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Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2011 > August > 19 > Entry
Tips from the pros on making great BBQ at home
In today’s Dayton Daily News Life section, I wrote a story entitled “BBQ Fever: Award-winning local restaurants offer tips for great home barbecue” in which I include some excerpts of tips from two local restaurants.
Oh, but that story only scratches the surface of the advice and wisdom that the folks at those two restaurants — Company 7 BBQ in Englewood, and Hickory River Smokehouse in Tipp City — had to offer. So here is the full text of what they had to say about making great barbecue at home, starting with Company 7:
7 Home BBQ Tips to make you a family hero—
When most people say to come over this Saturday Night for a BBQ, they envision Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, and maybe some steaks but purists will tell you that is “grilling” not BBQ. Steaks and Hamburgers require hot and fast cooking to sear in juices and flavors, which means a person has very little time invested. Grilling may make for a good meal, but real smoked BBQ is a GREAT meal and it can be done at home (with patience and our 7 key tips).
Real BBQ is an art form, the Art of Low and Slow cooking with aromatic and seasoning woods. Real BBQ requires a significant investment in time, both in preparing and marinating the meats, and in monitoring the meats at lower temperatures for long periods of time. Meats like Brisket, Boston Butts, and Pork shoulders require 12-16 hours of slow smoking, this does not include the 5-10 hours invested in preparing the meats, so in total you will have 17 hours to 26 hours between the time you start the process, and you eat. But the effort is worth it, and with our 7 tips the process can be far from painful.
Typically the meats being used for traditional BBQ, like Brisket and Pork Butts are the tougher, fattier, and less flavorful cuts of beef, compared to a Filet Mignon or Pork Tenderloin. This is why these meats require the low and slow cooking method, as it takes time to render that fat and tenderize the meat to create the bliss that is slow smoked BBQ.
Since BBQ meats are, also, typically not the most flavorful cuts of meat “au naturel”, an expert BBQer’s pantry is typically filled with exacting and finely designed rubs, marinades and recipes to prepare meat before putting it into the smoke. Rubs, Marinades, Brines, injections all are used separately or together to help tenderize and flavor meats. Rubs (a mix of seasonings) is the most popular method used to flavor BBQ and in professional circles is almost always used; the meat is then further prepped with marinades, brines or injections.
So, 17 hours to 26 hours before you want to eat, you start to prepare your BBQ feast by preparing the meat for slow cooking, and to maximize your chances of success you take these 7 tips to heart.
Tip #1 for the Home BBQer-A perfect “Rub” is like perfect love (elusive but worth the effort)
The rub is a key ingredient to a perfect finished product, and should start your prepping process. Professional BBQers spend decades, and considerable sums of cash, tweaking their rubs to perfection. You can’t really have perfect BBQ , without an amazing rub. If you haven’t spent decades developing your own rub, you would probably be well advised to buy a rub. Most BBQ restaurants sell their rub at very reasonable prices. If you like a certain restaurant’s BBQ, buy their rub and you will have done much to increase the quality of your finished product. Oh, a word to the wise, don’t expect to get a professional BBQer’s recipe for their Rub, they may give you a portion or even 75 % of the real recipe, but I guarantee that the other 25% will be accidentally, on purpose, erroneous or omitted. Your rub recipe is considered sacrosanct in the BBQ world. We will, however, tell you how we make our Company 7 BBQ Rub —- 1/2 Cup of Love and 1/2 Cup of Passion!! Expect that kind of response from all professional BBQers, their rub is almost like another child in the family!!
Tip #2 for the Home BBQer-Never under-estimate the value of a yellow mustard prep.
Now that you have the rub acquisition under control, let’s talk about using the rub. A great BBQ secret/tip that many competition BBQ cooks use is a “yellow mustard prep.” Before putting the rub on your meat, slather the meat in yellow mustard. The Mustard helps the Rub to adhere to the meat, creating a good crust while cooking. Also the acidity of the Mustard helps to tenderize the meat.
Tip #3 for the Home BBQer-To Marinate, to Brine or to Inject (read closely, beer can be involved)
Most professional BBQers today marinate brine or inject their meats as well as put rub on. A simple marinade or injection can help increase and enhance the flavor of beef and pork. Be sure you don’t use a product that is so strong that it hides the natural flavor of beef or pork…. It should only compliment the meat. Brines and Marinades are also available commercially but you can make simple and effective marinades with product that you probably have in your Kitchen already.
Here is a simple Beef Marinade: 1 Cup red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup of Olive Oil, 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce, 4 cloves minced garlic, 2 Tbl paprika, 1 Tbl Kosher Salt, 2 teaspoons black pepper. Here is an even simpler Pork Brine: If you have a can of your favorite beer —- Makes a great Pork Brine! Whether you marinate, brine or inject; plan on leaving the meat to “set” for at least 4 hours and ideally up to 10 hours.
Tip #4 for the Home BBQer-A propane grill is not a smoker, and Liquid Smoke is not Smoke
You’ve tenderly prepared the meat for cooking, show the same care in choosing how you cook the meat. Propane grills are for grilling. For BBQ, ideally you would use a smoker, but if that is impossible use a charcoal grill with small pieces of wood added among the charcoal to provide smoke (apple wood, hickory and oak are among the best). And if you have Liquid Smoke, throw it away if you want your meat to taste like it does at your favorite restaurant. Liquid Smoke is a great product and can be used in many recipes for great effect but it can never replace the wondrous seasoning capacity of real wood on meat. Tip #5-Go low and slow, also a good time to enjoy cold beverages, fish stories, cigars, card games and yarn spinning. Believe it or not, now you have done the hard work. The rest is patience. Try to keep your smoker internal temperature at about 225F AT ALL TIMES not just now and then, and then be patient.
Tip #6-Do not clothe your masterpiece in rags, or hide your light under a bushel basket.
You have done all this hard work (well it looks hard to someone who did not watch you play cards while the meat cooked), don’t dishonor your wonderful meat with a bad sauce. PLEASE, do not use a supermarket sauce filled with preservatives and fake food ingredients. You can make your own sauce but again the pros have spent lifetimes and fortunes developing perfectly balanced sauces, validated by national expert reviews and ratings. A balanced sauce will enhance the taste of your meat, a junk sauce will hide those wonderful aromas and tastes that you have spent hours coaxing from the meat. Most BBQ restaurants offer their sauces at very modest prices, so find one you like and purchase it. If you are considering asking for a professional BBQer sauce recipes, please see comments above about asking for rub recipes, and save your breath.
Tip #7-Steel yourself for fawning admiration and a cult following.
People love good BBQ, you will be much appreciated. But BBQers are humble people, so maybe you should practice your “aw shucks” now. And whatever you do, DON’T GIVE UP YOUR RECIPES or they will know you are not a true BBQer.
Try it, you will like it, BBQ is not just cooking, it is recreation. And BBQers love to help other BBQers. If you have a favorite BBQ restaurant, visit (please, outside the lunch and dinner rush) ask to talk to the Pitboss. BBQ masters love to talk BBQ, you will have made a new friend, and you will always have a BBQ resource.
Best to you in BBQ!!
And here are Tips for Grilling Ribs from Hickory River Smokehouse:
“How much seasoning?”- Be conservative. Ribs have great flavor by themselves. Too much seasonings will cover up the wonderful flavor of ribs. So put a light coat of rub or seasoning on both sides of the ribs just prior to grilling. Some ribs may come with a thin silver skin on the bottom of them. Make sure to take this off, as the seasonings will not penetrate it.
“Charcoal or gas grill, does it matter?”- You can make perfect ribs with either style grill. The key is to keep the ribs off of the direct heat and see tip #3. With either style grill, just make sure to keep the ribs on the opposite side of the coals or flame. “Low and Slow is key!”- The number one mistake with grilling ribs is too much heat too fast. Indirect heat at a temperature of 200 to 225 degrees F is ideal for perfectly grilled ribs. Based on the size of the ribs, cook for 1 1/2 to 3 hours, with the cover on. You will want to keep an eye on them to make sure that they do not burn.
“They smell great, are they done yet?”- Use a cooking thermometer and make sure that the ribs are above 165 degrees F. It is not easy to get an accurate temperature from ribs since the meat is so close to the bone. Once you think that you have reached the 165 degrees F, use a pair on tongs and pick up the ribs from one end. If the slab is close to breaking in half, the ribs are done.
“The Perfect Sauce”- Sauce should be put on at the very end of grilling. Many store bought and homemade sauces have sugar in them. Sugar can cause the ribs to burn, even with indirect heat. Once the ribs are completely cooked, give them a light coat of your favorite sauce (Hickory River Mild or Hot Sauce is a must!!) and cook them for a couple more minutes.
“They’re ready” - Serve with your favorite cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, or corn on the cob - and enjoy!!
There you have it — tips from some pros on home barbecue.
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