Pit Beef

PG

I have been asked to make sliced pit beef for sandwiches for a party saturday evening.My question would be as to what kind of roast or cut of beef should I buy and whether I should go direct or indirect.....slicing won't be a problem due to moms old slicer.also what kind of times do you think I'll be looking at? Thanks in advance for any help given.....Page

Citizen Q

PG,
I've never heard it called pit beef before, but if it's classic Bar-Be-Que'd beef that you are looking for, then brisket is the way to go. See you butcher ahead of time about ordering a whole "packer trim" brisket for Thursday, tell him not to cut it in any way, just pull it out of the box and hand it over the counter to you. If he doesn't know what a packer trim is, ask him if he can at least refer you to a good butcher. Due to shrinkage of the meat in the cooking process and stuffage of the face in the eating process you want to start with about 3/4 pound per person.[p] Thurs night, carefully open one end of the cryovac bag and drain any fluids, remove the brisket(s), rub the meat with brown sugar and your favorite rub mixture. Place it back in the bag, fold the open end over and place in the fridge overnight. Open a can of beer and fill a jelly jar with an equal mix of mesquite, hickory and maple chips, cover with beer and set that aside til tomorrow.[p]Friday night (at least 21 hours prior to serving time), light your Egg. Make sure that the lump is filled up over the top of the firebox by about 3-4 inches and get the dome temp established at about 200 deg. Drain your wood chips, spread em out over the top of the coals (along with some onion slices if you like), lay the grid in place and at this point you can do whatever you want as far as direct/indirect goes. You'll want the brisket in a V-Rack fat side up for easy handling, but you can place it right on the grid, over a foil drip pan or over a pizza stone or firebricks with a drip pan. At 200 degrees, you won't have to worry about charring of the meat so I do mine direct. Make sure that your Polder is in place and keep an eye on the dome temp from time to time to make sure it's maintaining 200.[p]Sometime Saturday, between the 16 and 18 hour mark, you should be coming out of what is known as the plateau, which is an excrutiatingly long period of time that the meat just sits there at 165 degrees without getting any closer to done and even sometimes losing a few degrees of internal temp. Don't worry, once you pass 170 it's all gravy. Here is where you can play around a little if you need to speed things up. If it's closer to 16 hours when you hit 170 internal, leave it alone, it'll hit 190 right on schedule at 20 hours. But, if it lingers longer and you don't come out of it til 17 or 18 hours, open the bottom vent 1/2 inch and the daisy wheel about 1/8 inch to pull the dome temp up to 225-230 (but not until you reach 170 internal on the meat).[p] Once you hit 190 int temp you're all set, but if you have a bit of time left, crank the dome temp back to 200 and leave it on, the longer it stays over 190 and the closer to 200 you get, the better the brisket. 40 minutes to an hour before serving, remove the nmeat from the Egg and wrap in foil on the counter til you are ready, then just slice and serve. Have a bottle of BBQ sauce handy for those that might need it, but not many will. [p]You say your doing sandwiches, so have a good supply of Martin's Potato Rolls on hand if you can find em in your area. Enjoy.

Good Luck and Good Q

BluesnBBQ

PG,[p]Are you from Baltimore by any chance? For those of you who have never heard of pit beef, it's a Baltimore area sandwich. It's not exactly barbecue - it's grilled roast beef, thinly sliced and served on a kaiser roll. [p]Here's a good recipe you can try:[p]http://www.thatsmyhome.com/balpit.htm
[ul][li]What Ravens fans eat while tailgating[/ul]

WessB

BluesnBBQ,
Great link..I believe that is exactly what he`s looking for..we recently had some of this at the Annapolis boat show..kinda became a tradition over the years to all join up and have these sammies at the Fleet Club..if you`ve never tried it ..go for it they are very good.[p]Wess

PG

BluesnBBQ,
AS a matter of fact I'm right here in College Park 20 houses from Wess.Your link is exactly what I'm after.Doing meat for a group of about 30 for end of boating season party.Thanks a million for the help. Page