Let's talk BBQ!

[steve-in-kville]

My wife scored some spare ribs at a great price. Got them in the oven pretty early on. It appears that most Americans have a take on what good BBQ should be. I never was a big griller but have done some wild things over wood fires and the conventional kitchen oven.

Post up your favorite tricks and/or recipes!

[temporal1]

Forum resource: ragpicker

Contrary to my tagline, my last brisket was not "killer" good. / The Homestead
viewtopic.php?t=1320

[steve-in-kville]

Forum resource: ragpicker

Contrary to my tagline, my last brisket was not "killer" good. / The Homestead
viewtopic.php?t=1320

Thought of him the other day. Miss his content. I think we knew a bunch of the same people.

[Josh]

Unpopular opinion: I think BBQ, smoked meats, smokers, electronic controlled pellet smokers, smoke flavouring additives, Big Green Eggs, BBQ sauces, dry rubs, seasonings, pulled pork, ribs, and so on and so forth are an overhyped fad and are a bit overdone right now. To top it off, a lot of the BBQ I’ve had over the past few years just isn’t very good…

[QuietlyListening]

We have smoked pork and a corned beef to get pastrami but mostly it is my son who smokes some. He would smoke some pork butts and beef brisket and does a cook job. I enjoy it from time to time but don't enjoy a steady diet of smoked foods.
We recently went in with our son to buy a smoker and grill combo and the deal was when he smokes meat we get a portion. . Hasn't smoked any in over a year and won't until he is done with chemo and its affects.

I enjoy BBQing chicken on the grill- I use a variety of sauces but tend to not like them overly sweet and like some of the balsamic based sauces to baste with.

I've never done ribs- do you do yours in the oven all the time or grill them too?
No real tips as we don't do it enough.

[Ken]

I noticed brisket on sale at the local Costco on Friday and so picked one up for the very first time and smoked it on my gas grill yesterday. Followed a basic recipe, marinated it overnight in a spice rub then smoked/grilled it for 9 hours on low heat with some mesquite chips to provide smoke. The results were within pretty good striking distance of the typical BBQ we'd get back in Texas. I'm not enough of a purist to really judge but the daughter thought was just like back in TX. But it was honestly too much trouble than it was worth and I spent a lot of time trimming off a LOT of fat before it was ready for the grill. So not in a hurry to try brisket again.

Three random thoughts on BBQ.

1. On ribs. I have done them a bunch of ways and if you want fall-off-the-bone tender ribs with a minimum of fuss the method I have settled on is to coil them up in my Instant Pot (or slow cooker) and cook until done, then "finish" them for 10 min or so on a cookie sheet under the broiler with some sauce brushed on to give them a charred/carmelized finish. Much easier and faster than fussing with them for hours on a grill or in the oven and the result is about the same if not better. In fact better if you like them juicy and not dry. There are lots of slow cooker and instant pot rib recipes online if you want to try this method.

2. On sauces. Don't buy fancy bottle sauces. Sauces are easy to make from scratch and far superior. Most bottled sauces are full of corn syrup. My go-to home-made sauce is the basic BBQ sauce from Steven Raichlen's BBQ Bible cookbook. But you can find endless recipes online or tweak it in any direction you want (sweeter, more vinegary, hotter, more mustardy, more garlic, etc.). You can skip the liquid smoke and just toss in some garlic salt to replace the "rub" in this recipe and it comes out fine.



3. On sides. This is where most BBQ places go wrong in my opinion. At least in TX. Waco where we lived and Central TX in general are filled to the brim with an endless array of BBQ places. They are everywhere and people are always going on BBQ safaris looking for the next undiscovered roadside BBQ joint. But they all seem to religiously adhere to the same exact formula which is slow cooked brisket or ribs that is ALWAYS served with the same mediocre sides: white bread, pickles, baked beans, hot links, and *maybe* potato salad. And the "authentic" places just pile it on a piece of butcher paper and hand it to you.

The same thing would happen at work-related catered event I ever attended during our 13 years there at either my or my wife's job. There seem to be only two kinds of catered meals in Waco: BBQ with all the same sides catered by a BBQ restaurant. Or a "Fajita Bar" catered by a local Mexican restaurant. Of the two the fajita bars are superior because you at least get something green and tasty on the side. If there was ever a BBQ joint in TX that decided to actually serve good and innovative sides like grilled vegetables, salads, etc. I'd be there. But the white bread, baked beans, and hot links just gets old.

This is basically what every single BBQ joint in Texas does. Don't mess with the brisket, but at least show some imagination when it comes to the sides. Or maybe that's just me and I was never a proper Texan.

[ohio jones]

Unpopular opinion: I think BBQ, smoked meats, smokers, electronic controlled pellet smokers, smoke flavouring additives, Big Green Eggs, BBQ sauces, dry rubs, seasonings, pulled pork, ribs, and so on and so forth are an overhyped fad and are a bit overdone right now.

But I would not want them to be entirely rare, just more of a happy medium.

[MaxPC]

I am the last person in the family that is trusted to cook anything except boiling water. Even then they will post a five year old to be sure I do not start a kitchen fire … with water.

We do have one of those charcoal type grills. It is a kettle-shaped grill we found at a yard sale. My wife uses it and one of our sons has become adept at grilling. Not me.

I quite like American BBQ as long as the sauce is not too sweet. I am partial to those vinegar sauces used in the Carolinas I believe?

[Signtist]

Unpopular opinion: I think BBQ, smoked meats, smokers, electronic controlled pellet smokers, smoke flavouring additives, Big Green Eggs, BBQ sauces, dry rubs, seasonings, pulled pork, ribs, and so on and so forth are an overhyped fad and are a bit overdone right now. To top it off, a lot of the BBQ I’ve had over the past few years just isn’t very good…

Oh, OK. I like my Weber kettle, some charcoal and a bit of wood for smoke, but you do you.

[steve-in-kville]

My wife scored some spare ribs at a great price. Got them in the oven pretty early on. It appears that most Americans have a take on what good BBQ should be. I never was a big griller but have done some wild things over wood fires and the conventional kitchen oven.

Post up your favorite tricks and/or recipes!

The method I have been using as of late with ribs: I use a dry rub. Nothing fancy, but I've been using one called Sweet & Smokey. Put the ribs in a shallow baking sheet and add some apple juice. Just a sprinkle. Bake uncovered in a 425* pre-heated oven for 30 to 50 minutes, depending on how much of a dark "bark" or desire.

Remove from the oven, lower the temp to 325* and tent the ribs in foil. Bake another few hours. Around an hour before serving, knock the temp back to 225*. Typically, about a half hour prior to serving I brush the entire thing in sauce (lately Stubb's original) and pit back in the oven uncovered. Most tasteful and pull-off-the-bone I have eaten to this day.