View Full Version : Favorite BBQ Poll
I love BBQ.
You should love BBQ too.
Pulled Pork, Ribs, Brisket, Chicken - everyone has their favorite. I recently started doing what is lovingly referred to as "Poor Mans Brisket" as one of my go-to smoked meats of choice. I'm not sure "Poor" is a better choice of words than "Lazy" but either way slow roasted smoked meat is always good once the weather turns good and the sun starts staying out longer and longer.
What says the peanut gallery?
mojaveman
04-29-2024, 13:59
Back in the day...
Fred Chason's barbeque in Fayetteville. :)
After three fires and a retirement its now called "Grandsons" and its on the other other other side of town...
...still a great place to eat
Roguish Lawyer
04-29-2024, 16:01
I voted three times, and I'm not even a Democrat.
Picanha so good! Baby Back Ribs and Pork Butt for pulled pork.
Back in the day...
Fred Chason's barbeque in Fayetteville. :)
Oh hell yeah!! Loved to ride the bike out to Lumber Bridge (?) and chow down. Never been anything like it.
BBQ in the South is an art form, if that's possible.
Traveling from different BBQ establishments and families with secret recipes will make you overweight and not caring about your health .
BBQ in the South is an art form, if that's possible...
I’d say its not only possible – more than just plausible – I’d say it’s closer to probable.
BBQ folks that I know will often treat the ingredients in their rub – or the recipe for their sauce the way the farmuhsootikal industry treats the research results from their COVID-19 vaccines.
Do you wrap or do you hold the Texas crutch in contempt?
Do you cook fat cap up or fat cap down?
Do you use briquettes?
Lump?
Hardwood?
Pellets?
Gas with chips?
Do you cook low and slow or hot and fast?
Do you inject your meats?
Do you brine them?
Are you wrong if you don't do it "my way" ???
What difference at this point does it make?
Roguish Lawyer
04-30-2024, 13:29
Do you wrap or do you hold the Texas crutch in contempt?
Of course I wrap. This preserves moisture.
Do you cook fat cap up or fat cap down?
Up, duh. The cap is up so the fat renders down through the meat.
Do you use briquettes?
Yes, with wood chunks in my 22" Weber Smoky Mountain, which I have altered with several aftermarket enhancements.
Lump?
No.
Hardwood?
The wood chunks I use with charcoal vary based on what I am cooking. I like mesquite, apple, and hickory (often a blend).
Pellets?
Pellets are for those who don't want a challenge. You might as well go to a restaurant.
Gas with chips?
I'll admit I've done it before, but this is far from ideal.
Do you cook low and slow or hot and fast?
Depends on what I'm making. I do chicken and turkey hot and fast. Everything else low and slow.
Do you inject your meats?
Depends on what the meat is, and sometimes it varies. I always inject pork shoulder, sometimes brisket. I brine chicken and turkey. I do not inject ribs.
Do you brine them?
See above.
Are you wrong if you don't do it "my way" ???
No, but there are things that are objectively wrong. Like failing to remove the membrane from ribs.
What difference at this point does it make?
Do you want the food to taste good or not?
mojaveman
04-30-2024, 14:21
Traveling from different BBQ establishments and families with secret recipes will make you overweight and not caring about your health .
Yeah, but it sure tastes good. :D
No, but there are things that are objectively wrong. Like failing to remove the membrane from ribs.
I disagree with this one. I've had too much meat fall of the ribs before I get them to the platter. The membrane holds them together.
bblhead672
05-02-2024, 06:53
Texas. BBQ. Brisket. There's no other cut of meat quite like brisket.
However, I enjoy all BBQ as long as it's done well. And there's lots of great BBQ'd meat in Texas!
Roguish Lawyer
05-02-2024, 09:26
I disagree with this one. I've had too much meat fall of the ribs before I get them to the platter. The membrane holds them together.
If the meat falls off the bone like that, the ribs have been overcooked. The membrane prevents the smoke from getting into the meat, and it also tastes bad. Admittedly, I'm just an amateur who watches shows like BBQ Pitmasters and reads books by BBQ guys like Aaron Franklin and Myron Mixon, but I think not removing the membrane is pretty universally considered a mistake by the BBQ community. I would try removing it and taking the ribs off sooner, and see what you think!
If the meat falls off the bone like that, the ribs have been overcooked. The membrane prevents the smoke from getting into the meat, and it also tastes bad. Admittedly, I'm just an amateur who watches shows like BBQ Pitmasters and reads books by BBQ guys like Aaron Franklin and Myron Mixon, but I think not removing the membrane is pretty universally considered a mistake by the BBQ community. I would try removing it and taking the ribs off sooner, and see what you think!
Franklin leaves in on. ;) "A Meat-Smoking Manifesto" page 165. After reading that is when I stopped removing it.
Membrane stripping, injecting, rubbing, saucing, wrapping, drying before rubbing vs wetting it down with a binder, soaking your chips in salt water, fat cap up, fat cap down, water pan, no water pan...
When it comes to "the rules of BBQ", only a Sith deals in absolutes my friends..
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
It's the "ritual" that matters. The "bite" is subjective.
I've listened to quite a few of the "celebrity" BBQ chefs and most of them at one point or another have been pretty clear that when they are cooking for their family - they don't do a lot of the crap they do on TV or during a competition.
A TV "rib guy" said straight up that all he puts on "his" ribs are salt and pepper. What Aaron Franklin does to the briskets that he sells by the truck load is not the same thing as what he critiques people for when he is judging a contest.
If I get a nice looking rack of spare ribs - there's no way I'm going to do as much trimming, cutting, shaping, and carving as a competitive BBQ chef does before putting them in a presentation box. That huge slab of meat is getting seasoned and tossed on the heat - and in most cases - they aren't going to taste all that different.
Does anybody really think that Chili's employs a bunch of middle aged dads, clad in a pair of New Balance running shoes, Bermuda shorts, a Bass Pro Shops Baseball hat, and a "Go Sportsball Team" t-shirt - standing over a smokey open fire all day long just to lay out a few racks of ribs while he sips on a Miller Lite?
Fuhgeddaboudit...
...they pre-cook them bitches in a pressure cooker
...true BBQ is not always what it seems
...true BBQ is spiritual
...you must become one with grill
...use the smoke, let go
Its just like the trouble they go through to get "bite through skin" on a competition chicken thigh - nobody "really" cooks like that as a matter of routine.
It's the ritual.
Of course, "my ritual" is more correct than "your" ritual...
...but that's a topic for a different time.
Box, last time I "use[d] the smoke, let go," I woke up in Tokyo on a pile of counterfeit Deuchemarks.
Probably shouldn't have bought that oily matchstick off that sketchy Asian dude......
Box, last time I "use[d] the smoke, let go," I woke up in Tokyo on a pile of counterfeit Deuchemarks.
Probably shouldn't have bought that oily matchstick off that sketchy Asian dude......
Too much brown liquor while you are cooking has a way of causing that very thing...
** Edited to add:
I know that there are dark forces arrayed against the practice of Pellet Grill cooking; a cabal of BBQ enthusiasts that see wood pellets as an abomination...
...but cooking is nothing more than the careful application of heat to edible meats and vegetables as a way of making them more pleasing for human consumption.
Pellets are just a medium
Pellets ARE in fact, WOOD.
I could be said that quick start briquettes are also contemptible but I'm not going to judge...
MOVING ON
I have settled on my Pit Boss Pellet Grill as my method of choice when I cook ribs - because I LOVE ribs. I also employ a smoke tube filled with the same pellets that I am using to provide the smoke and heat used to slow roast my pork ribs.
The smoke tube makes all the difference.
My smoke tube covers the "smoke gap" between pellet grills, and the wood fired smoker I used before. The taste difference is so small that I cannot tell the difference if there is one at all. The effort needed to produce consistent delicious results is what eventually me on pellet grills.
Lazy?
Of course.
I admit it. Pellet grills are lazy BBQ - but I'm in it for the food - my time is precious - I have other things to do. If I just want to stand around tending fire - I can do that at my fire pit - AFTER my belly is full of smoked meat.
I did last weekends ribs on my Pit Boss using my smoke tube to provide the extra smoke - a rack of Baby Backs, and a rack of St Louis Style. They were real crowd pleasers at the table and nobody seemed to mind that they weren't cooked on an off set wood smoker. IN fact, not only did they like the ribs - they commented on how good the yard looked (which I cut, edged, and trimmed while the ribs were cooking)
God Bless America and long live meat eaters.
I've found that Texas style BBQ is the best with Florida next. While I prefer brisket, I'll take some good ribs on the side.
"Have Fork, Will Travel"
Swing by and pick me up, will ya?
I've got a titanium spork I've been dying to try.
Getting great results is not all that hard. If you can read and follow simple instructions and have the right equipment.
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BBQ can be as almost as pleasing to look at as it is to eat.
It has been a long long time - but I used to have an upright smoker; mine had a water pan that could be removed in place of an additional grate. I never cooked so much that I needed two grates but I used the water pan quite a bit. That old thing turned out a lot of good BBQ...
sfshooter
05-08-2024, 09:49
I was an anti pellet grill guy for awhile. Then I came across an Oklahoma Joe's pellet grill for half price. While I was setting it up on my deck one of my buddies standing there supervising with cold beer in hand, offered to buy my gas grill. Well, I couldn't refuse the price so I sold it.
Cooked a lot of bbq on that gas grill. I think I figured I had it for 18 years. I kind of miss it.....
Still getting the hang of OK Joe's. Now that I'm not working across the big pond anymore I will have much more time to devote to it.
My Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker does such an excellent job on making jerky. Tried a ham last fall but it went to dry on me.........not enough practice.
Meat eaters rule!
Roguish Lawyer
05-08-2024, 13:28
When it comes to "the rules of BBQ", only a Sith deals in absolutes my friends..
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
Oh?
Oh?
I know there's still good in you my friend - I can feel it.
Roguish Lawyer
05-08-2024, 14:21
T
I know that there are dark forces arrayed against the practice of Pellet Grill cooking; a cabal of BBQ enthusiasts that see wood pellets as an abomination...
...but cooking is nothing more than the careful application of heat to edible meats and vegetables as a way of making them more pleasing for human consumption.
Pellets are just a medium
Pellets ARE in fact, WOOD.
I could be said that quick start briquettes are also contemptible but I'm not going to judge...
LOL, touche mon frere
Roguish Lawyer
05-08-2024, 14:22
I know there's still good in you my friend - I can feel it.
Are you sure? You do know what I do for a living, right?
The Reaper
05-08-2024, 22:12
Are you sure? You do know what I do for a living, right?
Piano player in a house of ill repute? :D
TR
Piano player in a house of ill repute? :D
TR
I mean - that's ALMOST the same thing as a lawyer isn't it? :p
I'm just going to fall back on what I learned in SERE School - insulate don't isolate.
We still love you 'Roguish Lawyer' - you're still one of us. The emperor is just using you.
Let go of your hatred for pellet grilled BBQ dishes...
...come back to the light side of the force.
Lawyers all have to have a side gig to pay the bills, besides crooks who else would hire ‘em? :D