Turned out great yesterday! Brisket, sausage, baby backs, WAMPUS beans, peach cobbler, potato salad, onions and pickles, cheap white bread. Now for the observations:
- Be prepared for rain! The forecast was favorable, but at about 4 or so I happened to check the radar and a storm was almost upon us. Deployed a janky canopy setup and it saved the day.
- The WSM really rocks! It ran right around 275 almost all day, still hot after I was done about 6:45. One "mod" I've done was to take a fairly burnt out charcoal grate from my 22" OTS and lay it on top of the existing one in the WSM, running perpendicular-like. Less fall-through that way. Also, these get slammed for inaccurate factory lid thermometers. Early in the cook when it was reading 255 (before I added some more fuel), I used a Thermopop and plugged it through the rubber grommet on the side at lower grate level. It read 250. Given the temps would probably be higher at the lid due to reflective effect, I'm happy with it.
- Leave that brisket alone! I spritzed it probably 3 times during the morning with a Worcestershire/H2O mix but that's pretty much it. At 1:00, the color looked good so I wrapped it in butcher paper and set it back in, internal temp of meat was 176. And that's the last time I did anything with it.
- Don't pull the brisket too soon! That was my mistake for years, but I think I'm over it. I unwrapped it at 4:00 and it probed like buttah with internal temp of 207. And that was that! Let it sit on the counter for half an hour or so then wrapped it in foil then in towels and set in cooler until about 6:30 when I took it out to slice and serve for dinner.
- WAMPUS beans are delicious! Tried them for first time and they delivered. Everyone really liked them. Do a search on this site if you are unfamiliar.
- You can't beat peach cobbler at a bbq dinner! Made one for the first time, using the Cook's Illustrated recipe using fresh peaches. Not hard to do, big payoff.
- Logistics can get a bit crazy when serving multiple meats, sides and a dessert. I was planning on doing MOINKs but with the gullywasher that blew in I was sidetracked for awhile. I could have solved that by preparing them in the morning when there was lots of downtime, then had them stashed in the garage fridge.
Guess that's it. It was a really good day.
- Be prepared for rain! The forecast was favorable, but at about 4 or so I happened to check the radar and a storm was almost upon us. Deployed a janky canopy setup and it saved the day.
- The WSM really rocks! It ran right around 275 almost all day, still hot after I was done about 6:45. One "mod" I've done was to take a fairly burnt out charcoal grate from my 22" OTS and lay it on top of the existing one in the WSM, running perpendicular-like. Less fall-through that way. Also, these get slammed for inaccurate factory lid thermometers. Early in the cook when it was reading 255 (before I added some more fuel), I used a Thermopop and plugged it through the rubber grommet on the side at lower grate level. It read 250. Given the temps would probably be higher at the lid due to reflective effect, I'm happy with it.
- Leave that brisket alone! I spritzed it probably 3 times during the morning with a Worcestershire/H2O mix but that's pretty much it. At 1:00, the color looked good so I wrapped it in butcher paper and set it back in, internal temp of meat was 176. And that's the last time I did anything with it.
- Don't pull the brisket too soon! That was my mistake for years, but I think I'm over it. I unwrapped it at 4:00 and it probed like buttah with internal temp of 207. And that was that! Let it sit on the counter for half an hour or so then wrapped it in foil then in towels and set in cooler until about 6:30 when I took it out to slice and serve for dinner.
- WAMPUS beans are delicious! Tried them for first time and they delivered. Everyone really liked them. Do a search on this site if you are unfamiliar.
- You can't beat peach cobbler at a bbq dinner! Made one for the first time, using the Cook's Illustrated recipe using fresh peaches. Not hard to do, big payoff.
- Logistics can get a bit crazy when serving multiple meats, sides and a dessert. I was planning on doing MOINKs but with the gullywasher that blew in I was sidetracked for awhile. I could have solved that by preparing them in the morning when there was lots of downtime, then had them stashed in the garage fridge.
Guess that's it. It was a really good day.
