2 things always bring more flavor to the party ... FAT and BONE! I won't even buy a pork chop without a little fat around the edges and a bone along the back. I love a good tri-tip roast done almost any method, just never tried smokin' one. Always thought of them as just a little too lean for smoking. My favorite is thin sliced and on very fresh white bread (a very simple pleasure) or white wheat bun with just a little yellow mustard.
My wife and I are totally opposite on our choice in meats and preparation of them. I like my meats like beef rare or med rare at least. She wants hers burned black like charcoal, dried out, and hard as a rock. She calls that "well done". That was her daddy's way of cooking on a grill so that's what she grew up with. It took me almost 40 years to convince her I could make her a really good, 'well done' steak without all the black char. So, when we have steaks, I'll put hers on well before putting mine on to hopefully get them the way we both like them.
I used to smoke rib-eyes on my smaller smoker. Takes about an hour and 40+ minutes to get hers' the way she wants it. Takes about an hour +/- of smoke at about 230-240F for mine. So to be safe I put hers on just under 2 hours before we're to eat. Then with any hold ups or time loss issues, we're still pretty close to what we both like when it's time to eat.
Pork is the same way. She absolutely will not eat a chop with any fat or bone in it and it has to be bone dry. I like that little rim of fat around the edges and I love to gnaw on the bone after eating most of the chop. She'll consistently trim off any fat and cut out any bone and give them to me ... and I'm perfectly fine with that. It kills me to see her steak and chop so over cooked, and it's even worse to have to do it myself for her, but I just keep in mind I'll ultimately benefit from her missunderstanding real pleasure in eating. Now all this is primarily to javbike since it's dealing with fat vs flavor.
BTW javbike, it took me years to teach her how to pick out a good packer brisket for me. She actually hated to even touch a big piece of meat with so much fat on it even though she knew I'd be trimming much of it. LOL! She never, ever thought I'd trimmed enough when I rubbed it and put it on the smoker.
Now to Jfal and his 26 hour brisket. At 19 lbs I can see how it would take 26 +/- hours, especially in a Masterbuilt. And tying it up made the cook time even longer since that compresses the fibers in the meat making it harder to accept/absorb the heat. But with that amount of time, and part of it just resting, I'd bet it turned out pretty well also. But yeh, a heck of a lot of work/time. I like a little more heat in my smokers ... around 225-250F. If in a hurry or I've got a big chunk in a stall, I'll sometimes go to 270-300F or so. But if I go this high I watch it like a hawk. You might want to try seperating the flat from the point and put each one on a different shelf in your Masterbuilt. But beware, the flat will finish a couple hours before the point if they're trimmed right since the flat is so much leaner.
Butts around here run an average of about 6-7 pounds. On my wood burner it takes about 1 +/- hours per pound on a good cook. A 16 pound packer takes about 1 - 1.5 hours pound at 225-250F. I always use an internal instant read thermometer to check temps. And I always trim my briskets pretty close unless I'm going to make some 'ends'.
I never wrap butts during a cook, but will on occasion wrap a nice brisket with butcher paper and a little beef tallow. I heard that's an old Arron Franklin trick. I don't know for sure if it makes it any better, but it sure doesn't hurt it.
As for not soaking your chips in water, I also note that neither does Hansgruber. I used to soak mine many years ago with probably my first Masterbuilt, but didn't take long to realize it wasn't going to cook like my stick burners with all that moisture inside the cabinet, so I quit. Last few times I used the masterbuilt, I didn't even use chips. I used "Traeger" pellets. Got lot's of good clean smoke and very little ash.
OK, got to be honest here. I've not smoked anything in 4 years, since we moved into this 'Retirement Community' that I lovingly call the institution. Fact is I don't even have a smoker anymore except a little tow around I've had for many years made from an 80 gal air compressor tank IIRC. My yard son has it at his place just in case I ever want to use it again. Yeh, right! He lives in N Dakota ... about 2,200 miles away. I sold all my others when we moved here to the institution, but he made me keep this one "just in case".
I do occasionally do some loin back ribs in the oven, and even less frequently a small butt for just the wife and me. Over time I've converted a few of my old recipes to work OK in an oven, but it ain't BBQ or smokin' by any means. I hate liquid smoke, but can't have a real fire or coals here, so that's my only choice so I've worked it into some of my recipes. We're about all that's left now of the family, so it just doesn't pay to cook to much. On a rare occasion I'll do burgers for several of the other inmates around here on my little smokeless grill, but that's about the extent of it. There were times in the past when I've cooked for 100 plus folks, all who knew good 'Q'. I always checked the garbage cans after a big cook for what was thrown away to see how good a job I had done. Those garbage cans don't lie, I promise.
I hate it here, I hate, I hate it. But at 76, she's not far behind, and we have no family left close by to impose on when we get really old, we just felt this was our best option for the future. It's mostly OK, I just hate having to give up my BBQ'ing, my airboat, my offshore boat, my tractors and trailers, etc. But, I don't miss not having to mow the lawn every week, or paint the house we had/sold, or fix the leak under the sink, or repair the damned roof, etc, etc. So I guess the trade off really ain't that bad after all.
Best to all, jj
