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

CUTigerQ

CUTigerQ

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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?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0KeILbmbjU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0KeILbmbjU[/ame]
 
:shock: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 :thumb:
 
I gave up on all the rubs awhile back Brisket, Ribs & Chicken get salt & pepper, Butts get salt. Let the meat shine.
 
I guess they are telling us that the natural flavours of good meat is all one needs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta try it!
John
 
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.
 
SmokeWatcher said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
Southstar Jeff said:
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.
Click to expand...

White smoke would likely be steam from the water evaporation.

Asus Transformer Tablet. TapatalkHD
 
There's some steam, sure. But if you quench the fire, you get incomplete combustion and at least the potential for bad smoke.
 
SmokeWatcher said:
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.
Click to expand...

NOPE. Those butts on the bottom in the video...I watched him load them on RAW. They had never seen smoke nor flame.
 
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.
 
Is the grease dripping directly into the fire and then flavoring the meat as it vaporizes and rises? I had a direct heat block pit once that operated this way, and the meat had excellent flavor! Maybe that's why they don't need rubs! :thumb:
 
This is a BBQ Show, kind of like Salt lick is now. In the case of Salt Lick, their process today is a necessity of their success (volume). This is the same situation... however, inadvertently dousing the butts with water, that is a big mistake and probably why this place is noted for its sauce. Other problems with steam like that directly on the coals is ash... which for a butt not rubbed with anything... well, I guess ash would be your flavor profile. I also don't see why it was needed.... there was no flare-up.

I once hit 70 Briskets on my Brazos with a mist of water to show off..... it translated into an hour of extra cooking time. It was a stupid thing to do and I was doing it thinking, hey the steam will steam in my somewhat enclosed oven pit... but this is open... so whats the point of the steam at all?

Water should not be an element to your fire management system BUT.... it sure LOOKS cool, HUH, so if that's what gets them in.... more power to ya.

The pitmaster here moves the butts up in three stages as they are cooked. Now that I read the post closer, I guess if you are not putting anything at all on them, then there is nothing to wash off???? You will note the butts get progressively smaller on each shelf up.
 
MariettaSmoker said:
...
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?
Click to expand...

If you haven't tried, you might be surprised. I tested several rubs on back rib trimmings and left one w/out rub. It was surprisingly good.

I also do what I call "smoking wood tests" where I smoke a variety of meats on my mini-WSM with only one smoking wood to see how it works. Of course I use no seasoning at all on the various meats. They taste good too!

I highly recommend trying some smokes with no seasoning. You will be surprised. And you will learn what your starting point is before you add rubs, mops and so on. Not that there's anything wrong with a good rub, but it is instructive to know where the flavors are coming from.

As far as ash goes... I never worried about that. It probably provides some of the flavor. :laugh:
 
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