He does his a little different. Most videos cook it to about 170-180 and then slice it down. That's how I normally get it in restaurants. He cooks his to 200 like a pork butt. It comes out like pulled pork but better. So this is what I'm doing today.
saw that video a while back and have been intrigued ever since - please come back with detailed results
Welp I'll never cook a pork butt for pulled pork again. Cooking the belly to 200 turned the belly into pulled pork but it was more moist and had much more flavor than a butt. Learned a few things cooking my first belly. There was layers to it. The top layer, where the bark is, it was more like chunked pork. It didn't pull at all. Eats well though. That layer was about 1/2" thick. Under that was a layer of fat. Under the layer of fat was another layer of meat that sat on top of the skin. That's where the pulled meat came from. Bc it sits under a layer of fat, it's ridiculously moist and full melts in your mouth. Best pork I've ever had. Period.
I've seen pics like this before but I never put much thought in it until I cooked one. Like I said earlier, you get meat, fat layer, meat layer, fat layer, then skin. That bottom layer of meat that sits between 2 layers of fat is the best piece of meat I've ever had. Those layes of fat just melt all over that layer of meat during the entire cook.
Well I didn't know it was that good until I started eating. I'm always down for a pork sandwich though, and a bbq sandwich gets bbq sauce for me.
Back in the game. My old roommate got married in September and took his egg with him. Finally had mine delivered yesterday. Going to do pork butt on Saturday, Chicken on Sunday and then Brunswick stew with the leftovers.
Good shit dbl. i need to try that for a tailgate. and no hate on the bun and sauce. I would go carolina vinegar style though, cut through some of that fat.
wasnt real clear in the video, did you just pull the meat off the skin, leaving the skin to toss in the trash? the one pork belly i have cooked before, the skin came out too tough, didnt cook it to 200 and cut it up into cubes was really tasty, but the skin was kindova turn off
Yea I've seen some methods where the skin comes out real crispy and edible but that wasn't the case using this method. The skin was just trash for me. It had a layer of jello like fat sitting on it. Now that I understand the layers, I really want to do another one. I just reached in and started ripping meat apart like it was a butt before I realized there was layers to it. Next time I'll be a little more careful and just pull the top layer of meat off first, then brush aside the fat layer, then get to the layer that shreds. It sounds weird but it was kind of like a brisket in the fact that you had a multiple layers of meat separated by a fat seam.
Belly is more. I think I paid $20 for about 5 lbs. Belly has more waste too bc of the 2 fat seams and the skin. But it's worth it.
Just realized that I need to get myself a digiQ eventually. Had forgotten how much easier it made overnight cooks. Has everyone just ordered straight from the website? Or is there another, possibly cheaper, option to buy them?
I'm a BGE snob so I called the BGE store in Atlanta and they shipped a green one with the BGE logo to me. Now I see those at places that sell BGE's around here. I think they are $10 more than the BBQ Guru logo ones.
Thanks, I figured. I quickly glanced around ebay to see if I could get a deal on any "new, in box" items." But, couldnt really find much.
Does anyone know the real different between the PartyQ and the DigiQ? Is it worth the extra $70 for the DigiQ? Is the PartyQ fan sufficient for a Large BGE?
Thank the cunty food fucks for pork belly and skirt steak costing as much as a bone-in ribeye. I used to get 2 pork bellies and 2 full strip steaks for about $10. Then throwaway cuts became en vogue.
Speaking of pit temp controllers...and I haven't gone back and read this whole thread or anything crazy like that...but is there a general 'favorite' of the board? (digiQ?) There are quite a few of 'em out there on the market. Last year I did some research on them, but I don't really remember which one(s) I was favoring. Lots of information over on nakedwhiz.com.
I used to be able to buy a flank steak and Brussels sprouts for like 10 dollars. Now I have to sell plasma to eat them.
i have the new braunfels hondo classic the only guru that works with that is $100 more than the actual smoker
I have the stoker wifi 2. Works extremely well, very solidly built, probes are really high quality etc. From my research before I bought it, I don't remember a lot of complaints about the digi q wifi either.
Have you found that you use the wifi part of it much? That was my concern. Being able to check the temp away from the house seems cool but it's kind of pointless bc the Guru just maintains whatever temp I tell it to forever. I can't remember the last time something went wrong with it. I ran out of fuel one time but that was my fault for not putting enough in to start with. Just curious what use the wifi has for you.
The wifi is pretty money honestly. I don't really even use it away from the house but there's been several times I've found it really useful to just be able to check my phone to see the status or change something up. It's just convenient.
I have the partyq and have no complaints about it. It keeps my akorn at the same temp without me having to do anything.
You can change the temp through the wifi? Ok I could see that being useful. I thought it was just a way to check the grate temp from your phone.
in 30 years our kids will just look at a smoker and a damn fully smoked brisket and butt will pop out
Yea but I'm not sure if you have to be connected to your wifi network or not. If you are then you can change the temp with just a click on your phone. I know it will tweet you updates when you're away from the house but I don't know if you can use twitter to change the temp.
I've whittled it down to either the Stoker 2 wifi or the Flame Boss 200 wifi. From what I've read, the Flame Boss is extremely easy to setup wifi on...and some people bitch about the stoker being tougher to get wifi set up on. Not really sure about that though because I watched some youtube videos on how to set up the stoker, and it didn't look difficult at all. I like the Stoker's blower/adapter a lot better...and the fact that it can run multiple pits, etc. Anyways, did you have any trouble setting up wifi on the stoker? What's the worst thing about the stoker?
From a review for the stoker 2 wifi on nakedwhiz.com: "With some black magic that we won't be able to explain here, you can control and monitor your Stoker from any web browser on any device connected to the Internet." It goes on to list the steps to make it work. Doesn't seem too tough.
Chicken thighs, chicken drums, chicken wings, pork chops, pork loin, whole chicken, whole turkey, turkey breast, French fries The only one that didn't come out was the chicken wings. I tried to "fry" them and then toss in buffalo sauce but it just didn't work well. Came out like a bad naked wing from a wing place. They really need some type of breading to make it work and breading won't work without the oil.
Really... I haven't tried wings yet, because I just actually ordered the accessory kit this week. I figured wings would be an easy one, judging on how crispy I got the skin on whole chickens. Though, I don't like breaded wings, I'm a fan of the naked wings (Not from BWW, but that style, naked with a little crisp on the flap of skin on the flats), maybe you like breaded wings better. Curious as to what the problem was. Also curious as to how you did french fries and how they turned out.
I cant remember if you have to plug it into your router or what the deal is in order to get your ip. Im terrible with computers and I didn't have a problem. I just followed the instructions on naked whiz.
BTW guys the last belly I did was for the OSU/Michigan game, and I got it at Costco, a 10lb belly for a little under $30. Now I will say, I have only ever bought bellies at Costco so I'm not sure how the quality stacks up to other places.
I think it might work better if you cook the wing 80%, take out and toss in sauce, and then put them back in to let the sauce set. I didn't do that though. I cooked them completely and then tossed them in sauce. The sauce just didn't stick much at all. If I used a thicker sauce, maybe it'd work better. Buffalo didn't work well though. Just some wings hit with rub and then cooked in the fryer should work well though. And I just put frozen fries on the rack thing and put them in. Came out way more crunchy than they do in the oven. Kind of a pain bc you have to lay then long ways across the slots on the rack and some will fall out when you move it but it was worth the hassle. I thought about putting foil over the rack so they wouldn't fall out but then they'd cook in their own grease and not be as crunchy.