Alternate BBQ Techniques


 
J

Jay Turner

TVWBB Member
Hello all,

I have been using this site and the techniques discussed on it for over a year now with (almost) perfect success. Reading the advice of all the contributers here has been an amazing master's class of BBQ.

Of course, we all know by now that there are many ways to prepare great BBQ. We all have our limits and opinions. I do think that discussion of alternate methods is useful and interesting.

I would like to use this topic to post recipes or techniques that are unusual, uncoventional, or go completely against our usual thinking. Here is a recipe from one of my favorite BBQ joints in Texas.

Salt Lick BBQ

I have seen this recipe several times, seen them do it on the Food Network, and tasted these products myself. They taste great. I do think a significant portion of this place's magic is their sauce, which is truly original. I may try cooking this way and posting the results. It's just so hard because it goes against all my training from the Q masters here...

Let me know if you have uncoventional preparations of you own.

Thanks.
 
Hi Jay,

Your's is a good question to pose, although I don't really have any suggestions. To date, the most I've ventured out is substituting different (stronger flavored) beers when marinating, increased use of citrus, etc. But to me it makes sense. After a while, even though you may have 'mastered' a recipe, I would think one would like to mix it up a bit. The link you supplied appeared in my local paper (I live in Round Rock about 25 minutes from the Salt Lick) and found it interesting. I'm not sure if their recipes called for searing for flavor, moisture retention or both. I recall a Good Eats episode where Alton Brown did a sear test. His results showed no moisture retention when he prepared 2 steaks using a standard method as well as searing them.

Paul
 
Well, I think the key word here is "technique". The method they use would still qualify as BBQ wouldn't it? But the technique is somewhat different. Nothing wrong with that. Why not experiment? You just can't put sauce on a roast brisket and call it barbecue.

Paul mentions Alton Brown, who did a show making ribs in the oven that were certainly BBQ flavor (and pretty tasty by the looks of it) But, he made it clear towards the end of the show that what he was doing was not Barbecue.
 
I certainly agree that this technique is "BBQ" as I have eaten it and certainly approve. It also has the required elements in my mind. My concerns were about the finish temp and the initial searing blocking smoke penetration.

Also, I saw the owner of the Salt Lick explaining his techniques on the Food Network and he did discuss searing the meat to "seal in the juices" as well as passing along a couple of other cooking fallacies. That being said, I guess you don't need to know the scientific reason something turns out great, just that it consistently does.
 
Paul, I watched Alton last night. He said the same thing. He was making Sauerbraten. He seared it to use the stuff left over in the pan as a base for his sauce. Searing doesn't neccesarily hold the moisture in.<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Paul K:
Hi Jay,

Your's is a good question to pose, although I don't really have any suggestions. To date, the most I've ventured out is substituting different (stronger flavored) beers when marinating, increased use of citrus, etc. But to me it makes sense. After a while, even though you may have 'mastered' a recipe, I would think one would like to mix it up a bit. The link you supplied appeared in my local paper (I live in Round Rock about 25 minutes from the Salt Lick) and found it interesting. I'm not sure if their recipes called for searing for flavor, moisture retention or both. I recall a Good Eats episode where Alton Brown did a sear test. His results showed no moisture retention when he prepared 2 steaks using a standard method as well as searing them.

Paul </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
That searing meat does not 'seal in the juices' has been known since Alton Brown was in short pants but the myth is still repeated, even by those who should know better.

I would guess that there are more than a few of us here who don't always barbecue 'conventionally' but alter our cooking depending on circumstances for a given cook. E.g., I did a 13-lb brisket in less than 4 hours the other day because of various competing time and situational demands. To me, a 4-hour brisket isn't barbecue but I would bet serious money that few people, if any, would be able to tell the difference between it and one cooked 'normally'. To pull that off though one needs to be more on top of it than I like but it is not difficult.

I've grilled ribs direct or direct-then-indirect for years. It's how the natives around here do ribs (mostly direct, start-to-finish), basting with juices from whatever citrus fruit is ripest on the closest tree, usually grapefruit as they're in season during the big Q months down here and no one has enough uses for all the ripe grapefruits. I prefer mixing a flavorful rub and smoking (at ~265) for better, imo, rub/meat/smoke flavor that doesn't need a sauce (though sauces are my favorite things to make and I always serve a few on the side). To me, Salt Lick's meats are bland and require sauce. I find that's the case for most central Texas places. (Don't shoot me--just my opinion.
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I sneak sauce into Kreuz's for their beef; their ribs aren't worth the trouble.)

I've done many a brisket in open pit set-ups directly over wood embers or coals from start to finish (you can imagine how often one needs to flip and spray to cool the meat so it cooks slowly)--fine for the times (of yore) there is little more to do than drink and talk but I still prefer a closed pit because I can still drink and talk--and fix the rest of the meal, mend fences, play with the dogs--whatever--without having to attend to the meat all that often.

Grilled/barbecued ribs can be very good albeit more attention-demanding but try it and see what you think. 'Finish temp' is when they're done to your liking. Smoke doesn't really penetrate (the possible slight interior migration of some of the smaller particulates notwithstanding), it adheres. Open pits mean a less smoky finish but this can be ameliorated by modifying your grill arrangement, if necessary.

My other alternatives: In-ground pits for pork (buried), in-ground pits for whole pigs (on homemade spits above ground), above-ground cinder block pits for whole pigs.
 
Thanks for the response, Kevin. I do agree that a lot of places have bland meat around here. I suppose that's why I like my BBQ more.
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I had forgotten that I never posted my picutures of my first authentic luau (in Austin). I guess it was about as unusual for Texas BBQ as it gets. It's extremely conventional for Hawaii, though. Here are a ton of pictures:

North Austin Luau Pics

I'm the guy in the wolf shirt on the first page. And yes, I'm a very silly person.
 
Jay, Great pictures. Need to supply us with more details. Must be nice to have your wife allow you to dig up your yard to do that. In my neighborhood if I started to dig a hole like that the police would be down investigating to see who was shot and where is the body
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