Alton Brown's "Right on Que"


 
D

David Jones

New member
Did anyone else see Alton Brown's "Right on Que" on Good Eats last weekend. I was surprised to see him barbeque in an old wooden box with electric heat. No fire. He also poked fun at barbeque sauce (which I have heard him do before) and said that mesquite should never be used as a smoke wood. Any reactions?
 
As long as you keep the temperature down you won't have any problems. Woods flashpoint is 572 degrees(300 C). At the low temperature it will not catch on fire.
 
I watched, and it looked good, but I wouldn't trade my charcoal smoker for anything. And Alton is a big fan of marinating almost every meat he cooks, which is generally a good idea, but as a man who grew up eating whole hogs cooked over real wood at least once a month on average I like the flavor of the pig the way God intended it to be. There's nothing wrong with marinating at all, but I prefer the smoked meat and a little sauce (eastern NC of course!) if moist is needed. Just my thoughts, of course. And, his ribs looked great.
 
Originally posted by David Jones:
Did anyone else see Alton Brown's "Right on Que" on Good Eats last weekend. I was surprised to see him barbeque in an old wooden box with electric heat. No fire. He also poked fun at barbeque sauce (which I have heard him do before) and said that mesquite should never be used as a smoke wood. Any reactions?
Click to expand...

I hate to disagree with an "expert", but mesquite does wonders for beef. I use a small amount of chips for (the best) hamburgers I grill, and have used it for beef chuck roasts I've smoked. A lot of Texas BBQ joints use nothing but mesquite (no charcoal, etc) as their fire to smoke briskets low and slow... and some of the joints have been in business longer than Mr. Brown has been alive...

Just my $0.02....
 
I'm as big a fan of Alton Brown as there is. And a look at my signature line will tell how much influence he's had on getting me into barbecue. That said, I was pretty underwhelmed by this episode. There wasn't really any new information and it seemed like he was mailing it in.
 
I am not an AB show fan (I think I would like him personally though) but I agree on the mesquite. I like it for grilling, not for smoking. Its high lignins can be annoying at best when used over a long smoke.

Most Q places in Texas use oak or hickory, btw. Some use mesquite. The more famous places in central Texas use oak, and most don't low/slow.
 
Originally posted by T Bounds:
I watched, and it looked good, but I wouldn't trade my charcoal smoker for anything. And Alton is a big fan of marinating almost every meat he cooks, which is generally a good idea, but as a man who grew up eating whole hogs cooked over real wood at least once a month on average I like the flavor of the pig the way God intended it to be. There's nothing wrong with marinating at all, but I prefer the smoked meat and a little sauce (eastern NC of course!) if moist is needed. Just my thoughts, of course. And, his ribs looked great.
Click to expand...


I think he brined the meat not marinade
icon_rolleyes.gif
 
Jerry P

I'm curious as to when you would use the "flower pot" smoker as opposed to the "WSM'.

Just trying to get some insit on this.

P.S. I'm a Fan of Alton Brown's.

Although my take on the program was he was very high on Low & Slow. I think some on here might disagree (High Heat).
 
I liked the episode a lot and saved it to my TiVo. The part about the temperature controllers alone was worth it for me. I intend to get one and use it on my WSM. I want to see if I can find a cheap Weber kettle on craigslist or something and modify it for shorter, smaller smokes. I'll just move the controller/blower and hose between the two depending on what I'm going to smoke.
 
I know the debate has been done for a while, but he used a temperature controller - IQ110 It's much more inexpensive than the other. Anybody have any experience with them? I'm getting lazy and rather simply have something I can set and forget.
 
Check out this link. I have listed all of the "low-end" temperature control units with a link to their sites and a review on each unit provided by naked whiz. They work them same, some have features that the other does not have but ultimately they control them temperature which the goal.
 
Originally posted by John Furdyn:
Jerry P

I'm curious as to when you would use the "flower pot" smoker as opposed to the "WSM'.

Just trying to get some insit on this.

P.S. I'm a Fan of Alton Brown's.

Although my take on the program was he was very high on Low & Slow. I think some on here might disagree (High Heat).
Click to expand...

I started off barbecuing with a clay pot smoker inspired by the show as well. I've only had my WSM for a couple of weeks, and haven't used the clay pot one since, but I could see myself using it for chicken if I was only doing just one or if I really needed the extra space. I found temperature control pretty tough with it, especially once it got hot.

It smells really good whenever I walk by it though.

I'm curious for Jerry's take as well. (sorry for the thread hijack)
 
I'm a big fan of AB and was excited to hear he was doing an hour on BBQ.

My one beef with AB has always been his sometimes unnecessary need to build "contraptions" when something more readily available (like a basic kettle grill!) is around. So his wooden smoker box seemed silly to me. But he did move on to using the kettle grill and the use of the temperature controller was very interesting.

I would have loved to see him do a segment with "W" at the BBQ store showing and explaining the different types of smokers/grills and what you can do with them. Then give his opinion on what he that was the most flexible for the home chef.
 
I missed it...I'll keep an eye out for the repeat.

Originally posted by Richard Diaz:
Check out this link. I have listed all of the "low-end" temperature control units with a link to their sites and a review on each unit provided by naked whiz. They work them same, some have features that the other does not have but ultimately they control them temperature which the goal.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links! I've been looking for something like this!
 
I started off barbecuing with a clay pot smoker inspired by the show as well. I've only had my WSM for a couple of weeks, and haven't used the clay pot one since, but I could see myself using it for chicken if I was only doing just one or if I really needed the extra space. I found temperature control pretty tough with it, especially once it got hot.

It smells really good whenever I walk by it though.

I'm curious for Jerry's take as well. (sorry for the thread hijack)
Click to expand...

Sadly, the flower pot has sat idle since my WSM purchase almost 2 years ago. AB got me to try the flower pot smoker which took me to this website which led to my WSM purchase. I wouldn't mind firing it up again for old time sake. I still remember checking the temp gauge every 5 minutes and freaking out if the temp went above 250°. I laugh now at how naive I was.
 
I like Alton, but don't take his word as gospel. He said on a cajun episode that folks in Louisiana put andouille or boudin in gumbo. NO to the boudin.

Cajun boudin is not a typical sausage. It is a rice/pork/spice combo served alone or on white bread or crackers. His researcher/producer screwed up on that one.

I've been taking his advice with a big grain of salt ever since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top