Get Smokin Cookbook time and temp question

I have a smokette and the cookbook also. What I do is go by the temps in the book, I use a temp. probe that lets me know when the meat is done, it usually takes longer than the times in the book.

Amen- the book says 6 hours for boston butt, but it has always taken me 12 hours to get to 195-200F internal with the thermostat set at 200-225F. It's cooked and safe to eat after 6, but it won't pull or be real tender yet...zacher

I have a CS 150 and usually do about 2- 8 lb. butts. I put them in for 13 hrs. @ 225 and they usually come out perfect.

As the guru of smoke says, "It's done when it's done." No 2 cuts of meat are the same. It may be easy to generalize when it comes to butts or other cuts, but when it comes to marbling, fat content, weight, etc each one will take a different amount of time. One 5#'er may take 12 hours; another 5#'er may take 16. Use a meat probe and take the temp to 190 - 200 depending on what you are doing with the butt. I guarantee you'll love it even if you use nothing but straight smoke.

Bruise1, nice to see another Arkie aboard! Welcome to the forum.

Whereabouts are you bruiser?

The last whole chickens I did were done in 2.5 hours at 225*. This weekend I did some on 250* that took 4 hours to finish. Yep. They were done when they were done. Yummy too!

Most do take longer then the book shows. This forum is the best spot to look up cooking times and temps for the Smokette. Better then the book. Go to archived files for the particular meat you would like to cook. All cook times do vary. Check the temp it should be cooked to and and check it with a good tempature probe. Several nice wireless probes on the market.

Thank you all.

prf8

Sorry guys, but I have to be honest here about cooking times. No where have I found accurate (or even close for that matter) times listed for smokette cooking.

Is it the cooker, the amount of meat, the type of meat,who knows. Probably all the above. Simply put, I don't think there is an answer, there can't be.

And with all respect, "it's done when it's done" is not very exceptable to me. So you tell your guests "we'll eat when we eat"! Come on, be real!

Well that's the best you've got, I'm afraid. That's why this is an art more than a science. On the brighter side, like most other things in life, it boils down to practise. And that is something that's easy to do, especially when it comes to 'Q. It's all about taking time instead of letting time take you.

You will get to know your smokette through experience and then you will be able to predict your times. And when you reach that point you will still not be able to predict when some other person's 'Q is going to be done halfway across the country.

Certainly it can be frustrating, but if you think a CS is unruly try a wood pit sometime. Hang in there. Get a Polder and don't set yourself up to deliver to the masses until you've developed that feel for YOUR smoker.

At the very worst it's a great excuse for tunes and beer while you practise! And it won't take that long at all until the folks you know just can't get enough. They'll wait if they have to.

The variability in meat, understanding its behavior and gaining the experience to deal with it is part of the "art". With just a little practice it is quite simple to ensure that the meat is done well before you want to serve it to your guests and then wrapping in foil, several towels as insulation and placed in a dry cooler. This is a fact of life for BBQ that is shared even by the pros on the competition circuit. You will not generally hear of them trying to time a 20 hour brisket so that it comes out of the smoker 10 minutes before turn in time.

Bottom line, after my first few cooks, I never again told my guests that "we'll eat when we eat".

Richard

quote:

Originally posted by Grumpster:
[qb] And with all respect, "it's done when it's done" is not very exceptable to me. So you tell your guests "we'll eat when we eat"! Come on, be real! [/qb]

You firing a shot across my bow there Grumpster

Sorry you dont' agree with the statement. Get real? Hey, after you've been smoking 30+ years, then you can correct me. No offense taken unless you intend to.

The premise behind it's done when it's done is what you missed. Smoking isn't about a recipe like you would bake a cake. You can have general rules of thumbs, but that the statement means is that the meat will be done when it's ready. There is so much variance in butts and briskets, even going with a rule like 1.5hours per pound for butts doesn't always work.

Don't like the times here in the forum? Keep your own notebook and figure it out. If you're worried about your guests, cook in this smoker long enough and you won't have to tell them to wait. If your on your first cook, then we've always suggested here that you don't experiment for your first party.

I can do ribs the same way, and each week, there can be a variance of up to an hour or more. Same with brisket and butts. The meat and other variables have a big impact.

Smokin'

Question about the Get Smokin Book.

There are two versions. The old one REALLY has bad times. I haven't seen the new one, but I'm told they changed some times.

As for any cookbook, any Q book out there. I don't think I've ever cooked it exactly like it says and been happy with their times. Example. A famous CB from Texas suggests you cook brisket for 45 min a pound and pull it out if it reaches 170 internal. Huh?

My suggestion on times is to use the forum for your starting point, but keep your own log of what works and what doesn't work for you.

I have some logs in Excel or Word I'd be happy to share. Email me (my email is in my profile).

Smokin'

Grumpster...

Given the cuts of meat that are usually smoked, there are going to be variances in cooking times. This is true of with a Cookshack, a log burner, a gas burner, or even a plain old oven, if you are looking for top shelf results. Pork butts, ribs, briskets, even chickens all vary in fat content and moisture from piece to piece. Even of the same two species, short of cloning, you're unlikely to find two animals that are identical. Therein lies your time discrepancy. These discrepancies are magnified by the "low and slow" method, because 10% longer at 225F has a widely different effect than 10% longer at 450F, or some other "baking" temperature. The low and slow method IS the way to go for the tradtional BBQ cuts, however.

So, you may be with me on low and slow, but you still need to feed your guests in a timely fashion, right? Here is where your testing and this forum comes into play. Before you serve your guests anything you cook, do a trial run for yourself or your family. This advice stands for any recipe, BBQ or not. As for the BBQ side, get your procedure for your particular cut down, then ask this forum how to hold it until serving time. If you search the archives, there's even a pretty good chance that the answer is already there. Of course, the holding methods will require a little trial and error on your end also.

One final thought... If you think cooking your main meat or meats in advance would detract from the ambiance of your event, consider laying a little extra smoke to some pre-cooked sausages or some chicken wings as your guests arrive. You'll get their senses going, and feed them these quick cooking appetizers while they wait for you to plate the main course!

I know your handle is "Grumpster", but you shouldn't need to be grumpy about the Cookshack! I use one at work everyday, along with another commercial smoker. I am very seriously considering buying a Cookshack home unit, just so I can play with new recipes for myself, on a non-commercial basis. These smokers are that much fun once you get the hang of them!

You might find, too, that unlike many foods, a lot of smoked foods are relatively hard to overcook So, with a little experience, you can plan for the longest time and if it's done early, you can turn the heat down or wrap in foil. Or if you've gone off and left the smoker cooking away, it'll probably won't be all that overdone when you return.