At the Crossroads of Smoking and Whiskey - Bourbonites Unite!

[saltytim]

IMG_20131024_172955_721.jpg

• saltytim
• Oct 25, 2013

then rubbed it with brown sugar, pepper, celery seed, mustard powder, paprika, while sipping old fitzgerald, 1849. Smoking it sunday.

 

[humdinger]

Yum yum. That butt looks good. The rub should really get into the meat with three days of marinating.

 

[bvbull200]

Bvbull200, no brine, let the chicken infused with the whisky sit in fridge for two days, rubbed the bird with ,everglades seasonings, smoked with hickory wood, 250 deg, meat temp 165 deg, about 7 hrs, but it was a 13# chicken.

Thanks!  I have been brining mine since late last night and will have to put your recipe on the books for next time.  Sounds good, though.  The pork looks crazy good, too.

I will be cooking at your temp, however.  I'm glad to hear 250* is a good temp as that is what my Bandera loves to settle at and is what I've had good results at for pork.  

I have the chicken going on tomorrow and just got done injecting a pork butt.  Right on cue for this thread, too, as it is injected with a mix of apple cider and Bird Dog Blackberry whiskey.  I've tried this before, but didn't get much injected before my injector crapped out.  This time I got a nice injection and did it plenty early.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  Putting it on around 8 a.m. and hope to pull it off to rest around 6 p.m. for an 8 p.m. serving.  I plan to wrap and ramp up the heat if I start running out of time. 

 

[bvbull200]

No pictures due to all the commotion (and drinks) last night, but the pork butt injected with a blend of apple cider and Bird Dog Blackberry whiskey was simply fantastic.  There was a slight sweet berry aroma to the pulled pork and a slight after taste, but the sweetness didn't dominate ate all.  Right after you took a bite, there was a bit of a whiskey flavor that the whiskey drinkers immediately identified and the rest called an "oak" or "woody" flavor.

Moisture level was tremendous, as well.  Only thing I regret is wrapping it as early as I did.  I like a really crisp, dark bark, but missed it by wrapping a little too early.  I know that the no-wrap method yields even darker bark, but the last time I wrapped, I caught it at just the right time and got phenomenal bark and a LOT of juice.  Just the extra moistness this time.

Whiskey drinkers, go grab a bottle of Bird Dog (it's cheap) and try it as part of your injection on a butt.  I think you'll like it.

 

[mneeley490]

I bought a small bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey yesterday. So what should I do with it? Chicken, pork butt? Part of a basic marinade, or inject straight?

 

[humdinger]

Infuse some rub into the Jack Daniels honey for about 15 minutes then strain it out, and directly inject.

 

[jeffed76]

Infuse some rub into the Jack Daniels honey for about 15 minutes then strain it out, and directly inject.

I'm going to have to try that!  Does the alcohol cook off?

 

[humdinger]

Yeah, I've injected about 5 butts with different combos of jack and coke, jack and ginger ale, jack and cider, etc...; and they always turn out fine with no residual alcohol leftover. I think the low boiling point of alcohol helps with that....

 

[saltytim]

I bought a bottle of bird dog black berry flavored whiskey last night, had a couple over, they drank it all. I was gonna smoke some venison with it. I got threw a shot, to sweet for me.Thumbs Up

 

[noboundaries]

Has anyone tried using Apple Jack or Apple Brandy in their marinades or sauces?  I'm going to give it a shot this weekend with SLC ribs.

 

[jeffed76]

Has anyone tried using Apple Jack or Apple Brandy in their marinades or sauces?  I'm going to give it a shot this weekend with SLC ribs.

Make sure to post your results. It sound really good!

 

[bvbull200]

Visiting my folks and their local liquor store had Devil's Cut on sale, 2 handles for $40 (1 was $32 alone). Here is the result:



I should be good for a little while :)

 

[nmaust]

I'm a big fan of Four Roses Small Batch, Booker's, and Breckenridge myself. On a budget, though, you can't beat Jim Beam Black.

 

[saltytim]

What state were you in, really good deal.

 

[bvbull200]

Georgetown, Texas. The liquor store is called Twin Liquors.

 

[noboundaries]

Make sure to post your results. It sound really good!

AppleJack is my new favorite addition to my doctored commercial sauce.  Laird's AppleJack is a mix of 35% Apple Brandy and 65% neutral grain alcohol. $19 at Bevmo.  6 pounds of apples go into making one 750ml bottle of AppleJack.  Laird's has 100% Apple Brandy for $30, 100 proof and uses 20 lbs of apples to make a 750ml bottle, but the blended AppleJack works great.  I might try the 100% though at some time.

We prefer a wet rib with a sweet sauce so I usually doctor up about 1 1/2 cups of my preferred commercial sauce with about 1/3 cup apricot-pineapple preserves and 3 oz bourbon, or in this case AppleJack.  The ribs in the picture below had a relatively light Sweet & Smoky rub coating then lightly dry smoked with mesquite at 275 for 3 hrs 50 mins, sprayed several times with a mix of apple cider, molasses, and water, sauced, then cooked at the same temp for another 30 minutes.  They needed to cook unsauced for probably another 45 minutes to an hour to get them to the "fall-off-the-bone" stage my wife likes, but I was hungry and they were done.  Relatively shallow 1/4" smoke ring but good "competition bite" as they say on TV; juicy, tender, and perfectly matched my bite mark.  Easily came off the bone too but held on nicely and didn't come off with one bite, which is how she likes 'em.

I've used bourbon to doctor my sauces for quite some time so it is a flavor we're familiar with.  My wife took one bite of these ribs and immediately stated she liked the AppleJack doctored sauce much better than the bourbon doctored sauce, and she previously loved the bourbon doctored sauce.  I have to agree with her.  The AppleJack complemented the pork better than the bourbon with a noticeably different taste.

Finally I was experimenting with AppleJack drinks with what on what I had on-hand in the house while the ribs were cooking.  Came up with several concoctions but our favorite creation is what I called a Drunken Apple Pie Cocktail.  My wife and I looked at each other and said "Oh, this is dangerous it goes down so easy!"  I can post the recipe if folks want it.

AppleJack Spare Ribs.JPG

• noboundaries
• Nov 3, 2013

 

[saltytim]

Post it, my wife's mouth is watering!!

 

[bvbull200]

That all looks and sounds great Noboundaries!

I'm almost regretting starting this thread as my liquor shopping list is growing out of control!  

+1 on posting the recipe for the drink.

 

[noboundaries]

Drunken Apple Pie Cocktail

Ingredients
2 1/2 oz Laird's AppleJack
1/2 oz Simple syrup (use less or more depending on your desired level of sweetness)
4 oz Simply Apple brand fresh pressed apple cider, or any fresh pressed apple cider, not the clear stuff.
2-3 shakes ground cinnamon
4 oz club soda
Apple slice for garnish (optional)
Sprig of mint for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Fill a large 16 oz glass about half full with ice.

2. Except for the club soda add the ingredients in the order shown to shaker.  Shake vigorously to mix the ingredients and break down the cinnamon.

3. Pour in the large glass.  Add the club soda.  Stir.  Take a taste then add additional ice, club soda, or apple cider to top off the glass.

4. Garnish with apple slice and a sprig of mint if you want to impress the ladies.

 

[humdinger]

Thanks Noboundaries!