Well, thanks a lot! Because of this post we are now forced to smoke a pork butt this weekend
Just got the taste buds focused like a laser on bbq.
Not smoking anything, it hasn't been above 30 in the past month....
I so want to do a pork butt, but we generally do our picnicing for lunchtime and I can't see myself firing up the smoker at 9:00 the night before and checking on it all night long. I generally just get up around 5 am and start ribs.
Someone mentioned the temp gauge. Never even look at that gauge. You want to know what the temp is on the rack where you are cooking. 225° on the gauge on the smoker is going to be way too hot where the meat is.
I have just a cheapie Brinkmann ($179 I think) upright charcoal smoker. It will fire up and run at 225° all day long, but I can't get it any higher than that. That would be important to crispy skin on poultry as you want to smoke poultry at around 275°. Lower temp with poultry will work, it will just take a lot longer and you won't get crispy skin. I ended up smoking a chicken for the first time for like 6 hours (I expected to cook for 4) and still had to finish it on the grill.
Will say though, even with my cheap Brinkmann, the ribs were to die for. Known as the best way to smoke ribs, the 3-2-1 method:
Rub and cook with smoke at 225° for 3 hours
Wrap in foil with a splash of apple juice and cook for 2 hours, no smoke needed.
Unwrap the foil, sauce with BBQ sauce and finish for 1 hour.
Mouthwatering! I had a smoke ring halfway through the meat.
