I have been confused by the lack of grease after smoking both pork shoulder and brisket.

I smoked two butts and had almost no grease in the pan. The foil in the bottom was fairly dry too. I smoked the meat for 23 hours (first 16 at 200, rest at 225)and it was fantastic - no signs of fat on the meat, etc. The two shoulders were not trimmed at all.

Did the brisket yesterday - 12 hours at 225. Not trimmed at all. The finished product was great - not greasy at all, just a small layer of fat left on top. Meat was tender. Just a small bit of grease in the pan - less than a 1/4 inch. Cooked the brisket fat side up.

Is the grease cooking off instead of dripping off? Is it seeping through the meat and then evaporating?

You are seeing how Cookshack owners may get a higher yield on cooked meats.

There are thoughts that when you are cooking low and slow,that you are not boiling away a lot of water/drippage.

You didn't mention size, or fat levels ,of the meats you cooked.

You are giving it time for the collagen to break down and the fat to render.

You will get some loss out with smoke/steam venting,some will vaporize on the firebox.

The grease on the bottom foil will dry and condense some, by proximity to the firebox.

The CS is considered a moist cooker,and does not flow a large amount of air over the meats.

Maybe some of our food scientists will have more exact answers,but that's my $0.02

Thanks Tom.
The butts were between 7 and 8 pounds each. I would guess they had normal fat - I did no trimming.

The brisket was 10-11 pounds - again no trimming.

Good point on the firebox effect.
Gerry

Got a dog?

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis-UT:
[qb] Got a dog? [/qb]

BBQ is a funny thing, it never ceases to amaze me.

To me, if I cooked briskets and butts and didn't have any grease, and the fat was rendered, I'd be laughing because there would be less to clean up.

and no I don't have a dog

Absolutely no complaints.

Two dogs, but they are inside dogs.

Since we are still the fattest state, maybe a neighbor came along and drank it down!!

I too am from MS. Some fat fool might have smelled that wonderful smell and thought that was gravy comming out the bottom and took it. As for the dogs, my dogs want no part of the smokey drippings.