Gameday(father's day) what's cooking?

So one advantage of the pandemic and sheltering in place is that I'm able to work on my BBQ techniques. The second is that because the government forced certain meat producers to stay open you can get pork for cheap. I got a 4.5lb pork shoulder for $4.81 yesterday.

So I got the electric smoker dialed in. I made some killer ribs last weekend and I had the pork shoulder sitting in the fridge with the rub over night, went in the smoker an hour ago so time to let low and slow work its magic.

Any one else working on their craft?

 

Nice! That's an incredible deal on pork shoulder. When you make ribs, do you put them in the smoker raw?

My wife and kids got me this lil charcoal grill for fathers day, which converts into the firebox on a bigger grill, if desired. I broke it in last night (they gave it to me earlier in the week so I could set it up and season it). I forgot how much better charcoal is than propane. I made butterflied chicken breast, sausage, potatoes & mushrooms and some veggie burgers my wife and daughter like. Then we roasted marshmallows in it.
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It's pretty small, we're discussing getting the bigger grill and using this one as the fire box.

 

@groutbrook . I prepare the ribs the night before getting rub on them and then letting them sit in the fridge overnight. Then I place them in the smoker uncooked. I use the 3-2-1 method where I smoke them for 3 hours, pull them out and wrap them in foil with a bit of apple juice and put them back on for 2 hours, then brush on the sauce and let them cook the last hour. Last 3 times I've done it they are so tender they fall off the bone.

I've also decided that until I get better I won't try multiple meat types at the same time. Tried it with a pork shoulder, ribs and a whole chicken. Chicken turned out perfect, ribs weren't cooked enough and were good but tough and the shoulder after 10 hours wasn't near done. So just focusing on one at a time now.

I have a Weber charcoal for grilling because the wife just likes the sides, she has meat issues, kids will eat hot dogs and that's it. I got a bullet smoker 2 years ago but I was having trouble getting the temp to stay steady and it was getting frustrating. So I got a low end pit boss electric last fall and I'm just now finding the sweet spot when using it. If it was up to the wife I'd be grilling potatoes and corn on the cob every day during the summer

 

The rib method sounds good. My buddy made the multi-meat mistake when he brought his smoker to fishing camp awhile back. We turned a duck into jerky before the other meats were even done.

 

Good stuff thorn. Happy father's day to all too. We did pulled pork, broccoli cheese and rice, baked corn and ice cream cake. Saturday we did burgers and dogs on the charcoal grill at my brothers with pasta salad and pineapple hot sausage baked beans and cake and ice cream. Birthday parties as well as fathers day. Kept it simple but was really good.

 

Hey grout. Nice. Now my son has a similar setup that we started buying him a few years back. It's all on a heavier frame and has two drum cookers. One propane and one charcoal side by side and the following year bought him the smoker box add on. I laugh because when he wheels it out its heavy and long. Man it's good though. You have to stay after it because you can go through some wood and lump charcoal while smoking. Also adjusting the heat and moving the meat around for eveness. He also has a 3 or 4 burner flat top griddle grill on wheels. Quite the setup.

 

Macs ribs are not smoker done but still pretty good if I do say so. Sometimes baby backs sometimes st.Louis style ribs. No seasoning first, pull the membrane off the back ( it's a pain but worth the trouble), strait on to a hot grill. Stay with them until you get some char on both sides and the meat will start to cook. 20 minutes or so, 10 in each side. High flame. Then I take them off and put them in a tin. I put a cooling rack in the tin that raises them off the bottom about 3/8 of an inch. Let them cool down and then I put the rub to them. Rosemary, garlic powder and tasty blend seasoning salt. Set oven on 225. Tightly wrap the tin in foil. 3 hours on 225, 2 hours on 250. Pull them out and uncover. Now the tricky part because the will want to call apart. Back to the grill with medium heat and about 15 minutes a side. Carefully flipping with two pairs of tongs from each side. Then enjoy. Don't forget it you make them good once they will always expect you to make them for every family gathering.

 

Looked at a pork shoulder for the first time yesterday. A crock pot receipt called for it. Couldn't do it, way to much fat on it so we just used a regular pork roast and it turned out fine. Pork could be the last inexpensive meat left. Can't believe I paid 8.00 for OM bacon.

 

I saw the one Char-Grill makes with the propane grille attached, which would be handy if time didn't allow for charcoal. You're right, it was huge with all 3 options attached. The idea behind getting me the single barrel grill was ease of use, and it is easy to use if I left it as-is, but my wife knows that's not going to happen.
I recently fell a shagbark hickory tree for an elder couple, which I plan on splitting into smoking/grilling fuel.

 

Thanks, I'll give this a try.

 

I usually trim a large amount of the fat off a pork butt before I cook it, especially in a crock-pot. Otherwise it turns out too greasy for my liking.

 

+1 on the 3-2-1 for ribs. Works every time for fall off the bone ribs. Plus, ya gotta be sure and remove the silver skin on the bottom bone side of the rack. We just bit the bullet and dropped some coin for a traeger about a month ago. That thing is the shiznit. Oven hasn't even been on since the traeger went into service.

 

I tried my first pork butt, rubbed it, smoked it low and slow, panicked about the stall, and it was great.



I got bold and decided to do a brisket. An expensive brisket. Rubbed it, smoked it, and had some great jerky.

 

I was just about at the 12 hour mark and I thought I was in the stall because it wasn't going and higher than 185. I was getting a bit panicked and decided one more hour because the sun was going down. I pulled it out let it sit for a hour and went to pull it and was a little defeated. It wasn't fall apart tender, almost but I still had to work to get it pulled. Very very tasty though and was just about there.

 

I was also at sundown, but I did wait. I’m thinking you don’t make a pork butt for the day you want it. Make it the day ahead and drink until it’s done. Seems more relaxing. On the first one the little misses kept telling me to hurry up.