The majority of what I cook ends up being pork. This weekend was no different. My kids have been asking for ribs for weeks and I was happy to put it in play. We had a good friend come over who has fell on some hard times and he is never without a healthy appetite (or two).

The menu

• Baby back ribs - Seasoned with mustard and some random spices I created a few months back then cooked in the smoker.
• 3 lb. Pork roast - I threw some seasonings on it and put it back into the fridge the night before. This one went in the trashcan sized smoker.
• Baby back ribs - This rack was done in the oven and slathered with sauce. We needed an extra item to boost our quantity, so since the Wife was doing it I had no complaints.
• Cheese fries - Fries, cheese, bacon. ‘Nuff said
• Homemade Apple Crisp - Made fresh with apples picked 2 hours prior.

Old Red and the Little Mermaid

It's ON!

Thanks again to Prof. Wiviott for his excellent instructions. I used the directions of Dinner 5 as my guide. I’ve used mustard before so I skipped that to see if I could tell a difference in taste. I would say not so much on taste, but on formation of the bark. I won’t skip that step next time.

His instructions for heat management were right on; practically timed perfectly. The bone pulled right out and the meat fell apart with just a push. I finished it off with Blue’s Hog Tennessee Red. Have been dying to use that with pulled pork since the whole hog.

One note on safety: So it was about 8:30AM when I started the fire that Saturday morning. Instead of getting fully dressed I went outside with shorts and a shirt – no shoes. After the chimney was lit I poured the hot coals into the WSM chamber. All good ACCEPT for the stray piece of quarter sized coal that fell through the grate and into the grass. Of all the places I could have stepped, I landed right on it. I could hear Napoleon Dynamite yelling “IDIOT!” How right he would have been.

The number one concern with me when it comes to public grilling is sanitation. It might be paranoia but when I see a grill that the entire neighborhood has been cooking on and birds have been using as a public toilet I just think malaria or hepatitis is in my future. Given my apprehension I went about aggressively cleaning the grill itself. After removing the ash and many cigarette butts (who does that really?) from the grill I combined a hearty amount of matchlight and lighter fluid and built the hottest fire possible. I allowed the coals to burn down and then began scrubbing with a wire brush to remove any remnants of past use. The grill was now clean and I was ready to begin cooking.

Most public grills are not enclosed like a Weber so controlling temperature is near impossible. I was only grilling Beer Brats anyway so it wasn’t too much of a concern but anything more complicated would’ve been difficult. I like my Brats fairly crispy so I let them cook for about 50 minutes while consistently turning them and enjoying my beer.

The end result turned out well. The Brats were crispy and not too dry. Adding chopped onion and mustard topped off a decent holiday meal. It’s not my first choice but I’ll be back to the Public Grill just as soon as I get my Hep C booster.

We arrived on Friday at around 6:00. We quickly set up our tent and got the pooch acclimated to her new surroundings. Since we have been back, she has been laying on the air conditioning register. It was a long weekend for her.

Our first dinner of weekend consisted of the first major food group - beef. Rib eye steaks over charcoal with a side of asparagus with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Saturday morning we woke up, slowly at that, and made our way to Wood’s where we picked up the 115 lb. hog. Wood’s has a great selection of sauces and whatnots, so I picked up about 6 bottles of different sauces to try as well as a bag of lump made by King Charcoal.

I brought a variety of grocery store sauces as well. Since we had over 20 people I figured it would be a great excuse to get them all out and try them. The three best hands down were made by Blues Hog. More on that in a second.

After we packed the pig in a cooler we built the 100 foot slip and slide and of course gave it a few test runs. We were ready for takeoff. Just enough time to ride the ATV until sundown. 50+ miles by the weekends end. Not too bad.

Around 6:00 that evening people started piling in. At least 20-25 friends total. I had already had a brisket which was slathered with mustard and rub on the smoker since 10AM. We then fired up two Weber’s and cooked what seemed like a never ending supply of chicken legs and thighs. Both kettles were filled from end to end.

For the chicken I tossed half in Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Sauce. It’s a great all-purpose standby sauce that can be found in most grocery stores. By the end of the night somehow the rest of the chicken had made it’s way into the bowl.

The briskets were perfect. They fell apart easily and looked like pulled pork. I ended up covering them in Blues Hog’s Original Sauce. It has a apple vinegar sweetness with a slight kick. I admit, I had it for breakfast the next day but wasn’t the only one. Brisket and gravy… Healthy.

Sunday brought much of the same. ATVs, slip and slides, and prepping the hog. We used cinder blocks and wire grates to hold the hog in place. It cooked from about 8 in the morning to 8 at night. Unfortunately it didn’t quite cook enough - but we had mouths to feed…

I finished two kettles worth of corn in the husk and began taking literally buckets of pork to the flames. Mixed with a little apple wood for more flavoring. No one seemed to mind the wait.

In the end everything turned out excellent. Everyone was more than well fed, and hey - I got to use the WSM and two kettles to make some delicious food. Now it is time to catch up some air-conditioned sleep.

I’m not proud of it…and even had my kids present when I did this unspeakable act. I even did it with an audience and I’m sure I will pay, somewhere, somehow for my sin…(if there even is such a thing)

I used a gas grill this weekend.

There, I said it.

We were at a friend’s house for a BBQ on Sunday and as is the case I offered up whatever help I could give (It’s the OCD in me, and just what I do). So there was a need for an extra person to man the grill while items inside were prepared.

It actually turned out ok and the grill was one of the stainless steel looking models that had a pretty large surface area, as well as a small rack up above. Pork steaks, hamburgers and brats were burned, well maybe cooked is a better word, but all in all they turned out ok. I like the quickness, but just don’t dig not having the ability to keep them from getting too hot.

Now that I feel better I will be able to better function this week. I am cleansed from the terrible gas smell and lingering BBQ-hangover of carrying that with me.

Rick in GRANITE CITY

I for one will be heading home after work to quickly prep a large amount of rub for the briskets and chickens we have in our future as well as load the ATV, coolers, and smoker. As I siad earlier this week - the weekend will culminate with a whole hog roast. I can’t wait.

Have a safe weekend and remember kids; lighter fluid is for bonfires, not for cooking.

Unfortunately, the only brand they had left was Kingsford. I talked to a sales associate who said that they carry, as he put it, “the good stuff” only during the barbeque season. This made me realize that Labor Day weekend to many is the last day they get to enjoy real barbeque or grilling.

This brings me to my BBQ Proclamation.

My good people of cyberspace who doth read this blog. I hold you accountable for your actions. To this I press that you fight the urge to fall victim to the terrible misfortunes of grill abandonment during the old and young months of the year. Halloween BBQ chicken wings? Hoorah! Spicy BBQ’d ribs for Christmas? Aye!

To this end only will you find a true barbeque utopian world.

OK, I’ve been reading too much 19th century literature. Seriously though, barbeque is not just for summer. And really, sucks they don’t stock it during fall/winter.

Nice site that you have here. With August almost over I will attempt to get the smoker started once again and come out of my cave. I will eventually get a photo or two and contribute to the blog with some of what The Rick likes to cook.

First and foremost, my tools:

Nothing fancy here. I have two smokers; a small charcoal grill that is on loan to the kid who sits next to me at work; and even a gas grill, which doesn’t get used a whole lot.

More on the smokers:

The smaller one is an 18″ trash can wannabe that was found at a garage sale. It looks like it is from 1977, because, well it is. It’s probably 30 years old but was never used. It had $10, The mother in law offered them $1 and they jumped at it. Hey, after 30 years you have to take what you can get for it, right?. It’s the basic 2 stacked pans with a diameter of maybe 12″. Small but a good starter for me a few years back.

The larger one was bought for $10 a few year ago when Pork Fat and I were out on our lunch. This is the same basic 2 pan style, has two grates for food and has a nice diameter. I might be out of my mind but it’s probably 18″ across. I have since lost the lid and now use a piece of plywood covered with a Little Mermaid towel to keep the heat in. Whatever works right?

Rick

I cooked two roaster chickens (larger and older than broiler/fryers) on the WSM per Prof. Wiviott’s method in his first dinner. The recipe is dead simple so that you concentrate more on heat control and technique rather than ingredients. Sorry Prof., but I did opt for the larger chicken without your consent and for this I do repent. If you knew my neighbors though, two fryers weren’t going to do it.

Instead of the 1.5 hours I let them go close to 2.5 hours. They turned out great albeit a little smokey for my tastes. Next time one or two chunks of hickory will do.

In this recipe the Prof. called for Goya’s Mojo Criollo marinade. It turned out great and left the meat incredibly moist.

I did notice however that the flavor of the marinade did not carry over through the cooking process as much as I thought it would. After all the Mojo is some seriously potent stuff - in a good way. To this I found a post from the BBQGuyBlog which talked about how different marinades don’t really seem to add that much flavor but do tenderize and keep the meat moist. So far I’m agreeing with this theory for chicken at least.

If I don’t have time during the week I plan on hitting up his second dinner this weekend.