My turkey process is fairly intensive but absolutely worth it (its from Amazing Ribs.com) I dry brine my turkey (rub with salt and let sit in fridge overnight) - really helps crisp the skin up Then mix 4 tbs of the following with 4 tbs of olive and let soak overnight 1 tbs dried crushed parsley 2 tbs dried crushed sage 1 tbs dried crushed rosemary 1 tbs dried crushed thyme 1 tbs dried crushed oregano 1 tbs dried crushed basil 1 tbs dried crushed bay leaf 1 tbs black pepper 1 tbs sugar Then make a gravy to go under the bird and act as your water pan. I use the neck, innards (not liver), wing tips, pope's nose, and excess fat skin and add it to the following: 3 quarts water/stock (or whatever fills the pan) 1 cup apple juice 2 onions, quartered with skins on 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 celery stalk with leaves, chopped 1 tbs dried sage 1 tbs dried thyme 2 bay leaves That is all prep the day before. Day of cooking: Rub the above olive oil/herb mixture on/under the skin a few hours before it hits the smoke - then add a little more salt. I also put a few fresh sage leaves under the skin over the choice cuts. Drape with plastic wrap and put back in fridge. Get smoker to 325, add gravy pan where it will be at least 3 inches below bird. Put a quartered onion, 3 coarsely chopped garlic cloves, orange peel, and a few sprigs of rosemary in the bird cavity. Oil and cover wing tips and ends of legs with aluminum foil, smoke for one hour and then remove foil. Smoke breast side up until center of breast hits 160. Then remove gravy pan and smoke 10-20 min to get extra crispy skin. If the gravy ever gets low I'll add boiling stock to it. When you remove the gravy, let it sit for awhile then skim the fat. This shit is probably the best part of the entire smoke. This is my favorite thing to smoke. It's delicious. I make a stew with the leftovers using the carcass and extra gravy to make stock.
Most pork rubs taste good on chicken too imo. I like a little more heat on chicken than I do pork though. I prefer buying rubs and mixing a little of this with a little of that to making my own from scratch. As for cooking, i think most here cook at 285 for 90 minutes. Another option is to cook at 275 for 75 minutes and then flash fry them to crisp them up. The flash frying with burn off some of the rub so always dust them as they come out of the fryer. The rub will do solve quickly on the greasy wings so you don't end up bits of rub or anything.
Moving out of my current apartment in July.. cannot wait to get my WSM and Kettle back so I can contribute to this thread again. First thing I am going to do is make ribs. May not even unpack first.
here is a good wing sauce from the old thread: 1 - 18 oz Orange Marmalade 1/3 cup - honey 1/3 cup - brown sugar 1/3 cup - Sriracha Sauce Bring to a boil and remove from heat
Taques has some additional pics to post I believe, but here's what I got from the festival Saturday. Stiles Switch stole the show again, IMO. Spoiler Opie's BBQ Brisket and jalapeno cheese sausage buy_dont_lease Best Bark Award Bet the House Brisket and kielbasa Meat Church Brisket, pork belly in some sort of asian chili oil sauce, and beef rib (not pictured) buy_dont_lease Best Pork Product Award Stiles Switch Beef rib, smoked turkey, and a mustard/pepper sauce (not pictured) buy_dont_lease Best Beef Rib Award buy_dont_lease Best Fowl Award buy_dont_lease Best Overall Award Buzzie's Brisket, pork rib, jalapeno cheese sausage, plain sausage buy_dont_lease Worst in Show Brisket BBQ on the Brazos Brisket and sausage Freedman's Pork belly Louie Mueller Brisket and sweet jalapeno sauce - a real shame the picture is blurry, that brisket was beautiful buy_dont_lease Best Brisket Award buy_dont_lease Best Sauce Award The Slow Bone Brisket served on a tortilla Black's Brisket, smoked turkey buy_dont_lease Best Vanity License Plate Award
Yea so the flavor was good, but I definitely see what you're saying about more heat. I might use the same rub next time but add in additional cayenne or chili powder.
If you want to go with a commercial rub, Plowboys Yardbird and Killer Hogs The Rub are both really good on chicken.
Haven't tried but will look for it now. You like it on just chicken or is it good on other stuff too?
taques' scoresheet top 5 overall: 1. louie mueller's (taylor, texas) - best brisket, 2nd best beef rib, most generous, near mind-blowing sweet jalapeno sauce 2. stiles switch (austin, texas) - best beef rib (gave 1/3 the portion that louie muellers did), best/only poultry, only other noteworthy sauce (mustard for the poultry) 3. opie's (spicewood, texas) - best sausage (would be 2nd to louie muellers had they brought any), 2nd best brisket 4. meat church (waxahachie, texas) - only other place to have beef rib, very good char siu pork belly, very generous 5. the slow bone (dallas, texas) - edges out the others due to brisket in taco form everybody else was good except for freedman's bar from austin (only had mediocre pork belly which is wack as fuck) but nothing else really stood out - go visit these places if you come to texas
also shoutout to a.tramp for supplying the taques wedding with delicious meats at ~*~rock bottom prices~*~
my photos from the top 5 1 - louie muellers 2 - stiles switch (i mean look at that beef rib size thats some bullshit) 3. opies 4. TAKE ME TO (meat) CHURCH (char siu in the middle wasnt very popular but i thought it was bitchin) 5. slow bone (tortillas improve everything) some bonus pictures of the beef rib graveyard at stiles switch's booth
Told the pitmaster at Stiles Switch that they were the best last year, and I expected them to be the best this year, and he hooked me up with the biggest piece any vendor gave me all day. For reference:
Please expound with any other benefits. Not crazy about buying BGE but would love to hear some more first-hand experience. Grilling? Smoking? Ease of use? Durability (does it hold up to the weather, etc)?
I've been able to grill and smoke on mine. I got it for Christmas and had very little prior experience with a charcoal grill. I was able to figure it out about halfway through my first smoke. I'm not comfortable yet going overnight, but I know others who have the akorn do it. I don't think you can go wrong with the akorn for a first grill/smoker.
It does well on smoking. I smoke butts and chicken on it all the time and after i get it dialed in, it is really efficient. I sear steaks on it all the time at 600 degrees. Mine is under a covered back porch, but it still gets wet and I haven't noticed any issues from the weather.
I have the same thing. Grills at 700 degrees, easily holds temp when you want to smoke, super easy to use, and materials seem high quality. Lump lasts forever because it's well insulated. After starting out with a cheapass brinkman, this thing is amazing, especially for $250 on sale at Menards. I did pepper stout beef on Saturday and it sat at the same temp for like 6 hours with very little effort from me.
Mine got knocked over in a hurricane and is still kickin. One thing that is super convenient about it is the removable ash catcher. Smoking on it is easy enough but you still have to baby sit a bit, i ended up getting a PID controller to help with smoking. Doesn't complete remove the babysitting but makes it much easier.
wow Beard FoundationVerified account@beardfoundation The winner of Best Chef: Southwest: Aaron Franklin, @bbqfranklin, Austin #jbfa
Not sure if i mentioned this in the old thread, but carolines smoked hot sausage, further smoked on the grill for about 2-3 hours, then eaten with some coleslaw and bbq sauce on a hot dog bun is awesome. There are probably better sausages than this down south, but in the north this is readily available. I'll make it if we are having a lot of people over since it is fast and cheap and they always disappear.
Smoked a butt this weekend. Used Jack stack rub, applied some sugar in the raw as well and sprayed with apple juice
Also tried smoking some mashed potatoes. Cooked about 1/2 lb bacon and chopped up some green onions, mashed it all together then smoked at 225 for 1.5 hrs. Then broiled for a couple minutes to crisp the top just before serving. Turned out amazing
Just finished taking some of my leftovers and making Brunswick stew for the first time. And my goodness is it amazing! Made some cornbread to have with it and bam, I came
Had something crazy happen to my egg last week. I fired it up for a pizza and get it nice a hot. I open it to put the rack and stone on and it wouldn't close. Check to see if the rack got in the way... Nope. Take the rack out, still won't close. Shit. Look around some more and the back edge of the dome where the hinges are was hitting on the bottom and it had a big underbite when I tried to close it. I have no clue what happened, but somehow the top and bottom got completely out of alignment. Bolts and nuts seemed completely tight, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Well the show had to go on, so I start unbolting the top from the bottom in at attempt to re-align everything. Flames are going everywhere, the dome is hotter than the hinges of hell, lots of profanity. I had to wear oven mits and work really fast. Lost some arm and knuckle hair. I'm still not sure what happened or even how I fixed it. When I tried to put the dome back on it still didn't align right but i kept fucking with it and somehow everything worked out. It was a total mess but I managed to get everything back together. I pray it never happens to any of you.
A bunch of Harvard junior science majors took a class to build the perfect smoker http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...l?hootPostID=2799b5a3df8eadb6755a1a817167ef0e
That might be the ideal smoker from an airflow standpoint, but I see some durability issues with that ceramic throat.
The only thing that bothers me about the article is they make it sound like the students designed the electronics to monitor the heat on their phone and such and control the temp via fans. That's already available and if they re-created it it was a waste of time.
Harvard engineering students: We should make it out of ceramic! It should be vertical! It should have a lower and top vent! We should control it with mini fans and smart phones! State school BGE users:
Spent a lot of time last week focused on BBQ sides. I've got brisket and pulled pork down pretty well and I want to start hosting friends and family but I need sides to complete everything. Working on creamed corn and beans which for whatever reason are proving challenging.
What is your issue with the creamed corn? Cut kernels from corn, cook 15-17 minutes on medium heat (non-stick pan works best) to dehydrate (it will sizzle), rehydrate with cream. Cook 6-8 minutes. Voila! This is delightful: http://momofukufor2.com/2010/07/thomas-kellers-ad-hoc-at-home-creamed-summer-corn-recipe/ Corn and limes are best friends.
Main issue with the creamed corn is the consistency, I will try the above recipe. Beans, I soak overnight. Drain the fluid, add butter and brisket scraps, cover in stock add cumin, salt, pepper (lots) and garlic powder with a slight amount of smoked paprika. Cook for about 3 hours. Taste is off, it's hard to quantify.