BBQ Across America - Weekend of 1-3 MAY 2009

[tasunkawitko]

hey, guys -

sorry i wasn't able to start this yesterday.

we started of the weekend pretty modestly. simply grilled a few of hillshire farm's cheddarwursts on my gas grill. no big deal, no q-view.

for today i am thinking of doing some country style ribs. i've got an event in the middle of the afternoon (pinewood derby for my son's cub scout pack) and might put them on before i go.

i wanted to marinade in pineapple/teriyaki, but have neither of the ingredients for that, so will probably just use rivet's rub and my standard mop with sunkist (1 cup sunkist, 2/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce and 1/3 cup of olive oil) - also my favorite finishing glaze (1/3 cup each of apple cider vinegar, dark brown sugar and mustard).

for tomorrow, i am helping a friend do a brisket. here's the link:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=76195

we decided to go with a brisket that is about 8lbs and will be starting around 8am. i have to play guitar at church, so will be friving up 20 miles to the smoke, helping to get started, then leaving and driving back 20 miles to church and then coming back up after church. my wife might veto this idea though, reminding me that gas doesn't grow on trees! if that happens, i will miss out on the beginning and will simply show up after church.

we'll take it a step at a time!

how about the rest of you pitmasters? what's going on this weekend??

 

[chisoxjim]

Flat cut of corned beef soaked overnight(water changed out 4x), rubbed down, and just waiting for the smoker to come up to temp(230 right now).

Russian dressing made, swiss cheese, kraut and rye bread purchased for tonights sandwiches.

Gonna smoke the pastrami to 180 degrees, then do the steaming method I saw on another thread, until I get the meat to about 205, rest, slice serve.

 

[mikey]

Thought I was going to dodge the "smokin' bullet" today, but that didn't happen. The wench came back from the store with 2 racks of spares, then took off again to fetch up some spuds. So I guess I'm smokin' today, which is ok since I need to learn how to trim these babies up St. Louis style. It'll be good practice for the upcoming smoke at the end of the month.

 

[irishteabear]

I have absolutely no idea what I'll be smoking. I have nothing in the house that sounds good. I have to go to the store a little later. Guess I'll see what the kids want. More than likely I'll smoke it and then they'll change their minds again.

 

[rons]

Today is a weird day for me...

Fun stuff: chicken and a bunch of legs in some brine to cook today

Not fun stuff: our company shut down yesterday, I've been there 24 years,... I'm so friggen scared now. No job

 

[killbuck]

3 racks of BB's here tomorrow for 7 of us. I doubt if the youngest eats much tho, he's only 5 weeks old. No Q's tho. My daughter took my camera back to Fla with her and I'm in NY so I doubt if I'll be seeing it again period. I'm thinking about getting a good digital SLR but gotta work that in with the budget. (moan)

 

[mikey]

Well, here's the meager offering for this weekend. I've just got pics of the spares right now. Spuds (like no one has seen a potato before) will be posted later in the finale. After watching the you tube video, the rear rack after the trimming.




Both racks trimmed & ready for my "so called rub" which has no salt or sugar.





On the pan gettin' ready to hit the fridge till the fire's ready. The trimmings went in to a vac bag and in the freezer. There was quite the strips (2) that were trimmed, not sure if I cut too much or not, but mine looked like what the end result was in the video. I think I might have gotten a bit aggressive with the front rack as it looks a bit thinner than the rear. Oh well; it happens. No fingers were lost in the trimming process.

 

[chisoxjim]

fauxstrami @ 130 degrees after 2 hours, I am shooting for 180 before I pull it for the steam in the oven.

Ill psot pics on a seperate thread tomorrow(I will have had too much tequila, and beer by the time I am done tonight).

 

[tasunkawitko]

ron - very sorry to hear this news. if you need anything, let us know.

mikey - good work on those ribs! also, wanted to ask if you've done any more experximents with your no-salt-no-sugar rub and also no-fatcap pork shoulders. i had good luck with the no-fatcap shoulkder but need to use up a bunh of rub before i try the no-salt-no-sugar method, which sounds good to me.

sounds good so far, everyone! keep the posts coming and don't forget the q-view!

 

[rivet]

Ron. hang in there. I know what it's like to come to work one day and find out the place is closed.

Believe in yourself, your skill, your experience. You will end up getting a better job for more money if you do this. If you don't believe in yourself why should a hiring company?

Keep us posted and if we can help, ask.

Tas~ at this point no nothing on the grill~ we have a flash flood warning in effect 'cause of all the steady rain everyday this week. It is still raining! My backyard has become a rice-paddy.

I will enjoy smoking through Q-Vue this weekend, I guess.

May the TBS float for those who smoke this weekend!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Hey Ron...I feel for ya man! Hope something else comes along soon. Keep your chin up...we'll be here with ya in our thoughts.

Good Luck!


Tasunka, you're slippin' a bit on this one...startin' kinda late this weekend! LOL!!! I was looking for it yesterday...oh well, you made it, better late than never! Run, run, run...hope it all works out.


Here's my weekend smoke so far. I hope to update it later tonight with dinner:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=76369

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Eric

 

[mikey]

TW, as a matter of fact "my so called rub" is on the ribs. From now on I'll definately be removing the fat cap. Mean while, back at the ranch, here's a shot of the spuds before they join the ribs in a mesquite & pecan smokey bliss. A coating of evoo & a nice coating of Canadian Steak seasoning on the spuds. Another one of my experiments. That's a freshly brewed batch of my "Somethin' Just a Bit Different" sauce in the Pyrex just sittin' and letting all those ingredients come together. Yum! Ron, I'm so sorry to hear the bad news.

 

[irishteabear]

We now have 4 pork tenderloins with a rub i'm working on put on them and red skinned taters with evoo, kosher salt, cbp and rosemary in the smoker for an hour so far.

This is before they went in the smoker:

 

[rons]

Thanks Ron, really appreciate the kind words :)

thanks, and wow you too? what happened with your job?

Hey thanks Eric, really appreciate that! I'm hitting usa jobs, monster.com, local websites, you name it. I'm going full force to get a new job here. :)


Great stuff everyone, I hope my chicken comes out half as good as you guy's stuff... listen to my story..

So I forget to keep an eye on the water pan... I go out to check, see 500+ on the temps.. what? I pull the lid, flames come shooting out.. 'My chickens on fire!!!'. the water pan went dry and the grease in the bottom was on fire, so I carefully add some water to it to put the chicken and pan out, it flashes, flames shoot up like a rocket engine, my wife comes running out from in the house.. yikes!!!

OK now the water pan is full and the blackened 'didn't mean to be cajum' chicken is finishing lol OOPS!

 

[irishteabear]

Sorry to hear about your job, Ron. I didn't go back and read previous posts when I did my post.

Thanks for sharing your story with us. I can picture it happening.

 

[rons]

Thanks Dawn, I'm still in shock but being hopeful :)

Man yes, I was worried I'd be going to a job interview with no eyebrows!

 

[rickw]

Sorry to hear about the job loss Ron. On a positive note; eyebrows do grow back.


I'm doing a chicken and some brats tomorrow on the new off set. I did a trial run today and things seem to go well.

 

[mikey]

Here's a shot of the ribs after a few dabs of my sauce and just before the foil job. I'm an hour behind but with unexpected company showin' up with "We could sure use your help and oh yeah, your truck" everything kinda went to h*ll in a hand basket. Just tryin' to salvage this mess. Not much pull back yet, but I can feel it's on the way

 

[irishteabear]

Everything came out really good. The tenderloins and potatoes were smoked at 220 -250 for 2.5 hrs. I took the tenderloins off, foiled them and let the taters crisp up a bit more.



Close up of the first loin I sliced.



To quote my younger son "It's a 5 star dinner Mom." Can't get much better than that!

 

[tasunkawitko]

guys - everything looks great! keep it coming!

this is almost like a bunch of folks getting together in a back yard - a great way to bounce ideas around, share news (even bad news - sorry again, ron!) and see what everyone's up to. i thank everyone for their continued support of this idea, which i think has done a lot to helps many of us get to know each other and improve out Q.

i've got about 2 dozen country-style r-ibs going as we speak - temps started out a little low but once the loaf pan full of water boiled off an i got the trusty old wind-killing blanket on the SnP, temps got good right away. just got done mopping them with a sunkist/souy sauce/olive oil mop and everything is looking good. will try to get q-view next time.

keep em coming, folks!