BBQ in the Rain

I am lucky to have such a dedicated bbq assistant. 

But in the end, a few rain drops didn't hurt anything.

Starting a BBQ Blog

I've been writing about bbq on the internet since 2001.  I've had three different bbq sites, but without a doubt this bbq blog has the most readers, the most content, and has even generated a little revenue to help supplement my bbq expenses.  Thank you readers.

I wasn't the first person to write a bbq blog (a web log).  There were others before me and there will be others after me.  If you are thinking about starting your own bbq website or bbq blog, you can save yourself some trial and error mistakes by doing a little research.  I've read many articles about blogging and monetizing websites, but a recent article I read provides a road map for starting a blog.  Here's an excerpt from the article on Problogger.net :

Content Model. Who will write your content? How often will your content be published? What’s the purpose of every article? Will you do straight-up blogging, or a little bit of traditional webmastering? Will you be doing “open-ended blogging” without an “end date” for your content to be roughly finished? Will you accept guest posts

You can start a blog using these guidelines via Blogger.com or Wordpress.com or one of hundreds of other possibilities.  The answers to the questions above make it sound more complicated than it really is.  And as Linda will tell you, if I can do it anyone can do it. So...jump on in, the water is fine. And, when you get yours started let me know and we'll trade links.

BBQ Guy blogging tip:  If you make it a habit to post a picture with each blog post you make, your readers will thank you for it.  (I don't or can't always follow this advice, but I definitely try.)

Organic BBQ Sauce?

I wrote an article several days ago about high fructose corn syrup and why it's so prevalent in bbq sauce sold in the grocery stores. It's nearly impossible to find a commercially produced bbq sauce that does not contain corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup (there's a difference).

Linda brought home the organic bbq sauce from Annie's Naturals last month and asked me to try it.  It sat on the kitchen counter for several weeks and yesterday I decided to try it out. The ingredient list looked promising, so it was time to go for it.

I tried the finger tip test first before pouring it on any actual bbq.  I didn't want to chance messing up my bbq if I didn't like the taste for some reason.

To make a short story much shorter, this particular style of organic bbq sauce did not pass my taste test.  I'll keep looking for an alternative, but the search has proven difficult.

Suggestions?

Pork Butt Barbecue

We're hoping to take a few days vacation (if the tropical weather formations cooperate).  Linda suggested that we whip up some pulled pork to take along for sandwiches and reduce our dependency on eating out and to minimize prep time and allow more "vacation time".

Today, I am barbecuing two bone-in-butts on the Weber Smokey Mountain.  We're meeting another family and a nephew or two might join us too. Ten pounds of pulled pork should do the trick perfectly. 

These butts were injected with a mixture of apple juice, honey, and Bad Byron's Butt Rub.  More rub was applied and then the butts were refrigerated overnight for cooking this morning.

As bbq goes, pork butts are very low maintenance.  Put them on the cooker. Check back in 4 hours. Wrap in aluminum foil.  Check the internal temp after 3 more hours and they'll be close to done.  Easy, simple, delicious.

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.

KCBS in Kansas City Newspaper

I ran across a link to this article about KCBS today.  What an opportunity to showcase the sport of bbq to 1,000's of readers throughout the Heartland and maybe the world. Somehow I think this article does more to talk people out of trying to compete in bbq contests than encouraging it. 

The article talks about branding, sponsorship, and insinuates that it's expensive and people in their 20's maybe can't become involved for that reason unless they team up.  But, hey if you're in your 30's and 40's maybe you can.

What?

I'm not a professional marketer and I don't work in the public relations industry, but I am sure there was a better way to answer the question about future leadership in the KCBS than talking about Japanese cooking styles.  Why even bring up the part about drinking beer?  Is that something sponsors are looking for when they consider spending money sponsoring teams or events? 

I've got a suggestion. Perhaps the KCBS should spend more time encouraging younger participants by providing tools, classes, and training for those who choose to use it to find ways to make the sport more affordable via branding and sponsorship.  After all, isn't a bbq society about promoting common ideas and developing enthusiasm for cooking bbq?

FBA Cooking School

If you've always wanted to attend a bbq cooking school, but couldn't justify spending the money here's the one you've been waiting for.  The Florida Barbeque Association (FBA) Fun Cook is hosting a "No Holds Barred" Cooking School in Clermont, FL. The FBA Fun Cook is scheduled for 9/3 - 9/5 at the Clerbrook Golf & RV Resort.

If you don't want to do the cooking school, I still recommend attending the Fun Cook. Linda and I attended this event a couple of times when we lived nearer Orlando. It's a nice way to get to know your fellow competitors and share bbq war stories and fish tales.

BBQ Pitmasters Season 2

I read a Twitter post from BBQ Pitmasters creator John Markus recently announcing the narrowing of the field for the season 2 cast.  It took me awhile to warm up to Season 1.  Having competed in KCBS contests for several years, what I was watching on TV and what I actually experienced at bbq contests did not match up well. 

After the 3rd episode, my attitude toward the show changed a little and it started to grow on me.  I began to realize that some of the hype was necessary to draw a bigger audience (and advertisers to pay the bills), but that doesn't mean I agreed with all of it.

I wonder what Season 2 will bring?

BBQ Business Ideas

What choices do contest cooks have to combat rising expenses? For most contest cooks, starting a bbq business aimed at capitalizing on bbq contest participation seems viable. The basic choices are as follows:

--Start selling bbq rub

--Start selling bbq sauce

--Start a bbq vending / concession business

--Start a bbq catering service

--Start a barbecue website

--Pursue corporate sponsorship

On the surface, each of those ideas sounded promising to us. They certainly sound simple enough. How hard could it be?

We found a co-packer and started selling our bbq spice rubs at contests and to family and friends. If you're thinking of taking a similar approach, plan to spend at least $850 in start-up expenses, add another $300 or $400 if you want professionally printed labels for your bottles. To earn back the start-up costs, plan on selling at least 1,000 bottles of rub in 10 oz. bottles (600 if you decide to start with a larger 13 oz. bottle).

It would be much easier to sell bbq sauce in these volumes, but the start-up expenses are about 400% greater, so increase the sales to 4,000 small bottles (or 2,400 big bottles). After a little research with the health department and state regulators, we crossed bbq vending, concessions, and catering off the list quickly. The start-up expenses to comply with the legal requirements are nearly $20,000, plus rent on a commissary facility to store supplies and prepare foods.

I started two barbecue websites that do generate a small amount of revenue, but not nearly enough to support the cost of contests. If you have technical expertise, this might a viable alternative for you, but based on my "seat of the pants" knowledge level, it's not been the answer to our expense issues.  Hint: YouTube.com, Twitter.com, and Facebook.com will help you increase your web site traffic if you use them strategically.

Which leaves one more option -- corporate sponsorship. I haven't put any efforts into obtaining a corporate sponsor for our bbq team and as difficult as it sounds, it is probably the best option on this list. And that brings us back to the lack of spectator involvement in the events. Without large numbers of spectators at bbq contests (I'm talking thousands), the corporate sponsorship is going to be hard to come by.

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!!!

What Puts the Sweet in BBQ Sauce?

It's become common place to find high fructose corn syrup in most barbecue sauces these days.  In a recent trip to my local grocery store, I searched each and every bottle of barbecue sauce on the shelf for those that did not contain high fructose corn syrup on the label.  Care to take a guess how many I found out of the 35+ bottles for sale?  Four - and I purchased a bottle of each.  All of the bottles I purchased contained corn syrup on the label as one the first one or two ingredients.  Two of them were made by the same company.

I'm not sure I know what it takes to qualify as corn syrup and I definitely don't know how it becomes "high fructose" so I decided to do a little research.

What is high fructose corn syrup?

According to MayoClinic.com:

High-fructose corn syrup is a common sweetener and preservative. High-fructose corn syrup is made by changing the sugar (glucose) in cornstarch to fructose — another form of sugar. The end product is a combination of fructose and glucose. Because it extends the shelf life of processed foods and is cheaper than sugar, high-fructose corn syrup has become a popular ingredient in many sodas, fruit-flavored drinks and other processed foods. Click here to read more.

And according to ScienceDaily.com:

...sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars -- it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose -- but the typical high-fructose corn syrup...features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose....Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized. Click here to read more.

So to summarize my understanding of those two articles, cane sugar appears to be a complex ingredient and slightly costlier and high-fructose corn syrup appears in processed foods as a preservative and is added to food readily accessible to the bloodstream.

So what is the difference between corn syrup and the "high fructose" corn syrup?

From TheFitShack.com:

...corn syrup solids are in a powder form, HFCS is a liquid. Corn syrup solids are not as sweet as HFCS, however it’s all sugar in the end. Corn syrup solids are dextrose sugar, and high fructose corn syrup is fructose sugar." Click here to read more.

Perhaps most interesting to me is that corn syrup is derived from a powder (corn starch) and can be refined as a powder or liquid.  The corn syrup is processed and most of the water is removed to leave the powder.  High fructose corn syrup is derived from an enzyme reaction and also can be either a powder or a liquid, depending the desired usage.  Click here to read about the processing in more detail.

Wow.  I feel smarter now. How about you?

Whole Chicken

I wanted to share some pictures of my Memorial Day bbq chicken.  This beer can chicken was cooked on my WSM (minus the water pan) at 300-325 degrees and took about 2 1/2 hours to reach 170 degrees in the breast and 180 degrees in the drumsticks. 
After eating chicken cooked this way, I'm not sure I'll return to cooking individual chicken pieces ever again. The brine allows a practical way to add flavor and retain moisture.

Original Charcoal Company Briquettes

I posted this originally a couple of years ago.  I had good results with these Rancher briquettes, but haven't been able to find them since.  I'm pretty sure I got this bag at Wal-Mart, but can't find it locally any more. Has anybody got any suggestions for who might carry this charcoal the Tampa, FL area?

For this bbq blog article, I'm testing some charcoal briquettes from The Original Charcoal Company as I cook a packer brisket purchased from a local butcher shop.

The label says these rancher briquettes are 100% all-natural hardwood briquette charcoal carbon madera which is bound together with yucca starch. The back of the package explains that you get lump flavor, heat, and burn time from a briquette.

When it was available, I used to purchase 40 pound bags of madera lump charcoal from a bbq supplier. I had some very good results with the madera lump in bbq competitions. The burn time was a lot longer than the Royal Oak lump I had been using. I'm expecting the same type of results from the briquettes as compared to Royal Oak briquettes. I guess we'll see how the testing goes and if the madera briquettes continue to be available from my suppliers.

Compared to oak and hickory, I think the madera lump burns even hotter, but I'm not sure I can prove it. I call it the "seat of the pants" testing method, which isn't very sceintific, but most of the time it's the best testing technique a barbecue guy can use...because it's quick, fast, cheap, and easy!

Stubb's Charcoal Briquettes

I grilled some bison burgers tonight and used Stubb's Charcoal Briquettes.  I've used these briquettes before and have no real complaints.  I think it works better for grilling than low and slow bbq cooking.  It seems to cook quite a bit hotter than the Royal Oak lump or briquettes that I usually use.

By the way, if you've not visited Stubb's home on the World Wide Web, I'd urge you to check it out. I've seen their products in grocery stores for years, but not really taken time to learn the story behind them.  I'm a big Stevie Ray Vaughn fan, so I enjoyed reading about the restaurant "in the beginning".  Pretty interesting for sure.

BBQ Chicken

BBQ 25, by Adam Perry Lang

I received the following press release today regarding BBQ 25, a new bbq book.

Grilling master, barbecue chef and best-selling author Adam Perry Lang has spent his career perfecting what he calls “3D Flavor” for the barbecue. Not satisfied with flat boring flavors, Adam has created an effortless method of layering flavors to get extraordinary results from your grill. In his newest book, BBQ 25: The World’s Most Flavorful Now Made Foolproof (HarperStudio, May 11, 2010, $19.99/boardbook) Adam distills his vast knowledge and creates the “25 recipes that you will cook 95 percent of the time” and puts them into a format that’s a first for a cookbook.

His hyper-visual “BBQ survival guide” comes in a wind-proof, easy-to-clean board book built to withstand beer and barbecue sauce spills out at the grill. BBQ 25 is organized by type of meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish & miscellaneous) and cooking time (quick, medium, long). He begins every chapter with a short list of “Sourcing Tips” and then dives in. Directions are split into “preparation” and “cooking method” and Adam communicates his 3D flavor-building techniques into easy-to-remember phrases including “season like rain,” and “glisten with oil.”In addition, each recipe is illustrated with full-color photographs of the process, a pictorial of the required tools, and ingredient lists for marinades, seasonings, and brines. And every dish can be done in 10 (or less) steps from preparation to table.

Adam takes every opportunity available to build flavor by marinating in advance, basting during and saucing (sometimes right on the resting board) post-grilling. He prefers indirect heat and likes to keep things moving to ensure even cooking. Grilling is an active sport for Adam—and it’s not enough just to marinate OR slather with barbecue sauce. Adam employs both for a superlative result. Take his nine-step recipe for boneless chicken breasts as an example. He begins with a wet marinade of herbs and spices and lemon juice which you “mix and crush with your hands” in a re-sealable bag. After you brine for at least an hour, dry them off and sear them in a cast-iron pan that’s been heating on your grill. While the chicken is cooking in the pan, make a glaze with herbs, honey, olive oil and lemon zest and place into foil pan on the grill. Then start moving. Cook the chicken back and forth between the foil pan and straight on the grill. The flavors build as you cook. When the chicken has finished cooking and rests, boil the glaze down and pour it over the rested breasts for the most flavor infused chicken your guests have ever eaten.

More than half of the recipes in BBQ 25 are “Quick Cook” because as Adam writes in his introduction, “Sometimes all you want is instant gratification. Relax, have fun, embrace simple ingredients and make them into something spectacular. Enjoy the stuff that surrounds you, and cook while having a beer, hanging with your family or watching a game with your friends. You want recipes that are straightforward, easy-to-follow and look really professional, with flavors that blow your mind.” What more is there to say?

# # #

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam Perry Lang graduated with distinction from the Culinary Institute of America and cooked at Daniel, Le Cirque, and Restaurant Guy Savoy. Tossing his pursuit of stars for pursuit of flavor, Adam became a pioneer in urban barbecue and opened a “rib shack”, the nationally acclaimed Daisy May’s BBQ U.S.A in New York City. Adam also left the bright lights of New York City kitchens for the competition barbecue circuit and has taken the prizes of Grand Champion honors at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa and a First Place victory for his Pork Shoulder at the Kansas City American Royal a.k.a. "The World Series of BBQ". He also serves as meat maestro at Mario Batali’s Las Vegas Italian steakhouse, Carnevino, and is currently partnering with Jamie Oliver in Barbecoa, a restaurant scheduled to open in London in October 2010.

BBQ 25: The World’s Most Flavorful Recipes Now Made Foolproof
By Adam Perry Lang
Foreword by Jamie Oliver
Photographs by David Loftus
Price: $19.99 / Board book
Publication Date: May 11, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-199023-6

Florida Citrus Poultry Marinade

I've been working on a new marinade this weekend.  As a resident of the Tampa Bay area my goal is to embrace some of the local ingredients that are available and develop a unique flavor profile for bbq chicken. Here's a recipe that I plan to try out this afternoon.  I've changed it up a lot, but this recipe is based loosely on a recipe in Dr. BBQ's Big Time Barbecue Cookbook.

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup tangerine juice
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP cloves
1 TBSP white sugar
2 TBSP sea salt
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 medium poblano pepper (chopped)

I call this a marinade because a brine would have substantially more salt.  I use this marinade by injecting it into chicken with a Cabela's injector and letting it marinade in the refrigerator overnight.

Poblano peppers are mildly hot at 1000-2,500 SHU's. For comparison, jalapeno peppers are 10,000 SHU's.  Feel free to substitute jalapeno peppers in the recipe if you decide to try it out. I wanted to use a pepper that's a little on the mild side because jalapenos are borderline too hot for my household.

Some may prefer lemon juice in the recipe instead of tangerine juice. I am trying tangerine juice because I've tried lemon juice before and didn't like the flavor profile. The lemon juice is a little too agressive and it presents an "in your face" approach. With the tangerine juice, I'm trying to take a more conservative approach.  If you've never tasted tangerine juice, it's very similar to orange juice.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs

We took a short drive down to St. Petersburg yesterday to visit the Saturday Market in the parking lot of Al Lang Stadium.

We purchased some fresh organic green peppers, oinions, and tomatoes and taste tested food from several of the vendors.  Fresh is always better, so we added some chicken to the mix and I fired up the grill.

The fine folks at McCormick and Lawry's sent me some Lawry's Szechwan Sweet & Sour bbq marinade and Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato marinade last week. I decided to try the Szechwan on the kabobs. 

I marinated the chicken in the Lawry's bbq sauce for about 4 hours and grilled everything using lump charcoal.  The marinade added a slight Szechwan heat to go along with the sweet and sour flavor.  I don't know the chemistry behind it, but the chicken breasts were very moist and tender. 

If I do this again I will sear the kabobs over direct heat and then move them into an aluminum foil pan or wrap. I think this will prevent the charring that occurs when the marinade begins to burn over the direct flame.

I can't wait to try out Lawry's Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato marinade on some pork chops next.

Simple Grilled Chicken Wings and Drums

--Marinade in Newman's Own "Olive Oil and Vinegar" for 5 - 6 hours (in the refrigerator)

--Start your charcoal and let it grey over a little, before adding chicken to grill
--Cook chicken slowly (around the edges of the grate) to reduce flare ups
--When it's done, brush with your favorite bbq sauce to finish
--Enjoy

 

The marinade will add moisture and internal flavor, while the bbq sauce adds a little kick.  No matter how you grill your chicken, I would not eat chicken that is not marinated in Newman's Own "Olive Oil and Vinegar". It really makes a difference.

Jimbo's Pit Bar B Q - Tampa Florida

I've lived in Tampa for three years. During that time I've been searching for "real" bbq ribs with little luck. Linda and I finally found them Saturday at Jimbo's Pit Bar B Q.

Lots of restaurants serve bbq pork ribs, but many are overcooked, over tender, and candied.  Jimbo's ribs are just the way I like them.  They still taste like pork and the meat doesn't fall off the bone. It tears off  and leaves bite marks.

Located in Tampa on West Kennedy near the Fox 13 studios, Jimbo's is a barbecue location. It's not some fancy upscale foo foo restaurant masquerading as a wannabe bbq joint. It's the real deal. After 33 years in Tampa, Jimbo's is still going strong.  The atmosphere is casual. The tables and chairs are rustic. Even the exterior is painted a plain, flat, brown color.  There's no stucco or fancy brick work at Jimbo's.  It's a "bbq joint" - plain and simple.  

The smoker is located out back and they cook with real wood.  I think it's an Oyler, but I haven't been able to verify that for sure.  I know Jimbo's in Lakeland definitely uses an Oyler Pit manufactured by J & R Manufacturing.  If you're not familar with an Oyler Pit here's a quick run down.  The pit is wood fired, NSF and UL listed.

Linda had the chopped pork sandwich and I had the combo platter with pork ribs and sliced beef.  The sauce is served warm. I hadn't seen that before, but I liked it. 

Both pork entrees were very good. The sliced beef, made from Beef Round according to the menu, wasn't the brisket I had expected and it needed a little more sauce than I usually like, but I enjoyed trying something different.