LOW & SLOW BBQ

[VikingPyrotechnics]

Since I'm a big fan of Low & Slow BBQ, but it's in my country rather unknown, I create this thread. (As in the chat here on APC already announced.)

As most of you come from "the land of BBQ, (IMHO)" i would be very happy if we get a few Low & Slow recipes together. Not only recipes, even your BBQ techniques would interest me. I'm very excited about what will come together here!

So unpack your secret recipes for a poor German BBQ noob!

Greets

VP

[nater]

I know you saw this on Fireworking, but I will share it here too:

 

The last barbeque I made was a method from Cooks Illustrated to recreate burnt ends. Typically, burnt ends are the cut offs from smoked brisket tossed into a sauce and served. They are quite tasty morsels, but the traditional way would require smoking a lot of briskets to get a serving. This is not a problem for a restaurant but would be difficult for the home cook unless you were hosting a large party.

 

The people at Cooks Illustrated recommend cutting a flat cut brisket into strips and allowing it to soak in a brine for 2 hours. The meat is then dried off and rubbed with a mixture of brown sugar, salt and pepper. The meat is smoked until it is done, this cook took about 7 hours around 225. I use charcoal for the heat and a few chunks of hickory and cherry woods for the smoke. One the meat is as tender as desired, it was allowed to rest for an hour. Reserve any juices that collect while it rests for the sauce and cut the meat into chunks.

 

With beef, I like a thinner spicy sauce. This is a quick sauce made from ketchup, cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Mix in the reserved juices from the brisket and simmer for 20-30 minutes. I like this sauce more tangy than sweet with most of the flavor coming from the smoked beef.

 

Toss the chunks of brisket with the sauce and serve. Good sides include grilled corn on the cob and mac and cheese made with white cheddar cheese and roasted poblano peppers.

 

 

I have a pork butt for my next barbecue. I think I will smoke it with Cherry and Apple and serve it South Carolina style pulled with a vinegar and mustard sauce. Apple and Cherry woods are both quite common to Northern Indiana and made a slightly sweet, mild smoke. It is excellent with poultry and pork, but the main reason I use it is availabilty. A couple of summers ago, my dad had an Apple tree get struck by lightning and it did not survive the winter. In late June, he had a Cherry tree get heavily damaged in a thunderstorm and we had to cut it down as well. Both of those trees have now been chopped up for a supply of wood for grilling and smoking.

Edited August 7, 2014 by nater

[BurritoBandito]

I personally prefer a smokey tangy sauce to a sweet one. This is a recipe I picked up from a BBQ joint called Schoephs. I never actually measure anything when cooking. Adjust amounts to suit your preference, these quantities are approximations.

 

The extensive list of ingredients

2 cups white vinegar

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

 

Steps

1) Mix all ingredients

2) Smoke with mesquite

3) Drink plenty of beer

 

I like mine with a lot of smoke. A foil pan works well due to it's large surface area allowing for more contact with smoke. Keep the temperature down low, and check flavor periodically. If the sauce becomes too thick add a little vinegar to thin it out. If you add vinegar you'll need to smoke it for a bit longer. It's best just to keep the temp down. I like to reduce it down until it is the consistency of tomato sauce. Brown sugar and molasses can be added for a sweet sauce, but I like it better without.

[Bobosan]

Nater, wish my kettle had a sauce holder. I guess that's what it is. I'm not much on fancy meat cooking, do ok with burgers, steaks, ribs and chicken. Been meaning to try out some hickory smoke since the tree out back has scads of nut shells for soaking.

 

Where I like to concentrate is on the sides. I can make one mean true German potato salad, good hot or cold.

[nater]

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/smokenator_tips.html

 

What you see in the picture is the Smokenator 1000. It is a pretty nice accessory for the kettle which holds a small amount of coals to one side of the grill and serves as a heat shield to the meat. You can actually use the grate intended for coals to hold more meat or support a turkey.

 

One places 25-30 unlit coals and a few chunks of wood under the pan. Then place 10 lit coals on top of the unlit ones, replace the pan and fill it with water. This arrangement can keep the dome temperature between 225 and 250 degrees for 7 hours. You will have to top off the water during the cook.

 

You can just bank the coals to one side or use the Weber coal baskets for indirect heat. I like the heat shield and the tidyness of this accessory better.

 

 

 

If you want to grill with direct heat, just leave the insert in place and pile the lit coals as normal on the outside of the insert. This gives you a small zone of indirect heat to control flare ups or toast buns.

Edited August 7, 2014 by nater

[Bobosan]

That's a pretty cool accessory. I would need the 1000 series (22.5") and the price is decent. Read the write up on that link and a lot of good info there for us wanna be kettle BBQ'rs.

[nater]

I had brisket again tonight. Barbeque can be found almost everywhere in the Midwest, U.S., even at the local minor league ball park.

 

 

 

By the way, our home team the Tin Caps won 12-11 in the 10th! A grand slam tied it up for extra innings. In the 10th, a double steal on a wild pitch set up the winning run on a single.

 

 

[VikingPyrotechnics]

Thank you.

I was also on to consider whether I should buy me the Smokenator. So far I've always packed my coals in one side of the grill. (About 30 briquettes give good 6-8 hours of 225-250 ° F) Is it worth the investment?

Here in Germany there is unfortunately almost no restaurant serving BBQ. Very few, and most of them do not know how to do it properly.

My cousin and I are superior on to open a small BBQ restaurant.

But we are not sure if the people here want to eat that..........

[Richtee]

Here's an easy method of indirect cooking on a kettle grill. Just a couple 8" tiles off to the side to contain the coals. One can add a wood chunk or two as well for a more "BBQ" type cook. In this case I did not, but had brined the pheasants for moisture and flavor beforehand in my poultry brine.

[Richtee]

So unpack your secret recipes for a poor German BBQ noob!

 

 

Since I'm a big fan of Low & Slow BBQ, but it's in my country rather unknown, I create this thread. (As in the chat here on APC already announced.)

As most of you come from "the land of BBQ, (IMHO)" i would be very happy if we get a few Low & Slow recipes together. Not only recipes, even your BBQ techniques would interest me. I'm very excited about what will come together here!

So unpack your secret recipes for a poor German BBQ noob!

Greets

VP

 

At the risk of posting a link to another site... I suggest you stop by this forum: www.smoked-meat.com Tons of info and a great many very skilled cooks there...from pros to top notch backyard cookers. I am a moderator there... same name :{)

Edited August 10, 2014 by Richtee

[VikingPyrotechnics]

Cool... Thanks a lot , Richtee ! :-)

 

Greets from Germany

[Richtee]

I guess on topic... whole hog last weekend.

 

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr72/esalink/0816141105_zps6f196771.jpg

[hillbillyreefer]

Belly down 'eh. I do mine belly up.

 

I just prepped a couple racks of Baby Backs for tonight. My usual cooking temp is 225 going to try a bit hotter 275 today render the fat down a bit more.

 

http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b508/hillbillyreefer/th_48a766af57097bb5301187ee910974de_zps403cb476.jpg

 

Going to try a new sauce recipe too, haven't decided what yet. Our supper guests have turtled, now I can experiment on the family!

Edited August 21, 2014 by hillbillyreefer