BBQ and Q@-VIEW thread for the weekend of 24-26 APR 2009

[tasunkawitko]

looking good!

 

[rons]

thanks and I say 'yeah baby, check the temp!!' yes!

 

[rons]

cool still at 280! We might get to actually eat something that was cooked all the way on the smoker for once! (save the thin salmon that did cook fine)

 

[tasunkawitko]

keep it coming, ron!

this weekend, i just a quick smoke in my ECB for a breakfast fatty. spent the rest of the day getting ready for my #4 son's 7th birthday party (even though his birthday isn't actually until the 28th).

anyway, it was just a simple fatty - 2 lbs of jimmy dean maple rolled out and stuffed with cheddar cheese. i did put a little rub on the outside and inside. here it is when it's maybe half-cooked:

here it is finished nd resting for a few minutes before slicing:

even though i only put half as much cheese as usual, it was still pretty cheesy. check out that nice smoke ring!

interestingly, i used a combination of hickory and poplar for this smoke. the poplar seemed to smell very sweet and slightly bitter, but the bitterness didn't show up in the meat, which carried a sweet tang similar i think to maple but more subtle.

 

[rivet]

Very nice fattie there! I'm starting to really like the look of the baconless-wrapped fatties for some reason. The meat looks great that way.

Nice breakfast there and happy birthday to son #4!

 

[tasunkawitko]

i don't think i've ever done a fatty wrapped in bacon - i did a meatloaf last year and laid bacon across it, but that was it.

i'm already petty husky (that's the polite word to use!) to begin with and figured that as much as i like bacon, it would just be too much on top of commercial sausage, which tends to be awfully fatty" already.

of course, i have no problem at all wrapping bacon around an ABT! ;)

 

[rons]

wow those look textbook poyfect!!!

Our chicken was done about 30 minutes ago, Turkey almost done too, wow those extra vents did the trick!!! Pic will follow when I get the gobbler off

 

[rivet]

I'm with you on the husky part. I understand...we're all either getting, or gonna get, thick around the middle.

 

[grouper sandwich]

We're looking at bacon wrapped grilled backstrap here with a side of ABT's and SABT's and fresh strawberry pie for dessert. Just fired up the smoker for the turds.

 

[tasunkawitko]

very nice, grouper!

 

[tasunkawitko]

well, by some goofy coincidence, i get to do a rack of beef ribs today (i always thought they were called short ribs but the package says "beef back ribs?").

being that these are beef and i haven't done beef before, i am going to try something different. i'll give the rack a healthy coating of durkee's kansas city steak seasoning, which has granulated onion and garlic, cracked black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes and a few other herbs and spices:

and then i will put these on the ECB low and slow until they look done.

any advice on times, cooking temps and internal temps would be appreciated. also, how will these go if i do them dry, like spares - or will they need to befoiled, a la 3-2-1?

thanks in advance!

 

[tasunkawitko]

i removed the thin membrane from the back of the rack and then brushed them down with olive oil. i then applied a liberal coating of durkee's kansas sity steak seasoning to both sides.

while that sits in the fridge for a while to let the flaors sink in, i am preparing my charcoal pan for my ECB. i've got 30 kingsford briquettes lighting in a chimney starter, and then 30 sitting on each side of my charcoal pan.

when the briqs in the chimney are going well, i will dump them at the "north" end of the pan. as they slowly burn, they will light the briqs down the side of the pan and help maintain a good, consistent temperature for several hours while the ribs cook low and slow over smoke.

what smoke? i haven't yet decided between hickory, apple or cherry. if i use the cherry, it is blended with alder and in chip form, so i will need to use a foil pack. if i sue apple, it is in natural stick form. hickory will be in good-sized chunks. right now, i am leaning toward the cherry/alder.

 

[chisoxjim]

another great day of smoking yesterday, the rain tried to put a damper on the smoker temp, and my mood, but it was not to be.

Did 1 rack 2-2-1 then added sauce the last hour, one rack unwrapped, some baked beans with cut up hotdogs, brown sugar, mustard, bbq sauce, and garlic powder for 2.5 hours, and a batch of armadillo eggs made with Italian sausage, marinara, and olives stuffed with jalapenos.

All turned out great.


rubbed and ready:



3.5 hours



4 hours:



sauced 2-2-1:



unsauced/unwrapped:



slainte:

 

[tasunkawitko]

looks like a great smoke, jim!

--------------

as for my sunday smoke, the briqs got going, so i dumped them in the charcoal pan thusly:

this actually works TOO well as the temps are jsut a little higher than i prefer - perhaps start with 20 or 15 next time rather than 30? to top it off, i filled the water pan 3/4 full with almost-boiling water and added a cherry/alder-stuffed foil log right in the open space at the 6 o'clock position.

at 0900, the ribs went on - yes, they DO look good, don't they?

 

[chisoxjim]

thanks, your ribs are looking good as well.

mine were some of the best ribs I have done yet, I am almost embarassed to say that I really liked the 2-2-1 sauced ribs( I typically am just a unwrapped, dry rub guy, and worry about the ribs steaming in the foil doing the 2-2-1).

The beans, and the eggs were also excellent.

I am taking this next weekend off to get the property, and house in order for the 50+ people I am having over for the first annual Marseilles in May- Bring your own smoker potluck on May 9th.

 

[tasunkawitko]

sounds like it should be a good time!

---------------

at 1000 i mopped/spritzed the ribs on both sides with a variation on my good ol' mop. the mop for today incorporated 1-1/4 cups of dr. pepper, a half cup of teriyaki sauce and 1/4 cup olive oil.

here's the bottom side:

and the top side:

everything looking and smelling great so far ~

 

[tasunkawitko]

as of 1100, temps are still holding well. i sprayed another round of mop on both sides and here's how they looked:

bottom:

top:

 

[tasunkawitko]

at noon, i shoved the remaining briquetes to one side and added 30 more briques next to them. i also mopped both sides.

bottom:

top:

 

[morkdach]

just some ribs & beans will have more later heres the ribs getten started.

 

[tasunkawitko]

looking good, mork!

-------------------

alright - i've got a glaze heating up for the last 15-30 minutes of the smoke. normally for pork ribs, i use 1/3 mustard, 1/3 apple cider vinegar and 1/3 cup of brown sugar with outstanding results.

for the beef ribs, i figured i might as well not mess with a good thing TOO much, so i used the vinegar and brown sugar, but added ketchup rather than mustard. i also added about a tablespoon or worsty sauce. i consider this a test run, since i've neve done this before, but this should be good stuff.

i'll start checking temperatures at 1300. not sure what is the best temp to pull them, but i am assuming it is at least 170 degrees - will buck it up a little higher if it looks necessary, closer to 180.