What to put in the smoker this weekend?

[Jer]

So you went from cooking /smoking to poaching it. Hopefully you saved some for the pups.
The reality like you mentioned is. Not everything comes out perfect, but we learn from those mistakes / information.

I love my dogs way too much to do that to them. lol

When I do foil wrap, I always wrap tightly in 2 overlapped sheets of foil. As you mentioned, I think your real issue was the low cooker temp. I usually crank the heat up on the smoker after wrapping, since the meat is protected more from the higher temps. I've even moved it over to the oven a few times after wrapping, since it allowed more control of the heat and with the foil it's not going to pick up any more smoke or flavor from the smoker.

My last brisket I switched from foiling to using butcher paper to wrap it at the stall. Saw this in a video from Aaron Franklin from Franklin's BBQ in tx: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365494916/
Came out awesome, and kept the bark much more firm compared to foiling.

Haven't tried the butcher paper on a pork butt yet, but I'll definitely always use the paper on brisket from now on.

Funny that you mention that because I saw that video when he first posted it and this time I was going to try butcher's paper for my brisket. I had the damnedest time finding some though as I didn't plan ahead enough and finally gave up and decided to wait until next time. I pretty much follow the rest of his tips for my brisket though.

Wow that had to be disappointing........
I've come up with a pretty simple and tasty way to do briskets (5-6#) on my Traeger. You can do a dry rub of choice and let sit in fridge wrapped in plastic wrap overnight or just sprinkle granulated garlic (and any other spice) on the meat as it goes on the smoker.

I smoke for 3-4hrs with a pan of water on the grate, at 3-4hrs turn up to 225* put meat on wire grate (meat won't get soggy/mushy) in a cast iron skillet with 16oz of beef both, cover with foil (not hermetically sealed but good seal) until meat temp is 190-195* (about 3hrs). Wrap towels around foil covered pan place in oven for about 1hr. My wife who's not a foody or a cook can pull this off it's so simple. I also save/freeze the dripping for chicken fried steak or pot roast gravy.

It was pretty disappointing but oh well, this is life. Your method sounds pretty simple.

1lb of bulk italian sweet sausage & 1lb of ground round formed in to 3mini loaves

Right side is 1lb course ground pork & 1lb ground round in to 3 loaves. Put peppers on top to tell difference between the standard seasoning ones and these done with habenero's



Unfortunately they're over cooked by 10*. Oh well nothing some bbq sauce won't fix.

Sounds good. I've got probably two dozen Serrano peppers out of my garden already this year and it's starting to really crank 'em out now. If you're over my way and need some for cooking let me know.

Got it built. Just need to put the final touches on it. I'm burning off all the crud so I can paint it, burn it off and season it and paint it again.



Not one of those sissy boy pellet grills y'all seem to have...

That thing is sweet man!

Edit: realized I quoted all of those pics and edited to not be 'That Rob Lowe' lulz