Bogarbecue's 1st Annual 4th of July BBQ

[nickyb]

First things first anyone in the Panhandle area of FL is invited.  Link to the location is later.

Other than that, I have always been the one to bring BBQ to the parties.  And normally for events like this my neighbors are the one's hosting.  Well this year I decided I was hosting as they planned to be out of town.  I have invited a whole load of people and I am still thinking I am going to be eating BBQ for a couple weeks after, though I am not complaining.

Figured I would post some pictures.  Tonight I am going to put my own rub on the boston butts, all 68#s of it.  I also have somewhere around 30#s of spare ribs and 4 whole fryer chickens.  So a lot of food not including the sides I am going to be making.

So on to pictures.  Right now the boston butts have been rinsed and are sitting wrapped in towels to help them dry off.

The ribs will get the same rub tomorrow as the butts.  Until then they are chilling in the fridge.

The chicken is going into a mojo marinade tomorrow evening until it is time to put them in the smoker.

And as I promised here is the link to the event

 

[nickyb]

So this is the first time I have actually gotten a case of butts and I must say it is definitely a mix bag of results.  Overall I don't think they are to bad.  I trimmed them but other than that they didn't seem to disagreeable.  

I made my seasoning and rubbed down the butts.  Now into the fridge they go till about 9PM tomorrow evening.  I plan to let them cook for a while and those that get done early will be foiled and into the cooler to wait until it is time to PARTY!!!  Other than that a buddy of mine is coming over and we are going to drink beer, probably shoot a couple fireworks off, and tend to the fire till I bank it up for the evening. 

Which is something that has made me pretty happy.  I think after almost a year of owning it that I have figured out my smoker and how to get a decent long burning fire.  LOTS OF WOOD!!!  Hehe normally I am hesitant to put to much on but I have found if I build up a nice hot fire with smaller chucks and have a good bed of coals I can throw a big log on top and it burns just right to last hours.  Still working with it some as from previous smokers putting in to much wood ends in disaster so it has taken a little experimenting and hoping and praying it doesn't go to wrong.

Anyways time for bed but before I go here are all the rubbed butts.

 

[bmudd14474]

Looks like you will have some fun. I also am doing a case of butts for the 4th. Good luck.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Looks like fun . Big 'Parties' are fun to Host , they test your skills and abilities. Now get a friend as a DJ or a little band and party all night long (the neighbors will either join you or call you in...

.

And a ful Smoker is a beautiful sight :

Have fun and...

 

[nickyb]

Alright so getting the fire going.  Using a mix of Red Oak and Hickory.  First time using Red Oak but the guy I got if from says mixed with hickory gives a nice flavor little sweet than the pecan I am used to using.  Any thoughts?

Also for the first time I have five different temp gauges inside the smoker and it is getting temps from ever corner and they all are reading the same temp with in the margins off how off they were from each other to begin with.  Which is surprising because right now it is burning kinda hot because I am still working on the coal bed.  So I expected the side nearest the fire box to be a lot hotter.  Not that I am complaining.  

So the boston butts are getting ready to go on and I will be putting the rub on the ribs here shortly as well as the marinade for the turkeys.  All in all pretty good so far for timing.  Now to finish getting the house ready!

 

[nickyb]

Made an oops last night.  My neighbors and an out of town friend came over and we got to drinking some beers and well I had a couple to many and though I had the fire going nice and steady I went to sleep for about 4 hours and woke up to little more than hot ash  :-(  But not to worry I got the fire going again and now it is getting to the point where it is all plateauing or just over.  One is already at over 180°.  Getting ready to add the chickens and ribs.  I am also going to put on the rib tips and some of them are going to get used in my smoked mac and cheese.

 

[nickyb]

First butt is off and wrapped in the cooler.  Another is getting ready to come off the rest are just getting past the plateau so all is well.  As long as the ribs work with me this should be awesome!