27 Hour B-B-Q

Citizen Q · November 2001

Smoked a 10 lb shoulder, a 6 and a 3 lb brisket together this weekend for a bash at the house on Saturday night. Put in my new replacement firebox and coal grate and set the spice rubbed and mustard slathered meats on Friday night at 6 PM with the dome at 200. I started to worry that my dome thermometer was way out of calibration when the polder (in the pork) shot up to 130 within 2 hours and the anolog (in the brisket) was right behind at 126 so I adjusted the vents and held it down to 160 which was incredibly easy to hold, confirming my fears about the calibration. Watched things til about 3 AM, but finally went to bed feeling confident that I was where I was supposed to be. Woke up Saturday morning at 8 and the Egg was holding steady at 160 and so was the meat at 138 and 132 respectively so at this point I decided to yank the thermometer and check the calibration in boiling water, sure enough, the thermo was dead on the money. Kicked the Egg back up to 200 and myself in the shorts, but still felt pretty good that the meat would be off long before the guests arrived and I would have plenty of time to cook up a pot of etouffee on the Egg to show off.[p]Uh-uh, wrong again. The temps flip-flopped around noon, with the brisket reaching it's plateau temp of 160 an hour later and the shoulder holding steady at 154 a short time after, neither one budged for over 5 hours bringing us up to 6 PM with a 7 o'clock start time for the party. So I did the only thing that I could under the circumstances, I filled a pint glass halfway with Cider Jack and floated as much Guinness on the top then started puttin-em down. I also kicked the dome up to 300 as I was past the plateau and set up to cook my etouffee in my dutch oven on top of the old Franklin woodstove that I have set up like a chiminea on the patio. For those of you wondering what the heck etouffee is, it's a creole dish starting out by sauteeing onions, peppers, garlic and celery in a butter and flour roux and simmered in shrimp stock (or chicken stock and clam juice) with diced tomatoes and some herbs and spices, finished off with a couple of pounds of shrimp and served over rice. It is delicious.[p] I was figuring to have everthing wrapped in foil and hot towels in a warm cooler by 7 and serving at about 9, but the way it worked out, the brisket hit 200 at 9:35 and the shoulder hit 190 at exactly 10 PM, 27 hours after it went in, and the amazing thing, I still burned less than half of my original lump. [p]I did my best vaudeville act for the guests at this time, after removing and setting the upper grill with the brisket on the table, I proceeded to attempt removal of the shoulder. It was stuck to the grill fairly securely, so instead of breaking it up right there, I put on the gloves and lifted out the whole grid with the foil drip pan hanging beneath it by piano wire. Everybody hit the deck when that fireball erupted from the pint or so of grease hitting the fire, but it was success as I held the pork shoulder aloft for all the see. The grid was getting a little hot in my hands, so I put it down on the table next to the brisket, but still being a bit fire-blinded, misjudged the distance and sent the 2 chunks of brisket tumbling onto the ground and underneath the deck while one of the more vigilant party guests head-butted the rail post, just missing the diving catch.[p]Well I rinsed those briskets off and shredded em up along with the pork right away as the crowd was getting restless, helped the wife set up the buffet table with my Q and her Ceaser salad and side dishes, then kicked back with my snakebite in hand and watched them DEVOUR their food. The only complaint was from my buddy Dave, who went at the etouffee hard and like myself, had not noticed that the shrimp still had a healthy dose of shrimp shell attached to it. I swear to God that the bag said PEELED and deveined. So it wasn't the most comfortable food in the world to eat, it still tasted too good to pass up.[p]The hardest thing about treating people to an Egg-cooked meal is all the bruises that you get from everyone slapping you on the back, I'm gonna be sore for a week.

PuppyBreath · November 2001

Citizen Q,
you tell a story like my Irish relatives... wonderful, warm and full of mirth...
Slap You On The Back For That!
Pup[p]

Spring Chicken · November 2001

Citizen Q,
Sounds to me like you entertained the troops pretty well, and I'm almost certain you won't have to worry about snakes anytime in the near future. My kinda guy...[p]Spring Chicken
Spring Texas USA (Formerly from New Orleans)

Bordello · November 2001

Citizen Q,
That sounds like one heck of a cook, congratulations. I enjoyed reading your post and a peek into your exciting life as the showman of the get-together. Sounds like a great time was had by all. Thanks for explaining what etouffee is, I was wondering as I was reading your post. Very thoughtful of you.
Happy Egg-n
New Bob

27 Hour B-B-Q

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