Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Dive Pigs New Pit! And burning it in.

Well it finally happened!  The new pit has arrived!  A custom build from R&O Smokers who did an amazing job!  Lots of space, held heat awesome, insulated fire box, running water with the sink and room to spare.  The R & O gang was great to work with and I look forward to doing more business with them.  

This has been awhile in the making.  Did a lot of research, did a lot of searching, and even more important had to get permission from the boss, AKA my wife, to purchase this bad boy.  It was a combination Birthday, Father's Day, and Christmas present but so worth it.

We picked the pit up on Wednesday, June 12th, 2013 from R&O Smokers and got the beast home that night.  Unfortunately with my work schedule and everything I wasn't able to burn it in til Saturday morning, which is the day we were doing a Father's Day cook.  Turned out alright though.

Wednesday (06/12/2013): Picked up the Pit
Thursday (06/13/2013): Trip to Costco for 6 Racks of Ribs (3 racks St Louis Cut and 3 racks Pork Loin Baby Backs) along with a huge bag of wings.
Saturday (06/15/2013): Burn in followed by Ribs, Wings, BBQ Baked Beans, and Slaw. (Baked Beans and Wings I'd never done before!).

Got up around 6am, pulled the pit out of the garage, and fired it up using Oak initially.  Our pit is a off-set wood burner that uses an insulated firebox. The design allows the heat to flow across the top of the meat and not from underneath. 






Took a little tweaking to get the dampers set, learn the fuel size / amount, make sure it was level, and all that but managed to lock it in at 265-270 pretty easy.  There was less than a 3 degree temperature difference from end to end of the cooking area.  Learned that a 4" round stick approximately 12" in length is just about spot on.  I will have to go rent a splitter and get everything done cause I will say this - using a hatchet / axe to size everything took a lot of work!

Once I'd finished dialing in the pit temps and burning the pit for around 4 hours, I headed back inside to start the meat prep.



My teammate Craig wasn't able to be there (due to last minute planning on my part) however my friend Josh came over to help as did my twin brother Joe.  Meat prep took a little longer than usual but I remember when I first started learning about BBQ and having to do it all on my own.  So since I love BBQ I decided to take the time and show them what I do and the techniques I've learned.  My passion for BBQ means that the best way for learning is to ask questions and get off my butt and COOK!

I won't bore you with all the pics my twin snapped as he was learning the process but I will say they definitely learned how to remove the membrane from the back of ribs!  Some swear that you have to remove it and others don't - me I remove it.  My ribs turn out better.

Got the ribs all trimmed up and seasoned with my home made rub then let them set for about an hour covered while I went outside to make sure the pit was at temp and get some pecan wood burning. Pit dialed in at 270-275, then went inside and grabbed the ribs.


Right after putting the ribs on, I moved to the other end of the pit and added some bacon.  Mmmm BACON!  The bacon I smoked for about 45 minutes then removed and added to the Baked Beans I had cooking up in the crock pot.



After the ribs were on for ~2 hours, meat side up at 275 I flipped them and smoked for another hour meat side down.



I used to not flip them but after reading about the technique and and reading a few threads on the BBQ Brethren forums I decided to try it out and have now made it a part of my process.  It works for me and I like it.

After 3 hours of smoke at 275 I pulled the ribs.  Sorry I didn't get a good picture of the ribs bones just starting to pull away - not a lot just a little pull ... and brought the ribs in for wrapping.



This is me wrapping the ribs.  Some people on the boards are for it and others are against it.  In competition you almost always need to wrap but people say at home just cook em and call it good.  I've done it both ways - I like my ribs wrapped.  I get better color, tenderness, and avoid an over smoked piece of meat.

I wrap my ribs in 2 layers of heavy foil with the addition of brown sugar, honey, butter, and our secret spice mix (special blend developed by my buddy and teammate Craig).

After wrapping I put them back on the pit at 275 for roughly another 2 hours.  Around 90 minutes I grab one to check to see how the bone is pulling away.  If its a pulling away clean then I take them off, if not I let them cook for the remaining 30 minutes. 


Can't see it super clean here but if you look close you can note about a 1/4" + where the meat has pulled way from the bone.



I transfer the ribs to new foil, double layers, apply my home made sauce to the back side, flip them over and add sauce to the meat side along with a sprinkling my home made rub.  I then wrap them up tightly and place in a warmer box for an additional hour.  The heat in the ribs tightens up the sauce and finishes up the cooking process.  Great tenderness without it falling off the bone.

Now for the wings!  The dilemma:  My pit temp for the ribs was at 275 yet the wings needed to cook at 350.  

I had the wings inside covered in some rub and was ready to bring them out to the pit. I knew I was going to cook them at 350 for roughly 1.5 hours (thanks to help from some of the brethren). Problem was that I had 30 minutes of pit share time. So I took a chance.

Put the wings on at 275 for 30 minutes. Pulled the ribs, threw on another stick of pecan, opened the pit up a bit ... was awesome to see it jump from 275 to 350 within about 5 minutes. At around an hour into the wing cook I spritzed them with some olive oil, flipped them, spritzed them and let them finish off. They crisped up awesome and flavor was fantastic as my wife put it. I'll tweak the rub a little but I can honestly I will never fry another wing again!


Meant to take some pics of the finished products but with 20+ people there the masses killed it all!

Over all I learned that a quality smoker makes a HUGE difference. Thanks again to R & O Smokers for making me an awesome quality pit!  I didn't need a water pan, I didn't need to worry about the wind killing temp, the insulated firebox + 4" stick rocked the temp I love cooking at. Over all I had a great Father's Day - which by the way was my first. My son is 5 months old. Hopefully I'll pass the pit on to him one day.

More BBQ to come!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Texas Monthly interviews Aaron Franklin

Good story with a great read. 

Interview with Aaron Franklin


Aaron Franklin
Owner/Pitmaster: Franklin Barbecue in Austin; opened in 2009

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Texas's Top 50 BBQ

Texas Monthly recently hired the writer of Full Customer Gospel BBQ to head up their Food review section of the magazine and really focus on BBQ.  With that said, Texas Monthly just released a Top 50s BBQ joints list for the state of Texas.

Looking it over, it appears I have a few stops to be making.

Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ


These are on my list and will soon be sampled... ;)

Garland
- Meshack's Bar-B-Que

McKinney
- Hutchins BBQ

Dallas
- Lockhart Smokehouse
- Pecan Lodge

Grapevine
- Bartley's Bar-B-Q

Fort Worth
- Cousin's Bar-B-Q
- Longoria's BBQ

The rest, well I foresee road trips a coming. 

Saturday, March 30, 2013

1st cook on the Traeger - Bone in Pork Shoulders

So thanks to my buddy Andy Tarczon I have a working Traeger Lil Texas Elite. He had two of them, one wasn't working so said I could have I wanted.  I said sure.  A $100 bucks later and I had it up and running. 

Finally had the time to do my first test cook on it; turned out great but I learned a couple things.

1.  It is way more efficient than my old run of mill "ole cheap-o" from Academy. 
2.  Pellet Fed smokers are pretty nice for the set it and forget it.  On my wood burner I have check the fire ever 45 minutes.  The Traeger I just set the temp and made sure the pellet container was full.  This time I used Apple Pellets. I will write more on the Traeger after a couple more cooks.

So on to the main reason you are reading this blog, the BBQ.

Normally, I cook Boneless Pork Shoulders however this time I ended up at Sam's Club with my friend Josh and ended up getting 2 Bone In Pork Shoulders.


Got them home, Trimmed them up (I don't trim a lot off. Usually the fat caps I remove the really hard fat and then do some clean up.  After the trimming I inject. (Apple Juice, White Vinegar, Sugar, Spice).  After the injection in the fridge it goes for about 2 - 3 hours.





For this cook, the shoulders rested in the injection/marinade for about 2 hours.  I took them out, patted them dry, and then rubbed them down. Sweet and Spicy rub - home made. 



Now for where my cook procedure or steps change a little.  On my old smoker, I'd bring it up to temp at 250 and start the cook.  However on the Traeger you need to set it for SMOKE, smoke the meat for set time frame, then turn up the temp and finish  your cook. This is the shoulders after 2 hours at SMOKE setting.






After the two hours at the SMOKE setting, I set the Traeger to 275 which actually averages closer to 250-260 and smoked the shoulders for 8 more hours.  2 hours uncovered, 5 hours covered, then the last hour uncovered so I could glaze them every 20 minutes. Finished product and getting read to let it rest for 2 hours.





After 2 hours of resting, I pulled the pork and then pulled some drippings over the shredded pork.  SO FARKING GOOD!




As for Bone-In vs No Bone - no real difference.  Cooks a little different but not much.  Biggest difference was the coloring on some of the meat.  The meat next to the bone was more grey while the rest was well, more white and pink from Smoke and rub.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

On the search for good Sausage

On the search for good Sausage

Since I do not have the time right now to learn to make my own sausage (some day I will) I took to the forums and the web and started doing some searching. As I prefer to support local or State of Texas companies these are what I've found that I will be trying out over the next month or so.

I will post pricing, texture, and flavoring opinions. I will also cook both via Smoker and over a direct heat grill.

South Side Market Eglin Tx.
Have been told their Jalapeno & Chedder ROCKS!

Oldtown Meat Market
http://oldtownmkt.com/sausages.html

Kuby's Sausage House

Hirsch's Meat
http://hirschsmeats.com/hirsch-products/hirsch_products_sausage.htm

Types of Sausage to look for:
Conecuh Smoked Sausage
Slovaceks Jalapeno & Cheese

If anyone has any other suggestions or recommendations please let us know.

 Image from Hirsch's Meat Market (www.hirschsmeats.com)

Dry Aging Beef


Always read about Dry Aging Beef, and kind of understood what it meant but had never really looked into the process or what makes it better or worse.

While trolling through one of my favorite forums (The BBQ Brethren) I saw a post someone had made on the very subject leading to an article on the web.  Thought I'd share that very article.


Dry Aging At Home

Quick definition of Dry Aging: Dry aging is done by hanging meat in a controlled, properly managed, and refrigerated environment. Temperature should be between 36 degrees F and freezing. If you get it to cold, the meat freezes and stops the aging process.  You get it to warm and the meat will spoil. Humidity control is also needed to reduce water loss. Humidity should be around 85.  Proper air flow is required to prevent bacteria from running a muck and destroying the meat; often the meat will be suspended (hung) and a fan on low setup to blow around the meat. 

Example of a Dried Meat chamber.
    Image from:  www.gallaghersnysteakhouse.com/
 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Bad BBQ

So today I went to lunch with my boss and a co-worker.  After we ran an errand it was decided to stop by Dickey's Barbecue Pit, 14th Street, Plano, TX.  Anyone that knows me will tell you this was not my suggestion or my first choice.  Needless to say we went in.

Wish I would have snapped some photos but ...

My boss ordered first and got the 3 rib plate.  I saw three dark and meager ribs being place on his plate and knew in an instant I would not be getting the ribs.  My boss wanted corn but they didn't have any so he settled for mashed potatoes and waited for some french fries to be made.  Watching him consume his meal reaffirmed my decision not to get the ribs and had he not slathered them in sauce I don't think he'd have finished.

My co-worker got the same thing as my boss.  He was happy with the meal but disappointed that one of the ribs was definitely DRY.  He needed sauce for flavor. 

*****GOOD BBQ DOES NOT NEED SAUCE!*****

Me I went with a 2 meat plate and tried the sausage and the pulled pork.  The Sausage, not made by them, was not bad but tasted like something I could get from the store and my 13 year old nephew could cook.  The pulled pork was dry, no liquid nothing, D-R-Y!  I had no choice to moisten with sauce.  First sauce I had was regular and way to sweet!  Luckily they had a spicy sauce that got me through about half of it before I just couldn't do it.  Man it was bad.

And let us not forget the man that was their that took his sandwich back as it was mostly a chunk of fat with little meat.

Overall - not going back ever.  You would have to drag me in kicking and screaming.  Just sayin..

Sunday, March 3, 2013

New Pit Officially Ordered

Will take a few weeks for the Pit to be built, painted, and ready for pick up but I am excited to say - it has OFFICIALLY been ordered. Have to say this too, I am grateful for a very supportive and understanding wife. The pit is not a cheap investment and I am hoping to map out a way for it to pay for itself and then some. 

The pit is being built by:  R&O Smokers.  They are pretty down to earth guys that, like myself and my fellow Dive Pigs, love BBQ with a passion.  They are also local to me so I get to support more made in TEXAS! 

I'll send pics of the Pit once she is done.  In the mean time I am taking suggestions for the naming of the pit.

Thus far I have:
- Wilbur
- Hamm
- Babe
- Old Major

That is all for now.  Please comment and let us know of name suggestions.

Gerry

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

My 2nd Brisket Ever!

So past Sunday I turned 37 and decided to tackle my dreaded nemesis - The Brisket! First one I ever cooked turned out like jerky on the bottom. So with a little more experience under my belt and a better understanding of how my PoS pit works (drafty, blanket wearing, wood sucking, .... you get the idea)... I gave it a go.

Went down to Restaurant Depot and picked up a 12.6lb Angus Choice. Came home and trimmed it up leaving about 1/4" fat cap and then injected with a little bit of beef broth/mix.





Got a good pick of it trimmed, forgot to take one after injection. Anyways, injected and covered for 6 hours in the fridge. At around hour 8pm I took it out of the fridge and then I went and fired up the pit; um I want to say I got the fire started around 8:30pm.

Came inside, pulled the brisket from the pan and marinade, patted it down, and then applied my own dry rub.
 




Brisket tasted smoke at 9:30pm.

Took this shot after about 1 hour had to fix something so decided to snap a shot - right before a HUGE freaking storm hit that caused me to drape the cooking chamber with a wool blanket. I fought for temp for almost 3 hours. Had to keep the damper full open and could barely keep around 190-200. Was not fun! Learned from it but NOT FUN!


I wrapped the brisket at about with 2 layers of heavy foil and added some broth about 6 hours into the smoke.  Depending on temps and conditions this will very and might wrap sooner next time.  Again, its a matter of practice and experience.





Kept it on the smoker til the internal temp on the point end hit around 200-205. Brought it in, wrapped it to rest. This is after around 2 and 1/2 hours of rest.  NEXT TIME I will only keep it on the pit until the internal temp is around 170-175 then remove and wrap to rest.





Was really taken back when I cut into it. Was a really hard and pronounced smoke ring ... thicker than I liked. I smoked it fat cap up for 5 hours and 3 hours fat cap down before wrapping it to finish its cook. Only thing I can think of is the wind coming through the wide open damper and a lower cook temp than I liked.  Should hard winds and rain happen again I do believe I will wrap sooner.  Cooler temps really play hard on Brisket.  It wasn't dry and wasn't crispy tough bark.  It was in my book solid flavor and good moisture.  I need more practice though to get the technique down.





While I was happy, over joyed that it was moist and tender I was a little disappointed that it was a bit over cooked. I'd go to slice it and it would fall apart in some spots. So I decided to just do a chop.




Several people sampled it - a few heavy BBQ consumers and the consensus was that it was solid tasting, good flavor that was all the way through the meat. To me I liked it and I liked the flavor but found it lacking that wow factor to the taste. Guess I'll keep tweaking the rubs and stuff 'til I get it the way I think it needs to be. MORE PRACTICE!


Superbowl Ribs 2013

So I decided to see how my rib skills had come along as well as try out a new marinda, rub, and sauce that I'd been eyeballing (Wicked Good BBQ) and I like to say I did pretty good. The rub was a bit more sweet than I liked so next time I'll be adding a little more spice and cutting back on the Turbinado a little. Still want the sweet but with some heat.

Ribs I got form Restaurant Depot - were pretty decent cuts and the I did strip the silver skin off the back, which is getting easier every time I do it. PRACTICE! Got the Ribs trimmed and in marinade (marinaded for 3 hours).





Pulled them out of the fridge, patted them dry, applied the rub, pressed the rub to the meat, and let them sit while I got the Pit up to 250. 





Cooked the ribs with Royal Lump Coal and Peach Wood chunks. Would have used my Pecan, but for some reason it was a little wet. Cooked ribs for 3 hours (2 hours meat up, and 1 hour meat down) uncovered in the beautiful smoke at around 250-260. Then pulled them off for the first wrapping and additional flavor.




They went back on the pit for about 75 minutes (had to wait for the bones to start pulling away right). Then I pulled them off. 





I was happy with the color and the over all cook. The ends are a little dark do to known heat issues with my pit which is finally being replaced in a few short weeks.



 Wrapped em up in two layers of foil, then in a large beach towel then in the cooler they went for about an hour.





I meant to take some pics after they were cut up but the guys pounced on them like starving jackals. Over all the feedback was:
1. Spot on tenderness - bite mark was perfect
2. Color was good
3. Bark and smoke ring good
4. Sweet was great but everyone found it lacking some heat. Since I made a large batch of the rub I have already corrected this with the addition of 2 heaping Tablespoons of my buddy's personal mix called Trimix (has Habanero, Jalapeno, and a few other things in there - really freaking nom nom nommy in my book) which should solve this problem nicely.

Let me know what y'all think. 

Zest Fest 2013 Ft Worth Texas

Zest Fest 2013 Ft Worth Texas (01/26/2013)

Hit Zest Fest this weekend with a couple buddies .... was fun and yet a little disappointing. I did get a couple things to try out however probably won't attend next year. Was really ercked by the number of NON-Spice / Pepper vendors there. Seriously what the heck does house siding, solar wind vents, and all that have to do with Peppers and Spice!?! Was also a little down that I didn't find anything that seriously brought the heat.


Was overall a good experience.  Plus I had my brother and good friends with me:  Joe, Craig, Josh, and Sam.


Above is me (left) and my BBQ and Spice buddy in crime Craig (right).  Below is Sam who had some heat and had to get some milk - milk that cost $2 for a itty bitty carton.





Some of the goodies from Zest Fest: 3 BBQ rubs (heard some good things about Texas Rib Ranger so thought I'd try their stuff out - just had to add a little more spice), a Moruga Scorpion hot sauce, ghost pepper infused chocolates, and a new knife. Good stuff and good times with great friends.


Update: I used the Scorpion Hot Sauce a bit - love the flavor and the heat from it.  The Rubs so far are OK.  Better than most premade rubs I've tried so far but I still prefer the flavor and texture of my own rubs.

I ended up with several business cards while there so I highly doubt I'll be back for a year or two.