Barbecue (alt.food.barbecue) Discuss barbecue and grilling--southern style "low and slow" smoking of ribs, shoulders and briskets, as well as direct heat grilling of everything from burgers to salmon to vegetables.

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Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard of. Take
a look at:
http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml

Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been beaten
around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of interest.

Ed






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Theron wrote:

> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard of. Take
> a look at:
> http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml
>
> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been beaten
> around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of interest.



The Smoked-Foods Cookbook
by: Lue and Ed Park

Excellent book to broaden your knowledge of smoking beyond the
standard brisket n' butt category. I'm pretty sure this
was the book that helped me perfect various smoked nuts
recipes.

Smoke & Spice
by: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison

Overrated book, but it seems to have struck a chord with many beginners.
A surprising number of people treat this book as some sort of bible. Too
much emphasis on ingredients and not enough on cooking technique.

License To Grill
by: Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughb

Excellent book. I recommend anything by Chris Schlesinger. His skills
go beyond the narrower subject of smoking/grilling to the broader subject
of how to cook properly meat of all kinds in all ways.
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"RegForte" > wrote in message
...
> Theron wrote:
>
>> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard of.
>> Take a look at:
>> http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml
>>
>> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been beaten
>> around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of interest.

>
>
> The Smoked-Foods Cookbook
> by: Lue and Ed Park
>
> Excellent book to broaden your knowledge of smoking beyond the
> standard brisket n' butt category. I'm pretty sure this
> was the book that helped me perfect various smoked nuts
> recipes.
>
> Smoke & Spice
> by: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison
>
> Overrated book, but it seems to have struck a chord with many beginners.
> A surprising number of people treat this book as some sort of bible. Too
> much emphasis on ingredients and not enough on cooking technique.
>
> License To Grill
> by: Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughb
>
> Excellent book. I recommend anything by Chris Schlesinger. His skills
> go beyond the narrower subject of smoking/grilling to the broader subject
> of how to cook properly meat of all kinds in all ways.
>
>

Thanks very much for your help Reg.

Ed



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On Sep 7, 4:23*pm, RegForte > wrote:

>
> Smoke & Spice
> by: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison
>
> Overrated book, but it seems to have struck a chord with many beginners.
> A surprising number of people treat this book as some sort of bible. Too
> much emphasis on ingredients and not enough on cooking technique.
>


I agree with this comment. I am a beginner (perhaps just leaving
beginner stage) who bought this book and expected more discussion of
how-to rather than just a huge number of recipes.

On the good side, though, thumbing through this book shows the breadth
of smokable meats and preparation techniques. It openend my
imagination to what I can do with my smoker.

I am typically a cook who likes to read a number of recipes on a dish
and then pick and choose between them to see what the 'must haves' are
and what are variations among recipes, and then between wht I have in
the cupboard and what sounds good, come up with my plan. This is
where more commentary on the cooking technique is as valuable (if not
moreso) as the ingredients themselves.

I just smoked spareribs for the second time this weekend (cut them to
St. Louis style myself!) and am ready to start playing with some of
the sear first and then smoke recipes they have for tenderloin and
loin.

Rock
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"Theron" > wrote in message
...
> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard of.
> Take a look at:
> http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml
>
> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been beaten
> around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of interest.
>
> Ed


Ed, that list is from several years ago, BUTTthere are some good books
listed.
In the build your own pit section the pictures of my pits was from 12-14
years ago.
If you are new to Barbecue/grilling you might want to gat a copy of Gary
Wiviott's new book, Low &Slow, Master the art of barbecue in 5 easy lessons.
It covers the use of WSM, offset and Weber Kettle cooking.
If you follow Gary's directions you will cook pretty good Q right out of
the Gate.
You might even see my name in it in a couple of places<G>.
Big Jim in North Central Florida.




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"Big Jim" > wrote in
m:

>
> "Theron" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard
>> of. Take a look at:
>> http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml
>>
>> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been
>> beaten around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of
>> interest.
>>
>> Ed

>
> Ed, that list is from several years ago, BUTTthere are some good books
> listed.
> In the build your own pit section the pictures of my pits was from
> 12-14
> years ago.
> If you are new to Barbecue/grilling you might want to gat a copy of
> Gary
> Wiviott's new book, Low &Slow, Master the art of barbecue in 5 easy
> lessons.
> It covers the use of WSM, offset and Weber Kettle cooking.
> If you follow Gary's directions you will cook pretty good Q right
> out of
> the Gate.
> You might even see my name in it in a couple of places<G>.
> Big Jim in North Central Florida.
>
>
>


Started to reply a few messages up glad I held back.. as usual
shut up n listen you get a little more knowledge. will be lookin
for the books
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On Sep 8, 11:29*am, "Nunya Bidnits" <nunyabidn...@eternal-
september.invalid> wrote:
> RegForte said:
>
>
>
> > Theron wrote:

>
> >> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard
> >> of. Take a *look at:
> >>http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml

>
> >> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been
> >> beaten around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of
> >> interest.

>
> > The Smoked-Foods Cookbook
> > by: Lue and Ed Park

>
> > Excellent book to broaden your knowledge of smoking beyond the
> > standard brisket n' butt category. I'm pretty sure this
> > was the book that helped me perfect various smoked nuts
> > recipes.

>
> > Smoke & Spice
> > by: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison

>
> > Overrated book, but it seems to have struck a chord with many
> > beginners. A surprising number of people treat this book as some sort
> > of bible. Too much emphasis on ingredients and not enough on cooking
> > technique.

>
> > License To Grill
> > by: Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughb

>
> > Excellent book. I recommend anything by Chris Schlesinger. His skills
> > go beyond the narrower subject of smoking/grilling to the broader
> > subject of how to cook properly meat of all kinds in all ways.

>
> Those are all excellent suggestions. I agree about Smoke and Spice.
>
> Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue is a fairly good book too.
>
> MartyB in KC


I like some of Paul's books, too. Probably because if you actually
read the book, IF you can get over his ego, he is a very talented cook
that seems to improvise quite a bit. He isn't restrained by hard,
fast rules.

I have this one, and with some good recipes, it is also a very amusing
read. The guy just loves barbecue and the whole culture of the 'que
and competition.

"Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright
Lies from the Legends of Barbecue" by Mike Mills

You can find it for about $15 at Amazon, and cheaper still in the
second hand stores. As much as I like some of the bbq books out
there, I haven't ever had to pay full price for any of them.

Robert
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"Big Jim" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "Theron" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard of.
>> Take a look at:
>> http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml
>>
>> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been beaten
>> around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of interest.
>>
>> Ed

>
> Ed, that list is from several years ago, BUTTthere are some good books
> listed.
> In the build your own pit section the pictures of my pits was from 12-14
> years ago.
> If you are new to Barbecue/grilling you might want to gat a copy of Gary
> Wiviott's new book, Low &Slow, Master the art of barbecue in 5 easy
> lessons.
> It covers the use of WSM, offset and Weber Kettle cooking.
> If you follow Gary's directions you will cook pretty good Q right out of
> the Gate.
> You might even see my name in it in a couple of places<G>.
> Big Jim in North Central Florida.
>

Big Jim, I just ordered "Low and Slow". Thanks very much for your
recommendation.
It looks like it's just what I need.

ed



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On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:42:20 -0400, Big Jim wrote:

> If you are new to Barbecue/grilling you might want to gat a copy of Gary
> Wiviott's new book, Low &Slow, Master the art of barbecue in 5 easy lessons.
> It covers the use of WSM, offset and Weber Kettle cooking.
> If you follow Gary's directions you will cook pretty good Q right out of
> the Gate.


I expect to see Gary peddling his book on late night TV
infomercials. Event he reviews of his book on Amazon appear to be
staged.

I'm not to fond of his approach to BBQ, or the way he goes about
teaching it, to say the least. I've read the website. That's
enough for me.

Professor Wiviot? He must have pretty strong neck muscles to
support that head.

-sw
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"Nunya Bidnits" > wrote in message
...
> said:
>> On Sep 8, 11:29 am, "Nunya Bidnits" <nunyabidn...@eternal-
>> september.invalid> wrote:
>>> RegForte said:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Theron wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Here's a list of BBQ cookbooks, almost all of which I haven't heard
>>>>> of. Take a look at:
>>>>>
http://bbq.netrelief.com/cookbooks/b..._reviews.shtml
>>>
>>>>> Do any use and rely on any of these? I know this subject has been
>>>>> beaten around a fair amount. However, I think this list may be of
>>>>> interest.
>>>
>>>> The Smoked-Foods Cookbook
>>>> by: Lue and Ed Park
>>>
>>>> Excellent book to broaden your knowledge of smoking beyond the
>>>> standard brisket n' butt category. I'm pretty sure this
>>>> was the book that helped me perfect various smoked nuts
>>>> recipes.
>>>
>>>> Smoke & Spice
>>>> by: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison
>>>
>>>> Overrated book, but it seems to have struck a chord with many
>>>> beginners. A surprising number of people treat this book as some
>>>> sort of bible. Too much emphasis on ingredients and not enough on
>>>> cooking technique.
>>>
>>>> License To Grill
>>>> by: Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughb
>>>
>>>> Excellent book. I recommend anything by Chris Schlesinger. His
>>>> skills go beyond the narrower subject of smoking/grilling to the
>>>> broader subject of how to cook properly meat of all kinds in all
>>>> ways.
>>>
>>> Those are all excellent suggestions. I agree about Smoke and Spice.
>>>
>>> Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue is a fairly good book too.
>>>
>>> MartyB in KC

>>
>> I like some of Paul's books, too. Probably because if you actually
>> read the book, IF you can get over his ego, he is a very talented cook
>> that seems to improvise quite a bit. He isn't restrained by hard,
>> fast rules.

>
> That's true about the ego. But what I like is that he approached every
> competition season with a different concept and recipes to see if he could
> not just come up with a winner, but with something unique that stood out
> in
> a crowd as well.
>
> I think the days of being able to do that are way past over... it's gotten
> much too inbred, at least where KCBS is concerned. I've started calling
> them
> the sauce and salad contests. Trouble is, you can't find a contest
> sanctioned by anyone else in the KC region, for obvious reasons. They rule
> the turf.
>
>> I have this one, and with some good recipes, it is also a very amusing
>> read. The guy just loves barbecue and the whole culture of the 'que
>> and competition.
>>
>> "Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright
>> Lies from the Legends of Barbecue" by Mike Mills
>>
>> You can find it for about $15 at Amazon, and cheaper still in the
>> second hand stores. As much as I like some of the bbq books out
>> there, I haven't ever had to pay full price for any of them.
>>
>> Robert

>
> Half Price Books rules! I've picked up wonderful deals there.
>
> I've been collecting old Joy of Cooking editions. I picked up one, minus
> the
> dust jacket, but otherwise pristine, at HPB for five bucks... 1951
> edition.
> I'm trying not to mess it up. <g>
>
> MartyB in KC
>

Wow! The "Joy of Cooking" is the first book I reach for still, when I don't
know what to do.

Ed






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"RockPyle" > wrote in message
...
On Sep 7, 4:23 pm, RegForte > wrote:

>
> Smoke & Spice
> by: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison
>
> Overrated book, but it seems to have struck a chord with many beginners.
> A surprising number of people treat this book as some sort of bible. Too
> much emphasis on ingredients and not enough on cooking technique.
>


I agree with this comment. I am a beginner (perhaps just leaving
beginner stage) who bought this book and expected more discussion of
how-to rather than just a huge number of recipes.

On the good side, though, thumbing through this book shows the breadth
of smokable meats and preparation techniques. It openend my
imagination to what I can do with my smoker.

I am typically a cook who likes to read a number of recipes on a dish
and then pick and choose between them to see what the 'must haves' are
and what are variations among recipes, and then between wht I have in
the cupboard and what sounds good, come up with my plan. This is
where more commentary on the cooking technique is as valuable (if not
moreso) as the ingredients themselves.

I just smoked spareribs for the second time this weekend (cut them to
St. Louis style myself!) and am ready to start playing with some of
the sear first and then smoke recipes they have for tenderloin and
loin.

Rock
>
>

I'm going to try the following:
Take whole piece of midportion of tenderloin, or chateaubriand, 4-6 inches
long, depending on servings. I won't go less than the width of the
tenderloin. Trim off all fat and connective tissue, and salt and pepper.
Place longitudinally on upper rack of bullet smoker, and smoke at a very
low temp, 200F measured on the grate until the meat registers 110-115F in
the center by thermometer. Then sear at a very high temp. over hot charcoal
fire. I'm thnking about searing on the stove, deglazing following to make a
sauce you would combine wtih a bit of que sauce.

Ed





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On Sep 10, 5:20*am, Sqwertz > wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:42:20 -0400, Big Jim wrote:
> > * If you are new to Barbecue/grilling you might want to gat a copy of Gary
> > Wiviott's new book, Low &Slow, Master the art of barbecue in 5 easy lessons.
> > * It covers the use of WSM, offset and Weber Kettle cooking.
> > * If you follow Gary's directions you will cook pretty good Q right out of
> > the Gate.

>
> I expect to see Gary peddling his book on late night TV
> infomercials. *Event he reviews of his book on Amazon appear to be
> staged.
>
> I'm not to fond of his approach to BBQ, or the way he goes about
> teaching it, to say the least. *I've read the website. *That's
> enough for me.
>
> Professor Wiviot? *He must have pretty strong neck muscles to
> support that head.
>
> -sw


I ordered and received the book. I've not tried any of the recipes,
but skimming through the book, the tone is very off-putting. Follow
these steps, don't deviate from them, don't use any other available
information, and you will see the light.

Almost like a cult.

That being said, his progression from short to longer smokes and focus
on feeling the fire and understanding done-ness through your senses
rather than just measurements seems like a good addition/alternative
to a more mechanical and time/temperature regime.

I will be trying the marinated chicken recipe soon!

I think the book will be a good addition to the shelf, but certainly
will not have me throwing away all my other books and severing my
connection to the internet!

Rock
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On Sep 29, 5:45*pm, "Theron" > wrote:

> I agree with this comment. *I am a beginner (perhaps just leaving
> beginner stage) who bought this book and expected more discussion of
> how-to rather than just a huge number of recipes.


After 10 or so years and all those questions? That's just plain ole
sad.

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On Sep 30, 9:33*am, Duwop > wrote:
> On Sep 29, 5:45*pm, "Theron" > wrote:
>
> > I agree with this comment. *I am a beginner (perhaps just leaving
> > beginner stage) who bought this book and expected more discussion of
> > how-to rather than just a huge number of recipes.

>
> After 10 or so years and all those questions? That's just plain ole
> sad.


That was me, Duwop.

Theron/Kent/etc. didn't properly attribute the quote.

Rock (really a mostly-beginner)
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On 30-Sep-2009, RockPyle > wrote:

> On Sep 30, 9:33*am, Duwop > wrote:
> > On Sep 29, 5:45*pm, "Theron" > wrote:
> >
> > > I agree with this comment. *I am a beginner (perhaps just leaving
> > > beginner stage) who bought this book and expected more discussion of
> > > how-to rather than just a huge number of recipes.

> >
> > After 10 or so years and all those questions? That's just plain ole
> > sad.

>
> That was me, Duwop.
>
> Theron/Kent/etc. didn't properly attribute the quote.
>
> Rock (really a mostly-beginner)


Rock,

What nobody and least of all the FAQ tells you is, "KISS"
"Keep It Simple Stupid". That means, "Don't mess with
rubs. Don't mess with marinades. Don't mess with temps.

Pick a product, be it pork, beef or fowl. Learn how to cook
it to the right degree of done. (Only you know what the right
degree of done is). Only when you can repeat the basics
everytime should you experiment.

When you start your pit it'll get hot pretty quick.When you
put the meat in, it'll drop way off. Surprise, surprise. don't
adjust anything. That cold meat drug the temp down. Let
the pit catch up. Don't get antsy. It'll take an hour or two
depending on how much meat you put in there. If you
keep messing with the draft, you just mess up your fire.
It was already running the way it shoud. Leave it alone.

--
Brick (It took me three years to learn that)


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On Sep 30, 1:29*pm, RockPyle > wrote:

> That was me, Duwop.
>
> Theron/Kent/etc. didn't properly attribute the quote.
>
> Rock (really a mostly-beginner)


Sorry, he's had almost a decade of questions under his belt which was
the reason for my comment.

We're all beginners for the first 3-4 years. Well, maybe that's me and
am a slow learner. But slow learning seems to go together with slow
cooking. ;-)

It's not something you can do weekly, so it takes a while to get
experience.

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On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:19:31 -0700 (PDT), Duwop >
wrote:

>On Sep 30, 1:29*pm, RockPyle > wrote:
>
>> That was me, Duwop.
>>
>> Theron/Kent/etc. didn't properly attribute the quote.
>>
>> Rock (really a mostly-beginner)

>
>Sorry, he's had almost a decade of questions under his belt which was
>the reason for my comment.
>
>We're all beginners for the first 3-4 years. Well, maybe that's me and
>am a slow learner. But slow learning seems to go together with slow
>cooking. ;-)
>
>It's not something you can do weekly, so it takes a while to get
>experience.


Sez you! Heheheh

Why can't you do it weekly ?
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On Sep 30, 8:06*pm, "Brick" > wrote:
> On 30-Sep-2009, RockPyle > wrote:
>
> > On Sep 30, 9:33*am, Duwop > wrote:
> > > On Sep 29, 5:45*pm, "Theron" > wrote:

>
> > > > I agree with this comment. *I am a beginner (perhaps just leaving
> > > > beginner stage) who bought this book and expected more discussion of
> > > > how-to rather than just a huge number of recipes.

>
> > > After 10 or so years and all those questions? That's just plain ole
> > > sad.

>
> > That was me, Duwop.

>
> > Theron/Kent/etc. didn't properly attribute the quote.

>
> > Rock (really a mostly-beginner)

>
> Rock,
>
> What nobody and least of all the FAQ tells you is, "KISS"
> "Keep It Simple Stupid". That means, "Don't mess with
> rubs. Don't mess with marinades. Don't mess with temps.
>
> Pick a product, be it pork, beef or fowl. Learn how to cook
> it to the right degree of done. (Only you know what the right
> degree of done is). Only when you can repeat the basics
> everytime should you experiment.
>
> When you start your pit it'll get hot pretty quick.When you
> put the meat in, it'll drop way off. Surprise, surprise. don't
> adjust anything. That cold meat drug the temp down. Let
> the pit catch up. Don't get antsy. It'll take an hour or two
> depending on how much meat you put in there. If you
> keep messing with the draft, you just mess up your fire.
> It was already running the way it shoud. Leave it alone.
>
> --
> Brick (It took me three years to learn that)


I agree. What struck me most about learning to smoke is how well it
parallels homebrewing (which I have done for 17 years now). You have
a physical set of equipment which you need to learn well. It has
thermal behavior, you can find efficiencies as you play with it, etc.
Then you have the recipes. Hard core style brewers will look to match
a particular style guideline exactly, while taste brewers want to make
a beer that appeals the them and their friends only, no matter what
'style' it does or does not match.

After a while, to formulate a recipe, you learn to read a bunch of
recipes, understand what is common and what adds individualism and
then put your best effort forward.

After recognizing the similarities between smoking and brewing, I did
a lot of reading to understand the equipment as well as the basics of
rubs, marinades, etc. And KISS was certainly part of that initial
education.

Looking at my logs, I certainly paid much more attention to the
temperatures on the half hour, how the temparature drops and then
recovers with the addition of cold meat, and now I am much more calm
about temperature swings if I haven't monkeyed with anything. What I
am now watching mostly is how long I can leave the fire without adding
charcoal or wood, hoping to get to the point where smoking is truly a
background event to whatever else i am doing on the weekend.

I have a Brinkmann two-door rectangular cooker with a Home depot
grilling wok as the charcoal tray and I am still using water in the
tray, although that is probably the next equipment change I make (sand
in the tray and a foiled pie pan to catch the drippings.

My point about the book was that i would not have understood the art
of smoking nearly as well as I (think I) do if I had followed
Professor Wiviott's course to the letter. I would either be ****ed
off at my equipment and that I didn't spend the additional $200 for a
WSM, or I would have given up the sport because it took too much
effort to keep a fire going.

Instead, my version of KISS was to work on short ribs and country ribs
(4 hour smokes) until I was comfortable with adding coals and wood,
making complete coal changes and keeping a fire going for 10+ hours.
Then I jumped into brisket and pulled pork ant then most recently, I
attacked spares.

My goal going into smoking was to replicate pulled pork for my Memphis-
born wife, and I got there about three months into my learning.

Enough rambling. I have convinced myself to smoke some chicken this
weekend using the recipe in step three of Low and Slow. I need to see
if the marinade is available in the Ethnic section of my local snooty
market, or if I need to go to an authentic mexican market.

Rock
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On 30-Sep-2009, RockPyle > wrote:

> On Sep 30, 8:06*pm, "Brick" > wrote:
> > On 30-Sep-2009, RockPyle > wrote:


.. . .

> I agree. What struck me most about learning to smoke is how well it
> parallels homebrewing (which I have done for 17 years now). You have
> a physical set of equipment which you need to learn well. It has
> thermal behavior, you can find efficiencies as you play with it, etc.


The typical charcoal/lump/wood fired pit has it's own unique thermal
characteristics. It can be forced to deviate slightly from it's inherent
design, but not by all that much without a whole lot of fiddling. Yes I
can build a giant fire in my pit and make it glow cherry red. Alternatively
I can build a tiny fire in my pit and make it heat to barely higher then
the ambient air temperature. Neither of those options is desireable from
a labor standpoint. In the first case I would have to move the pit well
away from the house and buy a new pit every other year. In the second
case, I would have to tend the fire two or three times per hour.

> Then you have the recipes. Hard core style brewers will look to match
> a particular style guideline exactly, while taste brewers want to make
> a beer that appeals the them and their friends only, no matter what
> 'style' it does or does not match.


I can't really speak about recipies. I haven't developed a liking for
wet ribs and from what I have learned, rubs don't have a large
influence on pulled pork. The pulled variety can be seasoned to
your choice after being pulled. Mostly, I just leave mine alone
and leave it up to my guests as to what they want to do with it.
Mostly, they just eat it leaving little no leftovers.

>
> After a while, to formulate a recipe, you learn to read a bunch of
> recipes, understand what is common and what adds individualism and
> then put your best effort forward.


I do exactly the same thing. I seldom if ever use a recipe in it's original
form. I suppose that's often because I don't have the exact ingredients
on hand. But many times, I don't like the content of the original and
substitute on purpose to my own taste.

>
> After recognizing the similarities between smoking and brewing, I did
> a lot of reading to understand the equipment as well as the basics of
> rubs, marinades, etc. And KISS was certainly part of that initial
> education.


The variety of rubs and marinades are beyond my ken. I use a modified
version of Emeril's "Essence" or "Bayou Blast" for my 'house' rub. I like
Hound's brine for chicken, but I modify that to reduce the intense citrus.

>
> Looking at my logs, I certainly paid much more attention to the
> temperatures on the half hour, how the temparature drops and then
> recovers with the addition of cold meat, and now I am much more calm
> about temperature swings if I haven't monkeyed with anything. What I
> am now watching mostly is how long I can leave the fire without adding
> charcoal or wood, hoping to get to the point where smoking is truly a
> background event to whatever else i am doing on the weekend.


In the beginning my offset pit drove me nuts and I actually had to throw
out some meat due to creosote contamination. Now I set it and forget
it until the temp begins to drop due to low fuel. I add fuel changing
nothing in the way of airflow controls.

>
> I have a Brinkmann two-door rectangular cooker with a Home depot
> grilling wok as the charcoal tray and I am still using water in the
> tray, although that is probably the next equipment change I make (sand
> in the tray and a foiled pie pan to catch the drippings.
>
> My point about the book was that i would not have understood the art
> of smoking nearly as well as I (think I) do if I had followed
> Professor Wiviott's course to the letter. I would either be ****ed
> off at my equipment and that I didn't spend the additional $200 for a
> WSM, or I would have given up the sport because it took too much
> effort to keep a fire going.


I know Gary, but have never read his book. I seriously doubt that Gary
himself, follows his book explicitly. He is known to make good food

>
> Instead, my version of KISS was to work on short ribs and country ribs
> (4 hour smokes) until I was comfortable with adding coals and wood,
> making complete coal changes and keeping a fire going for 10+ hours.
> Then I jumped into brisket and pulled pork ant then most recently, I
> attacked spares.


Your last statement surprised me. Spares are easy. Heat 'em, leave 'em,
serve 'em, eat 'em.

>
> My goal going into smoking was to replicate pulled pork for my Memphis-
> born wife, and I got there about three months into my learning.


I wish I could say I made decent pulled pork in three months.

>
> Enough rambling. I have convinced myself to smoke some chicken this
> weekend using the recipe in step three of Low and Slow. I need to see
> if the marinade is available in the Ethnic section of my local snooty
> market, or if I need to go to an authentic mexican market.


You want to smoke a chicken, go with Hound's brine and at least 24
hours. I've done them 48 and liked it just fine. Figure out how you're
going to crisp up the skin if you care about that. I haven't done it, but
a 400F oven should get the job done. I'm talking about whole bird.
If you're going to part it out or spatchcock (Butterfly) it, the game
is different, but oven should still work. Fifteen or twenty minutes
should get the skin in order/

>
> Rock


You're quicker then I am/was. I started smoking in 2003. Didn't
get really confident with my pit until about 2007. Dont' know why
it took so long. Same pit, same fuel, same environment, but no
sweat. I fire it up, load it and watch TV or whatever until the heat
drops off. Refuel and continue watching TV. The only work is
the initial unpacking, washing and rubbing the meat and finally
the butchering and packing the finished product.

--
Brick (Youth is wasted on young people)
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On Sep 30, 6:30*pm, Gene > wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:19:31 -0700 (PDT), Duwop >
>
> Why can't you do it weekly ?-


Can't eat that much! Damn!.

BBQ? Well for me, I got a big cooker, so I take advantage of that and
fill it up reasonably well. Do some butts, do a bunch,ribs, etc. The
more the merrier. Am popular with friends and co-workers who I'll let
in on the eats and just charge em for the meat.





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On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:56:14 -0700 (PDT), Duwop >
wrote:

>On Sep 30, 6:30*pm, Gene > wrote:
>> On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:19:31 -0700 (PDT), Duwop >
>>
>> Why can't you do it weekly ?-

>
>Can't eat that much! Damn!.
>
>BBQ? Well for me, I got a big cooker, so I take advantage of that and
>fill it up reasonably well. Do some butts, do a bunch,ribs, etc. The
>more the merrier. Am popular with friends and co-workers who I'll let
>in on the eats and just charge em for the meat.
>
>


I know what you mean

This may sound silly but I have fired up the pit just for the smell!

lol
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On Sep 30, 8:34*am, RockPyle > wrote:
> On Sep 10, 5:20*am, Sqwertz > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:42:20 -0400, Big Jim wrote:
> > > * If you are new to Barbecue/grilling you might want to gat a copy of Gary
> > > Wiviott's new book, Low &Slow, Master the art of barbecue in 5 easy lessons.
> > > * It covers the use of WSM, offset and Weber Kettle cooking.
> > > * If you follow Gary's directions you will cook pretty good Q right out of
> > > the Gate.

>
> > I expect to see Gary peddling his book on late night TV
> > infomercials. *Event he reviews of his book on Amazon appear to be
> > staged.

>
> > I'm not to fond of his approach to BBQ, or the way he goes about
> > teaching it, to say the least. *I've read the website. *That's
> > enough for me.

>
> > Professor Wiviot? *He must have pretty strong neck muscles to
> > support that head.

>
> > -sw

>
> I ordered and received the book. *I've not tried any of the recipes,
> but skimming through the book, the tone is very off-putting. *Follow
> these steps, don't deviate from them, don't use any other available
> information, and you will see the light.
>
> Almost like a cult.
>
> That being said, his progression from short to longer smokes and focus
> on feeling the fire and understanding done-ness through your senses
> rather than just measurements seems like a good addition/alternative
> to a more mechanical and time/temperature regime.
>
> I will be trying the marinated chicken recipe soon!
>
> I think the book will be a good addition to the shelf, but certainly
> will not have me throwing away all my other books and severing my
> connection to the internet!
>
> Rock- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -


Follow-up on the first required cook from this book:

Made the Mojo Criollo Chicken from Low and Slow and it came out
fantastic.

Bought two small fryers (5.5 lb total) and halved them as per the
instructions in the book. I had seen plenty of recipes involving
spatchcocked chicken, but had never done it. Cutting out the backbone
was easier than I had expected, and then rather than leaving the bird
butterflied, the recipe specifies separating the halves. All of this
was done quite easily and neatly.

Marinated overnight using a 24 ounce bottle of Goya brand Mojo
Criollo, which os a citrus and spice marinade in teh Mexican section
of my local snooty supermarket. I am not sure if my local megamart
carries it, but will check. The marinade was very strong smelling,
which singalled goodness.

After a marinade overnight (longer then the couple of hours in the
book), I popped the birds into my smoker and cooked for about 2 and a
half hours (smoker was running about 260* F).

Chickens came out great! Skin was not crispy but edible (better then
the beer can chicken I made previously). Meat was tender and the
citrus/spice flavor was exquisite!

So, two thumbs up for the first cooking lesson from Wiviott's book!

Rock
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On 6-Oct-2009, RockPyle > wrote:

> On Sep 30, 8:34*am, RockPyle > wrote:
> > On Sep 10, 5:20*am, Sqwertz > wrote:

>
> Chickens came out great! Skin was not crispy but edible (better then
> the beer can chicken I made previously). Meat was tender and the
> citrus/spice flavor was exquisite!
>
> So, two thumbs up for the first cooking lesson from Wiviott's book!
>
> Rock


Nice narrative Rock. I use a lot of that Mojo Criollo myself. All of
the stores around here have it. (Maybe it's because 70% of the
population is Spanish Speaking.). I have smoked quite a few chickens
using a brine overnight or even for 48 hours. A good citrus brine
such as Hound's Brine is excellent and probably better then Mojo
Criollo for chicken. If you want the skin to be more appealing, you
can pop the smoked and still hot chicken in a very hot 400 - 500F
oven for ten or fifteen minutes. It works particularly good for whole
chickens. Not sure about spatchcocked or halved as you did yours.
But I should think a broiler would work in that case.

--
Brick (Youth is wasted on young people)
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On Oct 7, 10:41*am, Sqwertz > wrote:
> On Tue, 6 Oct 2009 12:08:17 -0700 (PDT), RockPyle wrote:
> > Follow-up on the first required cook from this book:

>
> > Made the Mojo Criollo Chicken from Low and Slow and it came out
> > fantastic.

>
> > Bought two small fryers (5.5 lb total) and halved them as per the
> > instructions in the book. *I had seen plenty of recipes involving
> > spatchcocked chicken, but had never done it. *Cutting out the backbone
> > was easier than I had expected, and then rather than leaving the bird
> > butterflied, the recipe specifies separating the halves. *All of this
> > was done quite easily and neatly.

>
> > Marinated overnight using a 24 ounce bottle of Goya brand Mojo
> > Criollo, which os a citrus and spice marinade in teh Mexican section
> > of my local snooty supermarket. *I am not sure if my local megamart
> > carries it, but will check. *The marinade was very strong smelling,
> > which singalled goodness.

>
> > After a marinade overnight (longer then the couple of hours in the
> > book), I popped the birds into my smoker and cooked for about 2 and a
> > half hours (smoker was running about 260* F).

>
> > Chickens came out great! *Skin was not crispy but edible (better then
> > the beer can chicken I made previously). *Meat was tender and the
> > citrus/spice flavor was exquisite!

>
> > So, two thumbs up for the first cooking lesson from Wiviott's book!

>
> That's it? *Buy a bottle of mojo criollo, marinate chicken, and
> smoke for 2.5 hours?
>
> Heck, give me $19.95 and I'll teach you a lesson, too. *The first
> lesson is that advice like that is free.
>
> -sw- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -


That was meant mostly as a balance to my mostly negative review of the
tone of the book.

His approach is sound: first get comfortable with your equipment and
fire, then start with simple recipes and expand as you gain comfort
with your equipment and process.

I started with short ribs, and other small cuts that would cook
quickly to get to know my equipment.

Rock
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