BBQ in the News - Smokin' Ribs

This is from an article on smoking ribs on a bullet-style smoker that caught my attention, and wanted to share with you.

Link to complete article at HoddyToddy.com:


Excerpts from the article:

Pork Belly Slim’s Method for Mouth-Watering Barbecued Ribs

POSTED ON MAY 1, 2014

This photo, from D’Artagnan (dartagnan.com) shows ribs finished with coffee barbecue sauce (not the method used by Pork Belly Slim, but similar).

It’s that time of year. The flowers are in bloom, the weather is warm and we’re all excited to get outside after a colder winter than we’ve had in a few years.  For me, and a lot of others, spring means BBQ season is open, and it’s time to dust off the smoker, grab some charcoal and wood for smoke, and start the fire.

More in complete article at HoddyToddy.com here:

BBQ in the News - Best BBQ Restaurants

BBQ joints travelers say are best in ratings for TripAdvisor.

There are more restaurants in the articles, but the following are close to home


Article From FoxNews reporting on an article from TripAdvisor:

Wiley’s Championship BBQ, Savannah, Georgia

TripAdvisor

With more than 30 years of experience winning awards on the national barbecue competition scene, husband and wife team Wiley and Janet McCrary opened their first brick and mortar restaurant in 2008. The joint pleases palates with low-and-slow cooked meats including savory St. Louis cut ribs.

Hickory Pit Bar-B-Que, Chattanooga, Tennessee

TripAdvisor

Amid the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachian Mountains in southeastern Tennessee, this log cabin style restaurant feeds famished barbecue fans with an emphasis on Southern hospitality. Dry-rubbed meats are smoked over hickory wood, and can be served on a plate, as a sandwich, or even stuffed inside a “killer” baked potato.

Jim’s Smokin’ Que, Blairsville, Georgia

TripAdvisor

Open Thursday through Saturday, this northern Georgia smokehouse advises guest to arrive early, as their succulent meats – including ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken and turkey – often sell out. Those lucky enough to score a meal can also enjoy their choice of satisfying sides, from Brunswick stew to banana pudding.

Joe’s BBQ, Blue Ridge, Georgia

TripAdvisor

In the midst of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this joint satisfies hungry guests with tender and moist meats complemented by a selection of sauces including “Alabama white,” a mayonnaise-based mixture that has found fame in several Southeastern states.

Banjo's Perfect Smoked BBQ Ribs

Searching for the Holy Grail of best combination of time and temperature!


Fall off the bone, tender, with just enough tooth and juice to make you come back to these for the rest of your life!

I've been doing a series of tests for BBQ Ribs recently.  I've done twelve (12) tests in the past six (6) weeks, or two (2) tests per week!  And there's just two (2) of us!

Before you think we are overloading on pork, I buy three (3) racks of St. Louis-style Spare Ribs.  I take out all three (3) racks, and cut them in half, so I have six (6) half-racks.  I place two (2) of these half racks into two (2) seal-able freezer bag and place into the freezer; that takes care of two (2) of the racks, leaving one rack unfrozen.

Each test was conducted with a half-rack of ribs.

I take half of the remaining whole rack and place it into the refrigerator for cooking later during the week.  The other half rack I cook tonight!

During these tests, I'm looking for one thing: the best combination of temperature and time that produces mouth-watering, lip smacking, finger sucking ribs!

And, I've found them.

And I'm going to share it with you.

The Conclusion:
215 dF, for three (3) hours, produces the best ribs!

My Smoker
I have worked on my smoker so I can precisely control the temperature.  I can add as much charcoal as I want with out the temperature getting out of control.  This is important! Your smoker should be able to have as much charcoal added as you need for three (3) hours of smoking these ribs, without changing the temperature.  If your temperature varies by the amount of charcoal you have in your smoker, then you have air leaks, and should take the time to fix them.  However you accomplish it, whether by controlling the amount of air, or controlling the amount of charcoal, you must maintain 215 dF!

My temperature Gauge
It's important to accurately know what your temperature gauge is reporting.  This means you've got to start with an accurate temperature gauge!  This means you've got to pull it out and calibrate it!  I live at about 1,100 feet above sea-level, which means water is going to boil at about 110 dF (1 dF lower for each 500 feet above sea-level).  So I bring a big pot of water to a rolling boil, then immerse my temperature gauge (the probe end) into the water, making sure the probe isn't coming into contact with the sides or bottom of the pot!  Then I use a small wrench to adjust the temperature until it reads correctly.  You do this by placing the wrench on the nut, and twisting the outside of the dial, rotating the face of the dial until the needle reads correctly.  BTW - I haven't found many digital gauges to be accurate, and no way to calibrate.  If you have a digital one that you can calibrate, then go for it!

It's also important that your gauge probe be at the same level in your smoker as your ribs. If it's not, then I would put an oven gauge onto the rack near, but not touching, the ribs, and use that for my initial setup.  Once you know the difference between what's shown on this oven gauge vs. the gauge on your smoker, then you know what mental adjustment you need to make when reading your temperature gauge in order to get 215 dF.

Prepare your ribs
I just add sea-salt and fresh ground pepper to mine, coated liberally.  I sometimes put a rub on mine, but when I'm testing, I never put a rub on because I just want to be able to judge the ribs themselves without searching for the answer.  Feel free to adjust your ribs as you prefer - but do not put any sugar based sauce on them at this time, as it will burn!  Save any thick sauces until the last ten (10) minutes.

Prepare your Smoker
I set my smoker for 215 dF.  I let it come to temperature, and let it stay there for 30 minutes, so that I know I've got the temperature rock-solid and under control.  I use charcoal.  In the past I've used lump, and have even made my own charcoal, but right now, I'm using Kingford's Competition charcoal-briquettes.  I really like these.  (I'm not associated with Kingford's in any way, nor receiving any type of awards from them for this statement - it's my honest opinion).  Place enough charcoal into your smoker so it will last for three (3) hours without peeking in!  After the end of the thirty (30) minutes of settle-in time, put your wood chips on top of the briquettes.  This is done just prior to putting your ribs on!  I use a chunk of wood about the size of my fist.  I like Hickory, and I like Mesquite, but use whatever you like!

Place your ribs into your smoker
This may not seem obvious, but it's important to have your ribs at the same point (or as near as you can get) to your temperature gauge!  A difference of 4" can cause a temperature difference of 25 dF!

I like to put my ribs on my smoker meat-side-down.  This means the silver-skin is facing up.  Some like to pull this off, others don't care.  I don't really care, but I do want that side up!

Close up your smoker and wait three (3) hours!
Have a brew!  If you want to add any thick sauce, do this in the last ten (10) minutes.

Taking off of the smoker
I take them off, put them onto a platter, take them inside and place meat-side-down onto a cutting board.  I cut each each rib separating them from the other ribs.  Then I wrap them up in foil until everything else is ready....seems like someone, or something is not quite ready!

There are twelve (12) bones to a rack
There are twelve (12) bones to a whole rack, and six (6) bones to a half rack, to be divided among your guests.

If you cook on multiple racks (e.g., so many ribs they won't all fit on one rack)
Then you really should do a test run, with some ribs on one rack, and some other ribs on another rack.  I didn't do that the last time I had guests over, assuming that the 4" difference in rack height wouldn't make much difference - boy was I wrong!  The ribs on the lower rack, which was the basis for all of my tests, was perfect - but the rack 4" higher, those ribs were done but tough!

Let me know your results!


Banjo
  

Vertical Smoker Mod

Making my vertical smoker breath right!

I have several smokers, one of which is a 'Great Outdoors - Smoky Mountain Series'.

Some things I really like about this smoker, but some things were really, really wrong with it.  So this post is about fixing the things that were wrong!

1st Picture: Leaky Vertical Smoker

As you can see from the first picture, there is exactly one door latch on the smoker, located on the right side of the door at the midway point - the coil spring you see.  This latch holds the door against the frame - at this point only!

The top and bottom aren't pulled tight, so inlet air comes in at bottom half of the door, and exhaust air goes out the top half of the door.  Ican see it leaking the exhaust smoke.  Of course, I can't see the inlet air going in, but I know it's there because it's difficult to control the temperature!

2nd Picture: Left side
Inlet air damper control
(with modification)

There are two (2) inlet dampers (see second picture of left side - it has some holes that are part of the modification), one on the left side (at the bottom), and one at the right side of the smoker.  Turning this plate allows more air in, or less air in.  There is one (1) outlet (exhaust) damper located on the top of the smoker (not shown).  Turning this plate allows more air out, or less air out.
















I was consistently having problems with this smoker.  Once it started warming up, even with the inlet dampers fully closed, and the exhaust damper fully closed, the temperature would keep climbing, and of course I could see lots of exhaust smoke coming out around the door, and I knew that air had to be drawn in at the bottom to feed the fire, making the temperature rise, past where I wanted it...


So, if I was going to ever make good BBQ with this smoker, I had to figure out a way to either make the whole smoker air tight, or I was going to have to enclose the fire in such a way that the fire was air tight.  After considering different ways to accomplish this, I opted for what I thought would balance the multiple goals of easiest, cheapest, least time involvement, while ensuring success.  I decided to enclose the fire, by placing the fire inside a piece of black stovepipe.  I would use the existing inlet air to feed air into the stove pipe, and the other end of the stove pipe would be the exhaust, with the charcoal and fire being in the middle.  I decided to also use a T stove pipe piece to facilitate adding charcoal and lighting it.

Imprecise temperature control makes for bad BBQ!


Here's How I Fixed the Problem
I went to Lowes hardware store and bought a 6" T stove pipe connector, and two (2) 6" stove pipe endcaps (one male, one female).  The stove pipe T has two female 'ports' - one end and middle; the other end is male.

3rd Picture: Smoker after mod.
Black stove pipe T
at bottom, connected to left
sidewall of smoker via
end-cap.  Right side is
capped off with end-cap.
Brick under right end to
support weight of T.

This is a picture of the modification after installation.  Simple, quick, and most important....it works!

There's charcoal in the T, and it's producing some smoke, which is rising up from the middle 'port' of the T.  The right end is capped off with an end-cap, and there's a brick under the right end to support the right side of the T.























STEPS
- One end of the T is going to be closed off; in this case, it's the right end.  I slipped an end-cap onto that end.
- The middle of the T is going to be the exhaust.  I didn't do anything with this opening, except to make sure it was pointing up when everything was finished.
- The left end of the T is going to connect to the left-side inlet air damper control.  To simplify this connection, I used the other end-cap, where I first drilled holes in it to correspond to the opening on the control damper, where air could flow in when the damper is in the open position.  I secured this using the same screw that attaches the inlet air damper to the sidewall.
- Once I had the left end-cap secured to the left-side of the smoker, I slipped the T into position, and inserted it into the left side end-cap.
- I made sure the middle of the T was pointed up - this is the exhaust.
- I filled up the T with charcoal, and lit a couple of pieces on the top of the stack of charcoal that is within the T.

I use another end cap that I have sitting around to put wood sawdust into for smoking, or just place whole chunks directly into the middle of the T where the charcoal is burning.  Adding charcoal or smoking-wood is easy as opening the door and placing into the middle of the T.

Sometimes, I found that using an end-cap upside down, I can block some of the exhaust coming off of the T, and that helps cut down on the smoke coming out of the door.  It also lets me use the top damper with more precision.

Hope this helps you if you have a similar problem!

Banjo's Stove Pipe Smoker - BBQ Smoker

This will track my design and build of my new Stove Pipe Smoker.  It will utilize single wall black stove pipe for the combustion chamber, and a small barrel for the smoking chamber.  I'll update as I move along with this project.  Have included a conceptual design for reference.

Banjo's Stove Pipe Smoker
-Conceptual Drawing-

Banjo's Stove Pipe Smoker
-Combustion Chamber Detail-

First, the title is 'Stove Pipe Smoker', because the stove pipe will be a major component (the combustion chamber), but I will also be using a small barrel with grates for holding the meat.  I wanted to keep the title short, so hope you feel OK with that for the title, and also it is the major difference between this smoker and any I've ever seen.

Design goal:

This will primarily be used as a smoker for ribs, and only a couple of racks - maybe 4 max.  I want to be able to burn charcoal in it (lately have been impressed with Kingsford Competition Grad), for about 3 hours or so, without having to add any charcoal.  I hope to have a premeasured amount of charcoal that will be good for 3 hours at 225 dF before it starts to taper off.  I want it to be air tight in the combustion chamber, so I can easily control the temperature.  For an average day (wind wise), I want to be able to set-and-forget the temperature controls (inlet and outlet dampers) for the whole burn.  I want it to be inexpensive and easy to build for anyone that wants to build one.

Design  

I will be using:

1 - a small barrel, standing upright on three (3) legs, for the smoke chamber.  I'm not sure of the dimensions of this barrel (yet), but I have a couple downstairs.  They are much smaller than a 55 gal drum, about 3 feet tall, about 2 feet diameter.  Will publish dimensions later.

2 - a 6" or 8" length of black single-wall stove pipe, connected on the bottom of the upright barrel, which will be the combustion chamber.  This will also be oriented vertical.

3 - bottom of the combustion stove pipe will have a stove pipe end-cap.  Removable for ash dumping.

4 - small valve (something like used on the UDS I've seen) inlet air control on bottom, possible offset to decrease ash disturbance.

5 - wire supports to support charcoal about 4 inches off of the bottom to allow for ash collection.  Will fine-tune placement after testing.

6 - handle on combustion stove pipe to aid in removal from smoke chamber.

7 - combustion stove pipe connects to bottom of smoke chamber via stove pipe end-cap, held with screws, into bottom of smoke chamber.  2" hole in this end-cap to allow smoke to move from combustion chamber to smoke chamber.

8 - 2" hole in bottom of smoke chamber to allow for entry of smoke from combustion chamber.  Lines up with hole in combustion chamber.

9 - exact size of hole that mates combustion chamber to smoke chamber to be determined via testing.

10 - diffuser plate in in bottom of smoke chamber, over inlet smoke hole, to create turbulence in smoke so it doesn't flow straight up.  This also blocks any direct infrared from combustion chamber.  Can also sit a drippings pan here, or up one level on grate.

11 - exhaust with damper located on top of smoke chamber

12 - no doors on smoke chamber nor on combustion chamber

13 - removable lid on smoke chamber.

14 - combustion chamber removable from smoke chamber, held in place through wire-dogs.

15 - ground clearance of at about 6" below bottom of combustion chamber, more if testing dictates.

16 - 3 legs, connected to sidewall of smoke chamber, tall enough to provide clearance under combustion chamber to ground.

17 - handles for ease of moving.

18 - meat racks from weber-style round grills, 2 or 3.  One may  be used for drip pan on bottom.  Supported by L-brackets (3 per rack) placed into sidewall of smoke chamber.  All will lift out via removing top of smoke chamber.

I've got the barrel, and some of the black single wall stove pipe.  Hope to pick up any additional parts needed today from Lowes or HD.

My plan is to provide pictures and a build-log as I go, with updates on any day I've worked on it.

Banjo

Some concept pictures:

Major parts - 6" stove pipe (left - combustion chamber)
small barrel (middle - smoke chamber 27" x 14.5")
lid(right).  Will be using a slightly larger barrel (28" x 19"),
but this was what I had at hand for the test build.

Concept, but without the legs (3 attaching to
barrel sidewall).  Looks a little unwieldly. May
switch to 8" stove pipe, which will allow me to
shorten height by 1/2.

Banjo cooking BBQ Ribs

Well, I'm stunned. I've been cooking BBQ for 26 years, but never cooking what I consider to be competition grade ribs....until tonight! 

Yes!

As I mentioned about a month ago, I was starting a series of test on cooking BBQ ribs, until I got it right. I bought a rib package from Costco, which contained three (3) racks of St. Luis style pork spareribs. I split these in two, and cooked that half rack for a test. Pat and I then split that 1/2 rack, so we ended up with a 1/4 rack each - or 3 ribs each, which is about 4 oz of meat. So 1 package from Costco was good for 6 tests, with six small portions for two people over the past month.

Tonight was Test #10! And it was a success! I have never had ribs this good, any where, any time. No sauce, nothing to hide the flavor or mask the mistakes. No rubs, no seasonings, just naked ribs.

They aren't perfect. The smoker I'm using has some air leaks, so I am having some difficulty controlling the temperature. It's looking like I may have to weld-up my own rib smoker in order to have complete control over the temperature - I've been working on some plans.

But they're still the best ribs I've ever had, any where, any time...and when I have full control over the smoker, I looking for the champs!

Banjo's Insight - why does a grill have a dome, and when would I use it?

Better grills have domes.  But when do you use one?  It depends on what you are trying to do!

A grill, by itself, is a single point of high energy heat.  It will cook the bottom of a piece of food, subjecting the food to a blast of high heat.  Meanwhile, the top of the food is not being subjected to any heat energy, so it is not being cooked (OK, a little bit by hot gasses moving past the food as the heat move upwards).

By placing a dome onto our grill, we create an OVEN.  And when we are in oven mode, we are cooking food from all sides - by the heat source, which may be directly under the meat (but can also be on the other side away from the food - which would even more closely simulate an oven), as well as from the metal walls, lid, and air.  So with the dome on, we have an oven, and it cooks like an oven.

So when would you want to turn the grill into an oven by placing the dome onto it?  Primarily, when you have large pieces of meat that require a long time to cook, so you want to transfer the heat at a rate that will allow the heat to migrate through the entire piece of meat.

So when would I want to  use the grill as an oven when I've already got an excellent oven inside?  You would definitely want to use the outdoor oven when you are wanting to import any flavors from the heat source, such as from lump charcoal, wood chips, etc.  Also, if you are quick browning the outside of the meat, you would want to place the meat directly over a high heat source when you browned it, then transfer to the side of the grill not directly over the heat source, close the lid to create an oven, then allow sufficient time to allow the interior of the meat to come up in temperature.

By the way - a better way to cook steaks, but seems not to be understood, is to first cook the meat in oven mode until it is almost at the desired temperature, then move it directly over the fire to blast it with high heat for a short amount of time - not long enough to over cook the interior.

Banjo's Insight - Searing the meat to lock in juices

A lot of old cooking and grilling references will tell you to "sear the meat to lock the juice/moisture in".  This is hogwash.

But I don't want you to just take my word to this - I want to lead you through a thought process that will prove to you this is hogwash.

I know that you already know that if you heat something, it expands (except ice heated up until it melts to water - it shrinks in size).

A piece of meat is made up of lots of cells.  Each cell contains fluids, which are held in by a cell membrane.

If you have a piece of meat, and you heat it up, then the fluid in each cell is going to expand as it heats.  Ultimately, this expansion will be too much for the cell membrane, and the membrane will rupture, allowing the fluid to escape out of the cell.

Fluids flow from high pressure to low pressure (well, anything actually moves from a point of high pressure to low pressure, not just fluids, providing you apply enough pressure to overcome the resistance holding the item in place).  Heating a fluid creates a higher pressure in the fluid, so it both expands out of the membrane, and flows out of the meat (which is heated and therefore at a higher pressure) into the surroundings.  So the fluid is going to flow out of the meat.

Since all of the meat is being heated, all of the muscle fiber (which is what meat is) is expanding, so there's no where for the fluid to go except to go out of the meat - it's sort of like you squeezing a water-soaked sponge - the fluid is going to be forced out of the sponge.

When you 'sear' the outside of the meat, all you are doing is heating the cells on the outside surface to a high temperature much faster than the cells deeper within the meat are being heated.  This means the outside cells next to the heat source are going to rupture first, spilling their fluids.  This fluid will evaporate in the high heat, leaving behind any non-water substances that will stay on the meat; these will brown (Maillard Browning).

However, these browning substances aren't water tight - they will actually dissolve in water.  If you heat the meat up enough, all of the water will flow out of the meat, and the meat will be dry, dry, dry.

As the interior of the meat heats up, the meat will heat up and expand, those cells will rupture, and you get the same reaction as squeezing the sponge - the space holding the water (the meat) is expanding, forcing (wringing) the water out of the cells, and out of the meat.

So searing doesn't "seal in the juices".  It does, however, cause the browning, which increases the flavor.

So we sear to increase the flavor.

Banjo's Recipe: Brining Pork Spare Ribs

Why do we brine?

We brine meats in order to impart moisture, and sometimes flavors, into a meat.  This is particularly useful for meats such as turkey breast, which can be very dry after cooking.  In this case with pork spare ribs, I've cooked them many times but I have never tasted how one tastes after brining, so that's what I'm going to do!

Brining Vs Marinating

Brining adds moisture into a meat by osmosis, which is the cell's attempt to balance it's internal salt content with salt content outside of itself.  The meat is put into a liquid bath that contains a high percentage of salt.  As the cell attempts to balance the salt levels, moisture is drawn into the meat, swelling the cells with the additional moisture.

Marinating is similar to brining, but has a higher acid content, in an attempt to tenderize the meat.  Since my meat will be cooked via Sous Vide, which will tenderize the meat via time and temperature instead of acid, there is no need to marinate the meat.

I had wondered whether or not a brine would contain worcestershire sauce or soy sauce, as both are high in salt.  I have a lot of worcestershire sauce that is getting close to its age-off date, so I was interested in using it before having to chunk it.  However, in my research, I kept coming across worcestershire and soy being used in marinates, but not in brines.  Since I know both to be high in salt, I began to wonder, what is the difference between a brine and a marinate?

Research showed a marinate to be high in acid in an attempt to tenderize meat.  I checked a USDA source for the ph level of foods (ph is a measurement of acidity), and found that both worcestershire sauce and soy sauce are about as acidic as vinegar, so that explains why they don't show up in brines (salt, not acid) but do show up in marinates (acid and salt).

So, while either worcestershire or soy sauce can be added to a brine for flavor, I don't want to add so much that I've changed it into a marinate.  Dang - thought I was going to use up that worcestershire sauce!

Ingredients


Note: I prefer to use distilled water as our water has a lot of fluoride in it.
Note: I do not have a 6 qt lexan container, so instead I use a water cooler.  I use a water/ice mixture (just enough water to fill up to the ice) in the cooler instead of just water.  This also means I don't have to find room in the refrigerator!

Time
I'm going to brine the pork spare ribs for 48 hours.

Steps

1. Mix the brine ingredients into a container large enough to hold two (2) racks of pork spare ribs, about 9 lbs of ribs.
2. place spare ribs into brine container
3. Place container into refrigerator, which should be at a temperature of 40 dF or below.
4. Leave in brine for 48 hours.
5. At the end of 48 hours (or there about - not critical), remove ribs from brine.
6. Blot ribs dry with paper towels (do not rinse off).
7. Your meat is ready for use!

Brine Recipes

Alton Brown's (note: we are using his Boston Butt recipe):

Brine:

• 8 ounces or 3/4 cup molasses
• 12 ounces pickling salt
• 2 quarts bottled water
• 6 to 8 pound Boston butt
• Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6 quart Lexan. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.

Douglas Baldwin's 

Brine in a 7–10% salt, 0–3% sugar water solution (70–100 grams salt and 0–30 grams sugar per 1 liter) in the refrigerator for 12–24 hours.

Links

• This is a very good, informative link to cooking pork spare ribs Sous Vide, along with brining the ribs.  BTW - Douglas Baldwin, who made the video this link points to, has an excellent site for cooking Sous Vide, as well as an excellent book.

Banjo's recipe: Pork Spare Ribs with Sous Vide

Meat
I picked up a package of Spare Ribs from Costco.  The package weight about 9 lbs.  This contains two (2) whole racks.

Preparing

• Prepare the brine (Banjo's Pork Spare Ribs Brine).
• Cut the pork spare ribs into sections small enough to fit into several vacuum pouches.  I will not place into the vacuum pouches at this time because I want to brine them first.
• Place the spare ribs into the brine.
• Place brine into the refrigerator for 48 hours
• After 48 hours, remove spare ribs from brine and blot ribs dry.
• Prepare any special sauce and place sauce into vacuum bags where you will be putting your spare ribs.
• Place ribs into vacuum bags and seal.  
• Note: if you have difficulty with this step with applying vacuum without sucking fluids out of pouch, then use Zip Lock Freezer Bags gallon size to put sauce and ribs into, then use 'water immersion' method to evacuate the air, or leave the sauce out.
• Note: if you prefer, you can put a dry rub on the meat instead, which should allow you to use your vacuum device to seal.

Brining
I will be brining the pork spare ribs.  Here is Banjo's Recipe

Cooking

• Cook for 48 hours at 135 dF.  
• Note: if this is your first time cooking Sous Vide, or low temperature cooking, then don't get alarmed about the low temperature for pork.  We are cooking the meat for a long enough time at this temperature in order to pasteurize the meat and to also tenderize it.  It will be slightly red in color because it will come be medium well when we take it out at 135 dF.  There are two things associated with this cooking - pasteurization and tenderizeation.  Per Douglas Baldwin's book, pasteurization will take 1 hour at 130 dF for meat 1.25 inches thick.  Notice we are above this temperature, and at a much longer time, so we are definitely pasteurized!  However, we are going this extra length of time in order to tenderize the meat....it will be "falling off of the bone tender" when we are through.  
• If you will be 'toasting' the ribs on a grill-with-a-dome, then 30 minutes before taking them out of their pouches, heat up the grill, placing your charcoal on one side of the grill while leaving the other side open so your ribs won't be directly over the hot coals (indirect heat).  I try to get my dome up to 400 dF or hotter - you aren't going to cook the ribs because they are already cooked - you are just trying to toast the outside, so hot and fast!
• In inclement weather I will toast our ribs under our oven's broiler. Simply place them in a pan to catch the drippings, meat side up, about 4 inches below the coils.  Place it on "hi", and monitor.  Since they are already cooked, I'm just toasting.  I leave the door open so I can watch to decide when to pull off.  This probably took at least 10 minutes (sorry, I forgot to time this).
• Remove ribs from  vacuum pouch.  You can either eat them at this point, or continue on with 'toasting' to brown.
• Toasting: Rinse the ribs off so you get the salt off of the meat.  (I didn't do this the first time, and they were too salty).  Blot the ribs dry, (this is important as it help speed up the process of toasting the meat) then place the ribs onto the side of your grill opposite the hot coals.  I like to put a aluminum drip pan under them to keep the oil from getting all over my grill.  Toast for about 10 - 20 minutes, or they acquire the browning you desire.  Your goal is to not leave them in the dome for very long, as you are wanting to toast the outside without additional cooking on the inside.

Links

• Banjo's Pork Spare Ribs Brine
• This is a very good, informative link to cooking pork spare ribs Sous Vide, along with brining the ribs.  BTW - Douglas Baldwin, who made the video this link points to, has an excellent site for cooking Sous Vide, as well as an excellent book.

Banjo's Review: Bub-Ba-Q BBQ, Woodstock Georgia

Today, I'm meeting someone for lunch at a local BBQ restaurant.  I've seen it riding by several times, and it also showed up on a national program for BBQ contests, so I've been wanting to try it for some time.

Today's the Day!

Bub-Ba-Q BBQ!

I've been and returned!

Review
I went for lunch on Thursday, June 2, 2011.

My friend and I both are experienced BBQ smokers, (over 25 years smoking BBQ for me), and have frequented BBQ establishments all of our lives.

I first went around back to see what they were cooking with.  The are using wood, and they have a little separate smoker with exhaust.  So it looks like the real thing.  That's good!

I purchased a combo pulled pork and ribs for $11 something; their web site is down at the moment so I can't get the details.  I also added a brisket for $3.95.  This came with 2 sides; I chose collards and green beans, and a thick slice of toast.  The sides were pretty small portions, nondescript but OK.  I didn't try the bread, but it looked good.

The ribs were good, the brisket was pretty good, but the pulled pork was on the weak side for my tastes - it was somewhat dry, and only had a slight wood flavor.  It also didn't look anything like the picture on the web site.  There was no 'bark' at all, but this place may hold it back like other places, in case you don't want it.  I don't usually ask for it when I'm trying it for the first time, so I can see what it will be like for most people.  Frequently, if you ask for it, they will provide some on your plate.

My friend had a combo - pulled pork and and chicken.  He said his opinion was the pulled pork was OK, but he didn't care for the chicken.  He didn't elaborate.  I don't ever get chicken at a BBQ place, since BBQ is pork, and if in a generous mood, you can include brisket, so I wasn't too interested.

Here's my opinion.  

I base mine on 10 points.  10 is top, best I can find, 0 is the worst I've ever had - I've never had a 0, and I would go outside and puke if I did.  5 is neutral - it's OK, neither particularly good or bad.  3-4 would be something out of a can.  I wouldn't ever go back to anything below 5 unless nuclear event.  I've never had a 10 at a commercial establishment, only at home-cooked BBQ, and that's understandable - they are trying to provide you with a good product for a good price, and they simply can't put the time and effort into it that someone at home can do.  So that really will usually leave you with 6 - 9 for most establishments.

• Pulled pork - a little dry, but OK.  Some smoke, but needed more smoke flavor.  I'd say 6.5 out of 10.  But this is just the first time, and no one is 100% consistent, so next time will be the charm.
• Brisket - pretty good, tender and flavorful.  I'd say 7.5 out of 10
• Ribs - this was the best part of the meal.  Not the best I've had locally, but I liked it.  I'd say 8 out of 10.
• Sides (the only two I had were collards and green beans) - I'd say 5 out of 10.
• Would I eat here again?  Yes
• Would I recommend it to BBQ afflicted?  Yes
• Service - good.  Quick, efficient, friendly.
• Ambiance - typical strip mall BBQ joint.  Clean, busy, smells pretty good with hints of smoke.
• Value - very good.  Less expensive than some places I've been.

Low Temperature Cooking - Some Safety Considerations

Note: See References below for links.

General
Cooking safely should be the goal of all of us that cook for ourselves as well as others.  It's easy to assume we cook safe, but unless we use an accurate thermometer, and also know the length of time a food has been cooked, our assumptions may be incorrect.

Low Temperature Cooking
Low temperature cooking offers us a method of cooking that:

• can tenderize foods.  We can choose cheaper cuts of meat that are tough and make them tender.
• retain moisture and fat for a more flavorful experience
• be convenient

Some important concepts
(Note: a lot of the insight in this section is provided by Douglas E. Baldwin's excellent and well researched book A practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking.

• Heating food: the center of the food should reach at least 130°F (54.4°C) within 6 hours to prevent the toxin producing pathogen Clostridium perfringens from multiplying to dangerous levels.  Your heat should be sufficient, for the size of the cut of food you are cooking, to heat to a temperature of 130 dF, or higher, within 6 hours of removing the food from the cooler.  Since larger pieces of food require the heating temperatures to migrate a bigger distance before reaching the center of the food, larger pieces of food will take longer to reach 130 dF than will smaller pieces of food.  If the size of the meat is so large as to preclude the heat from reaching a temperature at or greater than 130 dF within 6 hours at the center of the food, then a higher cooking temperature must be used, or the food should be cut to smaller thicknesses.    [A practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking]
• Placing warm, large pieces of food into a refrigerator may take a long time to cool sufficiently to reduce the chance of problem bacterial growth.  Thus, the food should be cooled via a water-ice mixture (50%/50%) in order to quick chill the food.  You can place the food into pouches, such as Zip Lock, removing all or most of the air so the food isn't insulated from the cool water by the air, in order to prevent dilution of the food with the water-ice mixture.
• Raw or unpasteurized food must never be served to highly susceptible or immune compromised populations. Even for immune competent individuals, it is important that raw and unpasteurized foods are consumed before food pathogens have had time to multiply to harmful levels. With this in mind, the US Food Code requires that such food can only be between 41°F (5°C) and 130°F (54.4°C) for less than 4 hours.  [A practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking]
• A refrigerator (not the freezer section) should be set to maintain a temperature at or below 38 dF.  Foods held below 41 dF can retard bacterial growth sufficiently so that the food is safe for up to 10 days.  Foods held below 38 dF can retard bacterial growth sufficiently so the food is safe for up to 31 days.[A practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking]

Testing Thermometers (future section)

References (future section)

• Book Website: A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking by Douglas E. Baldwin  To purchase from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/product/dp/0984493603/
• 
  

Connecting the Dots - Insight into Sous Vide Hamburgers

I'm working on a recipe for Hamburgers / Cheeseburgers.  But I wanted to share some interesting insight while I'm testing a recipe.

I already had "one dot" on slow, low temperature cooking - the tenderization of tough foods (think slow cooked BBQ here or stews) through low temperatures for an extended length of time.

I also was aware of "another dot" that allows one to cook to lower temperatures but for longer periods of time in order to pasteurize foods.

What I had failed to do was to connect the "two dots".

In recent years, the USDA has recommended higher cooking temperatures for things like ground beef (hamburgers), eggs, etc, to elevated temperatures of 160 dF or so.  In other words, past well done - think charred little tooth-breakers.  They wanted us to do this in order to pasteurize the meat so it did not represent a health hazard.

Which means we need to talk about pasteurization a little bit - not too much, but a little bit.

To pasteurize is not to sterilize - sterilization means to kill all of the 'bugs', whereas pasteurization means to reduce the amount of them, something like 1 million to 1.  So  to pasteurize is to reduce 'the bugs' to the point where their numbers are able to be handled by our bodies.  So in particular where something is cooked, like ground beef, it is important to pasteurize the food before consuming.

However, in the case of hamburger, cooking at normal temperatures, pasteurization is done by heating the ground beef at a temperature high enough to kill the 'bugs' in the short amount of time the hamburger is cooked.

However, there is more to pasteurization.  The way the 'bugs' are killed is temperature and time.  A very high temperature, for a very short time, will pasteurize the food.  A medium temperature for a medium length of time will also pasteurize the food.  And, a low temperature for a long length of time will also pasteurize the food.

From making sure I was producing safe BBQ, I knew all of this from the research I had done.

The Sous Vide method (the translation means, literally, to cook in a vacuum), at its simplest form, is place the food within pouches, then immerse the pouches into a water-bath with a precisely controlled temperature, then cooked at a low temperature for a time sufficient to pasteurize the food.  Cooking it for a long period of time does not over cook the food, it just brings the food up to that temperature.  Cooking it for an extended length of time, typically way past the point of pasteurization, makes the food very tender.

I have been focused on tenderization of the food as the main benefit of cooking in the Sous Vide style, which requires fairly long times.

The two dots that I failed to connect were the cooking long enough to pasteurize, but no longer, as depending on the food itself, I may not need to tenderize.

So this is where the hamburgers come in (as well as any other food like soft-cooked eggs, etc): I can cook them at rare, medium rare, medium - all that would have been below the USDA's recommendation - but still end up with safe, pasteurized food.

So think about this - safe pasteurized foods attainable at lower temperatures but cooked for longer lengths of time:

• hamburgers at medium rare.
• runny eggs.
• chicken breasts that have juice.
• pork that has juice (BTW - the new USDA recommended temperatures for pork is 160 dF).
• home made mayonnaise, which uses raw egg - the eggs can be pasteurized now.
• turkey breasts that are juicy.

We are cooking our first batch of hamburgers right now using our Sous Vide Supreme, and are using a target temperature of 137 dF - about medium rare.  I'll finish them in an iron skillet to toast them.  A better choice may be to finish on the grill, or if you are lucky enough to have one, a Big Green Egg smoker.

I can't wait!

UPDATE: The hamburgers were moist and very flavorful!  I expect this will be the way we cook hamburger going forward.

USDA Lowers Pork Cooking Temperature to 145 dF

USDA Revises Recommended Cooking Temperature for All Whole Cuts of Meat, Including Pork, to 145 °F Cooking Temperature for Ground Pork, Beef, Veal, Lamb remains at 160 °F

Banjo's Recipe - Traditional Sauce for NC Pulled Pork BBQ

Banjo's Recipe - Traditional Sauce for NC Pulled Pork BBQ

We use this as a table sauce, as well as adding it to the pork in the bowl when we are pulling it apart.

1 cup apple-cider vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes

Optional:

1 Tbsp dark brown sugar or molasses.

1/4 tsp black pepper

Place into small bottle and shake throughly.

This will become more mellow as time passes.  Because of the high acidity from the vinegar, it will keep for a good while.....

Banjo's Recipe NC Style Pulled Pork BBQ - Sous Vide Experiment #1

Last updated: 5/21/11 3:15 PM. Final Edition.


This Method
This method will make use of skinless, boneless, Boston Butt Pork,  a Sous Vide Supreme (SVS) for initial cooking, a charcoal grill (with a dome) for finishing, and some wood chips.  Please refer to previous posts regarding making NC Style Pulled Pork BBQ for other methods (see references at the bottom of this blog entry).


Background
I have been making NC Style Pulled Pork BBQ since 1987. I have used many different tools to make BBQ in the 22 years I have been making it. Some of my approaches:

• Using a gas grill (this was my first attempt)
• Using a Weber Bullet style charcoal smoker.
• Using an offset Brickman Hondo smoker.
• Using a barrel smoker that I built
• Using a Big Green Egg
• Welding a large smoker and using it in competition at the Big Pig Jig at Vienna GA.
• Designing my own computer controlled inlet air damper smoker.
• Building a 'flower-pot' smoker designed by Alton Brown.
• Designing my own low temperature oven using a heat lamp, Arduino microcontroller.
• Using a flower pot and a thermocouple controller on a hot plate
• Using a regular household oven as the cooking chamber, a heat-light-bulb (150 watts) for a heat source, and controlled by an Arduino.

So you can see I've done a few experiments!

Today I'm trying out the SVS to make NC Style Pulled Pork BBQ.  I've used the SVS to cook a lot of items, but this is the first attempt at BBQ!

Purests
Now some of you may say that's not the right way to make BBQ. And from a purest standpoint, I guess you'd be right. But I've done the purest form for years and this is what I want to try now! I like experimenting and I am searching for the best BBQ, and I don't care what I do to find it!  Besides - unless you take whole wood and burn it down to coals in a separate fire, then gather the coals and spread them underneath the pork, and continue to do this for 24 hours or more, you aren't doing it in the purest method either!  Offset smokers of any kind are not traditional  and purest!

Hardware

• A package of Boneless Boston Butt Pork Shoulder purchased at Costco.  Their packages of butt come in 12 - 18 lb with two butts per package.  This particular package weight 13.5 lbs.  For this test, I'll be using one of the two butts, and it weights about 6 lbs.  The other butt I've rewrapped and placed into the refrigerator for Experiment #2 to come in the next couple of days - it will also be posted here.  Costco's butt is boneless and already has the skin (AKA rind) removed so it is very lean, therefore you may need to add some additional fat to the final product to boost the flavor, but that's up to you.  When I add any fat, I prefer rendered bacon fat, but you can use any kind, although I would use butter if bacon is not available.
• A small amount of vegetable oil for brushing onto the meat surface after it comes out of the SVS and being finished on the grill.
• A charcoal grill with a dome, with a large enough surface area so you can position the pork on the side opposite the charcoal (you want to avoid placing the pork directly over the coals).  This is for finishing the BBQ.
• Lump Charcoal for the grill.  I never use regular briquettes!  They use many different ingredients to bind the briquettes together.  Always use Lump (sometimes called 'natural') charcoal.  They burn hotter and do not impart any off flavors to the BBQ.  Do not use charcoal lighter fluid to start the fire, as it too may impart an off flavor to the BBQ!  Use a chimney to start the lump charcoal.
• Some wood chips for adding smoke flavor to the cooked pork.
• Some aluminum foil for wrapping the wood chips in for smoking on the charcoal grill.
• A good cigar.  This is for me while I write this.  
• Talisker Single Malt Scotch.  Unfortunately, I'm on a diet, so I'm not having any Talisker today.  See my other blog posts from April 2011 for diet information.

Instructions

1. Obtain a skinless, boneless, Boston butt.  If you use Costco, then remove one butt, and rewrapp the other and place back into the refrigerator, as two whole butts are probably too big for a SVS to cook at a single time.
2. Cut the butt into strips about 2 - 3 inches wide, and as deep as it comes from the package.
3. Package into pouches using your preferred method (vacuum food sealer, vacuum chamber, ziplock).  For my single 6 lb butt, I ended up with 6 - 7 strips, which I packaged into two separate pouches, ensuring no overlap between slices of pork.
4. For this experiment, I used a temperature of 160 dF.  For me, the results of this experiment was the pork was dried out too much so the temperature was too high. For the next Experiment #2 I will use a different temperature, but I wanted to post the results of this experiment as I prepared it.  See Experiment #2 (future - in next couple of days) for the results of that experiment.
5. Cook the pork for about 24 hours.  The exact amount of time is not critical, but you are trying to achieve a balance between two things: sterilization and tenderness.  You want to ensure your time of cooking will allow the pork to sterilize, and the amount of tenderness you want will also reflect the time used.  Please see references below for additional insight on this topic.
6. 15 minutes prior to removing from the SVS, start the charcoal, as it will need about 20 -30 minutes to come entirely up to temperature.  You want a hot fire so you end up with a dome temperature of 400 - 450 dF, so use a good amount of charcoal.  Only you know the characteristics of your grill, so you will need to use your best judgement on this. 
7. Wrap your wood chips in aluminum foil, forming an air tight pouch, and punch a few holes in the top of the foil.   I use a couple of handfuls of chips.  I do not soak my chips in water.  I prepare multiple packets in case I want to add more chips.  Soaking chips can lead to creosote problems which will make the meat taste bitter.  I use any of the following: Oak, Hickory, Mesquite.  I used Hickory for this test.  Oak, which has a stronger flavor, may be a better choice since we are adding smoke at the end of the smoking period when it is tougher to get the smoke onto the meat.  At some future experiment I intend to smoke prior to pouching and placing into the SVS, but for this experiment I smoked afterwards.
8. At the end of your cooking period, remove the pork from the SVS but do not yet remove from the pouches.  Allow the meat to rest in its juices to reabsorb some of the moisture - about 15 minutes.  At this point, it should have resulted in your charcoal being up to temperature and ready to go.
9. At the end of the rest period, remove the pork from the pouches.  Blot dry.
10. Lightly brush the pork with vegetable oil.  This will serve two different purposes: it will allow the pork to absorb more smoke flavor, and it will help brown the meat.
11. Place the pork onto the grill surface so it is not directly over the hot coals.  
12. Adjust the air dampers so the coals will stay hot.  You should start seeing some blue tinted smoke from your chips.  You want a temperature in the dome of 400 - 450 dF.  This will brown the outside of the meat while evaporating some of the moisture at the surface of the meat, which will give it a slight crunch.  The pork is already cooked, so you are just interested in toasting the meat, and a hot fire is the best approach as it will allow you to toast quickly.  If your fire is not hot enough, then it will take a long time to toast the meat which will over cook the meat and dry it out.
13. Heat the cooked pork until it takes on a dark tan color, much like a correctly cooked Thanksgiving Turkey.  This could be anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes.  I let mine go for 30 minutes.
14. Remove from the gill and place into a bowl to shred.  I use two very large forks.
15. Taste the meat.  If it needs some additional fat (you were using very lean meat), add some bacon fat (butter if none available).  The meat should have a slight glisten to it when enough fat has been added.  For 6 lbs of pork, I would add about 3 ounces as a starting point.  You can add more, but you can't take any away once added!
16. If done correctly, the BBQ should have a slight crunch to it at this point from being indirectly heated in the hot, dry grill dome.  Shred the pork with any added fat.  I use two very large forks to pull it apart, mixing it up good.
17. If you know that everyone likes their NC Pulled Pork BBQ with the same sauce, you can add some now, but don't over do it - people can add more sauce at the table, but again - they can't take it away.

Critique

• We are experienced BBQ smokers and tasters!  
• We very much enjoyed the BBQ made using this method.
• We would have preferred more smoke.  I hope to correct this in Experiment #2.
• We enjoyed the toasted pork, and particularly enjoyed the crunch!
• The BBQ did not have enough fat on it.  We did not have any bacon, so we had to use butter.  I do not like the taste of butter on BBQ as much as bacon, but in a pinch.....
• It was overly dry.  It lacked both moisture as well as fat.  
• I may cook the next experiment at 135 dF (still debating next temperature for experiment, but no higher than 145 dF), leaving it in the SVS long enough to ensure it is sterilized.

References
Banjo's Recipe - Sauce for NC Style Pulled Pork BBQ
Which BBQ Smoker?
BBQ Smoker - Trash Can Smoker?
Sous Vide Cooking - Harold McGee
More Sous Vide Cooking
BBQ and Low Temperature Cooking
BBQ cooking via a low temperature oven
BBQ cooking via a low temperature oven - #2
BBQ cooking via a low temperature oven - #3
BBQ cooking via a low temperature oven - Final