50th Surprise!

[nickyb]

So a buddy of mine, his soon to be father in law is turning 50 tomorrow and we are throwing him a surprise birthday party.  As such I was informed he likes pulled pork.  So I just put 4 8.5lb boston butts on the smoker, sorry forgot to get those pictures, and I have 9 racks spare ribs and 4 chickens getting ready to go on as well.  Well I will be putting those on in the morning.  In addition they are getting all six of my different BBQ or Bogarbecue [emoji]8482[/emoji]- Pending ;-D Sauces.  Will take some pics of the sauces as well later as I don't get to sleep much tonight.  The pleasure and woes of a stick burner.  Thankfully got my faithful maverick for just incase something needs checking.

The ribs above have my own personal rub on them.  It isn't anything to special yet though I did try a few new things so we will see how they turn out.  The ones below are in Mojo marinade cut with water.  I will be flipping them periodically just so they don't get to much acidic juices in them.  Usually works out pretty well though.

The chickens are also in the mojo.  I have two of these containers in the fridge.

 

[nickyb]

Finished making two sauces last night, Apple Jalapeno and Peach Habanero, I also have a Raspberry Habenaro simmering right now.  I must say my newest toy is one of the coolest and saved me a lot of time with straining out Bogarbecue Sauce.  

But it is still one heck of a work out for the arms.  Turning that handle to get all the sauces through isn't easy.  :-D

One thing I know for sure is that I have pretty much perfected my recipe.  I was straining it last night got a little on my finger and tasted it.  I thought to myself "Holy hell this BBQ sauce is good I need to figure out who makes it so I can try and replicate it."  Then I realized it was my Sauce and I went "Well damn now I know its good stuff"

In addition I put the ribs and chicken in the smoker.

And I took a look at my butts.  They are about 160°F IT right now and climbing pretty steadily

 

[daveomak]

NickyB, morning... Doing the Q for the big "50" will be a real treat...

About the sauce.... Kitchen Aid makes an attachment that does what the hand crank does for you.... We use it for tomato sauce, pumpkin pie filling etc....  Really a time saver and it makes a smooth sauce....  When we used it for the first pumpkin pie filling, the pie was the best I ever ate...  you can't imagine how many "threads" (for the lack of a better word) were in the meat of the pumpkin that were removed.... I never knew they were there... The texture was awesome......    Dave  

 

[southernsausage]

Looks great! The sauces sound very good well!!

 

[shoneyboy]

No words, just

....... Great lookings start and a fantastic ideal for a B-day present.....Your buddy is lucky to have you as a friend/Q'er...Tell his FIL Happy 50th Birthday from Louisiana.........ShoneyBoy

 

[scarbelly]

Looks like you are off to a great start 

 

[dewetha]

that is outstanding! I know how much work making all that rub,sauces and prepping 9 racks is adding chickens and butts is over the top! looks like you will have some happy guests!

 

[nickyb]

NickyB, morning... Doing the Q for the big "50" will be a real treat...

About the sauce.... Kitchen Aid makes an attachment that does what the hand crank does for you.... We use it for tomato sauce, pumpkin pie filling etc....  Really a time saver and it makes a smooth sauce....  When we used it for the first pumpkin pie filling, the pie was the best I ever ate...  you can't imagine how many "threads" (for the lack of a better word) were in the meat of the pumpkin that were removed.... I never knew they were there... The texture was awesome......    Dave  

Yeah Victorio makes one as well but I actually like doing it by hand crank.  Not that I don't trust the motor quite the opposite, it is in fact the same reason I use a stick burner, chop my own wood, make my own sauces, etc I have the slight purist streak in me that likes tracking things from beginning to end.  Makes life all the more interesting even if I am sleep deprived.

No words, just

....... Great lookings start and a fantastic ideal for a B-day present.....Your buddy is lucky to have you as a friend/Q'er...Tell his FIL Happy 50th Birthday from Louisiana.........ShoneyBoy

I will make sure he knows!  He is a pretty good guy for a FIL so I am more than happy to do this for him / them.

Looks like you are off to a great start 

Thanks

Looks great! The sauces sound very good well!!

They are, I love my sauces and one of these days I am going to jar up some of the small ones and let you guys try them so I can get some feedback on what you "pros" think.

that is outstanding! I know how much work making all that rub,sauces and prepping 9 racks is adding chickens and butts is over the top! looks like you will have some happy guests!

I will say since I have had three hours of sleep total since I was up watching the fire anyone not happy (unless I am already not happy with something) is definitely going to meet the end of my boot. But since I half kill myself normally doing this I plan to have a lot of happy people and possibly I might actually pick up a few catering jobs from this as well.

 

[nickyb]

Oh and I threw on stuff to make my Peach Chipotle sauce since I realized I am bringing, Apple Jalapeno, Peach Habanero, Raspberry Habanero, Mango Habanero, and not my iconic and first sauce Peach Chipotle which has a nice small burn that the wife likes (and she doesn't like spicy).  So even though I didn't really feel like it I felt it was needed.

Thanks for all the great comments by the way.  Helps keep me motivated!

- Nick

 

[dewetha]

those sauces sound great!  one of my next ventures is to go with a fruit based rib glaze.

 

[ybfm]

Wow!  Those sauces sound freakin' fantastic!!  I don't think I'll be able to take the final product pics....lol.....

Rich

 

[nickyb]

Wow!  Those sauces sound freakin' fantastic!!  I don't think I'll be able to take the final product pics....lol.....

Rich

That is why I make it by the gallon.  It makes it so much easier.

I am back from the party and it went off awesome.  I was worried that the butts wouldn't finish in time but they finished even better.  Right at 3pm they were ready to come off and so was everything else.  So I pulled them off threw them in their own pans to rest and loaded them into the truck.  I then had to hectically get everything else, to include a 6 year old and three month old, and get out the door.  I managed to do it and got there around 4ish.  I brought in all the meat and a friend cut up the ribs and chicken while I pulled the pork.

I don't have pics of me or the food at the party as I was way to busy as it was flying off the tray as we got it out.  I got a load of complements and people were telling me how much they liked the food.  They asked for business cards but foolish I didn't have any made.

That didn't stop business though.  Now I am catering a wedding in the fall as well as a few other events during the summer.  The wedding actually is changing from using a restaurant to going with me.  I also had several people telling me they were interested in backing me when I am ready to open my own place.

All this makes me excited because not only does it make the entire night of little sleep and ant attacks, wood chopping, and sauce making worth it, this is also one of the first times that I have really been happy with what I made and I enjoyed seeing people eating it and lighting up.  So so worth it.

Now on to the stuff you all really care about PICTURES!

The ribs turned out pretty well.  I had some heat issues so not all of them got done quite to where I wanted them but they had some really good flavor and still pulled off the bones nice and clean with just a little tugging.

Rib tips kept throwing people off but it is also the first time I did those.  They just didn't know what it was and I kept explaining it to them.  When they tried it they really liked it though.  I left these in the smoker a little to long and some of them were a little dried out.  I should have pulled them chopped them and put a sauce / glaze over them.  Haven't done them before so I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  I am thinking next time a honey and something glaze / sauce.

People kept telling me the chicken is the best they ever had and that each bite popped in their mouth.  I definitely love my mojo marinade.

Now the most important picture ...

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THE BIRTHDAY BOY and the back of someone's head!

 

[jirodriguez]

Outstanding job! I just did my first cater gig, and it is a LOT of work, but very satisfying when everybody raves about the food, and the person who bought it immediately wants to schedule another! LOL

 

[hooligan8403]

Congrats on the success and the future catering gigs. If your opening your own place or going into catering its definatly a lot of work and a lot less sleep but you can make good money from it and the way your doing it people will know by the quality of the food all the blood and sweat you put into the meal. Churches were always a good source of catering business for me when I used to do it as was the technical college in the area I was in. I had a church have me cater a meal a week for them for 3 months straight. Never had any complaints and that was just as satisfying as cashing the check.

 

[nickyb]

Outstanding job! I just did my first cater gig, and it is a LOT of work, but very satisfying when everybody raves about the food, and the person who bought it immediately wants to schedule another! LOL

Well I certain love doing it enough to be willing to schedule another.  I have done several this is just one of the first where I didn't delivery and go.  Normally one of the places I delivery to is where the wife works and that is inside a building I can't get into anymore.  So I don't normally see peoples reactions.

Congrats on the success and the future catering gigs. If your opening your own place or going into catering its definatly a lot of work and a lot less sleep but you can make good money from it and the way your doing it people will know by the quality of the food all the blood and sweat you put into the meal. Churches were always a good source of catering business for me when I used to do it as was the technical college in the area I was in. I had a church have me cater a meal a week for them for 3 months straight. Never had any complaints and that was just as satisfying as cashing the check.

I am definitely hoping this opens some doors into bigger jobs that do just what you said.  Establishes a customer base so that when I do open a place I have customers ready and willing to fill it up and tell their friends!