I've made several mistakes all through the process, but the end results sure tasted great. No complaints from family or friends either.
I've never smoked before or bought these cuts. I bought a pork butt and had the butcher take the bone out. Mistake. (Seems like most of you leave the bone in to help tell for doneness, right?) I paid $2.99/lb. at my upscale meat market. Today at Costco for this weekend I bought a "pork shoulder blade Boston roast". (a pork butt, I hope) 2 in a package. 89c/lb.
For my first try the product seemed to take forever to cook. At my old age I am going to have to learn the lesson of patience here. 14 hrs @225 for 5.1 lbs. Issue: I had to open the smoker eight times to check temp. Solution: I went out and bought a remote Poldar type thermometer for my next attempt. I got the transmitter model. $52 bucks. Apparently the receiver catches the signal from anywhere in my house. Neat! This lazy way gets a laugh from my wife. Anyway, next time I won't be opening smokette door so frequently. (I've seen posts here say opening door increases cooking time either 30 minutes each time or 60 minutes each time.)
I tried the Alabama or Tenn. mustard sauce that starts with 4 cups of yellow mustard. I don't have the reference. I think maybe it's from Smokin'. I made a quarter of the recipe. Wife and I did not like it at all on the delicious pulled pork. Waay too mustardy. Trying to use up this sauce, we tried mixing some in baked beans. Now THAT was good, surprisingly.
Now brisket. Butcher got me this big hunk with lots of fat on it. I think it had the deckel on it. Butcher - he's not a bbqer - said he should trim off some of the big hunks of fat. I told him okay. That was probably wrong. I realized from reading here about putting bacon strips on the brisket, that I could maybe put the fat back on. I asked for the fat hunks and just put them on top of the brisket which I put in the center rack.
Here's a summary of what people here say they cook brisket at:
Jimbo: 200 night before, then 225 in the am.
Mike: anywhere from 200 to 225
Canjunqr: 225, until internal 190
Jim Minim: 225 "A good brisket will normaly be in the 188-200 internal range when done"
Tim: Center rack, don't turn it
Woodburner: 225 until internal 195
FIManager: 225, fold over brisket, don't cut it
Smokin': 225, until internal 190 for sliceable, 200 for really tender, almost hard to cut
Glen rock: 200-205
Cookshack Cookbook: 225 for 12 hours.
I set for 225 and 190 internal. When my thermometer sounded 10hrs later (and my wife laughed again), I checked several spots in the meat (I hope. Hard to tell sometimes). Fork test wasn't quite right. I put probe in different spot: temp was 187. After 2 hours that spot was 195, so I took the meat out (12 hours cooking time total for the 7.92 lb brisket plus the two hunks of fat.) When I started doublechecking the temp. of the meat after I got it in the house, another thermometer read 187-192. Something not right there, but meat look, smelled, tasted delicious.
I let it sit about 30 min. No foil. Sliced juicy. Bark okay for me. Dang it was good.
Hope this helps. Any comments welcome. Sorry if I have misconstrued anyone's cooking times or instructions. Sometimes the chemist in me comes out looking for the best/optimum time and temp. I have to let it sink in that "it's done when it's done."
I have been enjoying reading everyone's stories and suggestions on this forum.
Paul.
