Wicked Good Charcoal: Wicked Good Boston Butt

On Wednesday of last week I managed to buy three racks of spareribs, a seven pound bird and a nine pound boneless Boston butt (don’t get me started on the butt thing again) without notice of the cholesterol cops. On Friday when I thought my bride was too involved with what ever it she does when I am under the possession of the BBQ I quietly brought the meat out of hiding. I figured if I could get the ribs rubbed and the bird and butt brined she would have to let me cook it all. Well, when I went in to office to see what kind of rub I was in the mood for Anthony (my barbecue loving son) sold me down the river. I returned to the kitchen only to find my loving wife and HER son waiting. Anthony had scaled his chair and was standing before my cutting block proclaiming “SPICE, mommy Spice…I want, I want, Help. Spice!” Anthony helps me cook dinner almost every night and is responsible for shaking on the seasonings. If I had only included him in my secret BBQ plans I may have had a shot. I pleaded, “I can’t let my adoring reader down, and I promised I would thoroughly test Wick Good Charcoal’s Weekend Warrior Blend. A valid control group is made up a varied sample that is representative of the entire population”. She didn’t go for it. I had to make a choice, and I really had a hankering for a pulled pork sandwich.

The Brine
I really wasn’t prepared to BBQ. I assumed that I had enough of the basic barbecue necessities on hand. I was wrong, but that has never stopped me before. Hear is my impromptu brine:

¼ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Dark Molasses
1 Cup Kosher Salt
1 Small Handful Whole Black Pepper Corns
2 or 3 Bay Leaves
1 TBS Old Bay Seasoning
1Cup Jack Daniel’s Whisky
1 Large Spanish Onion Quartered
Ice (I have no idea how much I used)
Water (enough to cover the butt by 1 inch)

Bring 3 or 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the sugar, salt and molasses to the boiling water and dissolve. Add the Old Bay, onion, bay leaves and whisky, stir in and remove from heat. Fill your brining container half way with ice and pour the hot brine over the ice. Be sure the brine mixture is cold before adding the meat. Submerge meat in brine to at least one inch below the surface. If there is not enough liquid add cold water until the meat is fully covered. I usually use a heavy plate to weight the meat down. A 4 to 6 hour soak should be sufficient, but I like to leave it over night.

The Butt
Remove from brine, rinse and pat dry. Don’t forget to remove all of the pepper corns and bay leaves they ruin a good sandwich. Apply your favorite rub. In the essence of time and because it is really my favorite commercial blend I used Pork Rubbers Mary’s Cherry Rub. I have my own recipes and I will share them at a later date, but few can blend a better rub than Mary. I leave the meat out of the refrigerator while I set up the smoker. This short time removes the chill and can take as much as and hour off of the total cooking time.

The Water Smoker
The motivating factor behind this cook is the charcoal. The product of choice today is Wicked Good Charcoal: Weekend Warrior Blend.

Here is my ritual: Two chimneys of unlit lump charcoal into the coal pan. I start this with ¾ of a chimney of lit lump coal. I find this allows me at least 3 hours of cooking time at around 225°. I am planning on ten hour cook and estimate (hoping-because that is all I have) I will use about 11 pounds of coal. If the temp is holding after 3 hours I add another chimney of unlit lump to the pan. If the temp is falling I add a chimney of lit lump to help bring the temp up. It really is a game after the first 3 hours. I have never used this brand of charcoal before, so I am relying on past practice and as always dumb luck.

The lump was all hardwood and I didn’t notice any signs of scrap in the bag. The ¾ Chimney lit very easily as did the bulk of coal in the pan. I used a mix of cherry wood chunks and chips (I thought I had enough chunk left over from last season—I didn’t) for the smoke. I always soak my wood, but again there are two schools of thought here as well. I figure cherry smoke would work well with the cherry rub. To the water pan I added two left over Sam Adam’s Cranberry Lambics, not my favorite brew so I had no trouble sacrificing them to the BBQ gods, and filled the rest with water. The first three hours were great. I didn’t have to open the smoker once as the temp held to between 225° and 240°. I did poke around the coal pan through the dampers just to keep things honest. I have to say even before I added the cherry wood the charcoal had wonderfully sweet aroma. It was unlike any coal I have ever burned before.

After about 3 hours and 45 minutes the temp finally began to slowly drop. I took this opportunity to open my smoker for the first time. At this point I refilled the water pan and added one full chimney of unlit lump to the coal pan and threw on a handful of cherry chips. The embers felt fairly hot and they still looked alive. The ash was minimal so I left everything alone and hoped for the best. The temp was back up to 230° in no time and smoke was pouring out of the top vent. Everything was great except that I was very low on coal. I only had 1 maybe 1 ½ chimneys of charcoal left. Normally I would just finish with the Cowboy and Kingsford that I have in my garage, but I promised this cook was all about the Wicked Good Charcoal. Off to the store I went (don’t worry my wife kept her eye on the smoker).

I said she would watch it and she did, she watched the temperature drop. I returned home just in time to add more coal to the fire. All in all it had been 2 hours and the temp was just over 200°. At this point if figured I would clean everything out and start fresh. My smoker holds temperature fairly well, but I still have to work fast. Someday I will take you through this process more carefully, but this post is getting too long already. Basically I removed the ash from the coal pan doing my best to save the larger embers and added 1 lit and one unlit chimney. Oh, and one final handful of cherry chips. I usually get about 3 hours of uninterrupted cooking time after this, which, in this case, will bring me into the neighborhood of the 10th and final cooking hour. The smoker was back together, the water pan was refilled, the Boston butt had an internal temperature of 140° and the smoker temp was on its way back to 230°.

After about 2 more hours the temperature began to fall. At 220° I decided to add one final chimney of unlit coal to get me across the finish line. The internal temp of the butt was just around 160 and was going to need approximately 2 more hours (total time 9 hours 45 minutes) to reach 190°. Two more hours past, the temp was holding and the meat was at 185° and ready to come out.

I have one steadfast rule when I BBQ. When ever I am ready to take the meat out of the pit I go get a beer. Before I remove the meat I sit down and enjoy that beer, sometimes two, and then I wait another 5 minutes. Then and only then do I take the meat out. If its butt or brisket I wrap it in heavy duty foil and put in the oven or an empty cooler for about an hour, before I even think about serving it.

The Opinion
The Wicked Good Charcoal: Weekend Warrior Blend lived up to expectation. I was hoping it would burn a little longer and I would use less, but it definitely lasts longer and gives less ash than the Cowboy Hardwood Lump. I only had to remove the ash from the pan once compared to the 2 or 3 times when I use briquettes. The Naked Whiz says that the competition blend from this same company is denser and longer lasting. I think this will be the next ember on my journey. Overall Wicked Good Charcoal: Weekend Warrior Blend is wicked good!