The Ultimate BBQ Thread (6 Viewers)

[Degnol]

My only suggestion, make sure you use wood charcoal and take your time. IMHO, using petroleum based charcoal (i.e. kingsford) is no better than using a gas grill and in many cases worse.

Kingsford was the name of one of Henry Ford's sons-in-law. Henry had a pile of oak scraps from the off-fall from cutting top bows from Model As. He was the original enviornmentalist/cheapskate and financed a charcoal plant and let Kingsford run/manage/own it. All the charcoal was made from the oak..............it was good honest charcoal. Then the Clorox Company bought it and it is now made from petroleum sludge and sand. Yeah, it lights, but it sucks.

I use lump charcoal or briquettes made from hardwood. You will not find the word "hardwood" anywhere on a bag of Kingsford.


JMO


Ed

 

[decavo]

I built a gas smoker the gas keeps a steady heat and the smoke flovors the meat and steam when i need it ..



beef brisket :

trim the fat off of it not all

grate up some ginger and fresh garlic add some mushroon soy sauce some dried hot pepper and chunk in a bag over night or a few days .. what ever ...smoke turn it every 30 min for 3 hours or so .. wrap it in thick cut country bacon and wrap it all in tin foil put it back on the heat for a few hours turn every 30 min ..open up slice it up and pour on your fave bbq sauce or not and the bacon is kick but mixed it there

 

[NorCalDoug]

I'd love to get a real nice smoker eventually. I almost picked up a kamado a couple years ago, but I had to change my plans.

For my bbqing needs I use my 22" Weber kettle. It works well enough and I can manage to control the temperature fairly well, but I will upgrade in the future.

I've bbq'd ribs, brisket, and porkshoulder. Tri-tip has seen time on my bbq as well...but I've found that too much time on the bqq causes tri-tip to dry out. Occasionally, I'll do a pork loin...but like the tri-tip, it has a tendency to dry out if on too long.

With pork, I'll usually brine the ribs, loin, shoulder, etc. first. I haven't injected anything yet, but would like to give it a shot (so to speak) eventually. I have a dry rub that I make up (I'll post the recipe/formula when I dig it up) for my meat.

I have a weber genesis grill for quick-n-dirty grilling needs...and although we're not talking about grilling, I have been able to slow cook quite a few things on it (adding soaked hickory chunks or some decent cherry wood chunks from a cherry tree I cut down a few years ago for some smoke when appropriate).

 

[woooody]

Using wood to smoke meat=BBQ in this thread.

Smoked pork
Smoked sausage
Smoked beef
Smoked chicken
Smoked goat (if that is what gets your rocks off)

Ribs can be discussed but not if it takes you less than an hr to cook them.

Though I think it's taboo to smoke with an electric or gas smoker it will be allowed.

It's funny how regional this is. Am I OK at 2 - 2 1/2 hours for ribs?

It seems out west, as log as it's not gas, it's BBQ. In the south, only smoked is BBQ. Again, regional differences.

Texican brought some brisket to Surf and Turf last year.... I've never found anything quite like that in California.

 

[beaufort-fj60]

I'd love to get a real nice smoker eventually. I almost picked up a kamado a couple years ago, but I had to change my plans.

For my bbqing needs I use my 22" Weber kettle. It works well enough and I can manage to control the temperature fairly well, but I will upgrade in the future.

I've bbq'd ribs, brisket, and porkshoulder. Tri-tip has seen time on my bbq as well...but I've found that too much time on the bqq causes tri-tip to dry out. Occasionally, I'll do a pork loin...but like the tri-tip, it has a tendency to dry out if on too long.

With pork, I'll usually brine the ribs, loin, shoulder, etc. first. I haven't injected anything yet, but would like to give it a shot (so to speak) eventually. I have a dry rub that I make up (I'll post the recipe/formula when I dig it up) for my meat.

I have a weber genesis grill for quick-n-dirty grilling needs...and although we're not talking about grilling, I have been able to slow cook quite a few things on it (adding soaked hickory chunks or some decent cherry wood chunks from a cherry tree I cut down a few years ago for some smoke when appropriate).

fab up a custom smoker... just get a 55 gallon drum, a few pieces of angle iron and 4-6" exhaust pipe, and a coal box. put the drum up high on a angle iron stand and the coal box low, connect the two with pipe. Smokers are like moonshine stills... the uglier the better.

 

[Felix]

Okay, I need some help here. What's the best way to smoke/BBQ with a plain old Weber kettle?

Also, I was just grilling, but I tried wood charcoal for the first time last weekend instead of Kingsford or the gas grill. The smell was great, and the taste of the food was better, but I found the wood charcoal to be unpredictable. It got REALLY hot REALLY fast but then seemed to burn down to too cool pretty rapidly. I guess for BBQing, that would be alright, but it made grilling difficult. I was using the Cowboy brand wood charcoal from Trader Joe's. Is that the wrong stuff?

 

[Trollhole]

It's funny how regional this is. Am I OK at 2 - 2 1/2 hours for ribs?

It seems out west, as log as it's not gas, it's BBQ. In the south, only smoked is BBQ. Again, regional differences.

Texican brought some brisket to Surf and Turf last year.... I've never found anything quite like that in California.

Yeah 2hr is good on ribs.

 

[Trollhole]

Lump charcoal rankings and reviews.
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag

Copied this from the site above.


Which is better, lump or briquettes? -- Well, this FAQ is about lump charcoal, so we aren't going to wax eloquent about briquettes. But admit it. You really want to know what is in Kingsford briquettes, don't you? Well, according to Kingsford, here is what is in their briquettes and what each ingredient is used for: wood char (heat source), mineral char (heat source), mineral carbon (heat source), limestone (uniform visual ashing), starch (binder), borax (press release), sodium nitrate (ignition aid), sawdust (ignition aid). If you hang out on any of the barbecue forums on the internet, you will find lots of folks complaining about the borax and coal and limestone. You don't often hear of people complaining about the mineral char. What is mineral char? "A soft, brownish-black coal in which the alteration of vegetable matter has proceeded further than in peat but not as far as in bituminous coal. Also called brown coal. Has empyreumatic smell." What is an empyreumatic smell? "The peculiar smell and taste arising from products of decomposition of animal or vegetable substances when burnt in close vessels." Nuff said?
But back to the question at hand. Should you use lump or briquettes? There is no one answer for everyone. If you are using a ceramic cooker, the low ash production of lump charcoal is very important. Ceramic cookers have a fire bowl holding the charcoal. As the charcoal burns, the ash falls down into the bottom of the bowl. There isn't room for a whole lot of ash.

Lump charcoal burns hotter and faster than briquettes, if given an unlimited air supply. If you can control the air flow through your cooker, lump will burn at whatever rate and temperature that you allow it to. If you can't control the air flow in your cooker, then you may need to use the slower-burning briquettes in order to keep temperature under control.

Another consideration is that briquettes tend to be cheaper than lump charcoal.

 

[Trollhole]

Okay, I need some help here. What's the best way to smoke/BBQ with a plain old Weber kettle?

Also, I was just grilling, but I tried wood charcoal for the first time last weekend instead of Kingsford or the gas grill. The smell was great, and the taste of the food was better, but I found the wood charcoal to be unpredictable. It got REALLY hot REALLY fast but then seemed to burn down to too cool pretty rapidly. I guess for BBQing, that would be alright, but it made grilling difficult. I was using the Cowboy brand wood charcoal from Trader Joe's. Is that the wrong stuff?

I use COboy because I can get it right down the road. It's not the best but works for me. You have to control heat by controling the air. Everytime you open the lid it will spike.

 

[Felix]

Thanks, Troll, that helps a lot.

 

[beaufort-fj60]

Lump charcoal rankings and reviews.
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag

Copied this from the site above.


Which is better, lump or briquettes? -- Well, this FAQ is about lump charcoal, so we aren't going to wax eloquent about briquettes. But admit it. You really want to know what is in Kingsford briquettes, don't you? Well, according to Kingsford, here is what is in their briquettes and what each ingredient is used for: wood char (heat source), mineral char (heat source), mineral carbon (heat source), limestone (uniform visual ashing), starch (binder), borax (press release), sodium nitrate (ignition aid), sawdust (ignition aid). If you hang out on any of the barbecue forums on the internet, you will find lots of folks complaining about the borax and coal and limestone. You don't often hear of people complaining about the mineral char. What is mineral char? "A soft, brownish-black coal in which the alteration of vegetable matter has proceeded further than in peat but not as far as in bituminous coal. Also called brown coal. Has empyreumatic smell." What is an empyreumatic smell? "The peculiar smell and taste arising from products of decomposition of animal or vegetable substances when burnt in close vessels." Nuff said?
But back to the question at hand. Should you use lump or briquettes? There is no one answer for everyone. If you are using a ceramic cooker, the low ash production of lump charcoal is very important. Ceramic cookers have a fire bowl holding the charcoal. As the charcoal burns, the ash falls down into the bottom of the bowl. There isn't room for a whole lot of ash.

Lump charcoal burns hotter and faster than briquettes, if given an unlimited air supply. If you can control the air flow through your cooker, lump will burn at whatever rate and temperature that you allow it to. If you can't control the air flow in your cooker, then you may need to use the slower-burning briquettes in order to keep temperature under control.

Another consideration is that briquettes tend to be cheaper than lump charcoal.

i use this one from your link..
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/lumpbag6.htm

it's cheap and works great. The link says $6.99 a bag, i get it for $3 at Bi-Lo




I agree Kingsford stinks like chemicals.

 

[Trollhole]

If you want a good smoker that is easy to use but won't bankrupt you I'd go with a WSMC (Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker) I have one in my collection and love it. Portable, easy to set up, has good air flow, holds a good amount of meat and most of all is very effecient. I can pack it full of lump and it will go for about 10 hrs before it needs a recharge.

A good price. Get the Weber chimney also it's the mac daddy.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004U9VA/webercom-20


I also have a Brinkman Vertical Smoker that I heavily modified that works well. Out of the box it sucks.

Also a Brinkman Pitmaster Deluxe. Which was given to me and has been a good dual roll smoker grill.

And another generic Weber look alike that I have modified.

You can see three of them in use in this pic.

So I have just realized with all these my big cooker my gas grill and my car camping grills I have 8 total cookers. Wow! I think I have a problem.

 

[Trollhole]

Thermometers.

Another critical tool for BBQ. Know what your meat temp is and cooker temp.

I always use a combination of two types. At least one digital and one manual.

Never trust the thermometer that came built in to your cooker unless you know it's right. Generally if it cannot be removed to calibrate it's junk.

For digital I have tried a lot of different ones, dual probes, remote ones, and the basic ones. I now how Acu-Rite digital ones. I like them and they are very accurate.

One way of calibrating or checking a thermometer is to put it in a pot of boiling water and read the temp.

Here are some steps I stole of the net.

1Step OneBring a small pot of water to a boil.

2Step TwoFill a short glass with water and plenty of ice.

3Step ThreeRemove the thermometer from its plastic guard and place it in the boiling water.

4Step FourIf it doesn't read 212°F (100°C), turn the nut behind the face with needle-nose pliers. Only tiny adjustments are required; recheck as needed.

5Step FivePlace the thermometer in the ice water.

6Step SixIf it doesn't read 32°F (0°C), adjust the nut. Once it is properly calibrated, the thermometer will read the correct temperatures of both boiling and iced water.

For spot checking meat I use a small dial thermometer that I can clip to my apron for storage.

Polder has something new which I might give a try.

 

[yooper]

Hmm. I've been considering this one that I can buy locally. It's a Brinkmann Smoke King. Pretty thick metal but otherwise kinda crappy build quality. It comes with lots of racks and hooks for the vertical smoking part...is it gonna suck?

 

[beaufort-fj60]

Hmm. I've been considering this one that I can buy locally. It's a Brinkmann Smoke King. Pretty thick metal but otherwise kinda crappy build quality. It comes with lots of racks and hooks for the vertical smoking part...is it gonna suck?

I think they're all good... you can always weld on or change out parts and pieces to "make them better"

 

[Trollhole]

Hmm. I've been considering this one that I can buy locally. It's a Brinkmann Smoke King. Pretty thick metal but otherwise kinda crappy build quality. It comes with lots of racks and hooks for the vertical smoking part...is it gonna suck?

I have never had a Brinkman that I didn't modify by welding it better and adding things on to it. It is a good inexpensive start. Though I would buyt a WSMC before I bought that.

 

[yooper]

Thermometers.

...
Here are some steps I stole of the net.

1Step OneBring a small pot of water to a boil.

2Step TwoFill a short glass with water and plenty of ice.

3Step ThreeRemove the thermometer from its plastic guard and place it in the boiling water.

4Step FourIf it doesn't read 212°F (100°C), turn the nut behind the face with needle-nose pliers. Only tiny adjustments are required; recheck as needed.

5Step FivePlace the thermometer in the ice water.

6Step SixIf it doesn't read 32°F (0°C), adjust the nut. Once it is properly calibrated, the thermometer will read the correct temperatures of both boiling and iced water.

Ice water will be closer to 39° F (4° C). 4° C is a common desired temperature in the molecular biology lab because DNA and other things are stable at that temp. We use ice water baths to achieve it.

Otherwise a decent method.

 

[Mace]

My smoker is the Weber smokey mountain

love it..

 

[Trollhole]

Ribs I have two ways. One on the smoker and one on the grill.

Grill

baby back ribs is my meat of choice. I get them usually from BJ's wholesale. They have a really go selection and good prices. I always call a day or two ahead and have some brought in for me.

Bring them home and pull the membrane off them. Probably the most important step a clean rag or paper towels and a butter knife are my tools of choice.

Then I rub them down with paprika, garlic, onion powder, a pinch of cumin, ginger, 7 different peppers, kosher salt. They sit in a cooler for at least 4 hrs like this. Pull them out and rub them with a lot of brown sugar.

Throw them on the grill at 275-300 I have a couple of big hickory blocks that sit on the grill and smolder the whole time. Rotate as needed and baste with real butter. Take them off when about a half inch or more bone is showing. This is a more feel they are about done. I can usually pick up a rack with tongs and know they are good to go. Then I lay them on a pan an lather them with your sauce of choice. Sauces are hard to say what is good. I've had people say they like bullseye and some say the dry rub is all they need. Me I will usually do three or 4 different type of rib sauces. I only apply to one side only (top)

dry rub alone
jerk sauce or if you really want to get fancy get some jerk seasoning and dry rub the ribs with that, just make sure you add some brown sugar.
BBQ I make my own Hot and mild. Sticky fingers has some good sauces for those who don't want to make their own.
Trick I have found that a mixture of Franks wing sauce and Teriyaki make some great sauce.

I take them in the pan and stick them in the oven with the broiler on to bake in the sauce. Then cover with tinfoil with a little beer to help put back some of the moister lost to the grill.

 

[CJF]

Okay, I need some help here. What's the best way to smoke/BBQ with a plain old Weber kettle?

Pull the charcoal grate out and throw a bunch of lump charcoal right into the bottom of the kettle.

Get a disposable foil roasting/drip pan (or construct your own from foil) and "weave" the edges into the cooking grate, so that the pan is attached to the grate but hanging beneath it. (Does that make sense?) Cook your meat on the grate, above the pan.

Use a combination of of the bottom/top vents to control the temp. Ideally, have a probe type thermo. in the meat and some type of thermo. sticking in the top vent to monitor kettle temp.