Any advice or changes reccommended?

[darkgt]

**Edit: Moderators please move if you know of a better place for this sort of post, thanks.

Hi guys, get ready for a novel I am an engineer so I tend to over-document :) This post sort of runs around a bit and in my mind didn’t fit in one of the sub forums above. This weekend I am doing a dinner for the family, specifically for my brother who is on mid tour leave from his Air Force base in South Korea. He asked for tri-tip but now that I have the increased cooking capacity and a need for the practice I am going to do a bit more :) Below is my plan based on all the reading I have done on here over the last few days. I guess I am looking for any tweaks or changes you would make based on your experience and to have a couple fo questions answered.

Here 'goes:

Pork Shoulder (bone in) 5-9 LBS:

Coat in mustard, put rub on. Possibly going to use Butt Rub, or home made, not sure yet.

Smoker at 225-240, fat down

After a couple hours spray hourly with 3:1 apple juice to Captain Morgan's mix.

@165'F Double wrap in heavy duty foil with some of the spray and cook to 195'-205'

Remove from heat and let rest for a couple hours in a cooler still wrapped in foil.

Pull apart and serve.



Tri Tip:

Salt / Pepper / Garlic Powder rub (maybe a bit of onion powder)

On smoker to internal temp of 140

Pull, wrap in foil and let rest for an hour in cooler with Pork


Baby Back Ribs:

Mustard and rub

3 hours on the smoker

Pull and wrap in foil with more rub, parkay and honey

Cook for 2 hours wrapped

Unwrap and cook for one more hour


Cook Times:

Planning on eating between 2PM and 3PM so based on cooking and resting times:

Pork: Depending on weight, on smoke at 2AM rest @ noon
Ribs: On smoke at 8:00 AM
Tri Tip: On Smoke at 11AM rest at 1:00 to 1:30PM

I plan on using the minion method with 100% natural lump and filling the charcol ring full on my WSM 22" then pouring the lit white hot coals on top. I also plan on throwing some smoke wood chips throughout so that there is always a bit of smoke being generated.

Sides will include:

Beans of some sort
Cole slaw with some BBQ sauce mixed in the dressing (anyone have a good recipe?)


Sauce:

I tried making a Memphis style last weekend and found that it wasn't really to my taste, too tangy i think, it was very heavy on the vinegar. I tried mellowing it with some brown sugar but it didn't work out very well. I know that most of the commercially available product is designed to appeal to the masses but does anyone have a recipe for something similar to but more flavorful than a Sweet Baby Ray's honey or something similar maybe using ketchup as a base given it is a bit sweeter?


Questions:

When foiling is mentioned in the forums, does it mean simply putting what you are cooking in a foil roasting pan and being covered in foil? Or does it mean being wrapped in foil? I also saw a reference to wrapping, so that’s where the confusion came from.

Should I use the wood chips for smoke or the larger pieces? I have both, in a variety of different woods, was planning on using hickory for the pork and then pecan for the tri tip since those will be going on while the pork is resting and the ribs will get a bit of both. Thoughts?


Thank you for your time, much appreciated!

 

[chisoxjim]

foiling to me means having whatever you are smoking spend some time on the smoker cooking in foil, which I dont do(i dont like the texture foiled meats exhibit).

I reference wrapping in foil alot when I talk about taking a piece of meat that was cooked the whole time, un-foiled on the smoker. When it hits the temp I want I only then wrap it in foil, and put it in a cooler.

btw your menu looks good, your friend will appreciate it.

 

[triplebq]

Foil should be wrapped thightly over meat after it comes off cooker and not just sitting in a pan . You will be amazed and the smoke I use the smaller chips to kick off the smoke but for long smokes Thin Blue Smoke will coem from teh bigger pieces . It seem you have done you home work well and I all see wrong is
You DID NOT PRINT ADDRESS nor TIME TO ARRIVE !

good luck , I know there will be some along soon that will have better advice ,

Buddy

 

[darkgt]

Amazing! In less than a week I have the perfect setup for my BBQ!!! :P

If anyone can validate what I have planned that would be appreciated also, just want to know if I am on the right track...

Thanks!

 

[chisoxjim]

your WSM will take care of buisiness, just set it up right with the minion method, and you will get a long burn.

Personally I wouldnt foil anything while its on the smoker, or add parkay to my ribs.

good luck, let the WSM do its majic.

 

[darkgt]

Is the minion way I said in my post the right way? I guess thats my question about a lot of this stuff... I haven't done this very much so still trying to learn. If I am on the right track I will keep as is and go with it and post pictures during and after!

 

[reichl]

Everything sounds great on your menu and looks like you have it figured out. As for the ribs, Babybacks usually get the 2-2-1 method (2 hours smoke - 2 hours foil - 1 hour smoke) where as Spare and St. Louis ribs usually get done with the 3-2-1 method. If you are doing bb's, you should cut an hour of smoke from what you have written, otherwise they may be a little overdone. Good Luck, sounds like you have your work cut out for you!

 

[triplebq]

NOT TO WORRY something will go to h e l l , count on it with a big smoke ... but be prepared and just cook it your way . In future cooks you can always adjust and try others ways of foiling or no foiling . On the comp trail everyone uses foil , in here you get about a 60 / 40 mix . Just take the plan and act on it . Practice makes perfect when smoking food . I would recommned DUTCH's beans as they are great ! Be sure to Qview for us .

 

[ddave]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

And you have gotten some good cooking advice already so I'll just add this.

Try and relax and have fun with it. When your doing a big cook and meat needs to be ready at a certain time, it can be a little stressful. Looks like you've included some "cushion" time in your plan. Better to have it come off early and sit in the cooler than to have people waiting around for it to finish.

You'll be one tired dude by the time it's time to eat but you'll have a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day when everyone is eating. If something goes awry, don't worry about it, just roll with it. Heck, I was smoking for over a year before I was brave enough to try anything like that.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Dave

 

[chisoxjim]

Minion or Kiss method: fill the ring about 1/4 full, toss in 3-4 chunks of wood, fill in the rest of the ring with lump, top unlit lump with a chimney of lit lump. let it get going(10 mins), toss in a couple more chunks of wood. assemble WSM, and get cookin'

my bb's unfoiled on the WSM take 4 hours.

youll become a backard bbq master in no time

good luck.

 

[darkgt]

Thanks guys! I am really looking forward to it, I will post some pics as I go! It is raining in San Diego tonight so I ran to home depot and bought some 4 mil plastic and now have a covered patio :)

Also, the pork shoulders at costco tonight were all around 14 lbs and that would require almost 24 hours of cooking so no joy on those, I picked up an entire porkloin though, 8 lbs or so. Do the same temps hold true for pulling? 200'? I cooke to 155 last weekend for sliced and it was so tender, really trying to do pulled this weekend but we shall see.

Will post in progress Qview :)

 

[pit 4 brains]

You can do the shoulder well in advance and freeze the meat. Then all you have to do is descretly thaw the meat, foil it and slip it into the smoker to re-heat. This may save you some trouble.. Plus you'll have the benefit of a recent smoke to prep ya for the tip and ribs..

 

[pit 4 brains]

Maybe too late for my idea..

 

[darkgt]

Yeah I already bought the porkloin but your idea does sound good... start it when I get home on a friday night, add coals at midnight, again when I wake up, at lunch time on saturday and eat on saturday night... lol damn my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

 

[pike]

gooing by your first post and as an engineer your well within the ball park as for the meat it will tell you when its done

 

[deltadude]

I know this is a bit late, and you have a very good game plan, plus I don't want to be the one throwing cold water on you or your plan, but I do have an observation.

I think your plan is a bit aggressive, 3 different meats on a smoker you have no real experience with. Believe me you serve any one of those meats in large quantities everyone will be happy. Lots of Ribs or even lots of tri-tip, everyone well be more than satisfied.

I think your learning process will be better too, because you can focus on one thing.

IMHO

However it is late and you have your plan.. To make your life easy on the BBQ sauce go buy your favorite sauce and doctor it up. You asked about a tomato based sauce go buy Cattleman's Classic and you can do all kinds of stuff with Cattlemans, there is a reason it is the number one sauce served in restaurants. (Put the sauce in a unmarked bottle, they never know what it is.)

A lot of people smoke the tri-tip until about 130º then finish it on a hot grill another 3 to 5 minutes a side to get a nice char on the outside.

Good luck with your cook, you have your hands full, I'm sure everyone will appreciate the Q and your efforts.

 

[ddave]

That sounds awfully big. Are you sure they weren't a 2 pack? Even if they weren't, I doubt they'd take 24 hours. I've done 12 pound briskets in 16 and a 14 pounder that finished in 12. You just never know.

Dave

 

[darkgt]

Alright first off a HUGE thank you for the advice, some I took this time, some I will try in the future. The cook went perfectly! Here are the pics:

Porkloin:

The racks of Ribs:

Almost ready to foil

My wolf guarding my hen house:

Foiling!

Out of foil pretty much done

Finishing up tri tip on grill:

Ribs:

Tri Tip:

Table (pulled pork and buns not shown. Pulled half the pork, sliced other half and brought it to work today. I am a popular guy all of a sudden!)