BBQ!

[Pissy]

And done. 



Struck a good balance between falling off the bone and being able to make a bite mark.  Pretty happy with these. 

[RAGER]

Not technically bbq but was supposed to be.

[Pissy]

Looks amazing.

[Pissy]

4:30am on July 4th and just put the bbq on. 

Hope to eat at 7:30 this evening. 

[RAGER]

That's commitment.

[Pissy]

Making Alabama White Sauce chicken thighs.  They the boneless skinless thighs so i may roll some up like stogies for kicks.  Will report. 

Tomorrow it's two racks of st louis ribs. 

[RAGER]

Hot grill weekend.

[Pissy]

Yep.  Brined, marinated, smoked, reverse seared and dunked. 

[RAGER]

That looks really good.

I see all the post icons are gone again.

Hmmm right after an update too.

[Pissy]

Yeah.  Not sure what's up with that.  Every 30 visits or so, they'll be back, then gone again. 

That chicken was really fucking good.  Gonna stuff them with jalapeño popper goop next time.

[Pissy]

The ribs:




No after picture I'm afraid. Really came out good too, but coulda cooked them longer.  Or hotter.  Rubbed them with coffee, cocoa and sumac.   A molasses and ketchup bbq sauce with the same rub in it.  Next time they'll be absolutely tits.

[socket]

Sunday

[RAGER]

Question. Pissy will most likely have the answer although I could probably ask SparkleMotion but he's hard to get a hold of sometimes.

We've got a couple really good joints that are only open on weekends or do popups. The one open on the weekends sells a TON of food. Big lines all the time. On their Instagram they show they're cooking and prepping and smoking on like Tuesday but usually open Saturday and Sunday. They might have just started opening Fridays though.

So my question is a logistics one. Are the ribs or brisket burger I'm eating on Saturday smoked on Tuesday or Wednesday?  I'm not squeamish about it cuz it's delicious but I'd bet if other people that don't know restaurant op would be.

They do have a smoker there on site as well as their truck they serve the food out of which us probably where the stove flattop etc... are.

Matt's is the biggest one here I think. They're open every day and gave a central site with several smokers.

[Pissy]

Maybe.   It isn't something I do, but I've known people who make bbq chicken, and their secret is to cook it then let it sit in the fridge submerged in sauce as it cools. 

I'm not really down with the methods of restaurants, but Franklin's and other places sell out of meat daily.  Doesn't mean that they didn't cook it a few days before. 

On the flip side, if they aren't selling it on their big day, when would they? On their smaller demand day?

Also, in an effort to reach people with as many touches as possible, a Tuesday load pic to their feed, doesn't necessarily mean they're cooking that moment.  Unless it says they are, of course.

[Muffin Man]

if you see 'em unloading stacks of foil-lined service trays out of the backend of a run down volvo wagon... then i'd be leary.

[Muffin Man]

it reminds me of the best Nashville chicken I ever had, which wasn't Hot, but Latino, where the chef brined his birds in a bog-standard 55 gallon plastic garbage container, just like the ones at the home improvement store. He'd park them, several of them, right outside the kitchen door - you'd pass by at the drive-thru. It was an old oil-change or something place. Drive-up window only. I asked one day about the drums as they were pulling birds out dripping. I wish I had that brine recipe though. 1/2 bird with sides for like $9.99 or 10.99. He had specials some days for $7.99 - that's beans, rice, 1/2 chicken broiled, foil wrapped tortilla, jalepeno/onion cup, couple of salsa's. You could buy extras. Rarely had if ever any desserts but it sure didn't matter. That grill broiled bird was the best ever.

[RAGER]

Yeah they start cooking early in the week. I read a few things just a bit ago. Joints open daily that don't fuck around don't cool down their meat or at least their brisket or clod. Ribs maybe cuz they can be steamed to temp. But I guess it's timing the cook right and hot holding at 140-160 wrapped to bejeesus so as to not lose moisture.

I also learned something that I already do but for a different reason. Sauce on the side always. Cuts that are sauced can sometimes be drier stuff they're trying to keep moist.

Muff. Wonder how your guy got away with brining chicken like that. All kinds of stuff that would make an inspectors head explode.

[Pissy]

For brisket I can see sauce on the side, or not at all.  I can't really for ribs.  Either sauced or dry rubbed only. 

Today I'm in the middle of ribs on the smoker.  I "upgraded" my weber smoky mountain with gasket felt, a locking hinge top and a new thermometer.  This is the maiden voyage.

The thermometer is driving me nuts.  I know it's a good one and accurate, but now that I know precisely the temp, I can't just leave it.  It was better when I didn't know I think.

[Muffin Man]

Muff. Wonder how your guy got away with brining chicken like that. All kinds of stuff that would make an inspectors head explode.

For sure, plus they were doing prep offsite so who knows but I never saw an inspector tag or notice posted. But guess what poof! they kinda disappeard overnight after about 2 years of being sold out 5 days a week. They were highly visible on the main road close to a White Castle so they wasn't trying to sneak it in (or maybe they were). Cars always wrapped around the drive thru, and they took their time so if you were in a hurry you just didn't try. The neighborhood afaik never knew what happend they just left us sad. The other sit down place, also Latin, was good/great but not as much as the dumpy drive-thru.

Some of the BBQ places in Austin were sorta iffy too by the looks of it. Does mullet (old lamb or goat? I forgot the name of the menu item) (mutton!) always taste like raccoon? I never knew if I was in danger, or if it was legit eatin' that (once). That place was a looong time operator so probably most definately legit.

ps. random pretty pictures here
https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/bbq-anatomy-101-lamb/

Austin place, it's still there! What a sight!
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g30196-d484343-Reviews-Sam_s_BBQ-Austin_Texas.html

Wish I was there now
https://www.instagram.com/samsbbq_atx/

[Pissy]

I am pro ramshackle  shack, out off the beaten path when it comes to mah bbq. 

The high rent stuff is not my thing. 

[RAGER]

Yeah that's usually a good sign. Usually.

Half assed celebrity chef here had something good going at his main place then added one across the river here and tried a little haute touch. Failed fairly quickly.

There's a new place about a 5 minute walk from me that has a "religious" air about it. That and my instincts says it prolly sucks. Doubt I'll even try it.

[Pissy]

I actually went through a phase of getting every church bbq sale I could find.  I had some good, but most were not.  The boy scouts troop in Charlotte my kid was in had the best.  They routinely went through 12,000 lbs in one weekend every 6 months.  No shit.  No kid ever had to do any fundraising beyond that. 

They actually had two troops which is why they did two sales.  They woul make the pits out of cinder blocks, had one older guy who was the pitmaster, kids chopping wood, feeding fires, processing and selling all at once.  It would gross them $100k I imagine per cook. 

[RAGER]

I make a point to avoid any and all "churchy" businesses.

[James1214]

I'm collecting materials to build my own offset pit. I've used a few over the years and know what I want. Been watching lots of vidjas on the YouTube's to figure out some best practices and stuff. I have a buddy that works for our local butcher, who has access to some stellar local grass fed beef, and I can get the best quality briskets for a very competitive price. I wanna learn to nail that shit down, I've done like 10 briskets over the years, and been happy, but not as good as the stuff I've had in texas, and Texas brisket is the pinnacle of BBQ in my humble opinion. Seems like the biggest culprit is that I didn't test as long as I should have.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

[RAGER]

That would be fun to do but I just couldn't justify it. I don't eat that much of that kind of stuff although I do love it. Just infrequently. And there are a few solid places here I go to. I've pretty much got my pork rib game down. I don't always smoke though. It IS a requirement of getting older in some circles. Lol.