Saturday, September 12th, 2009.
It's on Mr. Ribley!
We're doing it again! It's a few months away, but mark you calendars now for the 3rd Annual Rib Cook-Off. Saturday, September 12th, 2009 will mark the third time grillers from across the metro converge to cook up ribs and engage in two other categories of competition.
More details to follow, along with an official website where entry forms, complete rules and sponsorship details will be posted.
bring it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Round One
9 Racks
5 rubbed with mermaid BBQ rub
4 rubbed with Mom Dukes caribbean rub
Hickory and Peach wood chunks
shooting for 6-8 hour smoke. Showing 215 degrees on the firebox side right now and about 190-200 on the left side. true temp is about 250 on the right and 220 on the left and pretty stable.
The char broil gauges i mounted seem to be junk so I'm relying on a surface temp TT thermo. Also have legit BBQ thermometer gauges on the way that i'll mount in place of the char broil ones.
2 1/2 hours in. Temp was holding steady at about 200.
At 4 hours, I sprayed them down with an apple juice/Tangerine OJ mix and wrapped in foil. Some purists look down on any sort of "braising" with liquid but it makes for insanely tender meat so whatever. Racks spent about 2 hours on at just a hair under 200degrees before I pulled them off.
Mopped down with Mermaid BBQ and finished for about a half hour back on the grates as the heat smoldered.
They came out really really awesome. Honestly, I was shocked at how deep the smoke ring was. In the excitement to eat, I forgot to take some shots of the cut ribs but they were seriously thick smoke rings.
Next up, I want to smoke some chicken wings and try out a pork butt for pulled pork.
5 rubbed with mermaid BBQ rub
4 rubbed with Mom Dukes caribbean rub
Hickory and Peach wood chunks
shooting for 6-8 hour smoke. Showing 215 degrees on the firebox side right now and about 190-200 on the left side. true temp is about 250 on the right and 220 on the left and pretty stable.
The char broil gauges i mounted seem to be junk so I'm relying on a surface temp TT thermo. Also have legit BBQ thermometer gauges on the way that i'll mount in place of the char broil ones.
2 1/2 hours in. Temp was holding steady at about 200.
At 4 hours, I sprayed them down with an apple juice/Tangerine OJ mix and wrapped in foil. Some purists look down on any sort of "braising" with liquid but it makes for insanely tender meat so whatever. Racks spent about 2 hours on at just a hair under 200degrees before I pulled them off.
Mopped down with Mermaid BBQ and finished for about a half hour back on the grates as the heat smoldered.
They came out really really awesome. Honestly, I was shocked at how deep the smoke ring was. In the excitement to eat, I forgot to take some shots of the cut ribs but they were seriously thick smoke rings.
Next up, I want to smoke some chicken wings and try out a pork butt for pulled pork.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
And so it begins...
The Chargriller Smokin Pro. After using this setup for a week straight last year on vacation, I was sold on picking one up for my home use. It's a pretty versatile piece of equipment and you really can't beat it for the price. Much research and advice later, I bought one last night and set about assembly and figuring out what modifications I wanted to do off the bat. It's much easier to do whatever mods you want while the box is clean and free of the months/years of use that inevitably build up from smoking/grilling. I've documented the mods I've done as the step by steps I've found online have been pretty lacking. I mainly followed the chargrillermods PDF that's been floating around thesmokering and smokingmeatsforums. If you want the PDF, I can email it to you.
Here's the smoker after assembly. I didn't install the front shelf as the two wood(doubt it's wood) planks were split where an overzealous installer assembled them too tightly. I have a couple pieces of thick scrap that I'll be using in place of those.
So if you've never used a smoker or side fire box equipped barrel, there's always the issue of varying temperatures across the grates. Ideally, the temp will remain constant and true throughout the unit but with a lot of non-commercial setups, that's hard to maintain. Basically, the temperature is always hotter at the firebox end or end closest to the fuel/fire and that sucks if you're trying to stoke a long, drawn out smoke or if you have a lot of meat on the grates. Nothing like seeing some racks ready to go and calling "Chow Time", only to find the racks on the cool end just not quite there. People waiting around on you, not fun.
So the following few mods are an attempt to control and distribute temperatures across the smokin pro. What I want to do is keep the temp range the same from the end by the firebox to the other. To do this, I need to direct the heat and smoke further down the barrel before it rises and dissipates. The smokin pro comes with a lot of pieces to use it as both a grill and a smoker. To accomodate the grillers, they provide a coal grate that sits in the belly of the barrel and can be adjusted to different levels much like the standard charcoal grill with the grate you can raise and lower towards the flame/heat. I don't really plan on using it, like ever. Instead I did the following.
Bare Belly of the Pro
I grabbed a long piece of steel stock, 1 1/4" wide by 1/8" thick. Cut it into 22.5" sections and measured out the bolts holding the belly to the legs. Center to center, they are 15" apart. Attach the rail stock over top of the existing nuts and then tighten your own nuts down.
First Rail
Both bolted down
Now I've gotta mount a baffle at the mouth of the firebox. I got a couple sheets of metal and a piano hinge and went to town. Using cardboard, I trimmed and traced and trimmed and traced until I got a piece that would hug the barrel by the rails and still be able to swing up when I need access to the box from the barrel side. Mount the hinge to the baffle first and then line up where you want to mount it to the barrel. I went a couple inches above the top firebox mount bolt. Lastly, I cut a couple tuning plates from the remaining sheet metal. 2 - 6inch pieces and a 4 1/2inch piece. We'll see how well they work after the first few smokes.
Here's the baffle I trimmed down
Here's where it should mount.
From up top once mounted
And the view of how the smoke will flow through.
Finally, the tuning plates.
Next up, I extended the chimney vent down to the grate level using a piece of dryer vent. The stock chimney vent is located about a foot above the grates and allows for a lot of smoke and heat to blow by the meat too quickly. By extending the chimney venting down to the grates, you're prolonging smoke and heat in the chamber and making for a better, more sustained smoke.
Finally, I added two grate level temp gauges. The gauge that's supplied with the smokin pro has been dismissed as complete junk and I wanted to be able to monitor both ends of the chamber. I grabbed two char-broil gauges and drilled out two mounting holes on each end and as close to the grate as I could manage.
Here're some end product photos.
Here's the smoker after assembly. I didn't install the front shelf as the two wood(doubt it's wood) planks were split where an overzealous installer assembled them too tightly. I have a couple pieces of thick scrap that I'll be using in place of those.
So if you've never used a smoker or side fire box equipped barrel, there's always the issue of varying temperatures across the grates. Ideally, the temp will remain constant and true throughout the unit but with a lot of non-commercial setups, that's hard to maintain. Basically, the temperature is always hotter at the firebox end or end closest to the fuel/fire and that sucks if you're trying to stoke a long, drawn out smoke or if you have a lot of meat on the grates. Nothing like seeing some racks ready to go and calling "Chow Time", only to find the racks on the cool end just not quite there. People waiting around on you, not fun.
So the following few mods are an attempt to control and distribute temperatures across the smokin pro. What I want to do is keep the temp range the same from the end by the firebox to the other. To do this, I need to direct the heat and smoke further down the barrel before it rises and dissipates. The smokin pro comes with a lot of pieces to use it as both a grill and a smoker. To accomodate the grillers, they provide a coal grate that sits in the belly of the barrel and can be adjusted to different levels much like the standard charcoal grill with the grate you can raise and lower towards the flame/heat. I don't really plan on using it, like ever. Instead I did the following.
Bare Belly of the Pro
I grabbed a long piece of steel stock, 1 1/4" wide by 1/8" thick. Cut it into 22.5" sections and measured out the bolts holding the belly to the legs. Center to center, they are 15" apart. Attach the rail stock over top of the existing nuts and then tighten your own nuts down.
First Rail
Both bolted down
Now I've gotta mount a baffle at the mouth of the firebox. I got a couple sheets of metal and a piano hinge and went to town. Using cardboard, I trimmed and traced and trimmed and traced until I got a piece that would hug the barrel by the rails and still be able to swing up when I need access to the box from the barrel side. Mount the hinge to the baffle first and then line up where you want to mount it to the barrel. I went a couple inches above the top firebox mount bolt. Lastly, I cut a couple tuning plates from the remaining sheet metal. 2 - 6inch pieces and a 4 1/2inch piece. We'll see how well they work after the first few smokes.
Here's the baffle I trimmed down
Here's where it should mount.
From up top once mounted
And the view of how the smoke will flow through.
Finally, the tuning plates.
Next up, I extended the chimney vent down to the grate level using a piece of dryer vent. The stock chimney vent is located about a foot above the grates and allows for a lot of smoke and heat to blow by the meat too quickly. By extending the chimney venting down to the grates, you're prolonging smoke and heat in the chamber and making for a better, more sustained smoke.
Finally, I added two grate level temp gauges. The gauge that's supplied with the smokin pro has been dismissed as complete junk and I wanted to be able to monitor both ends of the chamber. I grabbed two char-broil gauges and drilled out two mounting holes on each end and as close to the grate as I could manage.
Here're some end product photos.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Mermaid BBQ
Mermaid BBQ is the bastard child concieved after years of cooking, grilling, heckling and generally causing a ruckus whenever we get together. It is a company, a team and group of friends.
The Company:
As grillmaster, Scott began making his own barbecue sauce many years ago for himself and friends. Word has spread pretty far and wide and has Scott making insanely large batches of sauce in different varieties in a tiny apartment kitchen outside of philadelphia. He has begun experimenting with different spice and rub mixtures as well. Shipments have gone across the country and across the world. At this time, you can order sauce and rubs directly from Scott. Email him at mermaidbbq@gmail.com
I am a microbatch garlic and onion BBQ sauce, made by hand in pennsylvania since 1998.. brown sugar/tomato based and 100% vegan in content, mermaid sauce is highly addictive; produced for sale to people interested in the BEST product for grilling/cooking of any type. Mermaid BBQ sauce has been used with great success on ribs, poultry, bland chinese food, pasta, burgers, pork tenderloin, rice dishes and almost anything else you can imagine.
The Team:
Scott and I have been grilling and cooking together for as long as we've been friends. Going on 10 years now I guess. Aside from similar, sarcastic personalities, we both really just love to cook for people, a lot of people. Annual car shows, camping trips and weeklong beach vacations have us regularly working together to feed masses of our friends. We almost always have Sarah working with us and have had had help from Eric, B-team Scott, George, Kyla and many others over the years. The past few years we've really stepped up our game and have even entered a few competitions this past year. Lately we've been focusing on the smoking side of cooking meats and I'm excited to take it even further this year.
Last years Rib cookoff in Northern Liberties earned Scott and the team a first place finish and mention on a few food blogs including Phoodie and Phoodaphilia. Sadly I wasn't able to work this event but came by after to chow down.
Scott and B-Team Scott workin the monster ranch kettle
Scott, Kyla and Myself Nomming.
After the cookoff, we spent a long week in Ocean City, Maryland.
Here's some of the smoking that went down.
We were smoking twelve racks of ribs at a time with a steady temp range of 200-225degrees. Overall smoke time was between 7-9 hours.
This is the same model Char Griller smoker I'll be getting and it will be modified with some improvements to the design. I can't wait.
Closed out the year with our car clubs annual Toys For Tots Event down at FDR. Every year, DCI hosts a huge GTG and toy drive to collect toys for the marines. Scott and I (and others) usually handle the food duties and this year we decided to make it a competition with entrants judged by the marines who come to pick up the toys. Scott, Sarah and I took second place behind Coolwater.
We smoked ribs on the weber with apple and hickory and bacon wrapped shrimps mopped with Sauce on the little camp grill.
Our setup
1 Weber Ranch Kettle for crowd feeding duty
1 Weber One touch
1 camp grill for sides
Scott tending to the bacon wrapped shrimps
Second Place
That about caps off our year of notable events. Keep your eyes peeled.
The Company:
As grillmaster, Scott began making his own barbecue sauce many years ago for himself and friends. Word has spread pretty far and wide and has Scott making insanely large batches of sauce in different varieties in a tiny apartment kitchen outside of philadelphia. He has begun experimenting with different spice and rub mixtures as well. Shipments have gone across the country and across the world. At this time, you can order sauce and rubs directly from Scott. Email him at mermaidbbq@gmail.com
I am a microbatch garlic and onion BBQ sauce, made by hand in pennsylvania since 1998.. brown sugar/tomato based and 100% vegan in content, mermaid sauce is highly addictive; produced for sale to people interested in the BEST product for grilling/cooking of any type. Mermaid BBQ sauce has been used with great success on ribs, poultry, bland chinese food, pasta, burgers, pork tenderloin, rice dishes and almost anything else you can imagine.
The Team:
Scott and I have been grilling and cooking together for as long as we've been friends. Going on 10 years now I guess. Aside from similar, sarcastic personalities, we both really just love to cook for people, a lot of people. Annual car shows, camping trips and weeklong beach vacations have us regularly working together to feed masses of our friends. We almost always have Sarah working with us and have had had help from Eric, B-team Scott, George, Kyla and many others over the years. The past few years we've really stepped up our game and have even entered a few competitions this past year. Lately we've been focusing on the smoking side of cooking meats and I'm excited to take it even further this year.
Last years Rib cookoff in Northern Liberties earned Scott and the team a first place finish and mention on a few food blogs including Phoodie and Phoodaphilia. Sadly I wasn't able to work this event but came by after to chow down.
Scott and B-Team Scott workin the monster ranch kettle
Scott, Kyla and Myself Nomming.
After the cookoff, we spent a long week in Ocean City, Maryland.
Here's some of the smoking that went down.
We were smoking twelve racks of ribs at a time with a steady temp range of 200-225degrees. Overall smoke time was between 7-9 hours.
This is the same model Char Griller smoker I'll be getting and it will be modified with some improvements to the design. I can't wait.
Closed out the year with our car clubs annual Toys For Tots Event down at FDR. Every year, DCI hosts a huge GTG and toy drive to collect toys for the marines. Scott and I (and others) usually handle the food duties and this year we decided to make it a competition with entrants judged by the marines who come to pick up the toys. Scott, Sarah and I took second place behind Coolwater.
We smoked ribs on the weber with apple and hickory and bacon wrapped shrimps mopped with Sauce on the little camp grill.
Our setup
1 Weber Ranch Kettle for crowd feeding duty
1 Weber One touch
1 camp grill for sides
Scott tending to the bacon wrapped shrimps
Second Place
That about caps off our year of notable events. Keep your eyes peeled.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Opening Day
So basically this is going to be a place for me to dump photos and talk about food that i cook. Focusing mainly on smoking meats and grilled foods but will include whatever i think is great.
Here's some ribs i grilled the past weekend for a BBQ at my new place. Currently just using a charcoal grill until i pick up a barrel smoker next week sometime. kingsford briquets layered with hickory.
3 racks rubbed down with a carribbean jerk style seasoning my mom obtained and modified over the years.
2 racks rubbed down with mermaid BBQ rub
Here's some ribs i grilled the past weekend for a BBQ at my new place. Currently just using a charcoal grill until i pick up a barrel smoker next week sometime. kingsford briquets layered with hickory.
3 racks rubbed down with a carribbean jerk style seasoning my mom obtained and modified over the years.
2 racks rubbed down with mermaid BBQ rub
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