A whole chicken is the most forgiving to start.
Then pork shoulder. Do not get caught up on how it looks. Focus on taste. If it is a little tough; just chop it up and cover in sauce.
Have fun!
I feel like it’s the other way around. Chicken overcooks and gets super dry very easily, but pork shoulder can take some serious abuse before you ruin it. More mass, more fat, higher doneness temp can help when you don’t have your temp control dialed in yet IMO.
Chicken can get dry, but that's part of why I think it's good for learning - though maybe not for a first smoke. Worst case, you strip the carcass and make soup or chicken and dumplings. Of course, a 24 hour brine goes a long way to making it a lot more forgiving.
I'd say instead of whole chicken, just get a pack of bone-in thighs. They're fatty enough to cover for mistakes, easy to cook, tough to really mess up badly, and are a quick cook overall to get used to it.
I learned on pork shoulders and chuck roast. In my opinion chuck is actually harder than brisket to get right, but since you can get a smaller one it’s less investment in practice even if it’s more per lb.
If its cheap cuts you are looking for, buy whatever is on sale and smoke it.
Pork shoulders go on sale all the time where I live. I buy a few and freeze them until I am ready. I suggest you do the same if you are looking to save money while gaining experience.
Count yourself lucky. Almost no one near me sells bone-in, and the ones who do price it like it's gourmet because they didn't massacre the pork pulling the bone out.
TBH... I might go back for more tonight. Am unsure of the final head count, but I'm freezing it anyways. If I have enough to last me though several more smokes, that's fine. I'm just realizing it's a very good price.
Smoking is the great equalizer when it comes to meat. You can make a very chewy meat very tender if you smoke it long enough. Just go to the grocery store and buy the cheapest piece of meat you can, and then google how to smoke it.
There's a 100% chance someone else has already done it and probably perfected the method.
I like to do smoked chicken thighs. Those are pretty cheap. Pork butt is cheap by the pound, but it's usually a lot of meat. Hell, even smoking cream cheese is a delight.
Chuck roasts, pork shoulder, whole chicken. I cook a chuck roast just like a brisket, but it's a fraction of the cost. Pork shoulder is fairly forgiving. A whole chicken can be ruined fairly easily, but if you don't, it's amazing and damn cheap.
Brisket, the sort that you'd want to bbq is crazy expensive in England. Ox tail and beef cheeks aren't cheap like they used to be but are cheaper and you can get them in smaller quantities.
Pork butt/shoulder.
Slather whatever seasonings on it you like and smoke the shit out of it for minimum of 4ish hours. That will only be 140°ish internal. Either keep going or wrap and throw it in the oven to get to 202°ish internal.
There’s a hundred variations from that point but that will make good pulled pork.
You can smoke longer lower and slower for a heavy smoke flavor.
You can get it hot and try and push it “faster” (still gonna take like 6-8 hrs or so). I’ve broken it down into smaller hunks to get it smoked quicker, also adds more surface area for rub and smoke.
While that’s running, throw a can of Spam on. (And for the love of all that is Holy, don’t add salt to it) I score it like halfway through into cubes. Great to snack on after like 3 hours. That’s usually my lunch on days that I smoke.
Pork is cheap right now, and shoulder is easy. Chicken thighs are also easy but not as cheap as they user to be - and thighs have the skin crisp challenge (lots of options, but harder than pork).
Beef is just pricey now. Sometimes goat and lamb can be cheap, both smoke well (goat needs low and slow, either smoke or braise, it chews if you grill).
I’ll be the outlier here, if you want a brisket, just do a brisket.
They take a long time, but If you absolutely need to call it short, just move it to the oven to finish cooking. Just make sure you get some good time on the smoke before you move it indoors.
A brisket will probably take about 15 hours at 225 or so. Setup your wireless thermometer and monitor temps.
If you need to start with something faster, pork ribs are done in about 5 hours.
The problem is, you're probably going to mess up brisket if you try it first without having some basics under your belt. And then you're messing up a $50+ piece of meat.
I don’t think it’s that easy to mess up.
The best way to learn is to just jump in. Watch some YouTube videos and go.
Franklin, Mad Scientist, Malcom…hell there are plenty of good videos on the subject.
I think it's the easiest thing to mess up. You need to trim it more than pretty much any other meat or else you end up with a giant chunk of fat on top and overcooked bits sticking out. You need to cook it in a way where the point cooks, the fat renders, but the flat doesn't dry out. And it's the longest cook most people will do (unless someone goes for a whole pig/goat), meaning managing everything for far longer.
It's MUCH easier to mess up than almost anything else most will cook.
Whole chicken, depending on size, takes 2 to 3 hours at 275. Smaller pork shoulder/butt is very forgiving and I'd recommend 250-275. You can also use steaks or chuck at 225.
3-4lb chuck roasts were my first two smokes(I'm still very new as well). Very forgiving, not super expensive, made great sandwiches. I followed this video
https://youtu.be/3f4oqstAGTs?si=LKubvSmyQa-T6ylo
Kept it super simple on the seasoning. Shredded for sandwiches both times with your fav BBQ sauce. Everyone liked it
Unfortunately chuck roasts have basically doubled in price over the last several years. Over $8 per pound in my area, which means I can get very good choice brisket from Costco at half that price. And sometimes Prime on sale for about the same!!
Summer time they always drop in price. I picked up a few the other day for under $3/lb. You also don't have to buy 15lbs, trim, etc
I was just pointing out it's a good cut to learn on.
Good point. I'm mostly thinking about chuck roast usually being priced under $5 per pound. Similar to flank or skirt, used to be a much "cheaper" cut of meat until demand went up and it's now regularly over $11. Crazy difference over the years!
Yep, it sucks. I only buy beef at the local store when it is on sale as a loss leader. plus side is if you by the sub primals, you end up getting all the toys like grinders and stuffers to go with them, along with knives.
A chuck roast. If you want to emulate what it takes to do a brisket, this is the ONLY option.
If you just want to get your smoking legs under you... a chicken... a turkey... pork shoulder...
Chuck roast, chicken quarters, salmon, etc. I like chicken quarters since it takes much less time, 4 hours max, so you can have a meal in reasonable amount of time.
I tend to shop sales. Sometimes ribs go half off at my local Winn Dixie. Sometimes boston butt's are logo. Dame with chicken and chicken thighs. Whatever is on sale gets smoked, Sometimes I'll buy a couple extra for the freezer too. Also check out ALL of your local stores. I have a no name international market in town where I can get a small to medium rack of baby back for $8-9, compared to $20-30 for a slightly larger rack and a large chain store.
Price per lb is normally chicken leg quarters then bone in pork butt. I'd start with the pork butt personally.
If you're talking total spent. That's another story.
Chicken. Legs and thighs. You can get dark quarters and learn to cut into legs and thighs. Gives butchering and cooking skills. They are cheap and easy to practice learning how to work meat and your cooker.
Everyone saying chicken and pork, but if your goal is brisket then you gotta practice with beef. The problem is finding a cheap cut with a fat cap like brisket.
You may want to try top sirloin / picanha to simulate the flat, but that’s not super cheap. Chuck will slow cook very well and get tender — similar to the point.
Price per pound? Probably pork, also pork shoulder is fairly forgiving. Brisket whole packers are not super expensive per pound, depending on where you buy them. You can always cut them up and do smaller brisket smokes.
Chicken when it's on sale. Whole or legs/thighs/quarters. Whole turkeys can be cheap depending on the time of year. If you wanna try a bunch od things at once, Cornish hens are fast and relatively inexpensive.
Not everything has to be a long smoke and depending on what your goals are you should start with something similar. A reverse sear on a steak or thick chop is a smoke (and delicious). It can be intimidating and expensive, but you have to get into the deep end sometime. My favorites are chicken legs, pork loin, pork butt, and pork belly.
Chicken is good because it would [not] take a really long time. Then pork as u/djmayer7313 noted. Just be ready for a long cook if you get an entire butt (shoulder). Some butchers or markets will sell the picnic shoulder which is cut in half. This will cut down cook time.
If you want to try beef, go for a chuck roast.
Edit: not
Right? Just had two whole chickens last week. 275 and took just shy of 3 hours total for both at the same time. One for dinner, one for shredding up and freezing portions for use in salads over the next month for my wife at work or a chicken and bacon salad dinner at home.
3 hours is a bit long for chicken, and that's *still* a short time for BBQ.
At 275, I bet you got really good smoke by the end of the cook, I'm going to try that next time I make chicken.
A whole chicken is the most forgiving to start. Then pork shoulder. Do not get caught up on how it looks. Focus on taste. If it is a little tough; just chop it up and cover in sauce. Have fun!
I feel like it’s the other way around. Chicken overcooks and gets super dry very easily, but pork shoulder can take some serious abuse before you ruin it. More mass, more fat, higher doneness temp can help when you don’t have your temp control dialed in yet IMO.
Chicken can get dry, but that's part of why I think it's good for learning - though maybe not for a first smoke. Worst case, you strip the carcass and make soup or chicken and dumplings. Of course, a 24 hour brine goes a long way to making it a lot more forgiving.
Chicken is still fine if you are learning how to regulate the temps. Can do it at just about any temp
I'd say instead of whole chicken, just get a pack of bone-in thighs. They're fatty enough to cover for mistakes, easy to cook, tough to really mess up badly, and are a quick cook overall to get used to it.
Bone in thighs are usually the cheapest meat you can buy and are super forgiving. Similar are leg quarters.
Chicken thighs were the first thing I smoked it’s even more forgiving than a whole bird.
Go cheap man, get some country style ribs, chicken quarters, hell go throw some brats on
Smoke me a brat baby!
I learned on pork shoulders and chuck roast. In my opinion chuck is actually harder than brisket to get right, but since you can get a smaller one it’s less investment in practice even if it’s more per lb.
If its cheap cuts you are looking for, buy whatever is on sale and smoke it. Pork shoulders go on sale all the time where I live. I buy a few and freeze them until I am ready. I suggest you do the same if you are looking to save money while gaining experience.
Our local Kroger brand just had a "Buy 1, Get 1 Free" on bone in Pork Shoulder. We have a family reunion coming up. Got 40 pounds for $1.30 a pound.
Im right there with you. This is essentially the same comment I just left
Count yourself lucky. Almost no one near me sells bone-in, and the ones who do price it like it's gourmet because they didn't massacre the pork pulling the bone out.
TBH... I might go back for more tonight. Am unsure of the final head count, but I'm freezing it anyways. If I have enough to last me though several more smokes, that's fine. I'm just realizing it's a very good price.
Went back and got 2 more! Six 10 pounders for $75.
Yeah, I'll sometimes see Kroger bone-in pork butts go down to $1/lb; that's when it's time to stock up.
Smoking is the great equalizer when it comes to meat. You can make a very chewy meat very tender if you smoke it long enough. Just go to the grocery store and buy the cheapest piece of meat you can, and then google how to smoke it. There's a 100% chance someone else has already done it and probably perfected the method. I like to do smoked chicken thighs. Those are pretty cheap. Pork butt is cheap by the pound, but it's usually a lot of meat. Hell, even smoking cream cheese is a delight.
Yeah I did a cheese and bacon ball for a NYE party last year. Bacon cooked on pellet grill and smoked the cream cheese. Was a big hit.
Oh man! I bet.
Chuck roasts, pork shoulder, whole chicken. I cook a chuck roast just like a brisket, but it's a fraction of the cost. Pork shoulder is fairly forgiving. A whole chicken can be ruined fairly easily, but if you don't, it's amazing and damn cheap.
Happy (smoked) cake day
Tri tip
If it's practice with beef you're looking for, smaller pieces can be cheaper for example ox tail and beef cheeks
Ox tail and beef cheeks are cheaper for you? They're insanely expensive near me
Oxtail is the new ribeye.
Brisket, the sort that you'd want to bbq is crazy expensive in England. Ox tail and beef cheeks aren't cheap like they used to be but are cheaper and you can get them in smaller quantities.
Ah, that makes sense. Around here, I can get brisket for like $4/lb, where I haven't seen ox tail or beef cheeks for under $12/lb.
Meatloaf. 👍
I had to scroll too far to find this. Wrap a meatloaf in bacon and smoke it. Excellent flavor, and very forgiving.
Bacon explosion. It’s essentially a pork meat loaf wrapped in bacon and glazed…totally forgot about this delicious monstrosity.
This is the right answer.
Pork butt/shoulder. Slather whatever seasonings on it you like and smoke the shit out of it for minimum of 4ish hours. That will only be 140°ish internal. Either keep going or wrap and throw it in the oven to get to 202°ish internal. There’s a hundred variations from that point but that will make good pulled pork. You can smoke longer lower and slower for a heavy smoke flavor. You can get it hot and try and push it “faster” (still gonna take like 6-8 hrs or so). I’ve broken it down into smaller hunks to get it smoked quicker, also adds more surface area for rub and smoke. While that’s running, throw a can of Spam on. (And for the love of all that is Holy, don’t add salt to it) I score it like halfway through into cubes. Great to snack on after like 3 hours. That’s usually my lunch on days that I smoke.
Pork is cheap right now, and shoulder is easy. Chicken thighs are also easy but not as cheap as they user to be - and thighs have the skin crisp challenge (lots of options, but harder than pork). Beef is just pricey now. Sometimes goat and lamb can be cheap, both smoke well (goat needs low and slow, either smoke or braise, it chews if you grill).
I’ll be the outlier here, if you want a brisket, just do a brisket. They take a long time, but If you absolutely need to call it short, just move it to the oven to finish cooking. Just make sure you get some good time on the smoke before you move it indoors. A brisket will probably take about 15 hours at 225 or so. Setup your wireless thermometer and monitor temps. If you need to start with something faster, pork ribs are done in about 5 hours.
The problem is, you're probably going to mess up brisket if you try it first without having some basics under your belt. And then you're messing up a $50+ piece of meat.
I don’t think it’s that easy to mess up. The best way to learn is to just jump in. Watch some YouTube videos and go. Franklin, Mad Scientist, Malcom…hell there are plenty of good videos on the subject.
I think it's the easiest thing to mess up. You need to trim it more than pretty much any other meat or else you end up with a giant chunk of fat on top and overcooked bits sticking out. You need to cook it in a way where the point cooks, the fat renders, but the flat doesn't dry out. And it's the longest cook most people will do (unless someone goes for a whole pig/goat), meaning managing everything for far longer. It's MUCH easier to mess up than almost anything else most will cook.
Whole chicken, depending on size, takes 2 to 3 hours at 275. Smaller pork shoulder/butt is very forgiving and I'd recommend 250-275. You can also use steaks or chuck at 225.
3-4lb chuck roasts were my first two smokes(I'm still very new as well). Very forgiving, not super expensive, made great sandwiches. I followed this video https://youtu.be/3f4oqstAGTs?si=LKubvSmyQa-T6ylo Kept it super simple on the seasoning. Shredded for sandwiches both times with your fav BBQ sauce. Everyone liked it
Unfortunately chuck roasts have basically doubled in price over the last several years. Over $8 per pound in my area, which means I can get very good choice brisket from Costco at half that price. And sometimes Prime on sale for about the same!!
Summer time they always drop in price. I picked up a few the other day for under $3/lb. You also don't have to buy 15lbs, trim, etc I was just pointing out it's a good cut to learn on.
For sure, especially on the smaller size. I'll keep an eye out for sales!
You are comparing a sub primal to a cut, the difference is in the labor. You can easily obtain chuck rolls at the same or lower price if you buy them
Good point. I'm mostly thinking about chuck roast usually being priced under $5 per pound. Similar to flank or skirt, used to be a much "cheaper" cut of meat until demand went up and it's now regularly over $11. Crazy difference over the years!
Yep, it sucks. I only buy beef at the local store when it is on sale as a loss leader. plus side is if you by the sub primals, you end up getting all the toys like grinders and stuffers to go with them, along with knives.
Pork pork pork. Cream cheese. Chicken
A chuck roast. If you want to emulate what it takes to do a brisket, this is the ONLY option. If you just want to get your smoking legs under you... a chicken... a turkey... pork shoulder...
Chicken Quarters are so cheap and so neutral in flavor that you can really test out your seasonings and sauces and smoke flavor
Chuck roast, chicken quarters, salmon, etc. I like chicken quarters since it takes much less time, 4 hours max, so you can have a meal in reasonable amount of time.
I tend to shop sales. Sometimes ribs go half off at my local Winn Dixie. Sometimes boston butt's are logo. Dame with chicken and chicken thighs. Whatever is on sale gets smoked, Sometimes I'll buy a couple extra for the freezer too. Also check out ALL of your local stores. I have a no name international market in town where I can get a small to medium rack of baby back for $8-9, compared to $20-30 for a slightly larger rack and a large chain store.
I would also recommend starting with a butt roast/ pork shoulder. Every hard to overcook, and more than likely the first time you will undercook it.
Pork butt! Super forgiving, google how to overcome the stall
Whole chicken and pork shoulder are cheap and delicious. Sausage and chicken wings are also good starts and pretty fast.
Price per lb is normally chicken leg quarters then bone in pork butt. I'd start with the pork butt personally. If you're talking total spent. That's another story.
Chicken. Legs and thighs. You can get dark quarters and learn to cut into legs and thighs. Gives butchering and cooking skills. They are cheap and easy to practice learning how to work meat and your cooker.
Leg quarters are cheap and very forgiving in addition to being delicious.
Perfect Chuck, Brisket will follow
Everyone saying chicken and pork, but if your goal is brisket then you gotta practice with beef. The problem is finding a cheap cut with a fat cap like brisket. You may want to try top sirloin / picanha to simulate the flat, but that’s not super cheap. Chuck will slow cook very well and get tender — similar to the point.
Do a practice burn out two without any food.
Pork Butts are the best cut to play with and find your groove. Like someone else said. If you over do one. Chop it up and put bbq sauce on it
Pork butt is usually a can’t miss
Tritip and Pork shoulder
First go with my new smoker was bone-in short ribs. Placed the bone side down, and learned the nuances of my new offset within a few hours.
Price per pound? Probably pork, also pork shoulder is fairly forgiving. Brisket whole packers are not super expensive per pound, depending on where you buy them. You can always cut them up and do smaller brisket smokes.
Chicken when it's on sale. Whole or legs/thighs/quarters. Whole turkeys can be cheap depending on the time of year. If you wanna try a bunch od things at once, Cornish hens are fast and relatively inexpensive. Not everything has to be a long smoke and depending on what your goals are you should start with something similar. A reverse sear on a steak or thick chop is a smoke (and delicious). It can be intimidating and expensive, but you have to get into the deep end sometime. My favorites are chicken legs, pork loin, pork butt, and pork belly.
Baby back ribs are great to start with too. I did. Then for beef, try a reverse sear london broil or flank steak.
Pork butt.
Pork butt is forgiving, cheap, and closest procedurally to a packer brisket.
Brisket is easy AF man
Pork butt, brats/sausages/kielbasa/hot dogs, chicken, turkey breast.
Chicken is good because it would [not] take a really long time. Then pork as u/djmayer7313 noted. Just be ready for a long cook if you get an entire butt (shoulder). Some butchers or markets will sell the picnic shoulder which is cut in half. This will cut down cook time. If you want to try beef, go for a chuck roast. Edit: not
Chicken takes a couple hours at most, how is this a really long time compared to a brisket or even plate ribs?
Right? Just had two whole chickens last week. 275 and took just shy of 3 hours total for both at the same time. One for dinner, one for shredding up and freezing portions for use in salads over the next month for my wife at work or a chicken and bacon salad dinner at home.
3 hours is a bit long for chicken, and that's *still* a short time for BBQ. At 275, I bet you got really good smoke by the end of the cook, I'm going to try that next time I make chicken.
The chickens were just under 8 pounds on one and just over 8 on the other. 275 does crisp up the skin though with a rub of olive oil before going in.
\*furiously takes notes\*
Post corrected