This time I’m doing a Boston Butt, a rack of pork spares, and some gourmet sausages. I intend to put the butt on first and cook at a grate temp of 250-255�. Then, about 3 hours in, I will add the spares, and finally the sausages for about the last 2 hours. I’m getting started late this time, but hope the higher temp on the butt in the beginning will speed things up a little, and I can be finished by 6:00pm. The day is partly cloudy, 83�, and breezy.
I used the alternate method to fire the Bullet. At 10:30am, I lit 21 briquets in the chimney, and within 15 minutes they were ready. During that time, I prepped the 4lb. butt by removing the cap of fat (seen at left in picture), coating it in spicy brown mustard, and giving it a good rub. I purchased the meat just prior to the cook and, at the time the butt went on the cooker, it had been off refrigeration for about 90 minutes.
At 10:45am, I filled the charcoal ring full and spread the lit coals on top. I assembled the Bullet, and filled the water pan with very hot tap water. This method differs from the conventional firing method in that you are trying to bring the Bullet up to temperature, rather than down, before putting the meat on. Starting with hot water in the pan accelerates the temperature rise because energy is not lost heating up the water. An added benefit of this method is that you “get cooking” much sooner than if you waited for the entire amount of charcoal to catch fire.
By 11:00am, the temp was up to 210� and I added the butt to the top grate. I placed 2 fist-sized chunks of hickory and one of oak on top of the charcoal. At 11:30am, the temp had climbed to 273�, and I set the bottom vents to 25% each. By 11:45am the temp dropped to 266, and the vents were set to 50% each. I was in the range where I wanted to be, figuring the temp measured thru the vent to be 15� higher than the temp at the top grate.
Right after putting the butt on, I prepped the ribs. The membrane was intact, but the skirt had already been removed and was not in the package. I removed the membrane and trimmed the rack as shown in the picture, removing the sections at left and upper left. The two pieces at top right were in the package when I opened it. After rubbing, I placed the ribs in the refrigerator to await their time to go in the cooker.
At 1:30pm, I set the ribs out of the refrigerator, in anticipation of starting them at 2:00pm. The Bullet was holding relatively steady this cook, and I was hoping to get the ribs on, mop the butt, and quickly close the Bullet back up without causing a temperature spike.
At 2:00pm, I turned and mopped the butt, and placed the rolled and skewered ribs next to it on the top grate. The miscellaneous rib trimmings went on the middle grate. You can see thru the open access door that there was still quite a bit of unburnt charcoal. A spot check of the butt showed it was averaging 160� internal. Opening the Bullet and adding the ribs took about 5 minutes total. There was no temperature spike, but the remaining smoke wood revived– a good thing for the ribs. By 2:15pm, the temp was registering 251� thru the lid.
The temp was slow to rebound after opening the Bullet at 2:00pm, but did not appear to present a problem since the butt was well on its way at 160� internal, aiming towards 190 with 4 hours to go. At 2:45pm, the Bullet was at 253�, measured thru the lid, which I figured was fine for the ribs and should also keep the butt on course.
At 4:00pm, I turned/mopped the butt, which registered 165� internal, and flipped/rotated and basted the ribs. I added the fresh gourmet sausages to the top grate– a pound each of chicken/spinach/feta and chicken/black bean/lime/tequila.
My “ambitious and complex” plan was for everything to be done at 6:00pm– 7 hours for the butt, 4 hours for the ribs, and 2 hours for the sausages. Bearing in mind that I was cooking at a target grate temp of 250-255� instead of the usual 212-225, I figured these times would be about right.
At 4:35pm, I stirred the coals– the temp still hadn’t rebounded too well from the 4:00pm opening. The photo of the coals shows quite a bit has been consumed– more than anticipated. At 4:45pm, with the temp still reading 253�, and all bottom vents fully open, I added 12 additional unlit briquets.
At 5:15pm, I again turn/mopped/basted and checked the butt for doneness. It varied from 169 to 181. Visual inspection of the sausages revealed they had a ways to go. I was happy to see the reflected glowing of the added briquets down on the inside of the Bullet. Even at an average measurement of 253�, I’m still cooking at around 239, which is not where I wanted to be, but OK.
Then, at 5:30pm, boom!– just that quick– it’s reading 294�. I closed down the vents to compensate. In 15 minutes, I was back to 253�.
At 5:45pm, coming down the home stretch, the ribs passed the tear test, and I glazed them with a little finishing sauce. The sausages read 190– ouch! too high– and I pulled them off. They had only been exposed to the temperature spike for a short time, so it didn’t end up being a problem. The butt read from 172-183� internal– the various muscles in a pork butt tend to cook at different rates, much like light and dark poultry meat. As long as I see about 172� minimum, I’m happy.
At 6:00pm, as hoped for, everything was done. I wrapped the butt in heavy foil to rest, and had some ribs and sausages for dinner.
After dinner, around 7:00pm, I pulled the pork butt, which had minimal fat left, and a very small bone from which the meat separated cleanly.
I left clean-up until the next morning. I awoke to the sound of rain at about 4:00am, and thought about the previous cook in the rain. The Bullet wasn’t exposed to more than about 20 minutes of moderate rain that time, but this time it had to be a couple of hours– I should have left the umbrella up. When I got up and went out to start the cleaning, there was a slurry of ash and water in the charcoal bowl that I would guesstimate to be about a half gallon. The leftover coals were dry, though.
What have we learned? This cook went pretty well, I think. All in all, everything turned out great. Using the alternate firing method, I found the temps to be fairly stable and easier to control, and I think I will use this technique next time. I would have done better to add fewer briquets near the end. In hindsight, I should have considered their potential to catch fire in about 15 minutes, and closed the vents earlier in anticipation of the spike they ultimately caused. I now know that the 2/3 of a chimney-full added on the last cook was way too much, and explains why things got so out of control. A little freshly-lit charcoal goes a long way to heat things up.
On a final note, I read somewhere about someone having supposedly-extinguished coals reignite upon their exposure to oxygen. This cook had a fair amount of leftover coals that I wanted to reuse, but I had a real problem walking out of the house the next morning with that story on my mind– a galvanized bucket full of spontaneously burning charcoal in my garage was a frightening thought. I wrapped the bucket up in a large trash bag, tied it tight and set it outside.
Tune in next time— literally– for the Thanksgiving Day Weber WebCast Turkey Roast.