Skip to main content

10 replies

Settings and cooking on the FEC100

FM Former Member
I don't usually cook a full load these days so I couldn't acurately describe my thinking about how to use the settings when it's come up before. I needed to cook 24 butts this week so here's what I did.
I warmed up the cooker while I seasoned them, I only did 12 each day. I put 4 on each of the top three shelves. I turned the cooker to smoke and let it go from 6pm to 8pm. At 8 I turned it up to 180. AT 10pm I turned it up the next notch which brought it up to 240-245. The next morning at 8:00 the butts were beautiful.
The next night I did the exact same thing.

My thinking is that when I fill the cooker with cold meat, I don't want the thermostat calling for heat right away. That results in a hot fire and scorching the bottoms of the lowest rack. Then ease on up to 180 for the same reason, but you also get the maximum smoke flavor and color on the meat at these low settings. By the time I turned it up things were pretty smokey and warmed up in there so the thermostat didn't create such a hot fire.

I never peeked or rotated. If I had to cook on all the racks I'd do the same thing, only I'd plan on rotating the bottom rack with the one second from the top in the middle of the cooking.
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

FM Former Member
Hi Dr. BBQ, I have 8 Pork Butts I am going to do this weekend. I plan on trying your way with 4 of them and see what they look like. Quick question, did you foil them at any point? Do you know what the internal temp of the pork was when they were done? The other 4 I am going to do them the way I have done them on a my Traeger in the past. ( I just got my FE the other day) I am going to cook them on smoke for 6 hours, then kick it up to 240-245 for 3 hours. I then foil them and keep it at 240-245 untill I hit an internal temp on the pork of 203 degrees. I am going to use these for pulled pork. I will let you know how they turn out both ways.
FM Former Member
Ray,

Interesting point. That's one of the issue I have with the FE, is that sometimes the bottoms of things get a little crisper than other times.

I've done my ribs ub a similar fashion, start at one setting, jump to the next and jump to the next instead of the 4 hours @ 275 and I like them with the "jump" method. Do we give it an official name, like the DrBBQ Jumping Mayo Method for Butts and the SmokinOkie multi-click method for Ribs

Big Grin Eeker Cool
FM Former Member
Smokin',
I think you better name it after Eddy because he's the one that taught me to cook that way.

We used to just click once because the old controllers only had three settings.
smoke-medium-high

Hi Big Dog,
Cold up there?
I never wrap my butts unless I need to hurry them up. With 8 they may get done a little quicker. I think mine were all around 190, but I really go by feel. If they feel soft all over, they're done. I don't ever cook them to 200 either. They just don't need it. You gotta leave a little texture, unless you don't have any teeth.
FM Former Member
Dr. BBQ, Yes it is cold and we have a Winter Storm on the way. I will try and pull these at 190 and see what kind of result I get. Thanks for the tip.

Smokin, I am going to do Ribs on Sunday. I use the Click method also. I smoke them at about 180 for 3 hours and then crank it up to 240 for an hour. I then brush them with a Honey, Brown Sugar, butter, Apple Juice, Maple Syrup mix. Wrap them in Saran wrap and Tin foil and return them for an hour at 240. Then take them out and remove the foil and saran wrap. Then brush them with my Smoky Chipolte Sauce and finish them at 240. Should be interesting in the FE, I will let you know how they turn out.
FM Former Member
Ray,

Have you tried leaving them at 180 for the long part of the cook then finishing at 250? I've done that with the thought that I want to keep them around 160 to 170 as long as possible. The results have been pretty good. It's the same approach I use doing a roast. Low temps until the internal temp is where you want it without overcooking the outside. Then finish hot to form a crust.

FE always says "heat is your friend" so I'm going to have to do some test cooking.

PS, I took a survey of my friends without teeth and 7/10 preferred texture to their pork. It felt better on their gums. The other 30% just drooled and never answered.
FM Former Member
Going back up to the top of this thread...the 12 butts at a time on 3 racks. I've only cooked 12 butts once, but I did use all 4 racks thinking that smoke & heat would circulate better with 3/rack rather than 4 on 3 racks. I did choose the largest 3 of the 12 butts with the heaviest fat cap. Cooked them fat side down on the bottom rack. Most of the fat was gone by the time they were done and no crunchy bottom.

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×