Confession

EggcitedinNJ

I've owned my LBGE for five years, almost to the day, and I love cooking on it. So do my family and guests when I do. In all that time there are two iconic cooks that I've never attempted, brisket and pulled pork. Yes, it's true, until a couple of days ago that is.

One of the reasons for not making the pulled pork is that my wife is not a fan and since it's only the two of us it would be a bit of overkill to cook even a small one and for some reason I was resistant to freezing and reheating. Anyway, about a week ago I was with my inlaws and we went to dinner near where they live and there were some smoked items on the menu. Mind you, this was not a BBQ joint, but a restaurant that served a few dishes that were smoked. They even wrote on the menu that they did their own smoking on premises. Well, they had pulled pork on the menu and I figured I would give it a try. Meh. Definitely reheated to the point of being dry and it didn't have great flavor or any noticeable bark. And the slaw was watery. After this experience I began to reconsider my position about cooking one myself.

For the price I paid for my platter I could buy a 4-5 pound butt and I was confident I could put a better product on the table and I knew I know enough about cooking that I would be able to retain a good degree of moistness when reheating the leftovers. I cooked it a couple of days ago and when my wife heard what we were having for dinner she reiterated her position about not being a big fan. I told her that maybe she just never had good pulled pork. LOL!

I'm happy to write that I was pleased with my initial effort and already have some tweaks in mind. My wife commented that it was great. And my slaw was better than the restaurant's. All is good. Egged chicken leg quarters tonight.

Now about that brisket...

THEBuckeye

Butts are easy peasy

I stressed over the brisket. 

Nike - just do it! 

lousubcap

Great story-You nailed the first one, now on to the deep end of the pool with that brisket.  And props for the confession-supposedly you now feel much better

WeberWho

You have me craving pulled pork now!!!  I'm glad everyone liked it.  

EggcitedinNJ

THEBuckeye said:

Butts are easy peasy

I stressed over the brisket. 

Nike - just do it! 

That's one of the odd things about me having waited so long to cook one, I knew there were easy and I've certainly done much more challenging cooks on my egg. Now that I know that my wife is aboard I'm sure I'll be making another one soon.

theyolksonyou

Brisket is not that much harder. Buy good meat, cook to feel in the flat, don't over cook. Slice enjoy!

then post pics...

SmokeyPitt

Congrats on your long overdue butt.  Most people will agree that pulled pork reheats really well.  I always make extra and plan to food save and freeze.  

Briskets don't reheat quite as well in my opinion if you are gonna eat it "straight up", but they are awesome in chili or mixed with some sauce on a sammich.   I will confess I still don't do brisket that much because my family is not crazy about it.  I thought maybe it was just my brisket but I have let my wife try some from a Q joint and she still didn't care for it.  

EggcitedinNJ

lousubcap said:

Great story-You nailed the first one, now on to the deep end of the pool with that brisket.  And props for the confession-supposedly you now feel much better

Thanks. Yes, I no longer have to carry the shame of being butt-less. :-)

EggcitedinNJ

WeberWho? said:

You have me craving pulled pork now!!!  I'm glad everyone liked it.  

Thanks. My son and daughter will be home in a couple of weeks and I'm thinking of making another one. Either that or ribs which I know they like. Or both.

EggcitedinNJ

theyolksonyou said:

Brisket is not that much harder. Buy good meat, cook to feel in the flat, don't over cook. Slice enjoy!

then post pics...

Yeah, I know I'm very weak, to say the least, with posting pics.

Flats are a dime a dozen near me, but packers are extremely hard to find.

EggcitedinNJ

SmokeyPitt said:

Congrats on your long overdue butt.  Most people will agree that pulled pork reheats really well.  I always make extra and plan to food save and freeze.  

Briskets don't reheat quite as well in my opinion if you are gonna eat it "straight up", but they are awesome in chili or mixed with some sauce on a sammich.   I will confess I still don't do brisket that much because my family is not crazy about it.  I thought maybe it was just my brisket but I have let my wife try some from a Q joint and she still didn't care for it.  

Now having done it, I'll put myself in the camp that believes the pork reheated just fine.

Time to start looking for a packer, not an easy task for me.  

Carolina Q

Some here will disagree with me, but once you've had good pulled pork (aka, REAL barbecue), brisket is just an overpriced wannabe.  

Glad it worked out for you.

northGAcock

EggcitedinNJ said:

I'm happy to write that I was pleased with my initial effort and already have some tweaks in mind. My wife commented that it was great. And my slaw was better than the restaurant's. All is good. Egged chicken leg quarters tonight.

Keep in mind....you have a lot of room to move around with the butt....there are many approaches to the sauce (cough, cough Mustard Based for example). You obviously have ketchup and vinegar based sauces. Try them all. There is no such thing as bad BBQ (if prepared well) .....only some you like better than others. 

EggcitedinNJ

Carolina Q said:

Some here will disagree with me, but once you've had good pulled pork (aka, REAL barbecue), brisket is just an overpriced wannabe.  

Glad it worked out for you.

Thanks Carolina.

Just curious, when you wrote about REAL PP, would what I did, rubbed and smoked over lump, be considered such?

I've cooked briskets for a long time using a braising technique, but I'm curious to see what I can do with a lo and slo on my Egg.  

Carolina Q

EggcitedinNJ said:

Carolina Q said:

Some here will disagree with me, but once you've had good pulled pork (aka, REAL barbecue), brisket is just an overpriced wannabe.  

Glad it worked out for you.

Thanks Carolina.

Just curious, when you wrote about REAL PP, would what I did, rubbed and smoked over lump, be considered such?

I've cooked briskets for a long time using a braising technique, but I'm curious to see what I can do with a lo and slo on my Egg.  

Actually, I wrote "REAL barbecue", meaning that, for me, barbecue is PORK, not that beef nonsense. But yes, pork rubbed and smoked over lump is as close as you're likely to come to "real". Unless you want to try pit cooked...

James Howell of the Skylight Inn shovels live wood coals into the pit. [Photograph: James Boo] Pic from SeriousEats.

Shiff

EggcitedinNJ said:

Time to start looking for a packer, not an easy task for me.  

You didn't say where you lived but your handle seems to indicate New Jersey. There are lots of Restaurant Depots in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania and Delaware.  Any near you?  They have lots of packer briskets at a very good price.

EggcitedinNJ

Carolina Q said:

EggcitedinNJ said:

Carolina Q said:

Some here will disagree with me, but once you've had good pulled pork (aka, REAL barbecue), brisket is just an overpriced wannabe.  

Glad it worked out for you.

Thanks Carolina.

Just curious, when you wrote about REAL PP, would what I did, rubbed and smoked over lump, be considered such?

I've cooked briskets for a long time using a braising technique, but I'm curious to see what I can do with a lo and slo on my Egg.  

Actually, I wrote "REAL barbecue", meaning that, for me, barbecue is PORK, not that beef nonsense. But yes, pork rubbed and smoked over lump is as close as you're likely to come to "real". Unless you want to try pit cooked...

Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation.

Cooking on a pit like that, as much as I would enjoy it, is likely not in my future so my efforts will be reasonable (hopefully) facsimiles of what equipment like that can produce. I can live with that. :-)

EggcitedinNJ

Shiff said:

EggcitedinNJ said:

Time to start looking for a packer, not an easy task for me.  

You didn't say where you lived but your handle seems to indicate New Jersey. There are lots of Restaurant Depots in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania and Delaware.  Any near you?  They have lots of packer briskets at a very good price.

Yes, I'm in northern NJ and do have some RDs near me. My understanding is that I can get in as long as I have a KCBS membership. I own a business, but it's not food related so I don't think that would do me any good.

Thanks for the advice.

Lancaster, PA... when my kids were much younger, they're in their twenties now, we used to go with a group of friends and their respective kids to Willow Valley. I think it was bought by Hilton recently, but when we went it was still family owned according to the placemats. Very pretty area.

Shiff

@EggcitedinNJ
Willow Valley is just South of us. 

Restaurant Depot will give a membership to anyone with a business and it doesn't have to be food related. Just bring in your paperwork and they will give you a card.  You will love shopping in their meat department. Make sure you have lots of space in your car and home freezer.

EggcitedinNJ

Shiff said:

@EggcitedinNJ
Willow Valley is just South of us. 

Restaurant Depot will give a membership to anyone with a business and it doesn't have to be food related. Just bring in your paperwork and they will give you a card.  You will love shopping in their meat department. Make sure you have lots of space in your car and home freezer.

Thanks for the information.

Holepuncher

Shiff said:

@EggcitedinNJ
Willow Valley is just South of us. 

Restaurant Depot will give a membership to anyone with a business and it doesn't have to be food related. Just bring in your paperwork and they will give you a card.  You will love shopping in their meat department. Make sure you have lots of space in your car and home freezer.

,,,,And take a jacket.  It was so cold in there I think I saw Santy Claus.

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Nothing better than a happy ending.

HofstraJet

Holepuncher said:

Shiff said:

@EggcitedinNJ
Willow Valley is just South of us. 

Restaurant Depot will give a membership to anyone with a business and it doesn't have to be food related. Just bring in your paperwork and they will give you a card.  You will love shopping in their meat department. Make sure you have lots of space in your car and home freezer.

,,,,And take a jacket.  It was so cold in there I think I saw Santy Claus.

Love going into the meat area in the middle of Florida summers. Feels so good. 

EggcitedinNJ

As a follow up to my first post about my wife's aversion to PP and her comments after eating my efforts, before I made a quick run to the market this afternoon to get some missing ingredients for tonight's dinner of burgers stuffed with sautéed 'shrooms and onions, jalapeno peppers, and mozzarella cheese (side is going to be broccoli slaw) my wife asked me to pick up another pork butt. Fellow Eggers, I believe we have another convert. Yay!

lousubcap

@EggcitedinNJ -  Man you have hit a friggin' home-run right there.  Most eggcellent.  Take any win like that and run with it!  
With that encouragement you may want to accelerate your brisket plans.  When you nail that one the sky is the limit!  Enjoy!

EggcitedinNJ

  lousubcap said:

@EggcitedinNJ -  Man you have hit a friggin' home-run right there.  Most eggcellent.  Take any win like that and run with it!  
With that encouragement you may want to accelerate your brisket plans.  When you nail that one the sky is the limit!  Enjoy!

It was great to hear her say it and as I write there's a 5 pound butt in my refrigerator that will most likely be smoked on Monday. A possibility for tomorrow depending on our plans. All is good.

Mike_the_BBQ_Fanatic

SmokeyPitt said:

I still don't do brisket that much because my family is not crazy about it.

My family is the same way... I did a few and learned the technique...I finally got it right but it just isn't something we find ourselves going back to often.

lousubcap

Better to be lucky than good any day-that said, my MIL who lives in Marin County (CA)  is a brisket convert.  Recently quoted " I would rather have a great brisket than a steak."  You never know when the lightening will strike.  FWIW-

EggcitedinNJ

@Mike_the_BBQ_Fanatic and @lousubcap At the end of the day we all have to take into consideration who we are cooking for.