From the pit notebook

Recipes

The four cooks we make most at home, with the times and temperatures we actually use. Grease stains included.

Sliced brisket with a dark peppery bark on a wooden board

The big one · about 13 hours

Overnight oak brisket

  1. Night before

    Trim a 14 lb packer to a quarter inch of fat. Coat heavy with Black Diamond rub. Fridge, uncovered.

  2. 5:00 a.m.

    Light oak splits and settle the smoker at 250 °F. Fat side up, point toward the fire.

  3. 165 °F inside

    Usually around 11 a.m. Wrap tight in pink butcher paper and put it back on.

  4. 203 °F inside

    The probe slides in like butter. Pull it, about 6 p.m.

  5. Rest two hours

    In a dry cooler, wrapped in towels. Slice the flat across the grain, pencil thick.

More from the notebook

Racks of ribs glazing on a grill grate

Cherry-smoked spare ribs

275 °F · 5 hours

Cinder rub, cherry chips, and Breaker Boy brushed on for the last thirty minutes.

Sauce poured over a basket of fried chicken wings

Inferno wings

325 °F · 45 minutes

Hickory-smoked wings tossed in Culm Bank Inferno. Keep milk on the table.

Cook basting pork on a pellet smoker

Babcia's pulled pork

250 °F · 12 hours

A nine-pound shoulder, apple chips, and a mop of Mine Shaft Mild every hour after six.

What goes in them

Stock the pantry

Dark sticky barbecue sauce pooled around a chicken drumstick on brown paper

Sauces

Culm Bank Inferno

$12.00

12 oz bottle · ghost pepper, black garlic

Wooden spoon heaped with red paprika rub

Rubs

Cinder Rib Rub

$11.00

12 oz shaker · paprika, ancho, brown sugar

Cooked one? Show us

Send a photo of your bark and what went wrong or right. The best ones go on the board by the counter.

Send your cook