My Kid's Birthday Party Smoke....pulled pork, brisket, and appetizers, oh my!

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kevin13

Meat Mopper
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Jul 8, 2007
190
10
Wentzville, MO
It's been awhile since I've smoked and even posted...life just got in the way with kids, job, new home, etc. Anyway, my oldest turns 6 this week and my youngest turned 1 an the end of March, so we're having a combined birthday party for them tomorrow...so overnight smoke for me. I'll be smoking a 8 lb brisket flat, two 8 lb pork butts for pulled pork, and tomorrow will smoke some ABTs, bacon wrapped meatballs, stuffed baby bella shrooms, and bacon wrapped lil smokies.

I picked the Pork forum since I have more of it. :biggrin:

Brisket was rubbed with SPOG, recipe of Humdinger, in this thread: http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/138304/spog-recipe. Will take it up to 195F, let it rest, then sliced.




And got my veggies all together for the infamous Chef Jimmy J's au jus:




And my two 8 lb pork butts all rubbed and ready for the smoker. Will take up to about 170F, foil with some AJ, take up to 205F and then throw in a cooler to rest before pulling.





Will keep updating.
 
   Must be planning a large party!  I'm in!
pepsi.gif


   Mike
 
I really enjoy the overnight smokes as they let me get things done that I otherwise can't seem to find time to do. However, I seemed to have passed out for about 4 hours, good thing for the AMNPS! Work up about 9 hours into the smoke and the top pork butt (as seen in the pic) was at 175, so I jumped up and foiled it. The 2nd pork but was at 160 and the brisket was at 156. To be honest, I was surprised I was hitting these temps already passed on past experience, but this is the first large smoke I've done since I installed the Auber PID and man does this hold the temp a hell of a lot better than the stock MES controller. More than likely, I'll have these finished prior to the scheduled eating time, but I'll a lot easier to keep meat warm then it is to speed up.

 
Whew....it's finally over. The party was a good time, the boys got great gifts, and the complements on the food never stopped.

I made ABTs, moinkballs, and stuffed baby bella shrooms for appetizers and didn't get a chance to snap pics before the guests wiped them out. The lil smokies, instead of getting smoked, got banished to a crock pot with BBQ sauce due to limited smoker space and me getting exhausted....I think only 4 got eaten.

Here's the brisket. I took it up to 195 but my probes must of have been outta whack, although I checked them a week ago, or I probed some fat because I had to slice thick and some parts pulled. The slices were tender and could be cut with a plastic fork. I would have liked it to be a bit firmer but everyone thought it was great. The SPOG recipe from Humdinger was a hit and will definitely be my go too for brisket from now on. Chef Jimmy J's au jus was fantastic as well and actually worked well on the pork too.

http://s79.photobucket.com/user/kkemper13/media/Smoking/Boys Birthday/imagejpg3-1.jpg.html


And here's the pulled pork, which turned out great.


http://s79.photobucket.com/user/kkemper13/media/Smoking/Boys Birthday/imagejpg2-1.jpg.html
 
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What is an auber pid? And are you using a mes 40? I'm very curious because my mes 40 (gen 2) thermo is way off! Is this a way to control temp without the mes thermo?

Also looks awesome! Hell of a smoke sir! Hell of a smoke!!
 
What is an auber pid? And are you using a mes 40? I'm very curious because my mes 40 (gen 2) thermo is way off! Is this a way to control temp without the mes thermo?

Also looks awesome! Hell of a smoke sir! Hell of a smoke!!

Yep, I'm using the MES 40 and got tired of having to adjust the temps during a smoke because of the swings I'd get due to inaccuracies of the MES controller and if smoke builds up on their temp probe, the controller goes wacky.

Here's the link to the Auburn PID I bought:

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_28&products_id=381

While it's a dual probe I only use the smoker probe as I have four Maverick ET-73s and didn't have the need for the meat probe that came with the PID. The only reason why I went with the model I did was because it was good for 1800 watts and I wanted a buffer above the 1200 watt MES element. The PID has an autotune feature, so basically you put it in autotune mode and it will calibrate to your smoker based on how fast it heats up, cools down, etc.

You can wire it two ways: 1. Plug the MES into the PID, set the MES to 275 and then set the PID to whatever temp you want to smoke at. OR 2. Open up the back panel of the MES, disconnect the MES wires to the element and wire up a power cord directly. This power cord then plugs into the PID and the power cord to the MES goes unused. I think you could still plug in the MES to take advantage of the light and their meat probe, but I've never tried it as I don't need those features.
 
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That sounds fantastic Kevin! I need one of those gadgets! What's that thing gonna set me back? Thanks for the info!
 
Wow! A little pricey! Lol! I'm gonna be all over this thing with a little over time. What power cord option do I need? Thanks again
 
Wow! A little pricey! Lol! I'm gonna be all over this thing with a little over time. What power cord option do I need? Thanks again

If you plan on plugging the MES power cord into the heater outlet on the PID, you won't need anything extra. Your only choice will then be to decide if you want the hanging probe which can be dropped into your vent on the MES and let it dangle inside the smoker or you can pick the panel mount probe which requires you to drill a hole thru the back wall of the smoker to permanently mount the temp probe for the PID. I picked the panel mount but a word of warning is that the threaded body isn't as long as you' d like and it required me to push on the back wall of the smoker to get enough bite on the thread with the nut. Definitely doable, just a bit of a pain.
 
Appreciate all the info Kevin! You've learned me today! I bought the mes 40 for the same reason a lot of people do (set and forget). Boy was I surprised when I bought it (just over a year ago) and it kept catching fire every time I put chips in it. Then the amazn was the answer I heard but I had issues from time to time keeping that lit. Not to mention the temps in the mes have always been way off from what it tells me they are....

Enough headaches to make me throw it in the corner and keep using the trusty SFB barrel! Lol! I still prefer the SFB barrel smoker but sometimes it's nice to set it and forget it and enjoy your company.

Thanks again! Glad your party was a success.
 
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