Labor Day bounty (pr0n as we go)

aks801

aks801

is Blowin Smoke!
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Today we are cooking a brisket, baby back ribs, and MOINKshots.

Using my 22.5 WSM: love it. Got the ring ready with KBB (great sale at Lowe's) and coffee can in the middle. Used the dormant kettle as my work station to get a chimney going with about 20 in it. Poured the lit in, removed can, assembled WSM (hot water in the pan) and let it start coming up to temp.


Have a nice 12.0# prime packer that I picked up at HEB. Didn't trim back any of the fat cap, but did carve out as much of the hard stuff as I could. Trimmings weighed 1lb, 11 oz, so the starting weight of the cooking meat is 10 lb, 5 oz: nice moderate size. Seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder. Even got my 9 year old daughter to help pat it down!

Put in in the smoke at 9:25 AM at about 260 temp. All vents are WFO at this point, and I hope to get it up to about 290 or so.

I'll probably wrap in kraft paper about 4 hours in, and about an hour after that put on the ribs (3 racks).

Stay tuned.
 
9:55

Temps have climbed to 275: excellent. Close bottom vents halfway to catch it on the way up. Will probably just let it ride from here.
 
10:55

Couldn't leave well enough alone, so I opened one of the bottom vents to WFO, leaving the others at one half. Temp is now at 280: perfect! From here I will just accept the minor variances.
 
12:05

Opened it up for the first time, spritzed it with some H2O/Worcestershire. Looking about right.


Will probably wrap it at 1:30, put the ribs on at 2:30.
 
1:30

Opened up the WSM to wrap the brisket in brown kraft paper. Internal temp was about 173. Here it is on the paper, about to get a spritz of the H2O/Worcestershire mix. Nice color, sure smells good.


Wrapped it up, and it's back into the smoke. Also added in some warm water into the pan.


Somewhere in here we got a brief rain shower. Looking at the weather radar, it figured to not amount to much so I didn't put up the canopy.

The ribs have been prepped (washed, membrane pulled off, dusted with Fiesta brand Rib Rub) and go on soon.
 
2:45

Put the ribs into the smoke on the lower rack. That's 3 racks of baby backs laid straight out, fit into the 22.5 WSM just fine: love it!

After I got the top back on, opened up the side door for a few minutes to get some air in there and keep things moving along. Will probably give the base a few good taps to shake loose some ash. Other than that, it just rocks along between 280 and 290. It's a dream machine.
 
3:30

Pulled out the brisket and partially unwrapped it for the first probe test. No sir, got a ways to go. Didn't even check for internal temp. Before I re-wrapped it and put it back in, spritzed the ribs with an H2O/apple juice mix.

Tossed some pecan chunks in through the side door and left it open until they ignited.

Next check at 4:30, at which time I'll probably foil the ribs.
 
4:30

Pulled the brisket out to check it. Not probe tender yet but getting close. But I don't like how the bark has gotten so soft in the paper. So I ditched the paper altogether and put it back in.

Ribs not ready for the foil yet, probably in 30 minutes.

Also, I tossed in a few more unlit briquettes. This after raking all the fuel into a pile on one side.
 
5:00

Brisket not ready yet, but already figured that.

Foiled the ribs, with another spritz.

Prepared the MOINKshots (again, thanks to DaveAlvarado for blazing this trail). Bacon wrapped around a slice of sausage (serving as the "base"). Filled with shredded cheddar mix. Topped some of them with diced fresh jalapeno. Dusted all of them with a rub mix. These will go on shortly.
 
5:45

Brisket still not probing tender enough. Must... resist urge... to pull it. It probably needs another 30 minutes. Observation: sure shrunk more than I would have thought.

Took the ribs out of the foil. Seeing some pull back along the ends of the bones: good telltale sign.

Put on the MOINKshots.
 
6:40

I had checked the brisket at about 6:20, and it just wasn't getting there. But at 6:40 it was like BUTTAH! Absolutely amazing what difference 15 or 20 minutes can make. Hopefully the result on the plate will beat witness. Here it is resting on the counter.


Sauced the ribs and did a toothpick test: they'll be ready.


Getting very close to dinner time!
 
The Results

Here is the brisket on the cutting board.


Those first few nibbles are always so good!

And here's the platter I served at the table. The flat was a little dry but nice flavor. Not sure if I pulled too soon: perhaps so. This hunk of meat was strange, it didn't really go as I would have thought. The point was incredible, best I've ever done.


Not a great photo, but here are the ribs. These are just darned easy to cook, always are so good. No disappointments here.


I think next time I will do a regular Minion (pour lit on top, instead of the coffee can in the center), plus use more lit to start. I would like to cook at 300, and this time the second half of the cook was closer to 250 too much of the time.

The family really enjoyed the dinner and we have some good leftovers for the week, so all is well.
 
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