The PPlanet BBQ Thread

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chevss454

chevss454

Data-driven decision-making is science and art.
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Summertime is the perfect time to talk about smoking meat out on the patio. It reminds me of Mikie roasting a whole hog last year & posting his pics here (or maybe it was the year before. :blink:)

Anyway, this is the place to put your knowledge to work by sharing with fellow Planeteers. Everything BBQ is up for discussion. Grills, smokers, cuts of meat, rub and sauce recipes, techniques & help websites. Whatever is on your mind put it down here!

And pics! We want pics!!

The best website I've found bar none for all things BBQ is

http://amazingribs.com/

and this is the best way to cook ribs I've ever found.

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/best_BBQ_ribs_ever.html

I usually make my own rubs and sauces but for special occasions I use Meat Church rubs. http://www.meatchurch.com/collections/bbq-rub
Their Honey Hog rub is fool proof, delicious and gives excellent color.

3 months ago I cleaned up my smokers (a Weber 22" Smokey Mtn., an Egg, a Traeger pellet grill and a regular 22" Weber with a smokenator inserted) and I've smoked some sort of meat almost every weekend.

The pellet smoker is wonderful for the convenience of setting it and forgetting it. All I do is fill the hopper and turn the temperature dial. I've left brisket at 200 degrees all night without a worry in the world. 10-12 hrs later I pull out a delicious and tender brisket ready to eat. That's convenience. The drawback of all pellet smokers is they give the meat a very mild smoke taste compared to stick or charcoal burning smokers.

I put the Weber SMtn. and the Egg as equals, at least in my hands. If I had to it over again I wouldn't spend all the money on the Egg. Both are charcoal smokers & give great flavor although the Weber requires adding charcoal more often to keep the temp up. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about the Egg...except its price.

Recently I ordered this novel wood burning smoker from Karubecue. I'll let you all know how it works when I get it. It uses inverse smoke technology. The fire is on top of the smoker and a fan sucks "clean" smoke into the meat chamber. It's been a hit on the competition circuit, lol.
karubecue_c-60_pit_300pix.jpg


http://www.kbq.us/content/video-tour

amazingribs gave it a wonderful review here. http://amazingribs.com/bbq_equipment_reviews_ratings/smoker/karubecue-c-60-pit

July 4th is coming soon. Let's do this right! :celebrate:
 
I just recently got a pellet grill myself. I couldn't sell my wife on a Traeger or Green Mountain but I came across an off brand on sale at Menard's. From what I have read, it uses the same components as Traeger does. Like you said, I've always been happy with how things turn out but always felt that it was lacking in the smoke taste. Then I stumbled across one of these things. http://www.amazon.com/Amazen-Pellet...TF8&qid=1435087827&sr=8-1&keywords=smoke+tube You just fill it with the same pellets that you're cooking with and light it with a propane bottle torch and throw it in the grill. It burns for about four hours and enhances the smoke flavor.
 
chevss454 said:
I put the Weber SMtn. and the Egg as equals, at least in my hands. If I had to it over again I wouldn't spend all the money on the Egg. Both are charcoal smokers & give great flavor although the Weber requires adding charcoal more often to keep the temp up. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about the Egg...except its price.
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Last weekend a local restaurant had an Egg set up for demo. The owner of the restaurant also owns a hardware store in town that sells Eggs. The demo food was outstanding (pulled pork and a brisket)! As you said though, would be hard to justify price.
I did pick up a top of the line SS Weber on clearance from the local home depot. Unfortunately, it burns off a gas line and I haven't been able to get the gas company out to do a set up from the house.
 
Two years ago for the pig, last year was Ribs, ribs, ribs!!! I will look for pictures from the event.
here we go....

1st is a butt, a brisket, and some ribs (had 4 grills/smokers going that day)

2nd is ribs getting a char on them

3rd is the butt all pulled

4th is a free smoker a friend found on his mail route, used once and the owner gave up on it. Fits in my camper with no problem so I can smoke anywhere. Small but good for the three of use.
 
I know this is blasphemy but I find ribs to be one of the most overrated foods ever. I made them last weekend just because they were on sale and I wanted to see if I could master them. I cooked up a couple racks and our company tore them up and wouldn't stop raving about them. I thought they tasted good but I put them in the same category as crab legs and buffalo wings. Too much work for no more than you get. Give me a brisket or pork butt any day.
 
Alk said:
I know this is blasphemy but I find ribs to be one of the most overrated foods ever. I made them last weekend just because they were on sale and I wanted to see if I could master them. I cooked up a couple racks and our company tore them up and wouldn't stop raving about them. I thought they tasted good but I put them in the same category as crab legs and buffalo wings. Too much work for no more than you get. Give me a brisket or pork butt any day.
Click to expand...
ribs are no work, rub the night before, place in giant Ziploc bags, put on smoke and cook

or you can slice a big onion into 1/2" slabs, place 3 onion slices on foil, put a bunch of Garlic cloves around the onion, place on ribs, put a little liquid into the bottom of the foil and seal up tight. Cook the ribs on indirect heat for about 1.5 to 2 hours on low and they will cook in their own juice and fall apart.

slap on some sauce if you want and drop onto grill to char.


butt and brisket are better too but Ribs are easy to cook.
 
One of the things with ribs that is SO overrated, especially if someone on TV cooks them is "fall off the bone." Fall off the bone is very easy to do, anyone can do it in their oven. To me, it only means they might be overcooked with a lot of moisture.

Much harder to get that good "bite" off the bone without it being tough.
 
you also have to make sure the film on the bone side is removed before you cook them. typically they are gone but not always.
 
mikiemo83 said:
ribs are no work, rub the night before, place in giant Ziploc bags, put on smoke and cook

or you can slice a big onion into 1/2" slabs, place 3 onion slices on foil, put a bunch of Garlic cloves around the onion, place on ribs, put a little liquid into the bottom of the foil and seal up tight. Cook the ribs on indirect heat for about 1.5 to 2 hours on low and they will cook in their own juice and fall apart.

slap on some sauce if you want and drop onto grill to char.


butt and brisket are better too but Ribs are easy to cook.
Click to expand...

No, I meant eating them is too much of a pain. The meat you do get is good but there's too much fat that you have to work around.
 
Alk said:
Too much work for no more than you get. Give me a brisket or pork butt any day.
Click to expand...

Won't argue the greatness of briskets and butts, but for me, ribs (which I love also) is the ultimate set it and forget it meal. Night before, Wash ribs, peel ribs, rub with anyone of three (at the moment home made rubs. Then to fridhe. Next morning, pull from fridge let come to ambient temp, ad a bit more rub. Get my fire (smokey mountain) to 225 (simple and quick for me, especially if I cheat and use the minion method (better for the B and B's). Toss ribs in smoker, flip at 2.5 hours, appx. Pull after 5 hours, appx. Done

It really is stressless and virtually fool proof (I'm the fool who's the proof).



Cheers, BostonTim
 
These guys are the makers of some of the greatest food porn ever produced. They also show you fantastic grilling and smoking techniques. If you watch them for a while you will see there are many different routes you can take to arrive at great BBQ. I can testify that their methods work.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3XjIhavbHC4" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
 
I cook on a drum smoker that I made. Ribs take up to 6 hrs. I was never able to get them right on my grill, couldn't seem to get rid of the fat. No problem on the drum however, the fat renders out and the meat stays tender. I do not want a rib to fall off the bone. It should come cleanly off when you bite the rib, and the surrounding meat should more or less stay in place.
IMG_20140713_154141416_HDR_zpsaj35rqbx.jpg
 
A few tips, that may or may not be obvious.

In the before time, when I had summer parties, I'd do make your own shiskabob. This was good because you could put out all the food and let people make what they want.

Get pork/chicken/beef and marinate it in something I'd throw together to taste using what ever I had in the spice rack.

But the two tricks for this are some of the non-standard things.

Pineapple chunks
Water Chestnuts

The former is a nice sweet accent the later gives you something to crunch in your mouth. Most of the stuff in shiskabob is relatively soft and having something with different texture makes a big difference.

The trick on cooking them is obvious, once you see it. Only put food on the front 2/3 of the skewer. leave the last 1/3 off the edge of the grill. This keeps it cool and let's you grab it and flip the food without tongs or burning your hands.

The second BBQ trick is again obvious once you see it but is amazing how many people don't do it.

Plenty of foods should be partially cooked before they go on the grill. If you don't you can end up with burned outsides and raw insides.

Chicken on the bone is a perfect example for this. The bone is a big heat sink and it's hard to cook the chicken fully and evenly if you toss the raw bird on the grill.

Boil or microwave it first to get heat into the bone.

I'd also include potatoes in my shiskabob recipe and you have to cook them ahead of time since they would take much much more time on the grill than everything else on the skewer.
 
foley11 said:
These guys are the makers of some of the greatest food porn ever produced. They also show you fantastic grilling and smoking techniques. If you watch them for a while you will see there are many different routes you can take to arrive at great BBQ. I can testify that their methods work.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3XjIhavbHC4" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>
Click to expand...

All I can think of when I watch those hillbillies cook is the amount of cross contamination there must be and how many hairs end up in their food. That being said, I sure would love one of those knives.
 
Alk said:
All I can think of when I watch those hillbillies cook is the amount of cross contamination there must be and how many hairs end up in their food. That being said, I sure would love one of those knives.
Click to expand...

I would say that if you take their methods and manage your own hairstyle, wipe down your tools appropriately, you can learn to make tasty BBQ from these guys.
 
Alk said:
All I can think of when I watch those hillbillies cook is the amount of cross contamination there must be and how many hairs end up in their food. That being said, I sure would love one of those knives.
Click to expand...

eh the heat kills those germs anyways. :devil:
 
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