LABOR DAY 2022

Sounds like a solid plan.

Doing a turkey breast today.

Tomorrow I'm doing the jalapeno cream cheese-stuffed, bacon wrapped poppers I found at Sam's Club last week (yeah, I know, cheating). I plan to sprinkle them liberally with smoked paprika then smoke them (with just a bit of hickory) in my AQ at 300F (the max) for about an hour and check the bacon for doneness (crispiness). If not, into the broiler for a couple minutes. Just an experiment before I make them myself with more interesting stuffing.

@Flyingman posted:

So, I found a nice full brisket at Winn Dixie at $3.99/lb. It was about 18 lbs untrimmed, big enough at about $75. I plan to smoke this one on my old Texas Style stick burner for the Labor Day Holiday. Last one I did came out really amazing.  I expect I will just dry rub it day prior and then get it started either Sunday prior or early Monday. I know it's an all day thing so might just do it on Sunday so I can relax and enjoy it on Monday. I have Oak and Pecan wood plus some Mesquite chunks. I usually smoke other things like a pork butt, ribs, maybe I might try a Picahna as well.  Anyone else have plans to smoke something?

OK, so I will move things up a day and start smoking this morning. I prepped my meats last night. Found a nice Argentinian Picahna, about 4lbs, trimmed a bit off the fat cap, covered in EVO, added salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and some Worcestershire.

The Pork Butt I crossed hatch the fat cap and dusted in Slap ya Mama and some Butt Rub.

The Brisket is yuge! I tried to figure out the point from the flat and gave up and just cut it in half with one side thicker than the other, but it is pretty thick all around. I trimmed off the fat caps ( a lot of fat on these) and dusted with a Brisket Rub, Salt, Pepper, Onion and Garlic.

Plan is to fire up this morning and get a good smoke infusion for maybe 5-6 hours, then wrap and set in my Cookshack to finish rest of cook time and temp. Looking for the 160's to pull and wrap and then 200 to finish, then let them rest. I know they will have different finish times so I'll place my probe in smaller pieces first, which will be the Picahna.

I'll post some photos once I get things going.

I realize I could have possibly done this all in just one smoker but the stick smoker is a bear to monitor for 12 hours but it does give an awesome level of smoke and bark, while the CS holds temp so perfectly but is a bit tight for larger volume of meats. Best of both worlds I suppose.

Looking good!

OK, I did the bacon-wrapped jalapeno cream cheese-stuffed poppers I got at Sam's. I added a moderate sprinkle of smoked paprika. I put them in at 300F (the max in my AQ) with about 1 1/2 oz of hickory (2 small chunks) and checked them at 45 minutes. The high temp meant lots of early smoke. Hard to tell without feeling if the bacon was done due to the paprika browning. They looked great, but by feel, the bacon wasn't done (but still not really crispy) until about 1:20 in. They were really good but as an experiment I learned this:

1. Make them myself to control jalapeno heat (Sam's are very hot, too hot for some).

2. Make a better stuffing - maybe cream cheese and cheddar mixed.

3. Use very thin bacon to wrap, and make sure each jalapeno half is sitting on the end of the bacon piece that wraps it - no toothpicks.

4. Slightly less smoked paprika.

5. Slightly less smoke - it was too much for some. Maybe 1 oz. But hickory is a good choice.

Consumption (a crowd that generally likes spicy food) ranged from less than one popper to six poppers. All in all I consider the experiment a qualified success. I'll definitely be doing them again. Quite an enjoyable experience.

OK, so the results are in!  The Picahna did taste great, but to be honest it was so much like a brisket flat, why spend more on Picahna? It is about 2-3 times more expensive. I'd say maybe smoke Picahna enough to get the flavor, then finish it off as a steak at high heat and get that tasty rare to med rare interior.

The Pork Butt took 11 hours in all and was literally like butter when I unwrapped to store in fridge. It tasted amazing.

The brisket (2 pieces as I cut in half) I did not taste at all until next day. Cut some slices of the flat, warmed up, served with a dab of BBQ sauce, potato salad and coleslaw and it was very good. Looking forward to getting a bit more of that!

My wood was 1/2 oak, 1/2 pecan plus some chunks of mesquite. My wife said the smoke flavor didn't bother her stomach so that means it was good. In all each cut was smoked some 3 1/2 hours to as long as 6 hours, then finished in the CS at 250 until they reached the 200F mark.

First time I've used pink butcher wrap. It works great but does leak so I had a bit of a oily water mess in my CS and forgot to place my drip pan. Clean up in aisle 3!

Happy Labor Day!

A successful cook is always great. Happy Labor Day to you and yours.