BBQ recipes and tips

1 FROZEN BBQ Roast
1 Bottle Big Bob Gibsons BBQ Sauce


Cook on low in a crock pot over night!
(@ least 8 hours)


The roast being frozen will add just enough moisture to make it extremely tender & delicious!

Can of beans put on simmer throw in a lil bacon...yum yum

Using the Chargriller without the firebox can be done, build a small charcoal fire on one side and cook the meat on the other. Indirect heat is a must. I would recommend starting with a boston butt in the 3-5 lb range. Pork is more forgiving because of the fat content (don't go for cuts like the pork loin, they will dry out.) Practice before you step up to brisket it is pretty touchy. I'll give you a basic dry rub recipe, adjust it as you wish and add or subtract ingredients according to your taste, make it your own.

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 TBSP white pepper
1 TBSP paprika
1 crushed beef bullion cube
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic

Have fun, it is an addicting hobby cooking BBQ

almost forgot...try to maintain approximately 250 deg. in your cooker and cook to an internal temp. of 180 deg. It will take 8-10 hours to cook so start it early

Thanks for the tips and rub recipe, fireplug. That sounds pretty tasty.

I've been doing some reading and found a couple of places that said pretty much the same thing as you, but said soaking some hickory chips in water and wrapping them in foil with a few holes poked in it should be placed on top of the coals once they have turned gray. Have you done that before?

I cook on a fairly large smoker, so I generally use whole sticks of wood, however that certainly will work. The other way you can do it is to get some hickory chunks (near the charcoal in most stores) and place one chunk on top of your coals not entirely necessary to soak them. Don't put wood on more than the first 2-3 hours, after that the outside of the meat has absorbed all the smoke it is going to and hickory can give you a bitter taste if you smoke too much. Just use a good quality charcoal (Royal Oak or Kingsford) if you are going to use lighter fluid make certain it is all burned off before you add your meat, petroleum products and pork are not good friends. I'm glad to provide assistance.

Fireplug has given some good advise. I would like to stress that you need to be sure and don't get the fire too hot. Pork is very forgiving because of the fat content. I like to cook mine low and slow, 220-230 degrees, the lower the temp, the longer it will take to cook.
Remember barbecue is not something you can expect to do in a short amount of time.
I will see you at the Halyville bbq contest June 13.

quote:

Originally posted by fireplug_79:
I cook on a fairly large smoker, so I generally use whole sticks of wood, however that certainly will work. The other way you can do it is to get some hickory chunks (near the charcoal in most stores) and place one chunk on top of your coals not entirely necessary to soak them. Don't put wood on more than the first 2-3 hours, after that the outside of the meat has absorbed all the smoke it is going to and hickory can give you a bitter taste if you smoke too much. Just use a good quality charcoal (Royal Oak or Kingsford) if you are going to use lighter fluid make certain it is all burned off before you add your meat, petroleum products and pork are not good friends. I'm glad to provide assistance.

i like your advice fireplug. and i'm a believer in using the 'charcoal chimney' to start my bbq fire, no lighter fluid for me.

I have taken the chimney thing a step farther. I took a clean burned off 5 gal. bucket and drilled several holes in the bottom. I put some charcoal in it and put it on top of my gas burner for just a few minutes, then dump them into my grill. This has proven to be the fastest way posible to get charcoal going.
Like mentioned before, if you do have to use the starter, be sure all of it has burned off before putting anything on the grill you intend to eat or even closing the grill for that matter.

quote:

Originally posted by olwiggum:
Are there any BBQ experts here?

I got one of those Chargriller grills a couple of years ago that's supposed to be able to be used as a smoker as well. I haven't smoked anything yet, but I'm gonna try that this Summer. There's a fire box that you can get to attach to the side, but I don't really want to spend any extra money. Do you guys have any tips?

Do you care to share any good recipes? I can't decide what I want to try. I figure I'll probably try some ribs and maybe some pulled pork or a brisket or something.

one of my favorites on the grill is 'drunk chickens'. use a whole fryer (smaller ones seem to be tastier) rub/marinate overnight....... you can even purchase the can holders at wal-mart and i've found that coors light cans are a little skinnier than most so thats the brand that i use...open the can and either drink or pour out app. half the contents ( i like to boil my brats in beer and onions before grilling so i use the other half for that).........place the bird on the can upright ( i won't get too raunchy ) using the indirect heat method and let that baby cook for a couple hours and thats the juiciest,tastiest chicken you've ever had.

quote:

Originally posted by unclegus:
I have taken the chimney thing a step farther. I took a clean burned off 5 gal. bucket and drilled several holes in the bottom. I put some charcoal in it and put it on top of my gas burner for just a few minutes, then dump them into my grill. This has proven to be the fastest way posible to get charcoal going.
Like mentioned before, if you do have to use the starter, be sure all of it has burned off before putting anything on the grill you intend to eat or even closing the grill for that matter.

that's a great idea , unclegus. i've found that bbq pros are usually pretty creative !

the only thing I would add is don't put your meat on fresh out of the fridge, the smoke will crystallize and turn bitter, let it stay at room temp a little before putting it on. I also inject my meat with a marinade sometimes.

but the 8-10 hours is cook time, allow for prep time also....and always remember SLOW, SLOW, and Slow.

Thanks, y'all. I appreciate the tips.

We actually bought one of those thingies for the beercan chicken, but I obviously haven't gotten around to that yet. It's on my to-do list for the Summer.

I've been doing a good amount of reading for the last 24 hours. The main points seem to be LOW and SLOW.

I have read differing opinions about where to place the coal and wood chips. A few places have said that the coal and wood needs to be on the right side of the grill since my smokestack is on the left, and that the meat should also go on the left.
BUT, I've read some places that said that the coals and wood could be separated to the left and right with the meat in the middle and to make a makeshift aluminum pan under the meat.

But it seems to make the most sense to have the coal and wood on the right with the meat on the left since the smoke is going towards the left to make it's way out of the smokestack.

I have a question about charcoal. After the smoker has been going about 2 hours, it is time to add more charcoal. Can I place the unburned charcoal directly onto the hot coals in the smoker or must I light them in a seperate pan and wait for them to turn white and then add to the smoker?

You can put unlit charcoal on your smoker while you are cooking as long as it is not the self light version. Only add to when the fire might be getting low. You can also add some wood chips to help it get going. Be careful when using wood chips because it can burn too fast and get too hot.

unclegus is the cook off in Haleyville KCCBS or MIM? I was unaware of a competition there. I learned to cook at Memphis in May, my dad has been on a team that has cooked it for over 20 years. I started out trimmin shoulders as a teenager 15 years ago. It is an addictive habit.

Wiggum I would definately say keep the meat as far from the fire as possible, rubs and marinades will burn easily. Gus I like your starter method, I generally use a rosebud on a propane tank, quick and dirty plus I can burn weeds out the sidewalk when I'm done.

The Haleyville contest is kcbs samctioned
Link

My grates were kinda funky so I gave them a good cleaning a couple of days ago. They're being re-seasoned right now. I'm planning on smoking some pulled pork next weekend. Can't wait to try it out!

Whatever unclegus says to do - DO IT!

If I get one of those charcoal chimneys, about how much charcoal should I put in there to reach the desired temperature? Fill it up, plus a little extra once it gets going?

A thermometer can be you best friend. 220-230 grill temp.

I put a bunch of charcoal on there today when I was re-seasoning the grates. It's been up around 350-375 for several hours now.

I was just wondering how much to use if I get one of those chimneys. I'll probably need to knock down the amount of charcoal that I used today by about 1/3.

Do you have your fire contained to one side of the grill?

I didn't today because I was trying to re-season the grates. But I know I need to have the coals on the right side when I get ready to smoke something next week.

Can someone tell me how to smoke chicken on a charcoal smoker?

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky14:
Can someone tell me how to smoke chicken on a charcoal smoker?

What kind of charcoal grill do you have?
The cheap $30 Brinkman dome top grill smoker is the best for chicken. I usually marinate three whole chickens overnight in my favorite marinade(Jamaican Jerk). In the morning fill the grill up with as much charcoal you can get in the bottom pan(at least ten pounds), when the fire is right, or burned any trace of started fluid off, put the bottom rack in and put the water pan on this rack. On the top rack I put all three chickens in the upright position balancing them using the beer butt method. I don't waste beer, so what I do is take clean empty cans and fill halfway with water, then stick up in the chickens and balance them against each other. Put the lid tightly on grill and do not open for the entire cooking time(5 hours). The only thing you may have to do is add some water to the pan, and possibly a little charcoal, but not likely if you put in plenty to start with.
This is about the easiest bbq you can make, and it is good I garontee.

I bought a Sante Fe charcoal grill/smoker at Home Depot 3 years ago. It has a large grilling surface. Front door allows easy access for adding additional charcoal. I usually place the coals/hickory chips on one side and smoke/grill on the opposite side. I usually smoke Boston Butts and ribs but I have never smoked whole chicken, so any info is welcome.

I've got the smoker up and running. Waiting on the temperature to get right before I add the pork shoulder. I put the rub on it last night. Pulled it out of the fridge an hour or so to let it get room temp.

Y'all wish me luck. Slow and low. Slow and low.

Ok Just a reminder. Make a Note to Self ! "Self" On or around Memorial Day , last few years Lowes and Home Depot will run a Great Sale on KingsFord Charcoal. I found Two 22 lb bags for around $9.00, I loaded up, stored them away . And even if it is the two 20 lb bags it is a Deal ! The price of Charcoal is very high and if you ,as I do luve to fire up my smoker ever chance I get , it can be very costly . I add Hickory on top of my coals. Oh I might get a Turkey and be Smoking it this week

sounds like you have a good start. The question is how big is your butt, when do you plan to eat it?
I like to cook the whole butts, which I usually have to get the butcher get from the back of the market. I like to cook about an 8-11 pound butt at least 12 hours. If you have a smaller one it will probably be done sooner.

It's just over 8 pounds. I was planning on eating around 6, but I don't think it will be done by then. It's been on since 8:30.

I'm having trouble keeping the temp up. It keeps dropping below 200 every hour or so, so I keep adding charcoal. I knew I would have to put some more on there, but should I have to add it every hour? I'm adding 6-8 lumps every hour.

Also, will it harm it if I bump the temp up a little bit to try to cook it just a little faster? I know that's probably not a good idea, but I thought I'd ask.

Pork is very forgiving. You can bump it up to 250 to shorten cooking time or even higher for short periods toward the end of the cooking.
Let it set for twenty minutes once taken off the grill. this will allow the kinetic energy to continue to cook it.

I was thinking that I would bump it up by about 3:30 or so. I'm gonna pull it off and wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for a half hour or so. Do you do that, or just let it sit w/o foil?

If you say it won't hurt it to bump it up, I'm gonna do that in a few hours. I thought I'd ask before I did it, though. Thanks for all of your tips!

It will not hurt pork a bit, you will have to keep a close watch on it. Most likely it will result in you drinking less beers?
Yes wrap it in foil while it sets.

Thanks again.
I've noticed that it seems to drop pretty drastically every time I open the lid to flip the pork. I'm probably over-analyzing this, but I want it to be right.

Also, it probably won't result in less beer.

On pork put the fat side to the top and do not raise the lid for at least a couple of hours.

Gotcha. I don't think I had read that anywhere. Most places I read said to start flipping it after the first hour.

I'm keeping a word document with tips in it. This one will get added to the list for next time.

If you were cooking ribs, you would want to turn it, not on butts though, just let the fat cook through it.