Real BarBQ Canton

I lived in Plymouth, Michigan from 2004 - 2007 and during that time there wasn't a barbecue restaurant to speak of in the Plymouth-Canton area. So after we moved back to the area in July 2011, I was kind of excited to see an "Opening Soon" sign on Ford Road announcing a new barbecue restaurant.

I lived in temporary housing for several months waiting to close on our home and stopped by the restaurant several times hoping to eat some barbecue. My smokers were in storage and I wanted to cure the craving for some 'que. But each time I pulled in the parking lot, the "Opening Soon" sign was still being displayed.

We were running errands today in Canton and were surprised to see Real BarBQ open for business. After cooking 35 lbs of brisket and pork butt for a work event later this week, we weren't craving bbq but after waiting 10 1/2 months for the opening we couldn't resist giving it a try.

Pork ribs, beef brisket, burnt end baked beans, coleslaw and cornbread.



The house bbq sauce at Real BarBQ

I ordered the Ribs + 1 (my plus 1 was brisket) and Linda ordered the Real Chop Shop (pulled pork served on a brioche roll).

While we waited for our meal, I was offered a tour of the kitchen. I didn't ask for permission to take a picture, but they did show me the Southern Pride they cook everything on - 1,100 lbs of pork butts is a lot of barbecue goodness.

I liked the ribs and brisket. I'm partial to my own homemade bbq, but it was good restaurant bbq. The atmosphere is very nice - actually much nicer than I anticipated. The staff is very friendly and the kitchen was organized and clean. Linda is a tough critic for pulled pork and didn't "love" it.

We'll definitely go back and will certainly recommend it to friends and co-workers. After driving an hour to eat at Slow's in Detroit to be told there was a 3 hour wait, it's good to know there is a nice bbq restaurant option much closer to home.

In case you're wondering what a brioche roll (I know I was) here is the definition from Wikipedia: brioche

Brown Sugar versus Turbinado Sugar

This morning I mixed up some B.R.I.T.U. (Best Ribs In The Universe) bbq rub to cook some St. Louis pork spare ribs today on my Weber Smokey Mountain water smoker. This rub recipe was made famous by Mike Scrutchfield. He used this recipe to win the American Royal Invitational bbq contest in the mid-1990's.

I snapped a couple of pictures that demonstrate the downside to using the typical kind of brown sugar that is still fairly moist when it's straight out of the bag.


Unsifted and clumpy

 The white sugar and Kosher salt are highly visible in the above photo because the brown sugar did not mix well.



Sifted and thoroughly mixed



The second photo was take after running the rub mixture through a flour sifter.

You can virtually eliminate this issue and avoid using the flour sifter by using Turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw instead of regular brown sugar. If you don't have any Turbinado sugar in the cupboard and don't want to make a trip to the grocery store, you can spread regular brown sugar onto a cookie sheet and let it sit out for a couple of hours. It will dry fairly quickly and mix more easily with other ingredients.

BBQ Pork Spare Ribs for Labor Day

I spent my Labor Day celebrating with some bbq pork spare ribs. I used Blues Hog spice rub, Royal Oak lump charcoal, hickory chunks, apple juice, and Blues Hog Raspberry BBQ Sauce.  I have no idea whether the Raspberry flavor is still available from Blues Hog, but I received my sample along with an order I placed several months ago.

I hope you enjoy the video.

The Butlers BBQ - St. Petersburg

Linda and I stopped by The Butlers BBQ today on the way to a festival in St. Petersburg.  This is not the typical bbq fare you find in Florida. If you like lots of brown sugar, honey, molasses, corn syrup, and other sticky gooey "stuff" in your bbq pork sandwiches and ribs, then you're in for a surprise. 

If you like to try different styles of bbq and get bored eating the same old same old every day, then you need to try Butlers BBQ.

Chopped bbq pork.

Pork ribs

I had coleslaw and baked beans with the chopped pork.  The coleslaw was pretty typical, but the baked beans were unique. I believe they use coffee in the recipe. The baked beans were pretty good and again different than what I'm used to.

Linda had collard greens and green beans with her pork ribs.  The green beans were not quite what she expected, but the collard greens were excellent. I think she liked them better than the ribs.

This bbq is seasoned with vinegar and red pepper flakes.  I've tasted similar flavors in the Carolinas and Tennessee.  It's served that way and there is a red sauce on the table (but I did't really need it).

BBQ Bison Ribs

I cooked these bison ribs on my kettle grill for supper tonight. The ribs were purchased from Gap Creek Buffalo in Bradenton, FL. I used a marinade of Worchestershire, beer, honey, chipotle adobo, salt, pepper, garlic, and soy sauce.

Using aluminum foil, banking the lump charcoal to one side of the kettle, and rotating the ribs every 20 minutes allowed me to cook these bison ribs in about an hour and 10 minutes. It's the first time I cooked them and may have actually overcooked them, so they were a little more chewy than I expected. They are pretty healthy for a barbecue entree.

If you don't have time to watch the entire video, here's a picture of the final cooking results:

We served the ribs with a healthy portion of Spanish rice.

Buffalo Ribs

Hello all, it is The BBQ Guy's better half.  I just ordered 2 racks of buffalo ribs from a local grass fed buffalo farmer.  We both like buffalo/bison, but have only eaten the basics -- steaks, bison hotdogs, and  buffalo burgers, so I decided that next weekend he will be smoking something NEW!!

Long story short -- I am asking for suggestions to pass along to my personal BBQ Chef.  Anybody out there with any Buffalo bbq experience??

Oh no I've got to go The BBQ Guy has just discovered I hijacked his blog!!!

BBQ for Christmas

Tonight I am sitting in for The BBQ Guy because he is busy on a very important duty assigned by his wife (me) and Santa. Last year we started giving barbecue and our favorite bbq sauce, Blues Hog, to those hard to buy for folks on our list.

While we were competing we purchased a vacuum sealer from Cabela’s to reduce the amount of waste we had during practice sessions, this is the perfect way to seal and freeze the bbq gifts. So what do I put under the tree? I take a picture of the final product and put the photo along with the barbecue sauce in a box under the tree.

The toughest part for us was sneaking the cooler into my mom’s house and hiding the Que in the freezer. It was a hit last year with my brother- in- law and father , so this year I expanded our list to include nephew, brother –in-law, father, and two more friends.

So as I type in the Lazy Boy the BBQ Guy is busy as a beaver in the kitchen preparing four pork butts, two packer briskets, and three racks of ribs for a long day with the smokers tomorrow .

There is more than 60 lbs of meat in the picture that will go on the smoker bright and early tomorrow.

Orion BBQ Cooker

I had a close up look at the Orion cookers a few years ago. They looked interesting, but weren't really my cup of tea so to speak. My opinion might be changing.

I was checking out Old Dave's bbq blog and things on the Po Farm are getting interesting. Check out Old Dave's review of the 70 minute spare ribs cooked on the Orion cooker. Nope...that's not a mis-print. He really did cook some pretty good looking spare ribs in 70 minutes. I'm sure the Blues Hog and honey helped things along pretty well, but Dave posted some very nice looking pictures.

I've already got 3 smokers...why not four? The more the merrier right?

Michigan BBQ Rib Contest Seeks Competitors

Novi, Michigan - Hot and tasty summer family fun is on the menu for the first annual West Oakland Rib Cook Off and Family Fest, Sunday August 9 at the Rock Financial Showplace, 46100 Grand River Ave in Novi , MI. The all day event will feature as many as fifty BBQ Rib teams, live music, local restaurant tastings, family activities including a furry creature petting zoo, and much more!

“Experience West Oakland ”, a committee of the Novi Chamber of Commerce, was recently granted a sanction from the Memphis Barbeque Network for their inaugural event, which will offer BBQ competitors the chance to compete for Prize Packages totaling $10,000. A panel of 40 professional and amateur judges will determine the contest results. The Grand Prize Winner will be invited to compete in the “ Memphis in May” Barbeque Network Finals, May 2010. More information on the sanctioning body can be found at www.MBNBBQ.com

Registration information for interested contestants can be found at www.experiencewo.com

For more information, please call 248.486.3424.

Barbecue Pork from a BBQ Champion

Mike Davis



Myron Mixon

Memphis Ribs by Gerald Duff

If you're looking for a book to read, what could be better than a barbecue novel? Memphis Ribs is a full-fledged mystery novel with police detectives, murder, and bbq. Sounds very interesting.

I started working on a novel about bbq a few years ago. I've written 19,200 words, but at this point I'm not sure if I'll ever pick it back up and finish the story. Here's the main thesis of the story:

With his import company losing money, an Orlando businessman embarks on a quest to capitalize on the rising popularity of competitive barbecue contests and turn them into America’s new favorite past-time. A chance meeting with a backwoods Georgia redneck threatens to ruin everything he’s worked for.