I JUST got a cookshack SM008 today. It is seasoning right now.

I found two cuts of meat in my freezer.
- one is a 3 lb pork shoulder roast
- one is a very small beef brisket, probably about 3 lbs.

Any recipe suggestions for these cuts?

Slather the roast in mustard and then smother it with your favorite rub. Put it in the Smokette on the top rack with 2 oz. of your favorite wood at 225*. Cook until internal meat temp. reaches 195-205 without opening the door. Take it out, wrap in HD foil, wrap that in 2 old bath towels, place in dry cooler for at least 30 minutes. Unwrap and shred or pull with forks or fingers. Apply more rub to the pulled pork if desired. Serve on cheap hamburger buns with sauce and slaw.

First I'd read Smokin's 101 s on pork and brisket above.

Smokin' Okie's Barbecue Guides

Second,I'd read the archives.

That should cover 99% of what you'd like to know,and we'll be happy to jump in for any specific questions.

Enjoy

I second Tom, keeping in mind that:

1) your pork shoulder roast is likely a boston butt (so cook it as a pork butt in Smoking's 101)
2) your 3-lb brisket is likely a flat (so search the archives for cooking instructions for a brisket flat)

Yep. You in fact did ask for recipe suggestions, right Angler? That's what I thought!

Hippie,

I'll try your roast recipe for Saturday night dinner. How long do you think it will take per pound?

Also, I only have the wood that the smoker came with. Is that hickoyr? Is it okay or should get something else for pork?

Tim

Use what you got.

Mad Angler, "Welcome to the Forum!" As sugested above, take your butt to 195-205. This could be anywhere from 1-2.5 hrs per lb. Two hrs per lb is a good average. You are better off going by internal temp instead of hrs per lb if possible. Resist the tempation to open the door as that will only prolong the cooking time.

Let us know how your first smoke went!

Good luck!!!

Actually, not a roast recipe, but a pulled pork recipe. It will be good.

Thanks Tom and Wheelz.

Well, it's going... slowly...

I think the pork roast was about 3 lbs. I put it in around 121:45. At 4:15, it was about 141F. Now it is 6:45, and the temp is 145F

I didn't read all the directions in this thread though. I put the roast on the middle shelf, not the top.

SO, unless I hear otherwise, I just keep waiting for the temp to reach 195.

Also, I stuck another meat thermometer in the vet hole. It peaked out aabove 200F so I think the CS is at the 225F setpoint...

Well, it never did get done...

At 12:00am it was still 180F. That made it about 11 hours for a 3 lb roast.

I opened the door and checked the thermometer. It seemed right. So, I took the thermometer out of the meat and just left it in the oven. The oven got to 225 in about 15 minutes. So, I thought the oven was working correctly. But then the oven temp dropped to 195 and stayed there for the next hour.


After 13 hours I declared defeat. I took the roast out and wrapped it in foil. I later put it in the fridge.


So, what do I do now? I am extremely disappointed...
- How I get my CS fixed?
- What do I do with my partially cooked roast?

Mad_Angler-
Welcome to the forum. Your's sounds like my first cook with a small pork butt. For some reason they can be really stubborn..Our Cookshacks will have temperature swings as they cycle on and off during cooking- that's normal and not a cause for concern. You can finish off your mostly cooked butt wrapped in it's foil in a standard oven, it's already taken on smoke flavor. Pork butts (and brisket) will hit a temperature plateau in the 160*-170* range and hang there for a few hours. Next time I'd start much earlier in the day and when the meat is ready, it can be foiled, wrapped in an old towel or two and held in a dry warm cooler for a few hours 'till meal time. The search button at the top of the page gave me 91 hits for "plateau" and 62 for "temp swings". Don't give up yet!! I know it took me a while,there's lots of advice to be had from the forum members and we do get to eat our misteaks...

MA,

2 hours to go from 141 to 145 doesn't sound right, so I'm thinking questions about the temp. Dropping to 195 and staying for hours at that temp sounds a little low. A 3lb roast should be done in 6 hours, give or take a little.

There's likely nothing to fix, just a little learning process involved. You didn't have time to "read the posts" so you missed some of the good suggestions and it's hard to give advice if you don't take the time to let us help. Regardless of the people that say it, this isn't as easy as set it and forget it.

A little patience and the group here will help.

Need the details.

What was the temp of the smoker set at? Is the smoker on an extension cord or straight in the wall. First and foremost, put the smoker on 225, empty, let it run and monitor the temps. When you place your thermometer inside, make sure it doesn't touch metal. Have you tested your thermometer, they can be off also.

Smokin'

Smokin...

I did read about temperature plateau. That is why I gave it so much time. But, 13 hours for a 3 lb roast doesn't sound like a plateau...


Here are the details...
- The smoker is a SM008
- It was plugged directly into the socket
- I never opened the door
- The CS temperature was set at 225

I'll run the temperature test right now...


BUT, folks certainly made the CS sound like "set it and forget it". I have smoked with charcoal before and it was a tremendous hassle. I am still extremely disappointed that my first CS project was such a disaster...

I'll let you know how the temperature test goes...

MA,

I hear your frustration. But this smoker has been working fine for 40+ years and there is a little learning curve and just be a little more patient. It's hard enough to try to cook bbq let alone figure out all of this over the internet. It's always something.

Could be the meat you bought. You need to get a full butt, 6 to 7 lbs. 3 lb will not take that long so SOMETHING is causing that. It just takes time to figure out what that something is.

You got it just this week, so let's go through a few more cook before you get too frustrated.

Once you know the temp, we'll go from there.

Are you opening the door a lot to check? Every time you open it, it lets temp out.

In BBQ it's the little things.