Grilling and 'cueing

Grilling and barbecuing are two totally different things. Barbecuing/smoking is the act of flavoring meat with smoke and usually takes at least 6 hours or more. I cook with either charcoal or wood or a combination of both, depending on what I'm cooking. Hickory and applewood are great. Mesquite is very good as well.

Smoked Brisket by BaghdadJamie

Just put your rub on the fat side and place it on the grill (fatside up). Cook at 225 for about 6-8 hours. I usually take it off atthat point , wrap it in foil and put it back on for another 3-4 hours.Low heat for a long time gets best results. You can put water in smokechamber if you want, but if you cook low enough you won't need to. Cooking brisket is not much more than a drinking opportunity, an all day drinking opportunity. I was told by a good friend to also use both hickory and mesquite wood, rule of thumb, mesquite for heat, hickory for flavor. 3 hickory logs to 1 mesquite, too much mesquite will give it a bitter taste. If you can't find the logs, and odds are you can't, buy some of the wood chunks at the store and soak them in water for 30 minutes before you use them. Make sure you are smoking the brisket with indirect heat.

10-12 pound brisket

BBQ Sauce for Brisket:
I usually don't measure but if I did ,this is more than likely what it would be

3 cups of Ketchup
1/2 cup mustard(yellow)
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 finely diced onion
crushed red pepper (up to you how much)
Cayenne pepper (up to you how much)
1 cup of brown sugar

Sweat onion in sauce pan with about 2 tbsp of unsalted butter
Add rest of ingredients and simmer on low heat for about 45-1 hour

Brine and rubs by doza

BRINE:3/4 cup molasses12 ounces pickling salt (do not use table salt! Kosher salt can be used here)2 quarts waterI use this as a base for my pork brines (ribs or boston butt).
You can add anything you want to this.
The way a brine works is that the salt get pulled into the meat and replaces the natural salt thats there. The best part is, is that the flavor comes along with it.
This will not increase the salt content if you make sure of the total amount you are adding.
Things to try in substitution of molasses:brown sugar peppercorns cider vinegar garlic
\RUB:Base of my dry rub is the following parts -
5:3:3:2
5 parts light brown sugar
3 parts salt (not table salt)
3 parts chili power
2 parts flavors of your choice
You can use anything here:cumin, onion powder, sage, whatever, as long as it makes up two parts.


Applewood Smoked Pork Tenderloins

Marinade:
1 cup apple juice
yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup dark rum - not Meyers
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2 pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat and silver skin


Prepare marinade and place in plastic bag/glass bowl with meat seasoned with salt and pepper for 4 to 8 hours
Prepare charcoal for grill and let burn down
Soak applewood chips in water for 30 minutes(if using fresh wood there is no need to soak)

Place some chips on charcoal and let the smoking begin. I like to sear the meat a little and then move it opposite the heat to get the smoke flavor with low heat
Reserve marinade for basting
About every 15 minutes or so replenish the wood chips and baste the roast and turn.
It should take about 1 hour or so to cook. Make sure you check the temperature of the meat after the first 30-45 minute. It's done when it reaches 170. I like it closer to 150-160.
You will have a nice sweet crust on the meat from the marinade and wood smoke.
Let sit for about 15 minutes and and slice and serve
If you want to make a gravy with the rest of the marinade heat and reduce to concentrate the flavors.




Smoked ribs-Southern style
Pork rules. Always remove the membrane from the back of the ribs.
If you are going to smoke the ribs I would recommend either spare ribs or St Louis style, which are spare ribs with more trimming done to them. Baby backs are ok, but IMO don't have enough meat or fat for proper smoking.
I recommend brining the ribs for at least 24 hours in advance. This will add moisture and flavor. A basic brine is 1 cup sugar and 1 cup of salt dissolved in a large enough quantity of water to cover the meat. To the basic brine you can add almost anything. I like to add beer, peppercorns, garlic cloves and a bayleaf. Make sure you rinse off the meat with water.
I like to put a dry rub on the ribs a couple of hours before I put them in the smoker.
For ribs mine is 1 tb salt, 1 tb black pepper, 1 tb garlic powder, 1 tb onion powder, 2 tb dried sage, 1 tb paprika, 1 tb brown sugar, 1/2 tb cayenne, and 1/2 tb white pepper.
Get a bag of hickory chunks and soak them in water for at least 30 minutes. Light the charcoal. Do not use that match light shit or any lighter fluid.
After the coals are going put a couple of chunks of hickory on the coals and place the ribs at the opposite end with the vent open above the ribs and the vent closed next to the fire.
About every hour you need to put more chunks of hickory in the coals.
This will take about 5 hours or more to do right. Turn them occassionally.
After the ribs are properly smoked wrap them up in foil and put them back on the grill for at least 1 hour maybe even 2. This will get them to the fall off the bone stage.
In the South we do not put sauce on the ribs while they cook since all it does is burn.
This same process can be used for pork butt/shoulder to make pulled pork sandwiches. It takes about 2-3 more hours to smoke a pork butt properly.


Beer Can Chicken


Two whole chickens, washed and patted dry
2 ½ cans beer
seasonings


Bring chicken to room temperature
Prepare large amount of charcoal in grill
While coals burn down wash and dry chicken
Drink ½ can of beer x 2
Season chicken inside and out with favorite seasonings, I usually do one Cajun and one with lemon pepper
After coals are ready place chickens on cans and arrange over coals with the legs and can acting as a tripod
It will take about 1 ½ hours to cook chicken
Check temperature with a thermometer
Temp should be 170-175 in meatiest part of thigh. Make sure the thermometer is not touching bone
Bring chicken inside and let rest under foil for about 15 minutes
Serve