I was at the grocery store on Sunday looking for a new sauce to spice up my ribs. Sense there are so many to choose from and most have catchy names I decided to look at the ingredients and go from there. To my surprise most of the sauces on the shelf not only contained High Fructose Corn Syrup but had it listed as one of the top three ingredients. A few brands even had it listed as the main ingredient. Personally I like tomato based sauces and I usually lean towards sweet and spicy.  I couldn’t find any that really sounded like what I wanted and I didn’t want to ruin my ribs so I left. I went back home and started on a sauce of my own, here is what I came up with. Throw all the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup beer (use whatever you drink)
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons liquid smoke
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic  
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika  
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

It may have taken a little longer than planned, but I think I finally found my sauce.

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This past weekend we stayed at a fiend’s place at the Lake of the Ozarks. On Saturday we went cruising around and eventually landed at Dog Days in Osage Beach around nightfall. The dock was packed and so was the bar and dance floor. Everyone had that red plastered smile you tend to get when you’ve been on the water lifting 12oz.-ers since before noon.

Although the Dog Days lumberjack competition was one of the highlights of the weekend it was the delicious barbecue that got my attention. Wobbly Boots Roadhouse barbecue was being served at the buffet; wings and St. Louis style pork ribs. Their website could use some help, but their sauce is simple and excellent. It is thinner than most found in the Midwest. That however is a good thing as it has a great sweet and spicy kick. According to this article from LakeLifeStyles, Wobbly Boots has been winning awards for over 20 years.

On Sunday we stopped by their restaurant on highway 54 and picked up a bottle. Great atmosphere and huge TV’s. From the unassuming facade to the the smoker in the back of the building, this place is definitely on my hit-list when in the Ozarks.

We would have stayed and had dinner, but the pooch was in the car and we were both ready to get home after a long weekend. Now, to find an excuse to go back.

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Back from our neighborhood float trip with a few scrapes and bruises to prove it. We left Friday morning and floated on the Huzzah River. Saturday morning we slowly woke up as one of my neighbors put two fifteen pound turkeys on the smoker. We unfortunately made the ill-fated mistake of leaving the smoker behind to take a swim and watch the drunks make their way to the landing areas. The entertainment was a little more interesting than we had at first imagined.

Our quick swim turned into a four to five hour excursion. By the time we got back to the cabin, the coals were exhausted and the heat down to about 110. We fired the hot box up and tried to get the birds back up to a good temperature, but for those of you who have smoked turkeys before, they need a long steady temperature rise and fall in order to cook evenly. A few brave souls tore legs and wings off and ate the meat even though it was still slightly pink. I was not one of them.

These two turkeys were for the most part offered up to the barbecue gods so that they may one day grace us with the persistence we need to put the 12oz. down and come back to the cabin to stoke the fire. A lesson well worth learning.

Sideshow of the Trip

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My four day work week is finaly coming to an end. Tomorrow morning we are off to Bass’ River Resort in Steelville, MO for a float trip with our neighbors from the cul de sac. By this time tomorrow we should be back at camp digging in to the two turkeys we plan on smoking in my neighbors new “portable” offset smoker. You’ll see what I mean. See you next week.

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I’ve never professed to be an expert griller or pit master for that matter. With that said I would like to make a note about a mistake I have made more than once over the past few weeks. That is over-smoking the meat.

My first few forays into barbecuing were for large cuts of meat like pork butts which required could handle large blasts of wood smoke. I did this thinking that these huge wafts of smoke would taste equally as good on smaller cuts of meats like country-style ribs and turkey legs. Not so much.

In short – consider smoke to be a spice. Too much and you’re eating a day old camp fire, just enough and its flavors will enhance the meat. Have you ever stayed up late around a camp fire and woke up the next day reeking of the smoke? Same deal.

Chunks of wood tend to put off less smoke at a time than do handfuls of smaller wood chunks which ignite and begin to smoke quickly. Keep that in mind and use it to your advantage.

Don’t forget to soak both chunks and chips in water for at least fifteen minutes to slow the burn down.

I have read that the meat “takes in” more smoke flavor early on in the barbecuing process when the meat is still rare (makes sense to me), so watch those blasts of smoke wood chips can produce. The old adage “less is more” is often the case when dealing with smoke.

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Over the weekend I helped a friend of mine move in to his new “loft-style” apartment. The temperature was well into the 90’s for most of the day. To reward our hard work we decided to grill up some burgers and cheese brats. I busted out the Smokey Joe, briquettes and a chimney on the tailgate and got down to business.

As delicious as the burgers were, they were a little dry. I decided to do some reading and came across a few tips that I have put together into the Damn Good Burger recipe so here it goes.

Ground chuck tends to lose it’s moistness when being cooked so use 80% lean ground beef.

Take the crust off of two slices of white bread and crumble it into a mixing bowl.

Add about a two teaspoons of milk or so and mix that up until it turns into a wet paste. This will help lock the moisture in to the burger. The milk and bread will deaden the flavour so we are going to bring it back to life with some goodness.

I used about a half tablespoon of A1 and two teaspoons of my favorite barbeque rub. You can use salt and pepper instead but if you have a rub that you like, use it.

Mix your ground chuck with the seasoning until it seems fairly consistent. I like my burgers loose, not compact, so don’t over do the mixing and mashing.

Form your patties and lay them down.  Use your fingers and make an indentation in the middle of the patty that is about the size of a lemon. This helps prevent the burgers from forming domes.

Five to seven minutes per side tends to do it for my taste. Just keep jockeying those bad boys around so you don’t overcook one side.

Lastly, although cheese makes everything better don’t throw that yellow square on your Damn Good Burger seconds before your guests start to eat and expect it to melt. Instead, before you’re done with the heat, place the cheese squares on top and cover them with a clean drip pan. This will help the cheese really cook. I even let it blacken just a touch. Place the buns on the far side away from the coals to toast them. Keeping them away from the direct heat makes it easier to prevent burning.

Now that is a damn good burger. American flag plate optional.

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The fourth is over and so is another great day of barbecuing. For this get together we invited 15 or so of our neighbors over for baby back ribs. We may have had every dip known to man in our kitchen - and even though I could live off of chicken wing dip, a barbecuing we will go.

I always start preparing my baby backs by stripping off the membrane from the back of the rib. Some say it helps the seasoning get into the meat others simply don’t like the feel of the cooked membrane (which is closer to paper or jerky when cooked). I’ve never known anyone to “crave” the membrane so off it goes.

For the rub I used a simple mix of kosher salt, dark brown sugar, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and celery seeds. In my opinion this combination is where it all starts. You can put this rub on practically anything.

After about four hours on the Weber at about 250 degrees, the ribs were sauced and moved into a 200 degree oven for another two hours. By that time, they had received enough hickory/apple/cherry smoke for my taste. I cheated this time on the sauce and went with Sweet Baby Rays Original.

Here is a slideshow of the event.

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Nothing is more simple or more delicious than a Saint Louis style pork steak cooked over medium heat coals and finished with a slathering of barbeque sauce. If you grew up in the STL you may not realize pork steaks are not found in every grocery store. While living in Oregon I remember asking the local butcher for a pork steak… No I didn’t mean chops.

A pork steak is simply a pork shoulder cut into steaks. The great thing about them is they contain a lot of marbling, so burning them is next to impossible. So, drink up and move them over to the far side of the grill and let ‘em go.

Preparing a good pork steak is simple. Do a quick hit of your favorite BBQ rub or just use ground black pepper and kosher salt. Sear them over high heat for 30 seconds to a minute then move them over to medium or completely indirect heat. I’ve kept them on low for over two hours and not had an issue. Use your thermometer if you like.

For the last few minutes drown them with your favorite tomato based BBQ sauce, sweet is best, and place them back over the high heat for 10-15 seconds until the sugars in the sauce start to caramelize.

The great thing about pork steaks is how versatile and easy they are. Even a burnt pork steak tastes great to be completely honest with you.

Boom!

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Stop! Before you go out and buy an expensive shiny case of “barbeque tools” read this. Most of that stuff is not needed. Not to mention the tools that come in those sets are of shady quality usually. The essential tools I have found to be instrumental are:

When searching for tongs look for strong metal and one that has a locking mechanism. I went with the OXO Good Grips 16-Inch Locking Tongs. You can’t go wrong here. They are sturdy, tough and easy to grip. In fact when looking for any BBQ tool make sure you give the tool a little bend in the store. They will bend a bit (don’t overdo it chief) but some more than others. You don’t have to have two, but I got tired of constantly wiping charcoal from my tongs. Just pick up another locking set with a different handle so you can easily tell the difference between the two.

When indirect grilling, placing an aluminum pan next to the charcoal will help keep your grill in good shape. Not to mention the fact that adding water, beer, or other liquids helps keep food moist and introduces different flavors. They can be purchased at Costco for much cheaper than your average grocery store.

Now THAT’S a fire! Even though Eddie Murphy’s skit on how his uncle would light his grill is hilarious: Put the lighter fluid down and step away. A chimney starter is much more efficient, safe, and doesn’t make your food taste like lighter fluid. Which is a bonus - unless you are in to that kind of thing. A chimney full of charcoal and two pieces of waded up newspaper and you’re ready to go in 10 minutes..

As far as grill maintenance is concerned, brass wire brushes tend to not bend as easily as others. Long handles are good for wiping down a blazing hot grill in between sessions. Leave the small handheld brushes for cleaning the bathtub.

I keep two buckets around. One for soaking wood the other for charcoal. It’s just an easy way to avoid the dreaded charcoal arm when you need to go in for reinforcements.

Oh yeah, if you catch something on fire outside of the grill a fire extinguisher will come in handy. Enough said.

There are of course many other tools that can be used but the above covers the basics as far as I am concerned.

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For the first post of this blog I thought it would make sense to dedicate it to the grill of choice. I know there are many out there. Some are more expensive, have more features, and cost more/less. There is however a reason the Weber Kettle has been in production for as long as it has. It is versatile, efficient, sturdy, and just looks cool.

Behold its beauty. The Weber 22 1/2-Inch One-Touch Gold can be purchased in the $135 range at practically any hardware store and is the most versatile grill you can buy. It can be used to direct grill, indirect grill, and barbeque using smoke, charcoal, wood, and with a few extra tools you can even saute and stir fry.

A smaller version can be purchased but go with the 22. Trust me, I mainly cook for two but the larger cooking area is absolutely necessary if you plan on cooking ribs or other large cuts of meat. Also, if the neighbors stop by, which they will, you’ll have plenty of room for the unexpected guests.

The gold version, as opposed to the silver, is also worth the extra cash. it gives you a charcoal catch with a ventilation control underneath which makes controlling heat and clean up easier.

On your journey to BBQ mecca, the Weber Kettle is in my opinion the best way to understand and try out every technique you will come across.

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