Newbie ladened with 7lbs of brisket and pork butt

[Odjick29]

Hello Bradley Forum,

I have ordered a 7lb brisket and 7lb pork butt for a party this weekend. The plan is to have pulled pork sandwiches with brisket, potato salad, corn bread, apple pie, and maybe smoked beans.

I make kick ass pies, the corn bread I'm going to delegate, and potato salad is no biggie. But I've never smoked any meat by myself before, let alone a brisket AND a pork butt! I've helped my dad many times, but I've never done the whole thing myself. So I've been looking at different recipes, and here's what I've surmised so far:

-apply rubs the night before smoking and let the meat chill in the fridge
-let the meat rest for an hour at room temperature before smoking
-low and slow, seems like a lot of people recommend 225F for both meats
-4 hours of smoke
-both the butt and brisket should reach internal temperatures of about 195 degrees
-FTC both meats for 3-5 hours before serving

I have some questions about the timing of cooking both meats:

1) For the brisket, on recommendation from my dad I'm going to follow a recipe which calls for 6hours in the BS. Then the brisket is put in a pan with apple juice, covered with aluminum foil, and baked in the oven at 220f until the internal temp is 195 (boating). The recipe (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?525-WTS-Brisket) doesn't specify how long it will take in the oven. I understand cooking times for brisket are unpredictable, but does anyone have an estimate of how long it would take in the oven for a seven pounder?

2) I plan to keep the pork butt in the smoker while the brisket is boating. Given it's 7lbs too, are they likely to finish near the same time?

3) A friend worked at a local restaurant serving southern BBQ type food. He told me that while the meat cooked they let the fat drip into baked beans for flavour and then spooned off the fat off the top. This sounds delicious. I was thinking I could do the same. I could put the brisket on the top, because its flavours are sacred and should stay untainted. Then I'd put the pork butt below, because the brisket fat is only going to enhance the pulled pork sandwiches anyway. Then I'd put the baked beans on the very bottom so they could collect ALL THE FATS. Master plan or stupid scheme?

Any other tips are appreciated, as are corrections.

Cheers

[GusRobin]

i have had 8 lb butts take 16 -22 hrs.

[TedEbear]

It looks like you have some well thought out plans.  The general rule, at east on pork butts, is 1.5-2 hours per lb.  If you're trying to get it down to a specific amount of time, many people say that pulled pork tastes better reheated the next day.  You could smoke it a day early and reheat it in the oven for the party.  Still do the FTC and pull it the day you cook it but seal it in a pan in the fridge.

The way I reheat mine is I pour in about 2/3 cup of apple juice, seal it with aluminum foil and put it in the oven at 250*F for 1.5-2 hours.

[beefmann]

looks like a good plan, just start early

[Defiant]

X2 on starting early.  Most of the time with large loads it takes longer than you think it will as you also have to include preparation time once it is done smoking, finishing in the oven, etc.

[Caneyscud]

Brisket, you'll probably be getting a flat without the point.  i would leave in the smoker in the pan not covered - just easier.  If you do the oven, again not covered (that's braising) - and I would not dishonor a glorious brisket by ignominiously wetting it with apple juice.  :o)  But then I grew up in the Brisket Belt.  What way are you going to serve your brisket.  If you take it out at 195 the IT will continue to 200 or more.  At that IT you will have at worse a dry flat and at best pulled brisket.  If you want sliced brisket take it off about 175 and FTC - should get to 180 or so during FTC.

Again leave plenty of time and start early.  Nothing wrong with finishing early and leaving in FTC or reheating later.

[Odjick29]

Thanks for the pointers. I'm going for sliced brisket, so 175 IT sounds good. I think I will do the butt the previous day just to simplify things.

I picked up the meat today. Looks good to my untrained eye!

[Odjick29]

Started off last night preparing for the party. Ended up doing the apple pie, smoked beans, and pork butt.

The first step was the apple pie, because I wanted to use a bean recipe which called for apple pie filling. I went for a mixture of Green Delicious and Jazz apples. Jazz apples are very crisp, firm, and sweet; they're awesome for cooking.



Has anyone ever tried smoking apple pie? I was thinking I might bake it and then finish it off with 40mins of smoke...

With the pie done, it was on to the beans. Smoked a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon to be diced up and included in the beans. Cooked it until the IT was 145f. Here's how it turned out:



The pork butt went in at the same time as the tenderloin. So after the tenderloin was diced and added to the beans, they went back in the smoker underneath the pork butt to collect the drippings. They got about 90mins of smoke, and cooked for 4 hours total. They turned out great! Very full flavoured.



This morning at 8:30, after 13 hours at 225f, the pork butt hit 195f. A little chunk of bark, fat, and meat fell off for a sample...oh boy...I was salivating and it took every ounce of will power not to cut off a bigger chunk for breakfast. It's now FTCing in my microwave.

Before:


After:


Mmmmmmm...can't wait to get going on the brisket.

[Slamdunk]

Looks good! Don't have my glasses on so can't tell if you added apples to the bean dish.

How did the brisket turn out?

Any chance there will be left overs for when we get home on Friday?

Dad

[Caneyscud]

oh yummy!

Brisket?

[Odjick29]

Pulling the pork was fun, wolverine claws and all:


I did my best to shave off the bark and scrape away excess fat. Then I diced the bark up and incorporated it into the pork.

The brisket was more more difficult than the pork butt. I allotted 14 hours for it, figuring it would take an hour to rest, 7-10 hours to cook, and then 3-6hours to FTC. So I took it out of the fridge at 5am, preheated the smoker, and put the meat in at 6am. Then I fell asleep again for a couple hours. Woke up and the smoker was at 240 degrees and the internal temperature was mid-to-high 150s. So I turned it down, but the internal temp crept up to 165...then up even further to 170. I had trouble believing the meat was done after only a few hours, so I change the position of the probe, targeting the thickest spot I could see. There the internal temperature was still in the low 160s. So I just kept the smoker temperature real low (around 200), and let it creep up further. Ended up taking it out when the IT hit 175 at around 2:30pm (after 8.5 hours of cooking).

Before:


After:


My buddy (Justin) made the coleslaw:


I made the corn bread:


And here is the final product on a classy paper plate:


It was all very tasty. My favourite was the pulled pork. It was so tender, and the smoky flavour was the perfect strength. Justin liked the brisket the best. It had a great flavour but I found it a little tough. Next time I might cook it to a higher IT. The beans were also amazing, the apple pie filling added a little sweetness to balance out the cayenne.

Everyone was so full I didn't bother cooking the apple pie. Going to have it tonight instead :). On the whole I was very pleased with the dinner. It was fun learning the different techniques and terms, and the meat turned out pretty damn good. My other buddies want to get into smoking now too, so I must've done something right.

Thanks for the tips.

[OldHickory]

This is a classy meal and you did a beautiful job.  Congratulations.

[Keymaster]

Nice job, everything looks Awesome!!

[beefmann]

awesome job

[wetzel1977]

Looks like a really Tasty meal to me guys