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.

"Have Fork, Will Travel"

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.

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...

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!

Oh?

I know there's still good in you my friend - I can feel it.

LOL, touche mon frere

Are you sure? You do know what I do for a living, right?

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.