Butt, Brisket and Beans....Oh My!

[RG]

I was planning on loading the KBQ up, as mentioned in another post, with a brisket, pork butt, whole chicken, rack of baby backs and a pan of beans. As it turned out, I didn't do the chicken or baby backs but did do the rest. I had good results. I ran the KBQ hotter than I normally do. Due to this, the butt (which I cut in half to match the cooking time of the brisket) finished in about 8 hours and the brisket finished in 8.5 hours. I did rotate the brisket once and the butt once. Not changing shelf position but rather turned 180° as the front of the KBQ seems to cook hotter than the back.

I don't think I have any plated pics or pics of the beans but I do have some of the meat (which is all that matters anyway, lol)

[smoker pete]

Excellent looking butts and brisket      That bark and smoke ring look divine ...

[RG]

Excellent looking butts and brisket      That bark and smoke ring look divine ...

The KBQ does a fine job of making meat look purty Good thing it also makes it tasty too!

[Savannahsmoker]

Beautiful looking meats with the pork having a nice bark and a very juicy brisket.

How often did you need to tend the unit during the 8 hours?

[Smokerjunky]

Wow - that all looks fantastic.  I just ate lunch and now I am hungry again.

[muebe]

Beautiful!

[bamabob]

That looks fantastic Jason.  How would you say the flavor, texture and moisture is compared to what you did on the keg?
On a scale of one to ten where would you rate butt on the keg & kbq, same question for brisket

[RG]

Beautiful looking meats with the pork having a nice bark and a very juicy brisket.

How often did you need to tend the unit during the 8 hours?

Well, that's the part of cooking on the KBQ that will detract most from buying one. I tend it about every 45 minutes. I can go longer, maybe a little over an hour but I'd rather not let the coal bed get too low so I tend to "over tend" and add wood every 45 minutes, sometimes sooner if I am around it anyway or going to take a pee

That looks fantastic Jason.  How would you say the flavor, texture and moisture is compared to what you did on the keg?
On a scale of one to ten where would you rate butt on the keg & kbq, same question for brisket

Bob, I'll start by saying that I love my kegs. All of them! I've made MANY great meals on them and more still to come. With that said. There IS no comparison. Being as honest as I can here. You can see how juicy that meat is just from the picture and it IS that juicy. I probed those little butts at 160° and juice SHOT out at me! This thing keeps food very moist. Texture wise I'd say it's better as well but the flavor is the big winner here. It tastes, for lack of a better word, more "woodsy" than food cooked on the Keg, Traeger, SI or any other thing I've ever cooked on. It's not just different that it's a stick burner because it tastes different than things I've had off of a stick burner too. It's the type of smoke that it produces. Unlike any cooker I've ever had and whenever I have the time, it will be what I use for low and slow. If I need to do an overnighter, I'll use the Kegs or the SI, otherwise the KBQ will be the ONLY thing I'll use from now on.

Scale wise, 1-10 I would give the Kegged butts a strong 6.5 to 7.0 and Kegged briskets a 6.0 even

KBQ brisket (although still not Franklin BBQ brisket) I would give an 8.5 (I think a prime would give me 9 or better) and this was the first butt done on the KBQ and I feel it was one of the best if not THE best one I've made. I give it at least an 8.5 to 9, I don't feel I could've made a better one.

Bottom line, get you one, save the Keg for everything else, use the KBQ for BBQ. You'll not be disappointed!

[Subvet]

That juice is just oozing with flavor. 
How long do you let butts and brisket rest in the butcher paper?
Are the little holes in the paper where you probed it or to let some steam out?

[RG]

That juice is just oozing with flavor. 
How long do you let butts and brisket rest in the butcher paper?
Are the little holes in the paper where you probed it or to let some steam out?

I only wrapped the brisket in butcher's paper once it got the color I wanted and those holes were where I probed it and checked temps. When they were done, I wrapped in foil and let them rest for about an hour, maybe hour and a half.

[akruckus]

Looks really good.  What did you run the KBQ at?

[tomcrete1]

Fantastic! 

[RG]

Looks really good.  What did you run the KBQ at?

Ooops! I meant to put that in there, lol. I ran her at around 250°. I normally cook in the 225° to 235° range. I will say that after all these years cooking that I have never cut a butt in half and now that I have, I will do it again! It greatly reduced the cook time and there was no loss in quality. It rendered a lot of the fat out, I was worried about that. I have done whole butts in the past and had cooked them hotter than my normal 225° and they had a lot of rubbery fat/connective tissue still in it. It didn't have time to get all soft and collageny (yeah, I turned the noun collagen into an adjective). This butt was nice and collageny (sticky) and moist like it needs to be. The piece that didn't have the bone in it was so jiggly that I thought it was made of jello, crazy tender! I guess I learned something new which is always fun and proof that you never know it all!

[TMB]

Nice cook!  Need my addy?

[RG]

Nice cook!  Need my addy?

I vac sealed the leftovers yesterday, all except the beans which I'll do at some point today along with the pepperoni I made. I could put together a care package with various treasures from the freezer and put it on dry ice for ya