Questions on cooking a LOT of Q over open flame (video)

[MariettaSmoker]

OK...I was at a local BBQ joint tonight that has awesome Q. I had the chance to speak with the pitmaster for about an hour and learned a few interesting things.

1. They use NO rub. No salt, no pepper, NOTHING. They dont put a drop of rub on ANY of their meats.

2. The pit master wets the fire down with a spray hose (watch the first part of the video and you will see this happen).

3. There were 63 butts on this pit with 10 additional racks of ribs. They smoke their ribs early in the day and then put them back onto the pit and put sauce on them for 10 minutes. He says they do this because the sauce stays better on them when they are cold...it sticks. If they were hot when they put the sauce on, it would dissipate.

With no rub at all, the Q is simply amazing. They use a mixture of oak and hickory split logs to cook with. Ive had their pulled pork and their ribs and they are awesome.

If they can get that taste out of their Q with NO rub, why cant we? I want to try it. Also, if I were to spill a LITTLE water in my WSM, there would be ashes all over the meat. Not here with this deal. Is it because they are using actual wood logs vs charcoal?

Any thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0KeILbmbjU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0KeILbmbjU

[AustinKnight]

Fire Management! Never seen that, but the salt lick tosses wet pecan shells on there open pit. Kinda crazy he doesn't even use s&p on his meat, if it aint broke don't fix it, THx for sharing the video

[Wyley]

Name of the place?

[MariettaSmoker]

Originally Posted by Wyley

Name of the place?

Williamson Bros. BBQ in Marietta, Ga.

[Bludawg]

I gave up on all the rubs awhile back Brisket, Ribs & Chicken get salt & pepper, Butts get salt. Let the meat shine.

[JohnHB]

I guess they are telling us that the natural flavours of good meat is all one needs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta try it!
John

[Danny B]

Originally Posted by MariettaSmoker

Williamson Bros. BBQ in Marietta, Ga.

If their BBQ is as good as their sauces then I'm stopping in next time I'm in the Atlanta area.

[SmokeWatcher]

My first reaction is they are cooking these elsewhere, then warming them in the open fireplace for "show". I don't get how they can cook them with such an open-faced pit design.

[dwfisk]

Originally Posted by SmokeWatcher

My first reaction is they are cooking these elsewhere, then warming them in the open fireplace for "show". I don't get how they can cook them with such an open-faced pit design.

Beg to differ. Large open built -in pits like this are pretty common in the SE. Most I've seen have an offset firebox, either to one side or the back with cooking racks often 4'-5' above the heat. Pitmasters say temps range fron about 300* near the heat to 100*+ away from the heat. Many have doors, but honestly I've never seen one closed up - maybe they close the up at night for long cooks and open them up when the joint opens.

MariettaSmoker, I'll be ine ATL northside next week and I'll definetly give it a try.

[Southstar Jeff]

I live 5 minutes from Williamson bros, and have a much different opinion of their meat. My FIL loved that place and we went there quite a bit. I liked it, but didn't love it. I realized after a while that I really like the sauce, but not so much the meat. Not very flavorful and kinda dry on its own. I still buy the sauce, but haven't eaten their in several years. Dave Poe's and BBQ one are both better, IMO.

I have learned a lot about 'que since I've been there. Maybe I should try it again, but I have a hard time eating restaurant BBQ, since I like my own better, lol.

One thing I noticed with that kind of fire management is the amount white smoke it threw out once he hit it with the hose. I have seen this type in several places around the SE (I used to travel all over it) and have eaten some really good food off some of them.

[KyleOH]

Originally Posted by Southstar Jeff

I live 5 minutes from Williamson bros, and have a much different opinion of their meat. My FIL loved that place and we went there quite a bit. I liked it, but didn't love it. I realized after a while that I really like the sauce, but not so much the meat. Not very flavorful and kinda dry on its own. I still buy the sauce, but haven't eaten their in several years. Dave Poe's and BBQ one are both better, IMO.

I have learned a lot about 'que since I've been there. Maybe I should try it again, but I have a hard time eating restaurant BBQ, since I like my own better, lol.

One thing I noticed with that kind of fire management is the amount white smoke it threw out once he hit it with the hose. I have seen this type in several places around the SE (I used to travel all over it) and have eaten some really good food off some of them.

White smoke would likely be steam from the water evaporation.

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[Southstar Jeff]

There's some steam, sure. But if you quench the fire, you get incomplete combustion and at least the potential for bad smoke.

[MariettaSmoker]

Originally Posted by Danny B

If their BBQ is as good as their sauces then I'm stopping in next time I'm in the Atlanta area.

Yes it is!

[MariettaSmoker]

Originally Posted by SmokeWatcher

My first reaction is they are cooking these elsewhere, then warming them in the open fireplace for "show". I don't get how they can cook them with such an open-faced pit design.

NOPE. Those butts on the bottom in the video...I watched him load them on RAW. They had never seen smoke nor flame.

[landarc]

I've seen a couple pits out here that looked like that, look at how that thing drafts, see how fast that steam clears? There is plenty of heat working on that meat. Cooking without rub gives you a different product, done right, it tastes like pork.