I am just saying there are some similarities between the poverty map and the BBQ map.
Poverty and BBQ
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Years ago in ny state a navy friend took us to get “good” bbq. They boiled the ribs, grilled them a few minutes an poured sweet sauce over them, disgusting! That was what passed for bbq there. 
Funny, once in Chicago, summer, driving with my windows down I happened to smell real hickory smoke. Took me 10min to find the restaurant. Stopping every few minutes is sniff the air. Anyone following me would have thought I was crazy. But I found real bbq in chicago!
Funny, once in Chicago, summer, driving with my windows down I happened to smell real hickory smoke. Took me 10min to find the restaurant. Stopping every few minutes is sniff the air. Anyone following me would have thought I was crazy. But I found real bbq in chicago!
A battle buddy of mine took me home with him on leave once, claiming I would have the best BBQ of my life. We arrive at his uncles and the place was a complete ********. His smoker was surrounded by junk and was made out of an old chest freezer with a dryer vent duct sticking out of the top and some holes in the side with what looked like various sized wood dowels he could remove to control air flow and temps. The small hog he cooked was beyond amazing, it was indeed the best BBQ of my life. Even if I expected to die of food poising or hepatitis after we left.
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A lot of people don't know the difference between bbq'ing and grilling. I don't care either, both are good.
Being a bbq fan who worked a lot of places I always sampled the local fare. I've found good bbq in some odd places. Only place on the west coast was outside of seattle, town called Woodenville. A texas transplant owned it who knew how to cook brisket. He couldn't get good smoking wood but the meat was cooked right so he still got a B grade from me. I'm not a fan of mesquite anyway, too harsh, its even harsher that hickory. My favorite smoking wood is pecan. I even toss bits of pecan wood on the coals when I grille burgers, makes a great burger.
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I use a lot of pecan and post oak in my smokers.
I have a dozen or so pecan trees here on the farm. Seems every couple of years a limb will blow off in a storm. I take a chainsaw and cut 2inch pieces, split it into small bits then dry it. Keep them in a jar in the kitchen. I usually cook burgers on a little smokey joe grill. All it takes is a couple pieces to give a burger great flavor, or dogs.
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they say the best bbq is in memphis but i'm partial to a lot of the bbq i've had here in texas.
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I like using alder, cherry and apple. It grows around here. I'll use oak, pecan, pear, and some hickory.
Suddenly I want GOOD BBQ, not the stuff from Ohio.
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The best smoked food is found here in my backyard.
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mesquite is the best
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Mesquite is a little too harsh for me.
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I'm starting to get the urge to smoke something.....
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You guys keep saying it is harsh...
I don't know, I had never had until I got to TEXAS, and I find it hard to not eat brisket that's been cookin' all day with mesquite. Might also be the liquid seasoning that is applied, a mesquite flavor.
Back to poverty and BBQ
old book i have says any hardwood can be used to smoke with and including grapevines....i wont use locust though.
i like alder for fish and cheery for other stuff...but i used everything all hickories and oak all cutting from orchard too.
i have some hazel alder i want to try growing in my creek bottom to see if its like red alder from PNW.
i like alder for fish and cheery for other stuff...but i used everything all hickories and oak all cutting from orchard too.
i have some hazel alder i want to try growing in my creek bottom to see if its like red alder from PNW.
Last few times i used mesquite and apple grilling/smoking.
I usually use my native black oak for my base wood. Throw some mesquite charcoal on to round out the flavor. Smoking is an art. Too much smoke , isn’t good. 225 is the best temperature. Low and slow.
Now for BBQ over wood, a Santa Maria style grill is the best. Raise and lower the grill top for the right heat. I have learned how to use my stick burner smoker to emulate it. Control the heat, get the flavor. 300 is the best temperature for BBQ
Grilling is anything over 400.
Now for BBQ over wood, a Santa Maria style grill is the best. Raise and lower the grill top for the right heat. I have learned how to use my stick burner smoker to emulate it. Control the heat, get the flavor. 300 is the best temperature for BBQ
Grilling is anything over 400.
I am feeling poor. Just finished 4 racks of baby back ribs and tomorrow, 12 teriyaki salmon filets are going in.
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I'd like to start smoking right now, but it's so dry that I don't want to chance building a fire in the smoke house. I do have a stainless electric Cookshack smoker on the back deck that I can use. It just doesn't taste the same as smoking over a fire.
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I don’t know what the ingredients are for this solution, and I can’t vouch for the brand…
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We buy a lot of his bbq sauce. It's pretty good. I've never seen his liquid smoke before. If I can find some in the store I'll try it out.
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If I remember right, he doesn't use high fruitcouse corn syrup in his bbq sauce. Just real ingredients.
So I would guess, that BBQ means cooked in a smoker, and Grilling is cooked over direct heat.
This is a normal miss use of nomenclature, and so many people call grills BBQS, and thus think that anything cooked on them is therefore bbq, where as most people up here call a smoker, a smoker, and refer to the meat as smoked.
This is a normal miss use of nomenclature, and so many people call grills BBQS, and thus think that anything cooked on them is therefore bbq, where as most people up here call a smoker, a smoker, and refer to the meat as smoked.
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I consider anything on the smoker, smoked. A grill is what most people call bbq fired by propane or charcoal. To me bbq is done in a pit over a wood fire. I think these definitions change depending on what part of the country you're in.
bbq in the carolinas as far as sauces goes is the ones based on vinegar and crushed red pepper...not the dark colored sauce often used called bbq. its also an ingerdient in brunswick stew famous in north carolina.
https://www.asouthernsoul.com/carolina-vinegar-bbq-sauce/
https://www.asouthernsoul.com/carolina-vinegar-bbq-sauce/
Here in the south bbq means "low and slow" cooking, 10-12hrs to cook a pork butt at 200f to 210f. It can be buried and cooked in ground but is usually over a pit and smoked.
Fast cooking is grilling. it can be done over a pit but with smoke also. Some of the best ribs in the big town are done in less than an hour with lots of smoke over a pit. Technically grilling but still gets the moniker bbq. This is common for busy restaurants that have a large pit. Half the pit will be for low n slow, one end at high heat, the whole pit provides smoke.
@elkhound I buy my favorite sauce by the gallon, a mustard/vinegar/pepper sauce very similar to the Carolina mustard based sauces that doesn't spoil, no refrigeration necessary. Personally i despise sweet sauces that are served at most places in the south. I keep a bottle of mustard sauce in my truck too. I'll order bbq sandwich or rib sandwich without sauce from any place that cooks low n slow. Then add my sauce.
Fast cooking is grilling. it can be done over a pit but with smoke also. Some of the best ribs in the big town are done in less than an hour with lots of smoke over a pit. Technically grilling but still gets the moniker bbq. This is common for busy restaurants that have a large pit. Half the pit will be for low n slow, one end at high heat, the whole pit provides smoke.
@elkhound I buy my favorite sauce by the gallon, a mustard/vinegar/pepper sauce very similar to the Carolina mustard based sauces that doesn't spoil, no refrigeration necessary. Personally i despise sweet sauces that are served at most places in the south. I keep a bottle of mustard sauce in my truck too. I'll order bbq sandwich or rib sandwich without sauce from any place that cooks low n slow. Then add my sauce.
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All that matters is that there are 100's of ways to cook tasty meats and make it just the way you like it. If you can't make pork ribs 20 different ways then why even kill the pig!
For folks who haven't had a rib sandwich in the south... It's ribs over white bread, with or without sauce as you order it. Most places give you the sauce on the side in small container anyway.
I take my Smoking, BBQ, Grillin’ pretty seriously. Even have made Pizza in the firebox.
Got this because previous owners didn’t want to pay to move it 500 miles away . Paid (in a horse trade) about half of what they are going for now 6 yrs ago.
Only thing I wish it had was a single door to put a half pig in it.
I do have a hose run out there when it is this dry.
When SHTF, I dont have to worry much about cooking
Got this because previous owners didn’t want to pay to move it 500 miles away . Paid (in a horse trade) about half of what they are going for now 6 yrs ago.
Only thing I wish it had was a single door to put a half pig in it.
I do have a hose run out there when it is this dry.
When SHTF, I dont have to worry much about cooking
