Brian: lets get down to brass tacks
Jeremy: yeah. lets write this review.
here. now.
Jeremy: do you have your notebook handy?
Brian: yeah
Brian: git r dun
ok. so.
dan's review should be the headline
"best meat ever in his mouth"
Jeremy: "oh, and on saturday, i went to a BBQ at uma's and had the single best piece of meat that any pig has selflessly given his human overlords, as cooked by jeremy umali. it was a pork shoulder that practically got me high it tasted so good."
Brian: ha
that's quite a quote
Brian: we should also start crediting the butchers
http://www.lospaisanosmeatmarket.com/
Jeremy: So, down to brass tacks.
Brian: thank you los paisanos!
first: the rub
post our secret recipe?
Jeremy: wait
first the meat.
We heard about Los Paisanos from a co-worker. What cuts did you get?
Brian: 9 lb brisket, cut from the thick, fatty end
well, 8.9 lbs to be exact
and a 4.25 lbs shoulder, bone-in, and skin on
Jeremy: (no scale needed, the dude's a pro)
Brian: yeah, he threw it on the scale after one hefty cut and nailed it within 0.1 lbs
also, he was nice
a real paisano
anyway the meat came home with me and sat in our fridge until it was time to do our favorite friday night activity:
rub the meats and make the sauce
Jeremy: ok. so. brian, this time around you were the rub master and created the rub.
you, unlike me, took a very scientific approach.
Brian: yeah, all based on taste testing
with measuring spoons and all
we tasted a bunch of "commercial" rubs too, and sort of took elements of all of them to make our own
Jeremy: And by "commercial" he means local Kansas City Joints previously mentioned.
Brian: so ours was a base of "the trinity" – paprika, granulated garlic, granulated onion – plus some other things
do we reveal?
Jeremy: Sure, but leave one out. ha!
and no measurements.
Brian: ok well, let's just say it was very specific and exact measurements (because i'm a nerrrrrd) of black pepper, cayenne pepper, sea salt, and one secret ingredient
that was our "base rub" and went onto the brisket
for the pork shoulder, we used our base rub plus light brown sugar
Jeremy: and i guess half the fun for us, or me at least, is sitting down and figuring this stuff out. what works best to add more flavor or to bring out more flavor of one item verse another.
Brian: yeah that part was fun. if you try this at home, kids, just know that budweiser makes an excellent palette cleanser between taste tests
and everything in life more fun
Jeremy: haha, especially at 2am.
Also, we waited so late because we HAD to watch the end of Big Mama's House 2.
Brian: haha. you never know when big mama might be back.
Jeremy: it's true.
Brian: so anyway, jeremy rubbed the shoulder and i did the brisket
he even removed, rubbed, and reapplied the skin!
Jeremy: it was, by far, one of the weirdest thing i've ever done
Brian: mad skills
i thought he was gonna throw up
Jeremy: well, it was kind of hard to pull back and hold. i am by no means a knife expert
the skin was hard to pull back and hold
since you have the book, i'm gonna depend on you for giving times.
Brian: but we got it done by 2:15 AM, put the meat back in the fridge (wrapped tightly) and slept for 3 hours, 45 minutes while the rub did its magic
Jeremy: really?
that's it?
Brian: no wait, make that 5 hours. and that's only for the brisket
Jeremy: ugh. needless to say brian was up pretty early (6am) and i was up shortly after, around 6:40.
Brian: it took a little while to get the grill going and the beef went on at 7:22AM at a temp of 220 F
Jeremy: and then we took naps.
taking shifts on checking the temps
Brian: yeah i took a long one and j took over the next 2 shifts
Jeremy: but that didnt actually last very long
yeah
Jeremy: Other than getting breakfast, not much happened
Brian: ok, then i'll say that we did our best to keep the temp around 225 all day long
at 11:11AM the grill was at a temperature of 240 F, and we put the shoulder on
which means the pork, weighing 4.75 lbs less than the beef, cooked at the same temp for the rest of the day, side by side
like dead friends
Jeremy: So, we figured the brisket would take about 13.5 hours and the pork shoulder about 7 hours.
delicious dead friends
Brian: redundant. all dead things taste good.
Jeremy: mmmmmMMmmm
ok. so if we fast forward a bit, do you think we hit any bumps?
Brian: according to the journal... no!
Jeremy: i think we did a pretty good job of maintaining the heat between 200 and 250, only going over or under that range a few times.
Brian: we maintained heat between 255 F (our highest) and 190 F (lowest) until they were ready
Jeremy: yeah
anything worth noting before we pulled the brisket off
Brian: average temp seemed to be about 214 F
we used apple juice to baste the meat half-way through
oh also, we injected the pork (friday night) with an apple juice brine
forgot to mention that before
Jeremy: yeah!
Brian: so between the basting, brine, and brown sugar rub... the pork was destined to be pretty sweet
Jeremy: and sweet it was.
Brian: oh yeah, you could tell it was sweeter than anything we'd done before
well let's see, the brisket came off the grill at 7:15 PM, at an internal temp of 200F
just shy of 12 hours
Jeremy: people started showing up about an hour or so prior
and they wanted our meat, like never before
Brian: the shoulder stayed on for 9 hours, and was removed at an internal temp of 180F
our meat brings all the boys to the yard, it's true
so....
it ruled!
i don't know how else to say it
Jeremy: oh, one thing i do remember...first, i like to stick to internal temps more than times...and both meats did plateau...the brisket sat at 180 for a while..and then out of no where it jumped to 200. and then we pulled it off. the pork on the other hand did not reach 195, what i was shooting for, but it still came out pretty fantastic
Brian: maybe dan's quote says it all
yeah the pork was not quite as tender as we aim for, but that's what happens when the temp won't quite get there
Jeremy: lawrence made a good point that i shouldnt take it so hard that the pork wasnt how i wanted...falling apart...
Brian: i even put it directly over the fire for a few minutes, hoping to at least push the internal up to 185 or 190
it just kind of set on fire though
so i took it off right away
Jeremy: he said that "you werent making pulled pork sandwiches or pulled pork, you were making cubed pork"
Brian: (i don't think jeremy knew about that)
Jeremy: haha!
i didnt!
Brian: heh. yeah. whoops.
Jeremy: no worries.
Brian: lesson learned
NO direct heat
Jeremy: anyway, the meat came off the grill and we began the feast
after the brisket had some time to rest i began cutting it.
Brian: it was so good
grease. was. everywhere.
Jeremy: it was almost falling apart and juices were going everywhere
grease was dripping onto the floor
Brian: there's less oil on a bowling lane
Jeremy: i had to put a paper towel on the floor just to stop it.
Brian: maybe i should try that at bowling to keep my balls from going in the gutter
Jeremy: ha! maybe
Brian: overall, which did you prefer? the brisket or the pork?
Jeremy: anyway, i didnt trim the brisket before cutting, i remember it was the fattiest of briskets, i figured most of it would have melted off
and it did.
you know what, honestly. i'm gonna go with the brisket
that's not to say that the pork wasnt good
Brian: i'm still torn
Jeremy: because the pork was AMAZING
ahhhhhhhhhhhh
man
now that i think about the pork
i'm gonna go with the pork
Brian: it was so good and sweet
Jeremy: yeah yeah
juicy
Brian: and i usually prefer salty over sweet. but man.
Jeremy: yeah, i'm going pork
Brian: so it's unanimous
this time around
also, i believe dan was referring specifically to the shoulder when he said it practically made him high
Jeremy: the pork didnt fall apart like i would have liked, but it was still AMAZING. it wasnt tough, it wasnt chewy, it was almost sponge like
soaking up its own juices...and the brine
Brian: mmmmm
Jeremy: but yeah, i think there were a few who liked the brisket better
but i think the majority liked the pork more
Brian: can we start a rating system? or maybe everyone reading this can post a comment about which they liked better
then we'll know
Jeremy: yes.
any after thoughts?
Brian: do it. reader(s), i'm talking to you.
Jeremy: things you would have done differently?
Brian: i think we need to keep more wood on hand
it went really fast
i also would like to say that we're doing a pretty good job of keeping the grill cover closed and reading the temperature through the air grates
so the temp stays consistent longer than ever
Jeremy: yeah, which can get pretty hard at times with smoke billowing in our eyes
Brian: maybe next time i won't tell you if you pass big mama's house on the tv guide
so we can get some sleep
Jeremy: yeah right.
straight up, if it came on again tonight and we were to get up and start smoking meat in the morning...i'd do it again.
Brian: me too.
Jeremy: no no, i'm talking about watching big mama's house.
Brian: and that's all she wrote!
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Also friends, dear friends, if you've read this far and you weren't invited to this bbq, don't worry. We'll have many more - hopefully all winter long. We only have so much space and invite based on how much we cook, so it's not personal. We're working on creating a rotating group. So, if you're not invited for a while, again, it's not personal.
L&SB
