Last summer Holly decided that she was finally going to buy a smoker. She wanted one for years and bought a small Brinkman one. Not big enough for a large party, but certainly good for us and maybe a few friends. Since we got it last summer, it has pretty much sat under a cover in the backyard save for the one time I cured it. Part was that I was lazy and unmotivated knowing that it would take awhile and it was either hot or cold, but really I was just scared. It just seemed like such a daunting task. Why not just make chicken or ribs on the grill. Takes a lot less time, is a lot easier to not mess up, and its gotta taste similar right. WRONG. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
Today I finally got to it. Defrosted some ribs I had in the freezer and had some chicken breasts that I bought yesterday. Put some Squeal Hog Rub on top of it and got to the fire. Apparently I couldn't really channel much from my old Boy Scout days. I remembered that I need a paper starter, kindling and wood, but how much? And how quickly did I have to add them. So I lit it and it went out. I lit it again, same result. I spent much of the next hour and forty five minutes doing this over and over. Whittling at oak and hickory logs. Sawing them. Using mesquite chips. Paper. Cardboard. Basically anything I could do to light a fire. I was almost ready to start channeling my inner Native American and doing a fire dance. Finally the two BBQ lighters that I had were on their last drops of fluid and I was almost ready to fire up the grill when I did the last resort. Everything I read said that if you use lighter fluid, your food may end up tasting like chemicals. It was a gamble, but I was at a smoke or bust situation. Well that got it going. A little smelly, but we had a good sustained flame.
On goes the meat. Everything I read said internal temps of about 160 degrees or 2-3 hours. Thats useful. I struggle to grill many meats without having to cut them open to ensure they are done. How many times have I taken something to the cutting board only to have to go back and re-fire the grill and throw things back on. So I spent the next hour running back and forth from my work shop to the smoker making and then tossing in little pieces of wood. It got to the point where I pulled out my electric jig saw to try and cut quicker. Eventually it turned out that a hatchet is really the best way to split logs. In retrospect probably should have had more than athletic shorts and flip flops on. So I get the fire to the good point and Holly tells me she wants to go check out a couch someone is selling. Challenge. Is my fire good enough to survive a little bit of me going away. Real BBQ pits can be set and not touched for hours, but due to my inexperience and the small size of the smoker not allowing me to put bigger pieces of wood in, I had been putting things in every few minutes.
So we go (don't get the couch) and are back in about fifteen minutes but by that point the fire is out, just a pile of ashes and smoldering coals. Well the food looked like it was almost drying out, but it had only been cooking for a little over an hour, and if you consider time it was at a proper heat, even less. A little lighter fluid didn't really do much. I put some various pieces of wood in and no go, so I head inside a bit to grab a drink and a meat thermometer to see if I've got the 160 yet, and to my surprise I come back and see a nice little fire. Apparently I just need a bit more time and patience. So I keep stoking it and watching the thermometer, but not seeing numbers I liked. I relaxed and just waited and hoped. Finally I decided it was time to grab a knife and cut in to things a little. I grabbed the thickest cut of chicken and it was juicy, but fully cooked. I grabbed a rib and there was a beautiful smoke ring. Did they turn out right? Would we taste the little bits of ash that landed on top of the meat? Is it going to taste like lighter fluid? Only time would tell.
So we grabbed some margaritas and bbq sauce (Stubbs Honey Pecan and Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar). Sweet Baby Ray's is always a hit, but the Stubbs is interesting. I've had their Spicy and Moppin' Sauces, but their Honey Pecan is interesting. At first we didn't like it, it almost has an Asian taste, but it worked with tonight's food. So we each grab some stuff. The ribs looked very juicy as if they had sat in sauce for hours (but hadn't had any whatsoever), but the chicken seemed to be very tough and dry. But then we cut into it and tried it. The smoke flavor was as if we were eating logs. The chicken just fell apart with how tender it was. The dryness was actually just the bark and kept the inside of it meat flavorful and moist. And the ribs. The outside had a nice bark from the rub. A pink smoke ring on the outside and some perfectly cooked pork in the middle. Ribs with little fat and even less bones and tons of meat. I've never had any BBQ that has been like this. And do I look like the kind of guy that would be unsure of something like this? I mean I have a freaking "I heart BBQ" t-shirt. I stopped eating a few hours ago and my hands still smell like smoky meat, my clothes smell like I sat in a campfire, and my lips continue have a salty smoky taste. I wouldn't say I'm a "pit master" yet, but I am excited to start to play around with the hundreds of combination in a smoker. Maybe some day Bobby Flay will challenge me to a Throwdown.
