Growing up in places like Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee I have had my share of proper barbecue and I’m here to tell you it takes more than ketchup and fire. I have been around this great nation and I have had all manner of barbecue that is little more KC Masterpiece and Alpo. Fire and tomato base does not a barbecue make. If you want to burn a cheap cut of meat with propane and then drown it in a store bought sauce be my guest, just know that you are not eating barbecue, its BBQ. Just like the abbreviation, your meal will be fast, easy and unimpressive. I personally don’t want my meals like coked up prom date but, to each his own. The preparation is an experience that doesn’t need to be rushed. The time that you invest in a meal will be returned to you tenfold if you invest it wisely.

Backyard barbecue recipes and traditions are reflections of the family that created them. My passion for barbecue comes from my families’ 4^th of July celebration. Every year all of the men would wake up early and gather around the wood pile that we had cut and stacked the year before. We gathered with coffee and cocoa before the sun rose to stack the timber high and set it ablaze. Our grill looked more like and incinerator than a barbecue for the first hour or so. Aside from the infernos nature, the grill was neither cosmopolitan nor cosmetic. It was half of a 55 gallon oil drum cut down the long axis with a steel grate for a cook-top. So when the coffee ran out it was time to start the ribs. Low and slow is the only way to barbecue pork ribs. The hours from 5am 2pm spent around the 4^th of July fire, tending our bounty are probably some of the most treasured times in my life and will forever stand out in my mind when I remember my maternal grandfather.

Some people get all caught up in the many different styles of barbecue. Owensboro style, Texas style, Kansas City style, Southern Style and Yankee Style all claim to be the first or the best. I say the only style you should worry about is your style. Don’t know what your style is? Not to worry, you can borrow a bit from mine. All you need is a good foundation and you can build your own secret family recipe. Fall is the perfect barbecue season and the perfect time to get started. After this short lesson you will be grilling like a pro for the first Sunday Night Football game. Just think of this as your Barbecue Starter-Kit.

A Few Starting Notes

If all you have at your disposal is a gas grill, you can skip down to the recipe and cooking section because what you have is what you get. It is the opinion of this writer however that good barbecue starts with a wood fire that can, if necessary, be substituted with charcoal. In fact I prefer charcoal just because of the convenience and supply. And I should also note that all of my fire and cooking instructions are based on a rounded kettle shaped grill. You can still make this work on a square or rectangular grill but the results will vary.

Before you start your fire go ahead and take your meat out of the fridge so that it can come back to room temperature. When you put cold meat on a grill the outside will cook faster than the inside and it will burn. Also, if this is your first barbecue, don’t cook ribs. Ribs are very tricky and take a really long time to cook. Start with chicken or pork chops to get a feel for things, burgers and hot dogs are not barbecue but the fire and cooking techniques work with just about anything.

Light the Fire

To start your fire you will only need your bag of coal and a chimney. Never use lighter fluid!!!! The fluid is caustic and I say it leaves residual flavor in your food. The charcoal chimney will cost you about $20 your local hardware store or online and it makes the process so much more efficient. And with a chimney you can use a few pages of news print to start the fire. Just crumple them up underneath the chimney that is stacked full with briquettes and light. The chimney makes the process so simple that I go and do my prep work once the chimney is lit.

Recipes

Spice Rub

The secret to a good spice rub is in how much you use. I brush the chosen meat with olive oil and then sprinkle the rub for a conservative to moderate coating. I don’t actually rub the seasoning on or roll the meat around in a bowl of spices. Too much rub will throw off the flavor and has the potential to burn the more you use.

2 Tsp Kosher Salt

2 Tsp Chile Powder

2 Tsp Brown Sugar

2 Tsp Garlic Powder

2 Tsp Paprika

1/4 Tsp Cayane Pepper

1 Tsp Ground Cumin

½ Tsp Black Pepper

1/4 Tsp Oregano

1 or 2 Tsp Ground Coffee

Mix ingredients together in a bowl with a fork. Watch to make sure brown sugar doesn’t clump.

Sauce

The secret truly is in the sauce, but this secret is yours to define. This recipe is nothing more than a starter sauce that can be tweaked and modified until it is your own. If you want to experiment, go nuts and in the mean time this is delicious just as it is.

¾ Cup Apple Juice(Or  2/3 Cup Apple Juice + 1/3 Cup Bourbon)

½ Cup Ketchup

2 Tsp Vinegar(preferably cider vinegar)

2Tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1Tsp Molasses

½ Tsp Chile Powder

½ Tsp Garlic Powder

¼ Tsp Black Pepper

Mix the ingredients together in a small sauce pan over medium heat for a few minutes and remove from heat before reaching a boil. (If you are using a gas grill you can add a couple dashes of liquid smoke)

Cooking

Once your coals in the chimney have burned for 20-30 min and are covered with a layer of white ash, dump the coals out on the grate in a slanted pile that is higher on one side and slopes down toward the center. About 1/3 of the grate should have no coals on it. Put the cooking grate on the grill, return the lid and let the coals rest for about ten min and allow the grill to heat up. This is about the time you will need to brush the meat with oil and coat with spice rub. Put the meat on the hot side of the grill to start and slowly move towards the side without coals as you flip the meat. When you first put the meat on the grill and each time you flip the meat brush on some more sauce using a silicone brush. I like siliconce because they wash easily and get more sauce to the meat. The heat from the high side of the fire circulates to the low side like a convection oven when the lid is closed. So the direct heat of the high side of the fire will sear the outside of the meat and seal in the juices, while the indirect heat of low side of the fire will allow the inside of the meat to cook slowly and evenly. After you grill a few times you will be able to recognize that your meat is done by instinct, but in the mean time you can use any old digital meat thermometer. And now for the hardest part of the barbecue process; Once you have determined the meat to be done, take it of the fire and put on a plate. Cover the plate with foil trying to keep the foil from directly touching the meat(if it does, no big deal.) This process is called tenting. We do this because the meat will continue to cook and will even raise in temperature for about ten minutes after it is off the flame. This will play into your determination of when you meat is done as your skill increases. This is a good time to crack a beer and make sure the rest of the meal is ready.

And there you have it. I have drawn you a great outline, now all you have to do is fill it in with color and shade to give it definition. Every time you grill you learn something new and get a little bit better. I look forward to getting some feedback on this lesson. I’d love to see some improvements or discoveries in the comments section. I’m always looking for new tools and secrets to improve my barbecue. Happy Grilling!

Neil

Popularity: 7% [?]