Dear Jeremy:
Good article. But I’ve got some advice.
First, don’t soak your wood. And use larger chunks.
Wet wood causes creosote and can give meat a burnt rubber taste.
Second (and more of a bias); while soaking wood is bad, soaking it in beer is worse. That is alcohol abuse, even if it’s Dirt Cheap beer.
Finally, check out the following web sites to learn more
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/index.php
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion
Yours Truly
Mark
An XL Feast
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Feb. 01 2006
How to gather no moss preparing a banquet for the big game.
The Super Bowl Sunday dilemma: How on God's green turf will you kill time
before the 5:30 p.m. kickoff?
You can soak in pregame shows. You can say a few Hail Marys for the proper
functioning of Mick Jagger's wardrobe. Meanwhile, why not prepare your own
culinary halftime show?
Super Bowl XL demands something, well, extra large. The Rolling Stones call for
decadence and smoke. A standing prime rib roast - roasted in a charcoal smoker
on your patio for six hours - might just be the bigger bang you're looking for.
Time-consuming? You betcha. But you'll bring more pleasure to your guests than
Janet Jackson could ever dream of.
One could drop hundreds of dollars - or more - on barbecue smokers. Some come
in stainless steel and look, and function, like indoor appliances.
But please allow me to introduce myself: I'm a man of some taste, but not a
whole lot of wealth. My arsenal consists of two Weber kettles, one of them
rescued from a neighbor's curb on trash day, and a bullet-shaped charcoal
smoker that I bought at Wal-Mart a few years ago for $25. I've smoked pork
ribs, chickens, legs of lamb. I've done two Thanksgiving Day turkeys. But,
until this meal, never a huge chunk of cattle.
Everyone loves a rib roast. It's tastier than tenderloin, but still one of the
most tender cuts. I was inspired by a friend's insatiable need for it. I wanted
to smoke a roast that would be up to her standards.
My task was to select a cut from a young, well-fed cow. Only 2 percent of the
beef in the United States is graded prime. Restaurants and hotels snap up those
cuts, leaving supermarket shoppers with the next best stuff: choice. Choice can
be almost as good as prime, but I wanted the perfect, abundant marbling that
prime meat promises.
With little notice, Straub's in Clayton set me up with a 15-pound prime roast,
about a pound per guest, at about $14 per pound. The butcher licked his lips.
His advice was not to get fancy with rubs or marinades.
I was giddy. I cut the roast in half to fit it on the two racks in my bullet
smoker. I prepared a simple rub - mostly black pepper and salt - that wouldn't
overpower the beef's flavor. Cinnamon added a hint of sweetness.
Follow the Stones' advice and you can always get what you want: Start meat up.
Time is on your side. Play with fire.
Finally, let it bleed. Cooking prime rib past medium-rare can be your biggest
mistake.
I started about 3 p.m. on a Saturday, aiming to be ready by 8. Starting a
little earlier - about 1:30 - will let you kill the hours before kickoff,
provide an excuse to crack open a beer and, on a warm day, contemplate plans
for lawn and garden.
Most important, even though little action is required, your day is spoken for.
You are cooking and therefore off the hook for tougher household chores and
other roles as mother's little helper. But the glory will be all yours.
You will also have plenty of time to prepare side dishes. No need to go
overboard. I served baked potatoes with three different toppings and a
Luxembourg salad. (Salad on Super Bowl Sunday? Relax. The salad is worthy of
your XL feast. The croutons are sauteed in bacon fat.)
I almost developed some sympathy for the devil as I poured red-hot coals into
the smoker and sprinkled them with a handful of hickory chips soaked in beer.
The coals snapped and whined. I closed the lid to let the sweet smoke and heat
fill the chamber. I estimated the temperature inside the smoker to be between
250 and 275 degrees.
Any lower than that, and your night might be shattered. At lower temperatures,
the roast's internal temperature may linger too long in the danger zone of 40
to 140 degrees, breeding bacteria.
Regulating the smoker temperature is a challenge. Stay away too long and you
lose heat. I rely on experience and intuition. Keep a chimney on hand, as I do,
with hot coals you can add to the chamber to get things hotter in a hurry.
Better to have the roast on the done side at halftime than to make it fit only
for a beggar's banquet. That would be a heartbreaker.
When my guests arrived, one remarked that he could smell my roast from a block
away. I had a nervous breakdown (though not my 19th) about 8 p.m. when the
roast had reached only 125 degrees. It took about 45 minutes longer to get it
to 130 degrees.
The carving knife came to my emotional rescue as it slipped through the roast
as if cutting butter. The meat inside was radiant pink and warm - rare -
exactly what I had wanted.
My friend, the prime rib junkie, said little while she all-goned 2 pounds of
beef. Wild horses couldn't drag her away. It was all the validation I needed.
Link to the recipes at the top of the right-hand column.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/li...908AD9F7869F0018862571040037E074?OpenDocument
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/em...es.nsf&docid=908AD9F7869F0018862571040037E074
jkohler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8337
Good article. But I’ve got some advice.
First, don’t soak your wood. And use larger chunks.
Wet wood causes creosote and can give meat a burnt rubber taste.
Second (and more of a bias); while soaking wood is bad, soaking it in beer is worse. That is alcohol abuse, even if it’s Dirt Cheap beer.
Finally, check out the following web sites to learn more
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/index.php
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion
Yours Truly
Mark
An XL Feast
By Jeremy Kohler
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Feb. 01 2006
How to gather no moss preparing a banquet for the big game.
The Super Bowl Sunday dilemma: How on God's green turf will you kill time
before the 5:30 p.m. kickoff?
You can soak in pregame shows. You can say a few Hail Marys for the proper
functioning of Mick Jagger's wardrobe. Meanwhile, why not prepare your own
culinary halftime show?
Super Bowl XL demands something, well, extra large. The Rolling Stones call for
decadence and smoke. A standing prime rib roast - roasted in a charcoal smoker
on your patio for six hours - might just be the bigger bang you're looking for.
Time-consuming? You betcha. But you'll bring more pleasure to your guests than
Janet Jackson could ever dream of.
One could drop hundreds of dollars - or more - on barbecue smokers. Some come
in stainless steel and look, and function, like indoor appliances.
But please allow me to introduce myself: I'm a man of some taste, but not a
whole lot of wealth. My arsenal consists of two Weber kettles, one of them
rescued from a neighbor's curb on trash day, and a bullet-shaped charcoal
smoker that I bought at Wal-Mart a few years ago for $25. I've smoked pork
ribs, chickens, legs of lamb. I've done two Thanksgiving Day turkeys. But,
until this meal, never a huge chunk of cattle.
Everyone loves a rib roast. It's tastier than tenderloin, but still one of the
most tender cuts. I was inspired by a friend's insatiable need for it. I wanted
to smoke a roast that would be up to her standards.
My task was to select a cut from a young, well-fed cow. Only 2 percent of the
beef in the United States is graded prime. Restaurants and hotels snap up those
cuts, leaving supermarket shoppers with the next best stuff: choice. Choice can
be almost as good as prime, but I wanted the perfect, abundant marbling that
prime meat promises.
With little notice, Straub's in Clayton set me up with a 15-pound prime roast,
about a pound per guest, at about $14 per pound. The butcher licked his lips.
His advice was not to get fancy with rubs or marinades.
I was giddy. I cut the roast in half to fit it on the two racks in my bullet
smoker. I prepared a simple rub - mostly black pepper and salt - that wouldn't
overpower the beef's flavor. Cinnamon added a hint of sweetness.
Follow the Stones' advice and you can always get what you want: Start meat up.
Time is on your side. Play with fire.
Finally, let it bleed. Cooking prime rib past medium-rare can be your biggest
mistake.
I started about 3 p.m. on a Saturday, aiming to be ready by 8. Starting a
little earlier - about 1:30 - will let you kill the hours before kickoff,
provide an excuse to crack open a beer and, on a warm day, contemplate plans
for lawn and garden.
Most important, even though little action is required, your day is spoken for.
You are cooking and therefore off the hook for tougher household chores and
other roles as mother's little helper. But the glory will be all yours.
You will also have plenty of time to prepare side dishes. No need to go
overboard. I served baked potatoes with three different toppings and a
Luxembourg salad. (Salad on Super Bowl Sunday? Relax. The salad is worthy of
your XL feast. The croutons are sauteed in bacon fat.)
I almost developed some sympathy for the devil as I poured red-hot coals into
the smoker and sprinkled them with a handful of hickory chips soaked in beer.
The coals snapped and whined. I closed the lid to let the sweet smoke and heat
fill the chamber. I estimated the temperature inside the smoker to be between
250 and 275 degrees.
Any lower than that, and your night might be shattered. At lower temperatures,
the roast's internal temperature may linger too long in the danger zone of 40
to 140 degrees, breeding bacteria.
Regulating the smoker temperature is a challenge. Stay away too long and you
lose heat. I rely on experience and intuition. Keep a chimney on hand, as I do,
with hot coals you can add to the chamber to get things hotter in a hurry.
Better to have the roast on the done side at halftime than to make it fit only
for a beggar's banquet. That would be a heartbreaker.
When my guests arrived, one remarked that he could smell my roast from a block
away. I had a nervous breakdown (though not my 19th) about 8 p.m. when the
roast had reached only 125 degrees. It took about 45 minutes longer to get it
to 130 degrees.
The carving knife came to my emotional rescue as it slipped through the roast
as if cutting butter. The meat inside was radiant pink and warm - rare -
exactly what I had wanted.
My friend, the prime rib junkie, said little while she all-goned 2 pounds of
beef. Wild horses couldn't drag her away. It was all the validation I needed.
Link to the recipes at the top of the right-hand column.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/li...908AD9F7869F0018862571040037E074?OpenDocument
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/em...es.nsf&docid=908AD9F7869F0018862571040037E074
jkohler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8337
