So I just bought my first smoker (obs) at Outdoor World and im doing my first pork shoulder on Saturday. I had a hundred questions until i logged on to this forum. What an incredible amount of information! I'm slowly figuring out all of the acronyms but there's one thats got me stumped. What the heck is FTC all about? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Ken
Probably the most asked and answered question.
Welcome.
FTC is the use of foil, a towel and a pre-warmed cooler to carry over the cooking process after you have reached the final internal temperature of the meat.
Wrap your meat in foil. Then wrap with a towel then place into the cooler. Your meat will stay hot then warm for several hours. The FTC process will help with the meat tenderizing process and moisture retention. It also acts as a time buffer so you can finish ahead of time and then prepare the rest of the meal instead of gussing when the meat will be done.
Welcome pf20 :) Check the link below for some common terms.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4476.0
Apart from poultry, FTC is common practice for me, especially with pulled pork etc, i FTC for a minimum of 2 hours, and usually go to 4-5 hours, really makes all the difference ;)
LilSmoker (http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Tip-Hat.gif)
Welcome to the forum pf20, enjoy.
Thaks for all the info guys ! One more question if you don't mind, how do you prewarm a cooler? :-\
Welcome Ken. To warm my cooler I usually fill it about a 1/3 of the way up with hot water and close the lid for about a 1/2 hour. Then just dump it out and wipe it down a little before putting everything in.
Remember, no matter how much you want to, resist the temptation to keep opening the door and check on your food while its cooking. Every time you open the door you loose heat and add cooking time.
GL,
Bryan
As long as we're sharing tips, I thought I'd jump in. First, welcome.
There are a number of tips all over this site if you go browsing. One of the tips I picked up was to place a clean brick in the bottom pan next to the water bowl. The brick will retain heat and help the box to recover temp following bastings or "meat inspections" or any other time the door must be opened.
Welcome...nice to have you on the forum.
Another way to heat the cooler up is to wait until the ole lady starts blowing off steam at you and just open the cooler and tell her to "SPEAK TO THE COOLER". :D Then after you get out of the hospital, continue on with the smoking. ;D :D
Oh BTW welcome to the forum pf20. Just funning around you know. Have fun no matter what and enjoy the great food your about to prepare. ;)
Quote from: begolf25 on July 18, 2007, 05:21:45 AM
Welcome Ken. To warm my cooler I usually fill it about a 1/3 of the way up with hot water and close the lid for about a 1/2 hour. Then just dump it out and wipe it down a little before putting everything in.
Remember, no matter how much you want to, resist the temptation to keep opening the door and check on your food while its cooking. Every time you open the door you loose heat and add cooking time.
GL,
Bryan
Quote from: pf20 on July 18, 2007, 05:15:05 AM
Thaks for all the info guys ! One more question if you don't mind, how do you prewarm a cooler? :-\
I don't usually FTC, but a tip I saw on the Weber site was to use a heating pad; that is if you have one.
During the Summer months I set the empty cooler in the hot sun while smoking. Gets pretty warm and no water to wipe out.
Wildcat, what the heck is "Hot Sun"? Never heard of that up here before. Luke warm mabe but not hot. :D ;D ;)
Hab, I like the heating pad idea. I have some battery heating blankets that would fit the coolers just right. ;)
Quote from: Wildcat on July 18, 2007, 02:38:51 PM
During the Summer months I set the empty cooler in the hot sun while smoking. Gets pretty warm and no water to wipe out.
Quote from: iceman on July 18, 2007, 03:56:53 PM
Wildcat, what the heck is "Hot Sun"? Never heard of that up here before. Luke warm mabe but not hot. :D ;D ;)
Hab, I like the heating pad idea. I have some battery heating blankets that would fit the coolers just right. ;)
Quote from: Wildcat on July 18, 2007, 02:38:51 PM
During the Summer months I set the empty cooler in the hot sun while smoking. Gets pretty warm and no water to wipe out.
;D Just the opposite in the Winter. Gets cool here but not cold. ;D
98 F will surely heat up the old "Ice Chest". 8)
Welcome! ;D
You're supposed to pre-heat the cooler? That just sounds silly! ::) When I put in the 6 racks of ribs and two pork butts it heats right up! Tends to stay hot thru the 3-5 hours I leave them in there!
Another trick I use, after you smoke and FTC ribs, put them in the fridge over night still wrapped in foil. When you are ready to eat, take them out 15 mins or so before hand. Slap on your fav BBQ sauce and grill them for 5-10mins or when they start to fall apart on you. DARN GOOD COOKIN!
Now I'm hungry :-\
I always have problems when I have foil stay in contact with smoked food for a length of time. I don't know if it is the acid in the smoke, or the salts in the rub, or a combination of both; but if I don't wrap it in plastic wrap first, the foil will begin to pit. Even if it is just overnight.
Thanks for the welcome everyone. Bryan, thanks for the cooler info. Now that i know what you're talking about, i think setting the cooler out in the south florida sun should heat it up pretty good. I'll probably do the hot water thing for good measure anyways. Also, just picked up a Maverick ET-73 today (Thanks to the info on the forum) so hopefully i won't have to open the cabinet very much.
Love the brick info too consiglieri thanks.
Iceman, if thats the case, i can heat all the coolers i have in no time, with enough left over heat for all of yours too ;D ! Just kidding, she's a good woman (looking over my shoulder). I'm a lucky man.
Anyways, took a break from making the rub to post. Gotta get back to those fine butts !! I'll keep you guys posted. Ken
Well PF20, looks like you were able to finish the typing so you must have a good one there, no broken fingers even. :D
Let us know how it turns/turned out.
12:06 Am They're in !!!!!!! ;D The butts were out of the fridge for over two hours and they still felt kind of cool. I started them anyways thinking they'll warm quicker in the smoker than waiting for them to warm to room temp on the counter. I believe the probe read 58f when i started them. Hope i didn't screw up. Probably just added a couple hours. Anyways, i took a pic before i put them in. I'll take another when they're done and figure out how to get them on here. Until tomorrow!! Ken
Guess i dont need to add anything except welcome to the Bradley forum ;D
nepas
Quick question. Too late now but is it ok to leave the smoke generator on for the duration of the cooking time even though theres no wood in it?
Some here leave it on, some turn it off. I don't see a problem with leaving it on.
Hope your food turns out great.
Thanks for the quick reply Tim. It's 11:45am and the butt with the probe(I have two in there. The larger of the two is on the bottom and has the probe in it) is reading 192. It's going a little quicker than i expected so i lowered the temp just a bit to delay. My guests aren't arriving until after 4pm. The smell is driving my neighbor crazy !!!! :D
Bump it back up and let it FTC for an extra hour or two....2 hours is good, but I hear 4 is better (I've never made it that long).
Thanks Tim, I actually am figuring in FTC time. We probably wont be eating till 5:30 or 6. I thought it was going to take much longer for some reason and i figured in a 2hr FTC. Since it'll be done sooner I think you're right, i'll just FTC for 4 instead of 2. Thanks again. Ken
PF20,
Do you have a probe monitoring the cabinet temperature next to the meat? Your actual box temperature may be higher than you are anticipating.
Also, check to see how deep the probe is in the meat. The butt on top will be at a lower internal temperature as it will not be seeing the same temperature as the bottom butt.
If internal temperature is truely 192, it would be time by now to wrap in foil and do the FTC. You would be pulling by 4 PM for sure.
Thanks Gizmo,
Yeah i have the Maverick smoker thermometer which is awesome by the way. Once it reaches 195 i'll check it with a manual meat thermometer that i have just in case. If its done i'll FTC and check the upper one to see if its done too. I put the smaller one on top so hopefully it will be done shortly after. We're gonna have plenty of other food going as well so if the second one takes a little longer that might not be a bad thing for the people who show up later. Ken
Super.
You will find the FTC (or some version of it - I place the butts in a foil pan with Apple Juice and Jack, then into a pre-warmed 200 deg oven) your best friend and allows you to finish the meat ahead of all the other last minute preperations. The meat will continue to tenderize and melt to the ultimate state of quality.
OH........MY.........GOD......!
Quote from: pf20 on July 21, 2007, 05:35:32 PM
OH........MY.........GOD......!
Good, I take it? Reaction from the finished product, the FTC results, or a combination of both?
Quote from: Consiglieri on July 21, 2007, 07:45:38 PM
Quote from: pf20 on July 21, 2007, 05:35:32 PM
OH........MY.........GOD......!
Good, I take it? Reaction from the finished product, the FTC results, or a combination of both?
Obviously, after
Filling
The
Cup with a favorite adult beverage, he was
Following
The
Chicks.
Not sure how else you could explain it... :D :D :D
Yup! I think you hit the nail on the head Arcs!
I know the first time I did pork butt that was the first thing that came out of my mouth! ;D
That of course was after I gorged myself! ::)
Mike
OH.....MY.....GOD!!!!!
The popular phrase of the night!
Sorry for the delay on the reply. It was a very long night and a long recovery today.
The first butt(the one on the bottom) was done around 3pm. Turns out it was reading done early because of the placement of the meat probe. At noon i checked it, moved the probe and the temp went down again. Second one was done at around 5pm. I FTC'd them both for close to 4hrs. I can't believe how hot it stays even after that length of time! They just fell apart so nicely and disappeared before my eyes. Everyone freaked out over how tasty it was. By far the best pork ive ever had, and also for alot of the people there too so i heard. I can't thank all of you enough for all of your help and information. You guys really helped in making my first smoke a very positive one. Thank you!!!! I'll have my wife help me get the photos on my next post. Kenny
pf20,
Glad everything went well and you reached hero status. Looking forward to the pics.....
Arcs_n_Sparks
could someone please walk me through inserting photo's when i hit insert image all i get is this (//).
Quote from: pf20 on July 23, 2007, 09:03:11 AM
could someone please walk me through inserting photo's when i hit insert image all i get is this (//).
Okay, first I'm assuming you have the image hosted at a hosting site suce as Photopoint, shutterfly, or something like that. If you don't, open an account and get them uploaded to that site. Once that is done, after you get the tags [ img ] & [ /img ] (without the spaces), type or paste your pic's url where I have the "&" sign (again, without the spaces). Voila, the picture should show up when you view the post.
Thanks for the info tim. For some reason its still not posting the pic. They may be to large. Could you or anyone tell me what the size/kbytes limitations are on this forum? Thanks for your help
Reduce them to 800 X 600 should do it.
Mike
(http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d902b3127cceb8f7635d82c300000026101AcOXLNy4bsf)
Finally !!! Thanks Mike! So these are the two butts ready for the smoker after around 14hrs marinading/curing in the fridge. Along with the rub(recipe to follow)i also put on some honey mustard.
(http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d902b3127cceb8f76303829d00000026101AcOXLNy4bsf)
This is the second butt which came out around 5pm.I was so excited over the first butt ;) that i forgot to take a picture when i took it out.
(http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d902b3127cceb8f763a8030600000026101AcOXLNy4bsf)
Final resting place of the second butt, you can see how everyone just hated the first one.
The recipe i used was one that i found on the net before i found this forum. Says its from Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibsons:
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar( i used turbinado )
1/2 c paprika
1/3 c garlic salt
1/3 c kosher salt
1 tbl chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cayene pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp blk pepper
Injection that goes with the recipe:
3/4 c apple juice
1/2 c water
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c salt
2 tbl worcestershire
I boiled it all together and let it cool before injecting
Thanks again for everyones input. You all really helped me make this a sucessful first smoke. Kenny
Looks fantastic there Kenny! Great pictures too! ;)
Congratulations on the success!
Mike
Thanks Mike ! ;D
PF20,
You didn't mention what hosting service you were using for the pics. If using photobucket, there is an option you can click on so by default, all your picture will be sized for optimum web posting. Other sites may have that as well. Saves some time and most importantly, forgetting to set the size.
Thanks Gizmo,
Im using Shutterfly. I'll go back to the site and see if they have that option. Boy would that save time! Thanks Ken
Gizmo,
Just checked the site and wasn't able to locate that info. I sent an email to their customer service so i'm sure ill find out shortly. Thanks, Ken