MiniCannuck Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Ok. I know that there are a lot of regional BBQ styles and everyone thinks that there's is the best. Being Canadian and not really having a BBQ culture to fall back on, I'm not sure what I am emulating when I use my smoker. All I know is that I loved Treadway's BBQ when I first tried it at my first ReaperCon and try my best to match it with my home set up. I brine the meat for a couple of days using spices and salt I do a dry rub which consists of salt, brown sugar and various spices. I smoke the meat at a low temperature for most of a day (depending on type of meat) I finish it with a spicy BBQ sauce to glaze it at the end (usually made with vinegar, spices, brown sugar/maple syrup, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and garlic) I do this with chicken, turkey, brisket and ribs. Is this how it is done in your area too? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klarg1 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I am a neutral third party here (and a huge fan of multiple styles). Meat, style and sauce (or lack thereof) are all regional decisions, and can rise to the level of a holy war. Carolinas: Pork, especially pulled shoulder. NC sauces with a vinegar-based sauce, SC sauces with a mustard-base. Texas: Beef, usually with a dry-rub, rather than heavy saucing. Kansas City: Also beef, but I sauced with a tomato-based barbecue sauce. I'm sure people from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky and others will chime in with their own recipes before I even finish typing this. I'd say more, but I need to run to a meeting. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinsgrandson Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I used to live in Louisiana, where we do Crawfish Boils instead. Invite everyone on the street over and lay out all of the spicy crawfish on the table. If they're seasoned just right, they'll be burning your fingernails a little by the end. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corporea Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 We, meaning my super-awesome-brother-in-law, cook the whole pig in the smoker with his homemade BBQ sauce. Yummy! Here's a Wikipedia link that gives some more info. One of the biggest differences I see in style is the type of sauce used. For example, I grew up with eastern NC BBQ, which is a vinegar based sauce. Many regions use a tomato based sauce that just doesn't taste right to me because it isn't familiar. It's all a matter of opinion and preference, and no one is right or wrong, so please don't let my 'ribbing' start any fights! But BBQ is a 'hot topic' among the serious connoisseur. So I was more making a joke than anything else. I think I saw a program on maple syrup- real vs fake and the taste preference came down to what people had as a kid. Similar thing. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMelons Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Here's the thing. Moving from the West coast to the East coast taught me a lot about BBQ. Specifically, that I don't like how the East Coast does it. I grew up with a popular restaurant in California that was family owned. You could smell the BBQ from blocks away. They brined the meat for days, did a nice dry rub and smoke the meat for days but for a few hours, usually in the morning before open, they would cook the meat with their BBQ sauce to create a nice....layer...of delicious. I learned in Georgia, the meat is usually brined, not dry rubbed and you get bbq packets to put on the meat. That is not BBQ. I'm probably going to make someone mad with this comment. But that is not bbq. If you can't smell it at LEAST a block away, it's not BBQ. If your umami glands don't foam and over produce, it's not BBQ. If biting into it doesn't remind you of a long lost history of being a pure meat eating predator in some other life, it's not BBQ. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loim Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Honestly how I smoke depends on what I'm smoking, who I'm smoking it for, and how long I have. Usually I dry rub overnight. Throw it in the smoker with a wet pan of wood chips. I usually harvest the wood myself as I have easy access to hickory, cherry, and a few others. Hickory gets used most commonly for beef and chicken. Fruit wood for pork. I prefer vinegar and molasses based barbeque sauce. If I'm not making it myself I usually go with Sweet Baby Ray's of some variety. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Froggy the Great Posted February 13, 2015 Moderator Share Posted February 13, 2015 Merged duplicate topics. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willen Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) TBH, while I like the taste of what you call BBQ, so many spices is not a "pure meat predator" life. Asado all the way... just a grill, raw meat and some salt Edit: as in more traditional asado, even the grill is optional: Edited February 13, 2015 by Willen 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loim Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Psh...real BBQ doesn't come from restaurants. It comes from a giant steel smoker in the back yard. You start it smoking first thing in the morning. That gives you plenty of time to make the potato salad and baked beans, and chill the watermelon. Plus you need to start testing the beer early to make sure that it hasn't spoiled. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loim Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Man, now I want barbecue. I know what I'm having for lunch. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werkrobotwerk Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Depends on the meat in question for me. Chicken with the skin on gets rub under the skin, chicken with skin off gets more of a sweet sauce. Steak gets a little salt and a little garlic and that's all. Ribs get a thick sauce and little chunks of hot peppers. Brisket I am yet to get to turn out right. Pork usually gets a little rub, and then a mustard sauce. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dontfear Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) BBQ refers to a very specific thing. Slow cooked pulled pork (whole hog is best) in a vinegar or tomato based sauce. Everything else is grilling or smoking or cooking out. and then a mustard sauce. Suffer not the mutant to live! Deviant! Edited February 13, 2015 by Dontfear 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakandara Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 (edited) So I posted a link to a song that Rhett and Link did about BBQ back in the RCon thread, and I'll repost it here. The first thing you need to know is that they are a pair of internet comedians and song writers. So the BBQ Song they did certainly has a bit of tongue in cheek, and isn't meant to be 100% accurate. However, it has a a lot of really good base information about the variations of styles and cuts used in BBQ across the southern US. If you really want to dig deeper into BBQ, Alton Brown did a fabulous Good Eats episode called Right on Q that covers a lot of what BBQ really is. If you are serious about good 'que, I recommend watching it. There are also some mailing lists out there that have a ton of experienced pit masters that can offer up tips on all sorts of BBQ-related topics. Finally, if you want to talk BBQ theory, I'll be glad to take to task some of the common misconceptions and horrible practices that some people do to their 'que (chief among them, soaking wood chips and adding anything other than water to a water pan). EDIT: BBQ pics, just because. ~v Edited February 13, 2015 by Shakandara 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klarg1 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Here's the thing. Moving from the West coast to the East coast taught me a lot about BBQ. Specifically, that I don't like how the East Coast does it. I grew up with a popular restaurant in California that was family owned. You could smell the BBQ from blocks away. They brined the meat for days, did a nice dry rub and smoke the meat for days but for a few hours, usually in the morning before open, they would cook the meat with their BBQ sauce to create a nice....layer...of delicious. I learned in Georgia, the meat is usually brined, not dry rubbed and you get bbq packets to put on the meat. That is not BBQ. I'm probably going to make someone mad with this comment. But that is not bbq. If you can't smell it at LEAST a block away, it's not BBQ. If your umami glands don't foam and over produce, it's not BBQ. If biting into it doesn't remind you of a long lost history of being a pure meat eating predator in some other life, it's not BBQ. Traditionally, BBQ is defined by low-temperature, slow cooking, including some amount of smoke. Sauce is purely optional. (And, I confess, I tend to prefer my barbecue beef with a dry-rub, rather than with a heavy sauce glaze.) Being an impartial northerner, I am, of course, available to help settle any regional disputes with a cook-off. I'll bring my fork. ...but if you put any tomatoes in my chowder, I'm gonna cut you! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniCannuck Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Though I don't eat meat very often - I am craving BBQ now!!!! Too bad it is current -32 degrees outside and there are icicles on my smoker 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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