things are OK...) Again at 7:30 AM & split one chimney of lump among them to keep all going smoothly, done approx 10:30 ~ 11:00.....
Slept thru most of it......
That's the long answer, the short answer is no babysitting, kettles are just not like offsets.....
The way I think about this is I'm not controlling the burn so much with the vents (available air) as it is with available fuel....
There's only a small area of fuel set up to burn & while you do have to pay attention to the vents, it's not as important as getting a good setup on the coal / wood at the start......
6 or 7 or 8 coals produces roughly 235 ~ 240°, if the vents are mostly open & it's left to settle in,
so if that 6~8 coals are all that's burning along the line at a time, there's where your temp is....."
That had to do with this cook ~~>
Six butts on five kettles.....overnite cookup with very little interference from me....Kettles know what to do.....allow them to work without too much checking & lifting the lid & great things happen
Standard timing on these things, for me, might go something like this:
10:00PM
lite fuse
rub up item(s)
10:30PM
the stuff goes on
4:00AM
quick check to see if everything's in a proper state
(no runaway fire, coals did not breach somewhere along the line & start to go out)
7:30~8:00AM
Check in again
Add more coals to the line of unburned, if needed
(things will go differently at different times of year, different outside air temp, etc.
it can be completed with one setup, but sometimes you have to pull the grate out or use the flip grate & add some more)
10:30~11:00 AM
may be time to pull the stuff off
How to tell:
Does it probe (small skewer, therm probe, icepick) like you're stabbing soft butter....seriously, it will "fall" into the meat....
Will the bone wiggle free without the meat sticking to it?
Temp (least reliable, for me anyways)
Very high 190's to 205/210f , deep internal, not touching the bone, if there's one in it...
THEN:
Wait 15~20 minutes
..and....
Wrap the bugger....I use foil, some use breathable UN-coated butcher paper
Wrap that packet in an old clean towel & place in a dry ice chest....with a few more towels as heat buffer
...AND....
WAIT......
I wait two hours.....for me, this is the very most important part...it lets the rest of the fat disintegrate, lets the juices redistribute throughout the piece & whets your appetite to boot !!!
Then....
Pull....shred it up & eat on sammies with or without coleslaw or however you'd like....if you do beans, that's one of the best sides for this affair...slaw is good...a few pickles...good drinks, maybe some tater salad.....
Happy Fourth of July !!!!
Topic: Help with first butt (Read 2907 times)
