This is the fourth article that I’ve submitted to Rick’s site, but it’s really the first one I started on last November, when I first became interested in posting something to share with everybody. I was cooking BBQ for my friends Gary and Carol. They’d just sold their grocery store, Eastmoreland Grocery & Market, which had been in Gary’s family for over 45 years, and their customers are having a party for them at our Deli. Gary loved our BBQ, and he also wanted to BBQ the last of the premium cuts of beef from his store in our smoker, to share with everybody at their party. I didn’t think I’d fire up my new (used) pit again till spring 2008, but with the last-minute plans to have their business-selling party at the Deli, I decided to do my first BBQ cook all the way through on wood in my new pit for them. I figured as long as I was going to try my first all-night, all-wood cook, I should practice a comp-style cook, because I want to try to do my first pro-comp BBQ cook in 2008. Also, at the last minute, I called to ask Cindy from “Ella’s BBQ”, if she could get a hold of some of the comp-BBQ folks we know from Portland, and find out if they could come over and try out my first all-wood comp-style BBQ practice cook. So, I’m cooking four different types of whole (#120 cut) beef briskets, and will experiment brining two of the ten boneless pork butts I’m cooking. I also cooked a 3-pack of St. Louis ribs, but didn’t get the time (and energy) to buy any chicken thighs to prep and practice cook. I was so excited when Cindy from “Ella’s BBQ”, Tim from “Crackerjack’s BBQ”, Gary from “Big Kahuna’s BBQ and Catering”, Lynnae from “Pants on Fire BBQ”, and Joe from “Aurora’s Moovers and Shakers” and his brother in-law Don from Texas, made it over!


Outside view from left to right: IBP select, St. Helens choice, Strawberry Mt. choice, SRF Kobe - Note that the Strawberry Mt. has quite a bit of the outside layer of fat trimmed away. I would’ve liked to see more fat left on to protect the meat while cooking.


Inside view from left to right: IBP select, St. Helens choice, Strawberry Mt. choice, SRF Kobe - Compare the untrimmed “kernels” of fat you can see here from the close-ups of the trimmed briskets that fallow. Check out Rick’s article on prepping and cooking a brisket called, “Brisket... unplugged”, on his site. It’s a classic article, and the Weber “Smokey Mountain” (WSM) cooker is the best unit available for the beginning BBQ cook, and has also won many comp-BBQ folks the top prize - Grand Champion.


Trimmed outside view from left to right: IBP select, St. Helens choice, Strawberry Mt. choice, SRF Kobe - Here’s a good pic to see the difference from the right and left briskets of a beef. The two center briskets are the best example, where you can see the right-front leg on the lower-left of each brisket starting to go “down” where it is cut off. The two outer briskets are a little harder to see because the left-front leg meat is trimmed away, but they’re the left side briskets. Some folks say most animals lay down on a certain side (like most people are right-handed) and there’s a difference in tenderness between the right and left side of certain cuts of meat. I’m still learning about that.


Trimmed inside view from left to right: IBP select, St. Helens choice, Strawberry Mt. choice, SRF Kobe - Check out the how the right and left side briskets look from the inside of the beef. Again on the top-left of each of the two center briskets, you can see the right-front leg starting to go “down” from the beef. Note how the outer two briskets are opposite in grain and shape and are from the left-side of the beef.


Trimmed inside view: IBP select - Here’s a good pic of where I trimmed away a fair amount of the “kernel” fat. It’s part of the exposed layer of fat between the “flat” and the “point” of the brisket. It’s on the left from about the 9 to 12 o’clock position on this brisket. It runs parallel to the grain of the “flat” which you see running from lower-left to upper-right. The “point” is the piece under the “flat” toward the top in this pic. You can see some of the “point” grain showing where I trimmed the “kernel” of fat away. It runs almost perpendicular to the flat, from upper-left to lower-right.


Trimmed inside view: St. Helens choice - Not too much of the “kernel” fat to cut away. The St. Helens brisket is labeled as “Angus” beef and is owned by AB Foods, who also own Snake River Farms, which produces “American Style” Kobe beef. I’m not sure how closely associated the two brands are. “American Style” Kobe beef from SRF is American “Black Angus” cows crossed with Japanese “Wagyu” bulls and raised here, domestically. I wonder if St. Helens “Angus” is the stock of which SRF crosses with the “Wagyu” bulls to produce their “American Style” Kobe beef.


Trimmed inside view: Strawberry Mt. choice - Pretty good looking inside, and a fair amount of the “kernel” fat was cut away. Note on the lower right, I made a cut perpendicular to the grain of the flat to help start slicing. Sometimes when a brisket is done, it’s hard to tell which way the grain goes. You generally want to slice perpendicular to, or “against the grain” for best results.


Trimmed inside view: SRF Kobe - Not much “kernel” fat to trim away. I’ve cooked a handful of the SRF Kobe, and even though they’re juicy, you don’t see this huge amount of marbling normally associated with the SRF Kobe premium (rib, striploin, and tenderloin) cuts. This is SRF “Black Label” American Kobe brisket. There’s one higher grade for the premium cuts that normally go to the best restaurants and Japan, but I believe they don’t segregate those briskets, so all are “Black Label”.


Trimmed outside view: IBP select - The lowest priced from Cash & Carry. This was a decent brisket, more than good enough for commercial use, but I overcooked it at 205 degrees. That could’ve been why it was a bit dry and crumbly at the end of the flat. The middle would’ve still made an acceptable comp turn-in box, though not the best.


Trimmed outside view: St. Helens choice - Most thought this was best value at a little over a $1 less wholesale per pound compared to the Kobe. Most liked the flavor/texture of this one a hint more than the Strawberry Mt., which also was about the same price per pound as the St. Helens.


Trimmed outside view: Strawberry Mt. choice - This was about how it came out of the bag. One thing I hear is that Strawberry Mt. dry-ages their beef and the butchers may have to cut a little more of the dry-aged fat off to get the outside cleaned up for packing. The bare meat could’ve let this piece dry out a hint. Still, it was very nice.


Trimmed outside view: SRF Kobe - A little rough on my trim, I’m getting short on time. This was the last brisket to trim, and the fat is starting to warm up a bit. I like to trim the fat very cold, because it’s firmer than the meat and I can sort of feel how thick it is, so I can try to avoid from cutting into the meat. Looking for an even 1/8" to 1/4" thick fat thickness. Incidentally, SRF doesn’t advertise their meat as USDA select, choice, or prime grade. It’s my understanding that their meat would grade out as USDA prime or above.


I’m trying a few boneless pork butts brined overnight in standard 1/2 cup kosher salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar per gallon of water.


The brined butts look different than the non-brined. Fresh-ground black pepper and kosher salt are used for seasoning.


A close-up of the brined butts. Note how light in color they are. They’ve puffed up some too.


Here’s the non-brined butts. I’ve tied all the boneless butts up to be compact. The string also helps to pick up the pieces.


It’s 10:30 P.M. Monday night, and this is oak cooking wood (w/a little cherry added later) over a mesquite lump-charcoal start-up base. The heavy-meats are going into the pit, and I’m shooting for a 5 P.M. service for tomorrow’s party.


The four briskets are under three pork butts in the left door. The briskets were seasoned with fresh-ground black pepper and kosher salt. I’m placing the briskets in the left door, farthest away from the firebox, where I’m thinking the pit might be a little cooler than the right door. I’ve placed the pork butts over the briskets, like I learned from Rick and Kate at their BBQ cooking class. This is my first try at briskets and butts in this pit, and they’re the first heavy-meats that I’ve cooked all the way through on wood. I’ve cooked briskets and butts in my smaller 24 X 60 offset mobile smoker, but only with about 6 hours of smoke, and the rest of the cook finishing in the ovens at our Deli. This is my first real practice for a pro-comp BBQ on all wood; remember - no gas or electrical heat is allowed in professional BBQ competition.


Here’s the four pork butts on the bottom with three on top in the right door. Note the two brined pork butts to the left. I’m trying to see if there’s a difference on how the pork butts cook from the top to the bottom shelves. Even with an adjustable baffle in the tuning plate, I think this side cooks a little hotter than the other side.


I’m trying out this new wireless thermometer. It can barely make it up to the office in the Deli, where I’m “sleeping” on the floor for this cook. But at least I can lie down and not have to go downstairs and outside to check the pit thermometers. It’s around 40 degrees with light winds tonight.


Here’s a “Cascade Natural” brand select-grade whole boneless beef New York Striploin. It’s the last from Gary and Carol’s Eastmoreland Grocery & Market meat dept. I’ve trimmed off some of the extra fat and seasoned it with fresh-ground black pepper and kosher salt. Gary has already trimmed and cut up two whole prime-grade beef Sirloins, and I’ve still got one more New York to trim, so no chance to get any pics of the raw prepped Sirloins.


Here’s one of the trimmed and prepped beef Sirloins finished on the top shelf in the pit. I can’t remember what brand it was, but like the “Cascade Natural” New York below, it came from S P Wholesale Meat Co., in Portland, Oregon. Before he cut the whole Sirloin into thick steaks, he cut off the piece of meat on the right side of the top shelf. It sort of looked like a Tri-tip roast, and I liked it a little better than the thick steaks. The New York below was also very nice. All his meat was great, with the delicious smoky-character, only available from a real wood-burning BBQ smoker.


Here’s my new (used) pit. It’s a Brinkman (aka an Oklahoma Joe) 30 X 72 offset mobile smoker. I was thinking I would donate a couple of pork butts and a brisket, but way over 200 folks have shown up to the party for Gary and Carol. Everybody is going nuts over the wood-smoked pulled pork and Gary’s New York and Sirloin beef. I think we served up 8 of the pulled pork butts along with his two whole New York and two whole Sirloins. The briskets are still in pre-warmed coolers resting. This is the last batch of his beef, and I’m rushing to serve it up, because some off my BBQ buddies from Portland are here and waiting to critique my BBQ experiments. Note under the firebox, I have two full-size sheet pans upside-down to shield the asphalt from the radiant heat. The firebox metal almost glows red in the dark, and I could smell the asphalt getting hot! Also note a nice piece of compression cherry wood, from an orchard west of Portland. Time to get this meat off, cut up and served, so we can see what happened to my briskets, ribs, and the last few pork butts, which are all still resting in pre-warmed coolers in the Deli kitchen.


Here are the results: I tried to keep the pit between 200-250 degrees. The brined pork butts were maybe a hint better than the non-brined. S&P was just fine, an expensive rub may burn-out on the bark. The S&P makes a good foundation to add some sauce/juice, and then a rub to your pulled pork, which will now show its brighter spice flavors. The butts were pulled at 195 degrees, then boxed (put into a pre-warmed cooler) for at least an hour before pulling. The SRF Kobe brisket probably was the best, although many thought the St. Helens would also make a real strong comp turn-in box. The Strawberry Mt. was very nice too. The IBP was a bit dry, I think I overcooked it at 205 degrees and/or because it was a select-grade, but it was still respectable. The SRF Kobe cooked the fastest, I tried to wrap the briskets around 170 degrees and put them back into the pit till they reached 195 degrees, then boxed them for at least an hour before service. Simple S&P was really quite satisfying. The ribs were skinned and rubbed with our own fresh-ground spice. They were put into the pit for about 3 hours, then wrapped and put back into the pit for an hour or so. One was wrapped plain, one with brown sugar, and one with brown sugar and honey. They all had a little cider vinegar/apple cider put into the wrap also. The ribs sat in the box for a few hours before we had time to try them. The sweeter ribs showed better. One of the racks was a little underdone for comp standards. I really lucked-out on this cook. Overall, all the comp-BBQ folks thought the meat texture was great and would make strong comp turn-in boxes. On New Year’s, I cooked 4 briskets, 8 butts, and 6 racks of ribs, and struggled to get the textures close to right. I’m thinking my first pro comp-BBQ is still going to be a really wild crapshoot. One thing I’m learning, is how to (hopefully) make the best comp turn-in box you can, from the meats that you’ve cooked for the comp, on that particular day. I’m also learning, seasoning for the judges, is a real skillful key. With all the activity at the Deli, I failed to keep taking pictures of the last part of the cook. I wish I had just one pic of all the comp-BBQ folks with Gary and Carol enjoying my first practice comp-style BBQ, along with Nyla and I in the Deli kitchen. All of us had a really fun time sharing BBQ together that evening. So remember, if you have enough memory and batteries in your digital camera, keep taking a bunch of pictures of your next cook or project, and pick out a few to share with everybody on Rick’s site!


This was my first cook all the way through on wood. I’m glad I had a chance to share it with Gary and Carol. My Dad first met Gary working with him about 30 years ago, and since we opened our Deli in 1985, Dad and I have been to their store many times each week. It’s just a few minutes from the Deli, and Gary was our lifesaver; any last-minute thing we needed, from grocery, to fresh meat and produce, was sold to us at his cost. Their party was on Tuesday, and he was scheduled for surgery on Friday. After sixteen days in the hospital, we lost him. He was the best you could ever find in a friend to our family and business, and I know to all of their customers.

Hope to see you out there this BBQ season, Gregg