2nd annual draft party hosted at my house this year. Last year was a huge success everyone wanted to do it again. Brisket remained on the menu but after seeing Biggs porchetta, I tried to give it a go with pork belly. It was good for a first attempt but it the leaving the skin on was a mistake in my opinion. This year I also brewed a batch of beer and have a friend that does graphic design come up with a special label. That was a hit so going forward we will continue the beer making and allow the winner the choice of beer style.
At 5am I started slowly building a fire to get a solid good base of coals using cowboy lump them transitioning to maple and a chunk of cherry. 6am the brisket hit the pit For the first 4 hours The temps held good between 225-235F, then I upped it to 250F. The temperatures held between 240 and 255F throughout the rest of the cook until the last hour, when I boosted it to 300 because the flat was not coming to temperature as I would have hoped. After 9 hours (3pm)the point was at 197 and was probing like butter but the flat was still 160 and tough. I split the point and flat, and wrapped both in butcher paper. The point I wrapped in a towel and put it in the oven (off) to rest and the flat went back to the pit. At 330pm the pork belly was at 195F so I pulled that and let it rest in the oven with the point. The chicken (2 halves) I had went on at 2pm and I kept it moist with cider vinegar squirt bottle. Half had my BBQ rub the other had a Brazilian rub I got in a food of the month club. The flat was pulled at 197 and was pretty tender, but could have stayed on longer but I need to start getting ready. None of my friends really cared they enjoyed everything.
Brisket was 14.5# and once trimmed I let it sit in the fridge with salt, pepper, and garlic powder for 36 hours.
The pork belly was about 5.5#. I seasoned with with salt, pepper, lemon(1) and orange(1) zest, crushed fennel seeds, herbs de Provence, chili powder, and some coriander powder. Needed slightly more of everything but still brought good flavor.
Fridge Thursday night, getting ready for Saturday Morning.
6am Saturday morning
8am
9am Added the pork belly
Food spread, including baked beans, apple slaw:
Pork, point, Flat
Pork, I took the skin off after slicing 3 because I was having trouble.
Brisket Close up (flat):
Chicken (L Brazilian, R BBQ)
Sides, Apple Slaw, Baked Beans, homemade pickles
Amber Ale, with the team that won last year's name and last season's league standings. My team is Steel Curtain, and we lost in the champship game: