Root Beer Beans

The deck rebuild is progressing ahead of schedule and should be complete this afternoon. The two guys doing it have been true craftsman, taking pride in their work as if they were building it for themselves.

I wanted to send them home last night with dinner. The Big Green Egg is spending the weekend in our living room, so I rolled out the Brinkmann SnP offset smoker and smoked a batch of chickens, ribs, and beans. Meanwhile, Alexis cooked a half steam pan full of her mac and cheese.

The BBQ beans were something new that I wanted to try after seeing them on Pages, Pucks, and Pantry earlier this week. Mrs. L had adapted hers from Southern Living and I adapted hers to cook on the smoker.

Smokey Root Beer Beans
Source: Adapted from Mrs. L's adaptation of Southern Living's Root Beer Beans

2 28 oz cans Bush's Country Style Beans
1 small onion, diced
1/3rd ea red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/3rd ea green bell pepper, seeded and diced
6 sliced bacon, cooked until almost crisp and then chopped
1/3rd cup smoked brisket, chopped
1 cup root beer (I used Jones Soda Company brand)
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (I used Pork Barrel BBQ)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp of hot sauce (I used Fire Ant Juice)

Combine all ingredients in a half steam pan and cover tightly with foil. Place in the smoker (in your hot spot if you have one). The temps of the smoker could range from 225 to 300f. Cook for 90 minutes. Uncover, stir, and cook for another hour. Stir every now and then as the top will start to thicken.

I was tentative about making this one because I wasn't sure how the root beer flavor would come through. I probably wouldn't have made it if Mrs. L hadn't been so vocal about how much she had liked this recipe. We loved them! They were sweet, a little spicy, and had just the right smokiness. We will absolutely make this again.

We packed up 4 orders "to go" for our deck builders as they finished and they were very grateful.
Smoke Notes for the BBQ Enthusiasts (not written in English):

Fire - Used Minion method. Base fire of Kingsford briquettes and chunks of cherry wood. Adding hickory splits, cherry, and lump through the cook as needed. Ran hot the first 90 min @ 275f even w/ vents shut down. Mostly 250f after that. (Grate temps run 25f lower for the main level)

The ribs were St. Louis trimmed spare ribs. I rubbed one with Billy Bones Competition rub and one with a batch of Southern Succor rub that I had made. I cooked them 3-1 1/2-1 at 250f. Glazes were Pork Barrel BBQ on the Succor rib and Smoky Mountain Smokers on the Billy Bones rib.

The chickens were brined (3/4 c kosher salt, 1/2 c sugar, 1/4 c rub) and rubbed with Poultry Perfect Rub. Mopped them every 30 minutes with my chicken mop sauce. Smoked them for 3 1/2 hrs until the FINALLY hit 160f in the breasts.

Fourth of "Que-ly" Weekend Pt 2

I decided to go a bit old school and break out the old Brinkmann Offset smoker. Yeah I know, I "cheated on" the Big Green Egg, can ya believe it? I even used the first coal I ever used, Kingsford blue bag. Here it is set up out on the drive way, since I have an aversion to transferring hot coals on a wooded deck.
Two tips:
Capacity
If you need extra capacity in your smoker, consider making a raised grid. The Naked Whiz tells you how to make one for a Big Green Egg or other round cooker here (scroll down to #45). I did basically the same thing but used a rectangular cooking grate.Fire control
With the Egg, I can cook 18 hours easily on one load of lump but in a less efficient cooker like the offset, it requires a bit more strategy, planning, and work to get even a 4-6 hour cook. Most smokers use the "Minion Method" to get a longer cook out of your first batch of fuel. You load your firebox with coal except leaving room for air intake (see left side of picture) and a gap where the hot coals will go (see the whole on the right).When you pour a chimney starter full of hot coals into the gap, they provide the initial heat and as they slowly burn out, the new coals start burning. This gives a nice slow, controlled burn. I got about 4 hours at 250f from this batch. You can read more about the Minion Method here.

Results
There was just the four of us eating here yesterday night, so I made a rack of St. Louis trimmed spare ribs, a rack of baby backs, and some ABT's. I did one half of each using Billy Bones Original mixed with his XXX Cherry Rub. I did the other half trying out Chris Lilly's recipe for Memphis Dry Rub Ribs.

The ABT's were great, as always. We used Plumrose Peppered Maple Bacon which gets two thumbs up from me. Nice thick cuts and a nice blend of sweet and heat. I'd recommend this bacon.The dry ribs had great seasoning except I thought that they tasted a bit salty.The loin backs were "extra meaty" at 3 1/2 lbs (true baby backs are 1.75 lbs and under) and hmmmmm also a bit salty.The Billy Bones ribs came out good, I think in part due to the sweet glaze we used on them.Unfortunately it later dawned on me looking at pictures this morning that both packages of ribs were labeled "tender and juiciness improved with up to a 12% deep basted solution". That would explain the saltiness. (Then again, it also takes credit for the great smoke ring I got, to the bone....the brines are full of nitrates, which is what gives hot dogs their reddish color)Final Tip
The big duh: Avoid ribs with labels like that or "enhanced" or "brined". Sure, they are juicy but often end up salty and tasting more like ham than rib once cooked. It also means you are getting 12% less than you are paying for per pound. I knew this, but Alexis bought what was available at the store. Next time I'd pick something else instead of settling for these.

Saturday Ribtacular part 1

Alexis loves me, she really does. How do I know? She brought home 3 racks of spare ribs for me to cook. Wait....maybe she just loves ribs? I feel so used;)

Actually, I'm not the cook today. Trevor (9 y/o) asked to be the pitmaster today and he wanted to use his smoker instead of my Big Green Egg. It's his first time smoking ribs.

I trimmed the ribs St. Louis style. I'm not ready to have him do the butchering. We save the trimmings, smoke them too and chop them up into baked beans...mmmmmmm.Trevor wanted to do a taste test on the ribs, so today's challengers are Billy Bones Competition Rub (my favorite), Grendeddy Dave's Hawg Rub, and Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous seasoning.Trevor rubbed two ribs with dry rub. The Rendezvous seasoning doesn't go on until the end, which is fundamentally weird to me.We both split the hickory for the smoker. I trimmed off the bark because it in my opinion it gives funky smoke. Some BBQ'rs do, some don't. It's a personal preference thing. For coal, I'm not actually using lump. Instead we're trying the new Kingsford Briquettes (never in an Egg) that contain hickory. It's my first time so I'll let you know what I think but they are putting off a nice smoke.The ribs went on an hour ago at noon. That black lab is Sofa. We call her our "not our dog". She lives up the hill at the Penrose Horse Farm. She started visiting us about 4 years ago, every time that we were BBQing. He's using the 3-2-1 method so the schedule is
noon: 3 hours at 225-250f
3pm: wrap ribs in foil and cook another 2 hours.
5pm: unwrap ribs, finish up for 1 more hour
6pm: pull the ribs off, rest, then devour.