So It’s been forever since I’ve written anything on this site and it seems like I should get back to writing everyday. I’m gonna ease myself back into it with some recipes.
I’ve really gotten into barbecue in the past couple years. It’s something that I’ve always enjoyed, but in recent years I’ve taken it to the next level, forming a competitive barbecue team with a couple buddies.
We’ve experimented with a wide variety of different rubs and sauces over the past several months and I thought I’d share a few of my favorites with you. Here they are:
Chronic’s sauceless (Memphis style) ribs:
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons each: black Pepper, mustard powder
1 tablespoon each: salt, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon: chili powder
1/2 teaspoon each: cumin, ground sage
combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the slab.
Smoke the ribs at 200-225 degrees for 8-12 hours. You’ll need a blend of wood and charcoal for the smoking process. I like to use pure oak charcoal with large hickory chunks and some smaller apple chips. Depending on where you are in the world and what time of year it is, you may want to soak your wood prior to smoking to maintain a cool enough temp… but if you’re doing this in the winter, soaking your chips is kinda pointless. (You’ll know the ribs are done when the bones are sticking out 1/4″ or so past the meat on the small side of the rack) when you pull these off the smoker the ribs will be so tender you can pull each bone clean out of the slab without disturbing any of the meat around them.
No sauce on this recipe… if you’re having trouble maintaining a low enough temperature you might want to have a little spray bottle to keep the bark moist.
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Chronic’s (Carolina Style) Pork Shoulder/butt:
*For a full shoulder double the below recipes*
Rub:
2 tablespoons each: chili powder, mustard powder, black pepper, salt
1 tablespoon each : paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar
Sauce:
1/2 cup each: white vinegar, apple juice, dijon mustard
2 tablespoons each: ketchup, hot sauce (use a cayenne or habanero based sauce), honey
1 tablespoon each: worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon each: ground red pepper, ground sage, dried thyme leaves
Combine all these ingredients on the stove and bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down to as low as it will go. take like 1/3 of the sauce and mix it with an equal amount of water in a separate container. (This watered down sauce is your mop sauce, the stuff on the stove is the sauce you serve)
Apply the rub to the pork shoulder (If you bought a half-shoulder/roast that came wrapped in a twine net, I highly suggest taking this off before seasoning the shoulder and if the meat’s having trouble staying together, use a kabob skewer or two to hold it together. There’s NOTHING as messy as cutting those nets away after cooking)
you’ll want a slightly warmer fire for the shoulder because you’ll be opening the smoker regularly to mop the meat, and lots of heat will escape during this process. (I usually aim for 250 degrees with a shoulder, but it’s nice and fatty so it can take the heat as long as you put it as far from the actual fire as you can) If it’s a whole bone-in shoulder it may take as long as 12-14 hours… and you’re gonna want to mop it once an hour or so… if it’s a half shoulder/butt/roast it may be done in as little as 6-7 hours. Since this is a long smoke I recommend using milder wood… I generally use a blend of apple, hickory and oak on everything… for this smoke, i’d go heavy on the oak and light on the hickory and apple.
When it’s done, pull it off and let it rest for 15-20 minutes… the bigger the cut, the longer it needs to rest (Logic! yea!!11one) then shred that bitch up with a couple forks. serve it on whatever kind of bread you want, slather some sauce over it and chow down.
Try these out and let me know what you think… I’ll have more recipes to share soon!