I have been smoking on an egg for about three years, had the opportunity to visit the World Barbecue Cooking Championships in Memphis, TN and thought I would share a few tips. 

Everyone I spoke with thought the magic smoker temperature was 225 degrees, even for some cuts I wasn’t expecting. Wrapping meat in foil or butcher paper is very common, and it ended up being more than just to control timing of serving. 

Pork Shoulder

This was the one that surprised me the most. I usually cook to 195 or 200 degrees to be able to pull it, but removing from heat at 178 degrees allows for the fat to render just enough to then seep into a pan while the shoulder is resting. The result is a succulent shoulder that is basting in delicious juices. I was invited to try it and the guy who gave me this tip was most proud of the fact that he had cooked $1.99/lb pork shoulder to this result. It was the best damn shoulder I have ever tasted. Another interesting tip was to smoke with beech wood for flavor and apple wood for color.  

Ribs

While I have heard of the 3-2-1 method I have been very happy with my ribs on the Green Egg and didn’t mess with what was working well. I also have the luxury of cooking 2-3 racks at a time, so I can pull them off when they hit 193 to 195 degrees with a great result. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and when I was invited to try the results my perspective on wrapping ribs in foil during the cooking process and adding liquid such as apple juice to create steam shifted considerably. Previously, I believed steam would destroy the bark I had worked so hard for on my ribs. If I can reproduce the results that I tasted there will be nice bark, even moister meat, and cleaner separation from the bone.

Brisket

Trimming is everything. The best brisket has all fat that won’t render removed and is trimmed to at least 1 inch in height. The part that will be chopped versus sliced should be separated at 183 degrees so the flat won’t dry out. Everyone wraps their brisket – some in butcher paper and some in foil for at least 2 hours prior to serving after it comes off the smoker. The best brisket joints in the country wrap to distribute moisture and use butcher paper for its breathability and lower level of steam to maintain the beautiful bark they worked so hard for, and this is the approach I plan to take the next time I smoke a brisket. The closest I came to getting through the BBQ rub barrier was the advice to start the seasoning process with smoked sea salt and pepper and then applying the Brisket rub as a second step. Of course, Brisket rub should have much less brown sugar (or turbinado) than pork.

Chicken

In the past I had smoked at 350 to 400 degrees with the theory that the skin would be crispiest with this temperature. I was advised to stick to the magic 225 degree level, and increase the marinade time to 2 hours for a low acidity marinade and 1 hour for a higher acidity marinade.  

Steak

Clint Cantwell, who is Kingsford Charcoal’s Director of Smoke and Fire and Editor, was making some great cowboy ribeyes with a coffee rub using only indirect heat at about 400 degrees. The steaks were about an inch and a half thick. I had typically used a reverse sear (indirect heat first with very high heat for a nice crust) but these were some succulent steaks without the reverse sear.

Pork Belly

The Danish National Barbecue team was in attendance. While they were competing in the traditional US categories I really wanted to learn about traditional Danish Barbecue. After some pleasantries, we talked about Stegt flæsk which is essentially pork fat in parsley sauce. Pork Belly is cut to 1/3 of an inch, salted on both sides, and smoked until crisp at the magic 225 level (about 45 minutes) and finished with parsley and potatoes. I am particularly excited about this experiment. 

Thanks to The Grand Masters of Cooking Disasters, Pork Illustrated, The Danish National Barbecue Team, Central BBQ and Clint Cantwell in particular for the tips.

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