I was asked to cook BBQ for a three family combined graduation party Saturday, they want pulled pork, pulled chicken, baked beans and potatoes. The three graduates all played on the soccer team so they're expecting a lot of teenagers, including the whole soccer team, in addition to all of their family and friends so they wanted 8 chickens and 8 Boston Butts. I did the chickens yesterday, four on the offset and four on the 22.5 WSM, used cherry wood in each one, and took them off when the thighs hit 190. I'm not a fan of falling off the bone ribs, but I am a big fan of falling off the bone chicken and found that a final temp of around 190 in the thighs is about right. I'll put the chicken in a crockpot Saturday with some sauce and a little rub to season it up some. This pile of chickens. Turned into this pile of bones and pulled meat. Today I'm smoking two full size aluminum pans of doctored up Bush's beans and tonight the 8 Butts will go on the WSM with pecan wood. I'll hold the Butts in a large cooler until I start serving it Saturday around 4.
WOW!!! And I thought I was going to have my hands full cooking hot dogs and hamburgers over charcoal for a group of about 20 people tomorrow for the first time! That chicken looks delicious though!
Brother, that's some great lookin' Q! I'm doing a bunch of chicken drumsticks, ABTs and a hot-n-fast brisket tomorrow for my family. I've got two UDS that I plan on keeping very busy over the next 24 hours.
Oh man I love brisket, probably my favorite food to eat, but I've never tried the hot and fast method. I usually just throw them on the 22.5 WSM overnight, but I believe they come out better on the offset. I gave my UDS to my son who uses it a lot, it puts out some incredible food.
Can you still get whole briskets for 89¢ a pound at Price Chopper? That was the going price when I lived there in the early 90's. Sometimes they'd drop to 69¢ a pound. Oh the gluttony.... If I didn't have a soccer tournament to coach this weekend, I believe I'd be 'cueing up some pork butt!
I've actually been able to get much more consistent results with hot-n-fast on my briskets. Crank the heat up to 325 and then once the meat temp is 165, I foil it with some beef broth. Take it out around 202 degrees and wrap it tight. I let it sit wrapped in the cooler for a couple hours. Comes out great.
I wish brisket were still at those prices! I usually buy my whole packers from Sam's Club, although Costco sometimes has them.
I've never heard of going hot-n-fast with briskets. Is it done pretty much as you've described? What is the 202F in reference too...meat temp? I can't imagine it would be meat temp, it'd be dryer than my shoe at that temp, I'd think.
I always aim for 200F as the internal temp on brisket, 190 is pretty much the bare minimum for it to be tender.
And now the Butts are rubbed and on the WSM, four on the top rack and four on the bottom, which I loaded with Kingsford and six chunks of my favorite wood, pecan. Hopefully in about 14 hours or so they'll be at about 195-200.
A final shot of the Butts at 195, the bones are nice and wiggly so I'm going to wrap them in foil and store them in a cooler with a couple towels for insulation until it's time to start serving them this afternoon.
ALL of those cooks look darn tasty! I'm just getting into the charcoal/smoking game myself. Picked up a Weber One Touch Silver over the weekend, and I figure it's time to start leaning another hobby
Glad there is fellow WSMer in the Den! I'm new here but not to bbq. I competed for several years when I lived in KC and that was a ton of fun. Now I just cook for family/friends. I enjoyed the pics! Nice job!
Thanks Doug. I've got both the 18.5 and 22.5 model WSM's and love them. Got a turkey breast and two racks of spares in the fridge for the weekend.
After looking at your pics again, I think I noticed your beans might be from a recipe I use. Any chance that's Dutch's "wicked" recipe? I made a batch a few weeks ago, man were they good.
