Baby Back Ribs and Huli Huli Chicken


 

Angie H.

TVWBB Pro
Fired up the wsm for some baby back ribs and the kettle for huli huli chicken. Rack of baby backs rubbed with a combo of SYD all purpose rub and a Dr. BBQ rub. One hunk of hickory wood and two hunks of cherry wood on the coals.

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Made a batch of homemade bbq sauce which is pretty similar to the No. 5 sauce.

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All mixed up and simmering on the stove. The Sunset cookbook pictured here (an oldie but a goodie) is where I first found the sauce recipe some 25 years ago and it's been my standard homemade bbq sauce since then. The cloves and allspice aren't in the original recipe, it's my addition. A dash of each gives a nice oomph to the sauce.

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After two hours, the bark had set up nicely and was ready for wrapping.

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I used brown sugar, honey, apple juice for wrapping. I like my ribs sweet!

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About 2 hrs wrapped in foil, I took them out of the foil, sauced the ribs up and put them back on the smoker for about 10-15 mins. for the sauce to set up. From start to finish it took just over 4 hrs. The temps varied from 268 - 280 and finally settled in at 280 for the duration of the cook.

The cherry and hickory wood combo gave such a great smoke flavor. I'd always used apple with a mix of another wood but read somewhere that apple wood can impart a bitter taste to the meat, so that gave me reason to change and see if it made a difference. And it did.

I always thought I'd oversmoked a tad in my cooks even after being diligent about not putting food on till I saw the thin blue line and not using to much wood on the coals. Maybe it's just the brand of apple wood I use but I think I'm done with it and onto cherry wood in place of it.

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And now some Huli Huli chicken. This was the first time I'd tried it, been meaning to for sometime now. There are several recipes on the web for the huli huli marinade and sauce. I went with this one from Amazing Ribs. http://amazingribs.com/recipes/BBQ_sauces/hawaiian_huli-huli_teriyaki_sauce.html

I quadrupled the batch, and then took half of the batch to use as a marinade and half for a basting sauce. I used 8 chicken thighs and 8 drumsticks put them in a large ziplock bag and poured the marinade over, let it sit overnight in the fridge.

I left out the pineapple juice for the overnight marinade as I didn't want the chicken to get a mushy texture from the enzymes in the juice breaking the meat down. Instead the next day about 4 hours before I cooked the chicken, I poured half the can into the ziplock bag to get some flavor in there.

Used the rotisserie for the first part of the cook, jammed the chicken into a roti basket and let it spin for 45 minutes. After that, took the chicken out of the basket and put the grate back on the kettle to help brown the chicken since I'd squished them into the basket so tight that they didn't have enough room to get nice and golden.

The chicken was delicious and even better cold the next day. I will be making this again.

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Thanks for stopping by!
 
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Great cookin' and great play-by-play !
Scrumptious is the word that comes to mind.
Thanks for sharing !
 
The chicken looks fantastic, and the ribs are making my mouth water.

Thanks for sharing about the old cookbook. I like to try out lots of new recipes, but there is something to be said for having a few tried and true recipes that you can really count on, year after year.
 
A very aggressive cook Angie, and you nailed it. Ribs look fantastic. I'm particularly interested in Huli Huli chicken. Might give it a go if I think it will come out half as good as yours!
 
Great cook, and don't give up on apple maybe some without bark! I might be biased because here in New York apple is well used.
 
Great cook and narrative Angie. Huli Huli is one of Barbs and my favorites and yours looks fantastic. Great idea holding back on the pineapple as it will turn chicken into a mushy mess if left in to long.
Barb and I use Huli Huli marinade on steak and pork chops and boy is that good too.

Ribs look terrific. I use the same foiling mixture as you do. For a little bolder flavor profile try apple cider instead of apple juice.

Old school recipes, I think most of us have some favorites we use. Mine is my homemade rib rub which I've used on my ribs almost exclusively for the last 30 some years.

If your using big box store apple wood I have experienced the same thing. I now get mine from the Woodshed in California, big difference. This last trip to Cali I picked up some cherry and really like that to.
 
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Angie WOW!!!!! That is one fantastic cook, ribs are incredible great color and looks yummy. Then you Huli Huli chicken spot on, love that stuff. Like Rich said we've been using that for years.
That was awesome on the narrative, everything was spelled out perfectly.
Absolutely one great cook,
 
Thanks everyone! My hubby always tells me I'm too wordy when I write stuff out, I tell him I'm just making sure every detail is covered!
 
Really incredible post. Those ribs looked good enough to eat after 2 hours. I don't think you can go wrong with cherry. I've found it's one of my favorites that satisfies my need for smoke without putting my family off.

That chicken looks spot on. I've never had Huli Huli chicken... but I'm regretting that right now.
 
My hubby always tells me I'm too wordy when I write stuff out, I tell him I'm just making sure every detail is covered!
wordy is good! We L♥VE wordy folks!
And besides, when you do a great cook like this, and you post it with great photos (as you did) and with detailed steps..., you can come back to it to see exactly how you did do it... i often look up old cooks i did months, years ago... and then i remember...

now two things i noticed and need to point at...

1. I have yet to see SALT FREE TOMATO KETCHUP .... that's new to me.

and

2. I know those rotisserie baskets are nice, BUT THEY NEED TO BE BIGGER!

ok, i'm done.

Angie, your pig and bird looks EXCELLENT!
 

 

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