I've Got a Bone to Pick with You...

As a matter of fact, I have a few dozen bones to pick with you.  Time for some rib practice for the upcoming season.

As you can see, we picked up some beautiful looking St. Louis spares from our butcher, Dave's Country Meats in Valencia, PA.  We trimmed them up nicely and started with seasoning.

First, we slathered some yellow mustard on the front and back, then rubbed both sides with 1 cup of Oakridge Secret Weapon Chicken and Pork rub and 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar.  Then, we allowed the racks to sit and come up to room temperature while we brought the smoker up to 225 F.

Ribs are our nemesis.  They kept us from at least a top ten at Oinktoberfest last September.  Most of the time, it is a combination of taste and tenderness.  One, they are not sweet enough.  Two, we have tenderness problems.  So, for this cook, I wanted to see how long it would take to get the ribs cooked without foiling.  I decided on a six hour cook time.  So, when the smoker was up to temperature, I put a mix of pecan, apple, and hickory in the ash pan, placed the ribs on the top rack of the smoker, and walked away.  After two hours, I added more wood.  After three hours, I rotated the ribs in the smoker.  Then, after five hours, I started my glazing:

1 cup of Blues Hog Regular

1/2 cup of honey

4 Tbsp of Blues Hog Tennessee Red

After the first application of sauce sat for 30 minutes in the smoker, I added a second coat and let the ribs go for 30 more minutes.  Then, I pulled them and let them rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Chilebrown, does the knife look familiar?  Great call.  I love it.  But, I digress...

Here they were after slicing.

Nice, bite on the meat.

The flavor was there, but I do need to add a bit more sweet.  As for the tenderness, the ribs were good, but had just a bit too much tug.  Next time, I am going to cook for seven hours and see how they turn out.  

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Getting Caught Red Handed and Smoking a Butt, Low and Slow

We love our dogs.  Generally, they are not allowed on the furniture.  But, you know how it goes.  There is that unspoken agreement.  We are going to sleep on the couch at night.  When the alarm goes off, we will get down.  Kinda of like "Don't ask, Don't tell" with your dogs.  Well, I woke up a few weekends ago for an all day smoke for some pork butt practice.  I did so without the alarm to wake me up.  Look who I caught red handed...

Now, on to our experimental pork butt.

Last year, after we had received comments that our pork butt tasted too much like injection, we entered a pork butt without any injection at all.  Then, we scored a 3rd place.  Our brisket scores improved when we stopped using the packet of au jus mix in our injection, netting us a 5th place.  So, we are experimenting with a pork stock injection.  Here is how we make our pork stock.

2 lbs of country style ribs
1/2 sweet onion
2 carrots
2 ribs of celery
1 tbsp of dried parsley
2 cloves of garlic
1 gallon of water

Bring to a boil and simmer for 12 hours.  Chill, strain off fat, and freeze until ready for use.  I froze in two cup packages for my anticipated injection recipe.  For our injection, we formulated the following:

2 cups of pork stock
1 bottle of Stubbs Pork Marinade, strained to remove the solids
1 cup apple juice
1 Tbsp sea salt
3 Tbsp of butter

Bring to a boil and chill so that it is safe to inject into your pork butt.

We picked up our butt at the butcher.  It was a beauty at 8.25 pounds.  We always use bone-in.

After injection, we applied a fresh coat of plain yellow mustard.  This adds some tangy flavor and helps the rub to stick to the meat.

Then, we mixed 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar with 1 cup of Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub and applied evenly to all surfaces of the butt.

We wrapped the panic foil and placed in the refrigerator for some overnight happy time.

In the morning, I woke up and caught the dogs red handed.  Then I went outside, started the smoker and brought to 225 F.  We wanted to try low and slow for this cook since it worked so well for our last brisket.  While the smoker was coming to temperature, I took the butt out of the frig, applied a fresh coat of rub, and inserted the temperature probe in the meatiest part of the pork butt.

Once the smoker was at temperature, I placed some hickory, pecan, and apple splits in the ash pan.  Once the smoker was rolling with that thin blue smoke, I placed the butt on the top rack.  Here are our cooking notes:

8:00 am, placed butt on top rack of smoker.
10:00 am: reloaded ash pan with wood.
12 noon: 140 F
2:00 pm: 159 F
4:00 pm: 164 F, pushing through the dreaded stall (All meat when cooked at low heat experiences a stall in temperature rise.  This is usually where all of the protein is breaking down, producing that tender meat you associate with pulled pork)
5:39 pm: 175 F.  Placed butt in foil pan and covered tightly with foil.  Here is a picture before foiling.

Look at that beautiful bark!

7:24 pm: 190 F.  Probed with Thermapen.  Meat is like warm butter.  Pulled and placed in a cooler to rest for two hours.

9:30 pm: Removed from cooler, pulled and sliced.

How was the final product?  The bark was outstanding.  Sweet with a bit of heat.  The meat was a bit over done.  Just slightly mushy.  The longer cook time with the lower heat seems to break down the meat more than a shorter cook at a higher temperature.

Next time, I will try Stubbs Chicken Marinade in our injection as it has a mellower flavor and we will check the meat and possibly pull from the smoker at 185 F.  Overall though, we were happy with the result.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Baby Back Ribs, the Way We Like Them!

All of you people that compete know what I am talking about.  Any rib that you make for a competition is not how you make them at home.  Who would take the time to foil with mysterious liquids that add flavor and butter (gasp) that help tenderize the meat and add rich flavor.  Not I.  We like a basic rib around here.  We also like baby backs over spare ribs.  Our butcher sells a nice meaty baby back.  So, we feel that we do not loose anything by using back backs versus a spare rib.

So, how do we make them?  Very simple.

First, we take our baby backs and remove the membrane from the back.  Then, we coat each side with simple yellow mustard and rub.  We like Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken rub.

While the ribs are sitting, I bring the smoker to 250 F and add some hickory and apple chunks to the ash pan for our flavoring smoke.  The ribs go on the top rack, then I close the door and walk away for 3 and a half hours.  In the last 30 minutes, I very lightly sauce the ribs with our sauce of choice.  Since I am on a consolidation kick in the refrigerator, I used the last of our J. Wilbur Spicy Hickory for this cook.  Once the ribs have been sauced, I close the door and walk away for 30 minutes.  Then, we remove the ribs, let rest for 10 minutes, then slice.

We served these racks with a side of homemade macaroni salad.

What is the difference between these ribs and a rib for competition?  Well, competition ribs can be very sweet.  You are trying to impress a judge with one bite.  So, you have to load it up with flavor and usually flavor = sweet.  Sure, one overly sweet and candied rib is fine.  But, you would not sit down and eat a whole rack of these for dinner.  At least I couldn't.  Our ribs for home have a nice sweet heat with a thin layer of sauce.

Don't fret if you don't have a smoker.  You can make these in the oven.  You just won't have the smoky flavor that the smoking wood imparts to the meat.  By adding about 1/2 tsp of Liquid Smoke to your BBQ sauce will help add some smoke flavor.  Give them a try.  You won't be sorry.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Pork Belly Burnt Ends

I've been wanting to try this one for awhile: making burnt ends with fresh, uncured, pork belly.  I was hoping to get a nice, thin layer of crispy skin with melt in your mouth pork flavor.  How did we do?  Well, here are the results.

First, I took at pork belly that was about 3.8 pounds.  I trimmed the back to even out the meat.  Then I slathered in yellow mustard and dusted both sides with Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken rub.

I then let the rubbed belly sit on the counter while I fired up the smoker and brought to 250 F for smoking.  For smoke flavor, I added apple, hickory, and pecan wood into the ash pan.  Once the temperature stabilized in the cooker, I placed the belly on the top rack and cooked until it reached 175 F internal temperature.  Then I placed in an aluminum pan and foiled tight. Here is what the belly looked like at 175 F, just before it went in the foil pan.  It took about 3 hours to reach this temperature.

In the pan getting happy.

I then cooked until 195 F internal temperature, removed from the smoker, and let rest for 30 minutes.  After resting, I pulled from the pan and cut into one inch cubes.  Then, I dusted with more rub and added about 3/4 cup of Blues Hog Regular BBQ sauce with Blues Hog Tennessee Red.  Then, back into the pan and back on the smoker at 350 F for 30 more minutes.

Here is what they looked like after 30 minutes at 350 F.

How were they?  Well, the taste was excellent.  The fat was slightly crisp, but not perfect.  Unfortunately, the meat was a bit on the tough side.  But, still good.  Just not that melt in your mouth texture and flavor that I was looking for.  After some research after the fact, I have found that you should take pork belly to 150 F for a nice tender piece of meat.  Next time, I will try the lower temperature when trying to make these burnt ends.  If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to submit comments below.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

The Never Ending Quest for the Perfect Rib

While we seem to have figured out our pork recipe for competition, ribs have been a nemesis as well this year.  So, off the the R&D labs to search for some improvement.

First, I took some spares, removed the membrane from the back, slathered in yellow mustard, and applied an even coating of Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken rub.

Due to my friend Mark's suggestion, I am now going to cook my spares on this handy rack from now on (more on why later).

I then lit our Stretch and brought to a temperature of 250 F.  I then added apple, hickory, and pecan to the ash pan for some flavor.  Then, the ribs went on the smoker.  Here is a picture after an hour on the counter.  I let them sit out to come up to room temperature and to give the rub to make a nice coating on the rib.

I cooked for three hours, then placed the racks in a large foil pan.  Our cooling racks fit perfectly.  Then a added a mix of 1 cup peach preserves and 1 cup of apple juice to the top of the ribs and evenly distributed.  Then, I placed foil on the top and put back in the smoker for one hour.  Here is how they looked after that hour.

I then added our Blues Hog rib sauce and placed back into the smoker for one more hour.  Here the ribs are after saucing and before placing on the smoker.  I am loving that red color.

Here is the final product.

With the higher temperature (we were cooking at 235), we are now getting a product that is more tender.  Maybe even boarder line "too tender" for KCBS judges.  We will probably go back to 45 minutes in foil.  As for the taste, it was good, but I did not care for the peach preserve taste.  We will be moving back to our Tiger Sauce recipe.  Cross your fingers and wish us luck.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

The Never Ending Quest for the Perfect Rib

Personally, I have never made what I consider to be a perfect rib.  Thinking back, I don't think I have ever had one.  I have had close, but never 100% spot on greatness.  For our KCBS rib entries this year, we started out with something a bit on the spicy side.  We paid for that choice in Rochester this past May.  Everyone says, judges like sweet, sweet, sweet.  Did I mention sweet?  So, it was back to the test labs to fine tune the recipe.

First, I picked up some spare ribs from my butcher, pulled off the membrane from the back, and seasoned front and back with Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub.  This is a switch from their Beef and Pork Rub.  While I like the Beef and Pork version, it leaves a tingle on the lips and tongue that judges are not used to receiving in competition.

I then placed the ribs on a 235 F smoker with apple, hickory, and pecan in the ash pan and cooked for three hours.  The rib tips were just seasoned with granulated garlic, onion powder, salt, and pepper and cooked for some tasters.

After 1.5 hours, I spritzed the racks with a mix of apple juice and molasses.  What was the ratio?  I placed 1/4 cup of molasses in a 1 liter spray bottle then filled to the top mark with apple juice.

Rib tips all ready for the freezer.  These are destined for a pot of beans or collard greens!

I foiled the ribs after three hours with a healthy spritz of the juice and molasses mixture and about 1/8 cup of Franks Sweet Chili sauce.  The ribs were in foil for 1 and a half hours.  Then, I pulled the racks out of the foil and applied a dusting of rub and a thin glaze of sauce.  What did I use for a sauce?  1 cup of Blues Hog regular, 4 Tbsp of Blues Hog Tennessee Red, 1/3 cup of honey, 1/4 cup of apple juice and 2 Tbsp of turbinado sugar.  After 30 minutes, I reglazed with a very small amount of sauce.  After 30 more minutes I pulled and let the ribs sit for 15 minutes before slicing.

How were they?  So sweet that my teeth hurt.  I had two, Hope had one.  But, everyone else sucked them down.  We were down the clean bones in 15 minutes flat.

Overall, I think they were way too sweet.  Even for a judge.  But, remember, a Trigg style rib sits in squeeze butter and brown sugar to make them candied.  That being said, for our next competition, we will be using the above recipe, minus the 2 Tbsp of turbinado sugar in the sauce.  One final note, the apple juice/molasses mix helped to make a nice, deep colored bark without an overpowering molasses flavor.

More on how we scored with the new recipe later in the week.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

More Butt Rubbing and a Product Review: Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub

We needed to improve upon the last pork butt we practiced with.  While the taste was there, the tenderness was not.  So, more practice with a few butts this weekend...

First, we injected with a mix of hard apple cider, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce.  We used the Jack's Hard Cider we purchased at Hauser Estate Winery in Gettysburg...

We made 4 cups of injection and split it evenly between 2, 7.5 pound bone in pork butts.  Once injected, we wrapped with plastic wrap and placed in the refrigerator overnight...

The next morning, I got up, fired up the smoker, and pulled the pork butts out of the frig.  Then, I rubbed each butt thoroughly with the Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken rub.  I did not cut the rub with any brown or turbinado sugar...

Note the ingredients...

After about an hour, the smoker was up to temperature, about 235 F.  I added apple, hickory, and pecan to the ash pan for smoking wood and placed the butts on the top rack, fat cap up.  When the butts hit 165 F internal, I placed them in foil pans and covered with foil.  When the foiled butts hit 195 F, I placed the pans into a cooler lined with towels and allowed them to rest.  So, for some ideas on time:

7 hours from room temp to 165 F.
2 hours from 165F to 195 F while foiled.
2 hours rest in the cooler.

After the rest, we brought the butts in to dissect.  Here is the final product...

Money muscle...

Pulled with bark...

As is always the case, one money muscle was better than the other.  One main reason we cook two butts.  The pulled pork was moist and tender with a mellow smoke flavor.  For the sauce, we mixed Blues Hog Regular with some Blues Hog Tennessee Red and some defatted pork juice from the pans.  Perfect, sweet, but not too sweet.  Spicy, but not over the top.

As for the Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken rub, I can't say enough.  It had the right amount of spice balanced with sweet.  It complemented the sauce and injection perfectly.

Bottom line:

Did the Jack's Hard Cider add anything special?  Probably not.  But, it was a nice substitute for apple juice and I would use it without hesitation should we run out of AJ in the future.

Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub, 3.5 stars out of 4.

The pork butt was the best we have made.  Moist, tender, not too much sauce, and the right amount of smoke.  Will it will us a trophy?  Who knows.  But, it is worthy of a call for sure...

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Baby Backs with Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub

We've been slowly working our way though the Oakridge Rub variety pack we bought to try out.  This week, we tried the Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub...

It passed the finger test.  The rub has a nice sweet taste up front, BBQ spice in the middle, with a bit of heat on the back end.  There was enough in the pack for 3 half racks of baby backs, so lets experiment!

Took the racks and removed the membrane from the back.  Rinsed and patted dry, then a liberal coat of rub on the top...

Heated the Baby up to 250 F and added some Apricot and Hickory splits into the ash pan.  Ribs went on the second rack down on a four rack Baby.  This was two hours into the cook when I rotated the racks on the ends...

After 3:40 minutes, I put a thin glaze of Piper's Pit Hickory Apple Butter BBQ sauce on the ribs...

Piper's Pit is a local company that donates a portion of their profits to local charities.  The sauce itself has a nice hickory taste, but not over powering.  On the back end, you do get a taste of the apple butter.  An overall well balanced sauce.  Not too sweet with the right amount of spice.  It is a house favorite around here.

After saucing, I let set for 20 more minutes on the Baby to set the glaze.  Then pulled and let rest for 5 minutes...

After resting, here is the sliced product...

Nice smoke ring.  Tender and juicy with that slight pull off the bone texture that I look for.

Served with a side of scratch made macaroni salad and we had a great meal during the game...

I didn't have enough buttermilk, or you would have seen some cornbread as well...  ;)

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill