The BBQ, Grilling & Smoking Thread

The Bible says, for everything, there is a time and a season....

Well, it's barbecue time, and I'd like to know the seasonings you use with your meat. Do you have any good recipes and/or marinating sauces you use when you BBQ?

For myself, I keep it fairly simple. I remove the steak from the packaging, and I poke a bunch of holes in it with a fork. I then season with salt and pepper, and throw it on the grill. Depending on whether I want it rare, medium, well done, etc. I adjust the heat accordingly, and try to only turn it ONCE. I find if I turn it too many times, all the juices escape from it. If it's done right, I don't even need BBQ sauce, although if I feel like it, I'll use Bullseye BBQ sauce, the official sauce of the Calgary Stampede:



Original and Sweet & Sticky is the best, although Old West Hickory goes really well with chicken.

Another favorite is salmon on a wooden plank. You can get these planks from a BBQ store. You hafta soak the wood for about a day, and then you put the salmon on it. I just sprinkle salt on it, and then put the whole plank under the fire. Some people use wood chips in their BBQ to give off more smoke, but I find this unnecessary. The wood plank is good enough.

How do you cook your BBQ?

Next time you cook a steak, adjust the coals so they're close to the grilling surface and leave it there for a minute or so. Place your steak on the grill, turn after 30 seconds, lower the coals (or raise the grill) to its lowest temperature setting. This sears the outside of the steak, making it so you can turn the steak to your hearts content without drying it out.

All I do is poke a few holes in the steak and let it marinate for about 30 minutes in Dale's steak sauce. AFter about 15 minutes on the grill it's a perfect medium, and entirely yummy!

I usually use piss and shit. It gives an earthly taste.

Otherwise I make my own sauces. Sauces from a bottle can never match up to a home made marinade.

With respect a good steak should be cooked on the hottest grill possible. The secret is all in the timimg and how often you turn it. For isnstance, a medium rare fillet should really not be cooked for more than 8 minutes, turning every two. 15 minutes for a steak, especially thinning steaks like sirloin, is criminal. No wonder you have issues about drying out.

I've found what works best for me is to liberally coat the outside of the steak with any seasonings I'm using (mainly kosher salt, fresh-ground black pepper and sometimes some garlic powder) and, like the others said, turn the steak once, maybe twice depending on how hot the fire is (the hotter the better). What you're looking for is to sear the steak so the outside (and this is where the kosher salt helps) forms a kind of "crust", which not only adds flavor to the steak, but helps to seal in the juices.

That method usually results in a steak that doesn't need any sauce to taste good, though I will sometimes use bottled steak sauce on any leftovers the next day.

I use the same method on pork chops/steaks as well, though my preference there is to use some sort of sauce just because I like the way it tastes on the meat.

And there is no "grilling season" for me. My pits (I have three) run year-round and have been used in both rain and sleet. If it snowed here, I'd make a point to go barbecue something just to say I'd done it.

Pshaw, I've barbecued meself a steak while it was several degrees below freezing a few times. And it is "grilling season" because though you may occasionally barbecue during the winter, you do it all the time in the summer.

I've found that I actually enjoy smoking/barbecuing meat as much or more than simple grilling for the simple fact that it takes longer and, therefore, I'm able to drink more beer while I'm doing it.

Seriously, while I've been slow-cooking pork roasts and such for a few years now, lately I've started cooking that most Texan of barbecued meats: The brisket. Each one has turned out better than the last.

Sometimes when I'm in a hurry (like after work), though, quickly grilling something like boneless pork ribs turns out mighty tasty, too.




Those things could convert a Mohammedan or a Jew.

That's some good lookin' flesh there amigo.

My smoker is so damn big unless I'm cooking at least ten pounds of beef/chicken/sausage it's a pita to deal with. I plan on trailer mounting it someday it's so big.
I suppose it's 'bout time to fire it up though, I haven't done so since before Ike.

This is my main setup.




The one on the left is custom-built by the father of one of my friends. The box on the end is actually a vertical smoker, good for cooking ears of corn and sweet potatoes. I'm wanting to get a fire box/grill put on the other end, but haven't gotten around to it.

The little one on the right is store-bought from a home and garden store and is the "quick" grill, for steaks and other things that need to be close to the fire and cooked quickly.

Both are heavy gauge steel. Before I had the custom one built, I was looking for a big pit at places like Academy and such, but those are built with such thin metal I passed. It kinda pisses me off because, back when I used to live in an apartment and couldn't have a grill, Academy did sell good, heavy gauge steel.

The third, "reserve grill" is a Weber-like kettle grill that I sometimes take on vacations or use at the house when I'm cooking for a lot of people. There have been times when all three were in use at the same time.

I'm using a $20 propane grill/camp stove. Hey, single guy with second floor apartment, whatta ya gonna do? If you want something different for marinade, go to your Mexican food section and grab a bottle of Mojo Criollo sauce. (Don't be put off by the smell). It's perfect for pork, chicken and cheap cuts of beef like London broil. If you want something really good, marinade country ribs for 24 hours (or as long as you want) grill till 90% done, then coat with a light layer of honey mustard bar b q sauce. Great combinatino of flavors.

You can also give mojo different accents by adding a splash of citrus juice...even Sunny Delite works! Experiment...you can't go too far wrong!

One of the things I cook that my family loves best is chicken (usually thighs and/or legs) marinated in a mixture of Dole pineapple/orange juice, brown sugar, kosher salt and black peppercorns for 12+ hours. It's a variation of a recipe that I saw Alton Brown (hallowed be His name ) do on Good Eats several years ago.

I come from a family of barbecuers.

Two of my cousins (brothers) have a large pit mounted on a trailer and they regularly get paid to cook for events (corporate retreats, weddings, etc). They're the brisket masters.

One of them built me my first pit, but when I had to move into an apartment when I first started working in San Antonio, I left it at my dad's and he eventually commandeered it.

Because I grew up in Wisconsin, where it is winter 9 months of the year, I've never been hugely an backyard party guy. But Portland is a lot nicer. And I do have a good-sized yard, so it is time to make the leap.

That said, the way the budget is right now, yard stuff has to take a *ahem* back burner. Found a couple adequate-looking white PVC chairs at Rite-Aide for under $6 each. I need a little table. A nice cooler would probably make the nut and be more practical, although it would seem a bit white trash. Then I'll probably pick up the little $30 Wal*Mart tailgate grill. I can use it for basic grilling or as a little fire pit. Aw hell. I might as well get the cooler. Using a grill for a fire pit is white trash anyway.

[Actually its too bad the pad for the old fuel oil tank (previous owner put in a gas furnace about 5 years ago) is right up against the garage wall. Cut the bastard open, put a hinge in it and a cleanout at the bottom and I could roast motherfucking pigs.]

It is.


What really makes it taste good is to hit it with some of this right before you take it off the grill.

Gives it a nice little kick to offset the sweetness of the marinade.

I think this thread has established it pretty well, but, I thought I'd throw this out there anyways.

Grilling != Smoking != BBQ

Three very different things, with Smoking and BBQ'ing have more in common than "grilling."

I grill steaks, I BBQ chicken, and I smoke most everything else.

For the beginners it might be worth pointing out that "grilling" involves qucik cooking on direct heat. Bar b q and smoking are much more concerned with indirect heat and long, slow cooking. The biggest problem with a small gas grill like I have is that there's no real way to bar b q or smoke things, although fiddling with the flow valve will give some control of the heat.

When you say "bar b q" to most people from the southeast and south atlantic they think "pork". But I gotta admit a properly prepared brisket will melt in your mouth!

Oh and for God's sake don't boil ribs before cooking them. All you're doing is boiling the flavor out of them and giving them a stringy texture. It's sure to label you as a bar b q noob or, even worse, a Yankee. Long slow cooking will kill any undesirable germs that may be in there, but if you're paranoid use a meat thermometer.

A coworker of mine tried to cook a brisket on his gas grill last year.



He asked me why the bottom of it was so burned and "hard".

A great many questions can be answered here: www.amazingribs.com.

Meh. If you can't get a proper grill you're probably better off with a nice cast iron skillet. They retain a whole lot of heat and distribute it very evenly, meaning they do a good job of searing that which should be seared.

For REAL cooking you may be right. However, I like not heating and stinking up the apartment and keeping the stove clean. Nothing like left over cooking odors to make you go

Also with respect, until you've tried it (and I've never - ever - had anyone not love my steaks) don't knock it.

I want all of this meat in my mouth.

/Volpone

No posts for nearly two months?

You pussies.

Skirt steak stuffed with mushrooms and monterrey jack cheese.



Pineapple spears basted with brown sugar and butter.

The pineapple spears look good, but I like mushrooms about as much as elwood likes snakes

I smoked a Boston Butt this past Wednesday. It was good, but I screwed it up a little. I had the temp just a little to high. Like I said, it was good, but it could have been a little more moist.

I think I accidentally helped my wife decide what she's getting me for our 20th anniversary this year.

Last week I mentioned that I'd seen the Mother of All Pits at a sporting goods store in a nearby town. I was just talking about how big and cool it was, but I think she may be buying it for me this December.

To give you an idea of what it looks like, picture the two pits I posted above put together. Only bigger.

Seriously. If she ends up getting that thing for me, I'll probably have to divest myself of one, if not both of the ones I already have.

There's just not that much room on the patio.

I really want to visit over there just to go to a proper BBQ.

The ones I've been to here have all been cases of burnt-yet-remarkably-raw, life gambling experiences. And that's just the side salad.