Americans, give me your BBQ secrets.

[messn'n'gommin']

A simple vinegar based sauce (more a drench?):

1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup honey
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
(optional) 1-3 tablespoons red pepper flakes

This works for dry rub ingredients as well: Place ingredients in a canning jar. Cover. Shake until mixed. Remove the lid and cover the jar with plastic wrap. Perforate the lid. Replace. Refridgerate for at least an hour (several or more is even better). When ready to use, remove the plastic wrap, replace the lid. Shake! (Personal note: lol...Be careful of the size and number of holes you make in the lid!)

If you like it a bit sweeter you can go 1/1 ratio on vinegar/honey.

 

[resinryder]

Vinegar based. Sounds like a North Carolina Regional based sauce. Vinegar is huge in NC and the upper part of SC

 

[Rainman]

You are very right RR. Lexington style is heavy vinegar and eastern is more tomato based and actually a big part of SC uses mustard as a base for their sauce.

 

[s13sr20det]

im no expert, with only a gas grill and smoker box

only info i can give is cook slow and low...

 

[resinryder]

The mustard base sauce. You either love it or hate it. Sheely's BBQ in the Batesburg-Leesville area that uses it and it's delicious. But like all sauces, no 2 mustard based ones are the same, lol Maurice Bessinger's Piggy Park was always good to stop by when in the Columbia area.

 

[watts]

dont forget to try some slaw with your bbq...

some use mayo and some don't. I think they use a more vinegar based slaw around the carolinas if i'm not mistaken. It's good on the pork sandwich.

 

[MrSterling]

I was a slow convert to the slaw on the sandwich but it's good.

 

[idiit]

i'm from kc and love my bbq!

used to go down to the original arthur bryant's next to the old kc chiefs stadium and get their brisket and fries rolled up in kc star newspaper ( b/w print, no color). french chefs used to fly into kc for this stuff and raved about it back in europe.

here's my tip:

try balsamic vinegar straight as a marinade. don't mix with oil. then coat the meat/poultry with oil to seal in the baslamic vinegar and add dry rub on top.

i like to fast char my meat/poultry hot and hard and then pull off to the side to smoke up.

i believe that when you mix oil and vinegar ( standard marinade technique) the oil impedes the vinegar from penetrating so i do a two step approach. it really works.

the basalmic vinegar straight and then sealed in with oil is my best bbq trick. wonderful! really caramelizes up to some splendid deep caramelized flavors.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

OK, K-S-P mentioned Brinkmans grills. I have seen the Brinkman Gourmet grill, which isn't much more expensive than my DIY plan for electric with PID controller. I have seen on some BBQ sites saying that this grill is hard to control the temperature due to it being open bottomed. Does anyone have experience with this unit?

What are people opinions on using liquid smoke flavour for making pulled pork in my normal kitchen oven?

 

[MrSterling]

Harry, it works, just go sparingly. I used to make 60 lbs. Of pork bbq a time in an oven. Slow on a lower temp and keep it moist seemed to be the best way to transition to an indoor oven.

 

[Al Botross]

Low and Slllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow, with smoke -- no secret

 

[MrSterling]

Can't smoke in a regular oven though!

 

[Rainman]

HG - Low and slow in the oven is a good way to go when weather is bad cause the weather will cause the outdoor grill to flucuate temps. In the oven go no higher than 275* and use the liquid smoke sparringly. It is usually very concentrated and its easy to use too much. On buying vs making your own grill, you will enjoy the homemade grill much more and wood is always better than electricity if you ask a old pit cooker. JMHO tho!! I looked online at many varieties of smokers and the next project is a real stone and mortor smoke house. The link below shows what I will be working on soon. There are also a load of recipes and designs on this page. Hope it helps.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/smokehouse-plans/smokehouse-construction

Watts - Slaw is is mandatory in pulled pork!! I prefer the red but mayo based is just as popular. Good call! How did I forget the slaw!!

RR - It seems we have traveled some of the smae dirt. Mustard based was never my thing growing up but I came from the heart of pulled pork country and such sauce was deemed almost criminal!!! I still like it but could never tell my family I ever tried it!!!

 

[Harry Gypsna]

Thank you Mr Sterling and Rainman.
One more question, when people say yellow mustard, I'm assuming that means something like Frenchs American mustard(yum), tangy as opposed to hot like English mustard(which I hate with a passion). I like spicy food but something about English mustard makes me want to spew.

I thought I would get slated for the liquid smoke.......

Right now I've got some chicken thighs and legs marinating in Jack Daniels BBQ sauce to go in the oven tomorrow.

 

[resinryder]

Yup French's. Here's what it does. It helps the seasoning, rub, marinate into the meat and hold in the rub. Once you smoke your meat the mustard flavor is gone. The vinegar in the mustard seals the meat, holds in the juices, helps to keep your seasonings from washing away with the fat as it drips off..
Also on pork ribs. On the back side, bone side, there is a thin membrane that needs to be removed. Just something like a knife, screwdriver tip, whatever you got to get underneath it and start peeling it off. Once you get enough of it up grab a paper towel, rag, etc. Grab hold of the membrane and just pull it off. Not removing the membrane will cause the ribs to curl up during the cooking process as it shrinks, and it's not very pleasant to eat.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

Also on pork ribs. On the back side, bone side, there is a thin membrane that needs to be removed. Just something like a knife, screwdriver tip, whatever you got to get underneath it and start peeling it off. Once you get enough of it up grab a paper towel, rag, etc. Grab hold of the membrane and just pull it off. Not removing the membrane will cause the ribs to curl up during the cooking process as it shrinks, and it's not very pleasant to eat.

I've just been watching the BBQ Pit boys on youtube removing the membrane. I'm quite lucky for meat preparation, my uncle is a qualified butcher. We've bought half pigs/half lambs and stuff like that and let him cut it up for us.

 

[resinryder]

Something else that's popular in Southern BBQ haunts is hash. Not big in other parts of the country. Mainly meat cooked down, shredded, with various ingredients added depending on the cook, and served kinda stew like. Some is excellent and some is just flat out nasty. Like I said, depends on the cook.

 

[hippie_lettuce]

We had a charcoal Brinkmann smoker. It really sucked. I mean, we were able to make some delicious bbq with it, but that's with some modifications. With the way it is straight from the box you'd need a ton of lighter fluid to start it up. Otherwise, trying to start a fire using kindling would be next to impossible. We had to put hardware cloth to act as the briquette holder so there'd be enough airflow to get a fire started.

The temp gauge didn't work at all. It was difficult to keep the temp at a constant. Don't even try to use that thing when it's below 40 deg outside. You'll need two bags of charcoal and a whole lot of free time babying it to keep the temps consistent, which I don't have. It looks like it would be solid, but it was pretty flimsy.

I don't know if Brinkmann makes better grills but this vertical charcoal smoker wasn't even worth $90.

As for bbq secrets, my dad always marinated in soy sauce, crushed garlic, and lemons. He'd leave the meat in there for at least a couple of days. I think this method is great if you want the meat to have a garlicky flavor. I find that if I use granulated or powdered garlic in my rubs it tends to have a slightly bitter flavor. Adding a sweet component like brown sugar, honey or sorghum syrup could hide that bitter flavor though. I use apple cider vinegar sometimes in my wet marinades especially for pork and chicken. For our dry rubs we use mustard as a sticking agent for the rub. There's this mustard from Trader Joes...garlic aioli mustard that is awesome as the sticking agent.

3-2-1 ribs is when you smoke the ribs for 3 hours, then it's wrapped it foil and smoked for another couple of hours. Optionally you unwrap it and then sauce it and put it back on the grill for another hour. We put some apple juice in the foil once, that was good. We tried George Dickels Tennessee whisky and sorghum syrup and that was BOMB!!

 

[Stoner4Life]

here's a little picture of the Big Chief Smoker

here's a big picture of the Little Chief Smoker

the Big Chief w/most of a load on board

these smokers work great, I live in northern minnesota where they smoke everything under the sun. guys/old timers up here use all sorts of smokers but the big & little chief units are the easiest to regulate both temp & smoke consistency. check them out online.

 

[G.O. Joe]

A good BBQ sauce at the end makes all the difference, but I don't know that tomato paste overseas is the same as Hunt's is here; Hunt's doesn't taste much like tomato paste. Other things I use: black and plenty of red pepper, salt, cumin, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, onion, Worcestershire and liquid smoke.

The Black Panthers ate well:
UNCLE TOM`S ``BOBBY-QUE`` BASTE-MARINADE
3 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped red or green bell pepper
1 cup chopped green onions
3 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped hot peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
Rinds of five or six lemons cut up (hold seeded lemon juice for liquid ingredients)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons each: seasoning salt, onion parsley salt
1 teaspoon garlic parsley salt
3 bay leaves
Liquids:
1 cup (8 ounces) pure hickory liquid smoke (use 1 1/2 cups for stronger hickory flavor)
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 cups apple juice
1 cup lemon juice (five to six medium-size lemons) or 1 cup lime juice.
4 quarts water

1. Place water in an 8-quart pot on high heat. Add all vegetable and staple ingredients and heat to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and stew for 45 minutes, covered. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. When cool, strain off all stewed ingredients from liquid and stir in all liquid ingredients. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for seven minutes, covered. Remove from heat.
3. Marinate meat in the mixture for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature or longer in the refrigerator.

Try the wet seasoned hickory chips:
http://www.bobbyqueseale.com/freereci.html

An hour before BBQ, I like to smother with this: 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. liquid hickory smoke, 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. red pepper powder.