BBQ Mailing List Survival Guide
and Smoke-Cooking FAQ
General principles of Barbecue
"Put the engineering books
away. This is cooking meat here. There is far more art than science.
More alchemy than chemistry. Get some wood, matches and meat and
go to it. You will learn far more by building a fire and watching
the results than anyone here can tell you. There is no instruction
book on making good Q." Edwin Pawlowski
That said, there are a few basic principles which many of us have
learned the hard way. Temperature is really what distinguishes
barbecue from other forms of cooking with fire. Barbecuing is
a form of smoke cooking but smoke cooking (which includes higher
temperatures) is not necessarily barbecuing. You may use a grill
to make barbecue but it is not grilling (also a high temperature
cooking method). Cold smoking and smoke curing,
on the other hand, are done at temperatures of less than 120º
F.
Actually, there are only two rules in barbecue, regardless of
what equipment or you have:
Low and slow: Long cooking times of four to twenty four hours,
depending upon the meat, at temperatures ranging from 200º
to 275º F. measured at the meat level allows
tough meat to get tender without drying out. 225º to 250º
is ideal.
Keep your smoke sweet: Stale or acrid smoke results in a strong,
bitter and unpleasant flavor.
Keep a small but active fire
Maintain airflow through the smoker. Keep the upper damper
open and regulate the fire with the bottom damper. Do not let
the fire smolder or starve for air.
Use high quality wood (or chips or pellets) for smoke.
Wood should be well seasoned (but you may soak it in water
to extend smoking time). Only use green wood if you really know
what you are doing.
Use only hardwoods for smoke. Hickory, oak and cherry are
fine traditional woods and easy for beginners to use. Mesquite
is also excellent but must be used with more care. It burns hotter
and can be strong and bitter if overdone. Avoid wood from conifers
or needle bearing trees such as pine.
That's it. That's all you really need to know. Beyond these universal
rules are endless variations in methodology depending upon equipment,
the style of BBQ and personal preference.
"While there are some things champion cooks might
do like using foil, jaccards, specific woods, or specific seasonings,
success is based on being consistent with the basics of slow cooking.
Think about some of the old time bbq pitmen. These guys weren't
rocket scientists they just learned from experience and were patient.
" Brian R. Heinecke (bbqbria@ibm.net)
"Great ribs have a reddish outside color, the
meat tends to be pink inside, some pull back, the fat is rendered
off, the meat is very moist, the meat does not fall off the bone
(over done), the meat pulls cleanly from the bone with a slight
tug with your teeth (tug test), the rub/sauce/glaze add to the
overall affect, not over power the meat, they taste great, etc..
" Frank Boyer (frankbbq@ix.netcom.com) KCBS, American Royal, and PNWBA certified judge
