A barbecue adventure, the saga unfolds.

This is the lesser of two double bone in rib chops I did for dinner. I was too busy salivating after splitting the first and getting it on the table to remember to take pics. Before:

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After
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TCABM said:
This is the lesser of two double bone in rib chops I did for dinner. I was too busy salivating after splitting the first and getting it on the table to remember to take pics. Before:

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After
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That looks awesome
 
I judged another contest today. Pretty mixed bag, nothing really stood out on the top end but there were a few things that were memorable for the wrong reasons.

There was a chef’s choice category. I didn’t get to judge that one so I stuck around to see the entries. A lot of deserts. I also saw lamb chops, bacon wrapped shrimp, cheeseburger sliders, cornbread, and one or two things I’ve forgotten.
 
Matthew said:
That looks awesome
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Thanks. I’m not a huge fan of rib chops like this, but they’re sexy and these tasted as good as they look.

Smoked them at 250 to 138* then finished at 500 for about 2 min/side then 2mins on the fat cap. Black pepper base with War Pig’s Ham Grenade (brown sugar, chipotle, & paprika) rub that set for a couple of hours before going on the smoker.
 
TCABM said:
Thanks. I’m not a huge fan of rib chops like this, but they’re sexy and these tasted as good as they look.

Smoked them at 250 to 138* then finished at 500 for about 2 min/side then 2mins on the fat cap. Black pepper base with War Pig’s Ham Grenade (brown sugar, chipotle, & paprika) rub that set for a couple of hours before going on the smoker.
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I think you did it right. I generally aim at 137 so we’re right on the same page.

I’ll do a whole pork loin that way. Then I can slice it however I like: thick for boneless loin chops and thin for sandwiches.
 
Matthew said:
My next contest to judge is the Royal. The big boy, 600 or so teams.
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Good luck, we’re rooting for you. To make it home before the meat coma sets in.
 
I'm back at it, this time a 3.7 lb baby back. It's starting to look good after an hour. At some point, it will start to smell good.
 
Not what I planned to do today, but not the worst thing to be doing, either. 275* and apple wood with an AJ bath.

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I got my packet in the mail yesterday for the American Royal contest judging 3 Nov. Wristband and parking pass to get into the infield of the Kansas Speedway. There are 4 separate contests that weekend, 2 on Sat and 2 on Sunday. I’m doing the Open contest on Sunday. The Invitational is Saturday, and they also have sides and desserts.
 
That looks like a pretty good smoker. I've seen them, and I think my neighbor has one that he rarely uses, but I've never had hands-on experience with them. Capacity wise, it looks like you could get 2 butts on the lower shelf and 2 more above? What's the model?

I use the Weber Smokey Mountains, and have for 30+ years. I was running errands this morning and left my garage door open for about 30 minutes. The sun was shining directly on one of my smokers and now my garage smells awesome.
 
Matthew said:
…Capacity wise, it looks like you could get 2 butts on the lower shelf and 2 more above? What's the model?

I use the Weber Smokey Mountains, and have for 30+ years. I was running errands this morning and left my garage door open for about 30 minutes. The sun was shining directly on one of my smokers and now my garage smells awesome.
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Masterbuilt MB560. I’ve had it for five years now, I guess. Normally, I’ll put a whole packer brisket on the bottom shelf, two racks of St Louis ribs on the middle shelf (removed right now) and sausages on the top shelf that’s pretty much full depth. You could run two butts side by side on the bottom and middle and still have room for water trays.

I mix hardwood in with the charcoal but have run sticks over a starter layer of briquettes before. The hopper holds about a full 16lb bag of charcoal but I only fill it up that much when I’m doing a brisket. Running it with brisket, ribs, and sausages is more about timing than anything else and I can usually get a full cook done with just one bin.

The trick with the mixed meats is putting the butt on just after the brisket is done stalling. When the brisket is done I run up from 225 to 250 or 275. To finish the ribs and sausages.

It’s pretty versatile because I can run it up to 700 on high end for steaks or treat it like a wood fired oven for pizzas…they also have some contraption that replaces the grates with a pizza hood and it seems to work well even if a bit gimmicky.

We’re kicking around expanding the patio (15x19 covered) and building a proper kitchen on the outer perimeter of the right side and throwing a hot tub on the left. If we do that I’m upgrading to the ~800sq in version they have then adding a flat top, a couple of burners and a sear station. Done correctly, the smoker ends up looking built in with the ability to empty the ash bucket real easy.

Overall, it really turns smoking into chasing flavor and not managing the fire, which seems like cheating, but in the end there’s much better consistency cook to cook.
 
Nope - not cheating at all. Maintaining temp is really hard to do, and anything that helps is good.

edit: I'm leery of using that on a wood deck...like my neighbor. Any comments on escaping embers?
 
Matthew said:
Nope - not cheating at all. Maintaining temp is really hard to do, and anything that helps is good.

edit: I'm leery of using that on a wood deck...like my neighbor. Any comments on escaping embers?
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I mean anything's possible, but the only time I've seen embers escape is when the top of the coal bin/chute is open, which is only when you're loading it with a fire going. There's a safety switch in place that stops the fan when that chute is opened so that helps a lot, too. Pics are worth a thousand words. The smoke manifold (11) sits below the cooking grate even though the parts diagram has it outside the cooking chamber. Red line is air path to firebox (50) to coal chute (39) to manifold (11), then up through cooking grate and exiting at the top of the back of the cooking chamber.

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And now it’s time to pull.
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I'm getting settled into the new house, and doing a bit more smoking. Yesterday it was 5 pounds of pork belly--half seasoned, smoked, then sauced for the last hour to make burnt ends, half just seasoned and smoked to go into pork belly tacos with mango habanero slaw tonight.

The other rack on the WSM was for chicken poppers, a Malcolm Reed recipe I'd just run across and had to try just for the shear goodness of the ingredients that go into it. Make jalapeños poppers, with cream cheese, a bit of shredded cheddar and sliced scallion, and BBQ rub. Wrap the poppers in boneless skinless chicken thighs, well seasoned with rub. Wrap the chicken thighs in bacon, more rub, smoke for a couple of hours in a pan, then remove, dip in sauce, and put directly on the grate to set the sauce.

To recap, a jalapeños popper wrapped in a chicken thigh wrapped in bacon! They are exceptional!

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Wish I would have taken a picture, but made a lambs shoulder yesterday (got lazy when I was butchering it and only cut the quarter into a few big roasts, I soaked it for a few hours in water with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, thyme, mustard powder, and rosemary). Used bone dry mulberry wood logs with a few charcoal briquettes to get tit going in half of a kettle grill, ran it indirect heat with really heavy cool smoke for about 2 hours, then pulled the lid off, fanned up some flames from the wood and seared it on all side, then moved it back to indirect heat, lid back on and throttled way back to mild smoke for another couple hours. Best lamb I’ve had in my life.
 
Flatiowa said:
Wish I would have taken a picture, but made a lambs shoulder yesterday (got lazy when I was butchering it and only cut the quarter into a few big roasts, I soaked it for a few hours in water with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, thyme, mustard powder, and rosemary). Used bone dry mulberry wood logs with a few charcoal briquettes to get tit going in half of a kettle grill, ran it indirect heat with really heavy cool smoke for about 2 hours, then pulled the lid off, fanned up some flames from the wood and seared it on all side, then moved it back to indirect heat, lid back on and throttled way back to mild smoke for another couple hours. Best lamb I’ve had in my life.
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There was a technique the Afghanis (and other Middle Eastern) people used. And that was to dig a ten foot hole in the ground and start a BBQ fire in it and suspend a whole lamb or sheep in it for a few hours via a pulley. Spices were rubbed on the meat.

I have tried my hand at souvlaki. I've come close but never as close as the street vendors in Athens when I was a kid living there.
 
My wife is an ingenious Guatemalan, and her family has taught me a few cooking ways I would have never believed if told, or tried unless peer pressured by them but darn glad I did. “Pit cooking” by digging a hole lighting a bonfire in it and when it gets down to coals put the meat rolled in green corn leaves on them and burying it for half a day is a kinda well know one and I knew of it before, but putting tomatoes, peppers and squash plants directly onto an ashed over bed of coals was a new one. It realy works, the skins char as it cooks and when it’s done it just can be sluffed off and leaves it clean with a slight Smokey and maillarded taste. Smoked avocado with shrimp “cooked” in lime juice (not really cooked, raw, but made safe to eat by soaking in acidic solutions kinda like a shell fish sushi), beef steaks cooked directly on a big flaming log, build a big fire and get a log burning to when it’s turning white with ash, brush off the ash to get to the red char and put the meat directly on it. The last one is actually really good.
 
IMG_5980.jpegI guess this isnt technically bbq but I was in charge of fajitas tonight
 
Matthew said:
How about a Pulled Pork Bloody Mary?

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So Wisconsin isn't the only place with ridiculous Bloodys?

I mean, that isn't much above, but we have local bars here who, in addition to the "normal" garnishes, will put things like an entire cheeseburger or an entire fried chicken on a stick into their Bloody Marys... You can eat and drink all day on one of these:
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FWIW, the Bloody Beast at Sobelman's is topped with celery, pickled polish sausage, colby jack cheese, shrimp, lemon, grape tomato, brussels sprouts, pickled asparagus, pickled mushroom, cheeseburger sliders, bacon wrapped cheese balls, and an entire fried chicken. $60.
 
And for dessert, a pork sundae:

(People make them differently, but usually layers of pulled pork, beans, slaw, and mashed potatoes.)

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Tomorrow will be a challenge. We are doing Oktoberfest at work. We have a single charcoal grill and the ladies picked up the tri tip on Tuesday (It went in the freezer.) There is a lot - five of them, so I'll have to do them in two loads plus there are sausages and veggie burgers. We will see how well Iron Chef Sac manages.
 
Matthew said:
And for dessert, a pork sundae:

(People make them differently, but usually layers of pulled pork, beans, slaw, and mashed potatoes.)

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Yes! They sell those at Brewers games. So, after you have your fried chicken cheeseburger topped Bloody Mary, you can go to the ballgame and have a Pork Parfait (aka a "Porkfait").
 
Flatiowa said:
People actually eat these?
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With my hands tied behind my back!

Honestly, I’ve never had one. I’ve seen them, though, and they look awesome. Last time I saw them was as a BBQ contest a few months ago when someone entered them as a dessert entry. Those dessert entries are always prettied up like they are set for a magazine photo shoot and they look amazing. My judging table didn’t get them, though.
 
Well shizzle me fizz nits. When I pulled the tri tip out of the fridge this morning they were still frozen solid. The two big ones still are. I guess on the positive note they all were trimmed pretty close so I won't need to do any fat trimming. Hopefully they will be thawed enough by cooking time.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Well shizzle me fizz nits. When I pulled the tri tip out of the fridge this morning they were still frozen solid. The two big ones still are. I guess on the positive note they all were trimmed pretty close so I won't need to do any fat trimming. Hopefully they will be thawed enough by cooking time.
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A zip lock bag and a sink of cold water will fix you right up.
 
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