How Anyone Can Learn to Cook Good BBQ

boogiesnap said:

agreed boshizzle. BUT,
the art and skill and fun of barbeque is cooking over a live fire.
the oven can't help you practice that.

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Agreed.

Great comments so far, brethren! Thanks for the input!

Here is a chicken practice I did on my Bubba Keg today. In this practice I wanted to experiment with a new browning process and an injection. I have never injected chicken before and thought that it might add some flavor in the center of the meat.
I am using my tried and true process that I have spent hours practicing for all of the thighs except the four pieces that I am injecting and the four pieces that I am using the new browning process on. I cooked two pieces using my typical method as a baseline.

The Keg is setup for indirect heat throughout the entire cook.

Here is the chicken after trimming and injecting. The four pieces on the right side are the ones that were injected. I just used some chicken broth and some spices in the injection.



I put the chicken in the keg and cooked them using the process that I am happy with. Only the injected pieces are different at this point.



Here is the chicken after cooking a while. Notice the color difference. The two middle pieces are the control pieces. Nothing about those are different from my usual cooking process that I am comfortable with.

The top four pieces are the injected group. Nothing in the cooking process changed for those except they were injected.

You can tell which four pieces I used to experiment with the new browning process. And, no, it doesn't involve Wegmans AJ, :wink: but I am going to give that a go too.



Here is the chicken while it's glazing. Notice the pieces closest to the camera are a little darker with a little more color than the rest. Those are the four that got the new browning technique.



Here are the results. The chicken with the new browning technique is on the left. I think it got a little too dark but, overall, I liked the results. With a little adjustment here and there, I think I can make it work.

In regards to the injection, it made a definite flavor difference, even more so than brining, in my experience.



So, what did I learn? I learned that injecting the chicken can help get flavor into the meat. I also learned that my new browning technique holds some promise. I will make some adjustments (and add some Wegmans AJ to it :laugh and try it again to try and refine it.

I cooked some spare ribs, a brisket flat, and a chucky today continuing my experimentation.



I decided to try something different with the rib trimmings. I sliced the trimmings perpendicular to the cartilage in thin strips.



I applied rub and put them in the smoker with the rest of the ribs at 275 F.



Because the trimed slices were thin, I foiled them after about 1.5 hours with just a little bit of water in the foil with them. I let them cook in the foil for about another 2 hours.



For the last half hour of cooking, I opened up the foil and spritzed the slices with AJ about every 10 minutes. Yeah, I know, "If you are lookin' you ain't cookin'." But, this thread is about whatever works regardless of how it rhymes or not. In this case, it cooked just fine. I was lookin' and cookin'.



This was part of our lunch. I put a little sauce on the "riblets" and they didn't last long. They were tender, moist, and full of flavor.



This is a great option for cooking St Louis style spare rib trimmings that I will be using from now on.

boogiesnap said:

agreed boshizzle. BUT,
the art and skill and fun of barbeque is cooking over a live fire.
the oven can't help you practice that.

i forgot about the part of no arguments in your thread.
i'm sorry....

you have written a great deal of useful info in your post.

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Arguments no. Disagreements and discussion, yes please. I think your posts fall in the discussion column.

Yesterday, I did some further experimentation on beef. I picked up another chucky while they were still on sale and a small 3 pound brisket flat that was on special for $.99 a pound.

I injected the brisket with the same injection as the previous chuckies but with one change based on my wife's comments about the previous version.

I injected the chucky with a 50/50 mix of Campbell's beef consomme and Stubbs beef marinade and a little cumin and white pepper.

I cooked them hot and fast until the brisket reached 207 F and then put them in a cooler to rest for a few hours.







I was expecting the brisket to be dry, but it all turned out to be very moist. I liked the flavor of both but my wife kept asking "What is that flavor in the chucky?" She said she liked the flavor of the chucky but preferred the brisket. So, it looks like Snubbs beef marinade is off my ingredients list.