Rob's Rants

The most important tool that a bar-b-que cook needs is a good thermometer. In fact, a bar-b-que cook needs more than one. Because to really produce a good final product, the cook needs to monitor the temperature of the BBQ pit, and the food.

Most commercial pits come with one or more thermometers. But the accuracy of these dial thermometers is dubious. Meathead over at Amazing Ribs has one of the best articles on BBQ thermometers ever written on his site. You should read it. Now. Go on….

I agree with his assessment that the ThermaPen by ThermoWorks is the best instant-read thermometer and I own one myself. I even recommend it in my own list of must-have BBQ equipment. There will come a time in your BBQ career though when you will want to simultaneously monitor the temperature of two separate things to a high degree of accuracy. Like the temperature of the pit and the shoulder cooking in it. Or the temperature of the grill and the juicy T-bone you have on it.

Model TW8060 2-channel thermocouple sensor.

For this very application, ThermoWorks has come t the rescue again. My newest addition is their new model TW8060 2K Two-Channel Thermocouple With Alarm. Here is a pic of it in action during my recent summer BBQ party. It worked fantastically over two days simultaneously monitoring my pit and my food.

The coolest thing about this device, and what sets it apart from the BBQ thermometers you buy in the store is that this is simply a read-out for any standard industrial/commercial Type-K thermocouple. And ThermoWorks sells a bunch of different ones for whatever application you need, from simple food probes that work as fast as the ThemaPen to ceramic-sheathed probes which cam measure up to 2500°F. There is a sampling of available probes on the TW8060 page linked directly above.

I bought mine with two probes – the 113-177 smokehouse penetration probe which I leave in whatever I am cooking and the 8468-22 hi-temp alligator clip oven probe (good to 950°F). The alligator clip probe clips right t my smoker or grill grate and gives me a temperature right down by the food where I need it. Both performed flawlessly through 12 hours of shoulder, 5 hours of ribs, and 4 hours of bacon cooking. You can set a high and low alarm point for one channel which I used for my pit temperature. But if you wanted to, you could easily use this with dual food probes and monitor things cooking on different areas of your grill at the same time. Or multiple pit probes to look for hot spots.

The unit itself is inexpensive at only $69 + tax and shipping direct from ThermoWorks, but you will also have to buy two thermocouple probes and they are expensive. The smokehouse probe I bought costs $52 and the alligator clip probe costs $59. But for accurate measurements I can’t think of anyone besides ThermoWorks who makes this kind of quality equipment available to the home cook. And, their customer service is second to none. My interaction with them when I placed my order was excellent. I placed it on the web and the alligator clip probe was listed as out of stock. The site said t order anyway and a representative would contact me. Sure enough the next day I heard from someone named Lisa via e-mail and she was extremely helpful in exploring other probe options and telling me what was available and when they expected their backorder to be available. I couldn’t have been happier with their service.

28 lbs. of great shoulder!

All of this leads up to the results … using this new temperature monitor I cranked out 28 lbs. of about the best shoulder I’ve ever made. Thanks ThermoWorks!

So if you’re looking for a versatile tool to add to your arsenal I recommend the TW8060 from ThermoWorks. With the right selection of thermocouple probes you can have a highly accurate instant-read food thermometer, a BBQ pit thermometer, a grill thermometer, and even a high-temp oven thermometer for something like a wood-fired pizza oven. Nothing you are going to find in your local hardware or cooking store is going to match that kind of versatility.

Go out and get yourself one of these!

I was talking with someone earlier this week about what the most versatile type of grill or cooker is. I realized that I’ve opted for specialized cookers, rather than a single versatile one. This prompted me to think about an inventory of all my major hardware. Here’s what’s on my patio and in my shed right now:

1. Char-Broil RED 4-burner gas grill. I bought mine in 2008, right as the economy was taking a dump. At the time, Char-Broil was making a run at a higher end market, but the recession seems to have killed that idea.
   

   4-Burner Char-Broil RED Grill. Circa 2008.

   The differences between my 3 year old RED and the current version sold under the same name are incredible. For example, mine actually has a red enamel finish as shown in this picture. The current model is made from cheap stainless steel. Mine also has some built-in electronics like a thermometer with probe and an electronic propane gauge. The current one doesn’t, but it does have a couple of built-in lights. The main difference in in the weight … my older model is heavy gauge steel, while the current version is light and flimsy. The other difference is that the new version is also about $300 cheaper. You can see the new version here. I still think that my version of this grill is one of the most versatile gas grills I have ever seen. I’ve done everything from searing steaks to making really good bar-b-que ribs in this one device. If I could only have one cooking appliance, this would be it.

2. 

   Modified NBBD Smoker

   New Braunfels Black Diamond offset smoker. Also known as the NBBD, this is a legend among low-price deadicated BBQ pits. Mine is old enough that it was still made in Texas by the New Braunfels company themselves. They were subsequently sold to Char-Broil and this smoker is now sold, virtually unchanged, as the Char-Broil Silver Smoker. My smoker is heavily modified with a custom chimney, internal baffle plates, custom sealing, and some additional goodies.

3.  

   

   Bradley 4-Rack Digital Smoker (from bradleysmoker.com)

   Bradley Electric Smoker. Mine is a 4-rack digital model. I bought this for convenience when I wanted to make smaller meals for just myself and maybe one other person. I’ve also used it to cold smoke foods like home made bacon. It’s not a cheap investment, but for some things it’s perfect. Like bacon, salmon, and chicken. The “set it and forget it” convenience can’t be beat. I find that I don’t even mind using their pre-made bisquettes to generate the smoke. I’m currently perfecting a version of Myron Mixon’s cupcake chicken recipe in this for my annual BBQ.

4. An old Brinkmann Smoke-n-Pit. Years ago, this was the name Brinkmann used for their vertical water smokers. Now they use the smoke-n-pit name for their offset smokers and call their verticals the Cook’n Ca’jun. I’ll admin that I haven’t used this as all since I got my NBBD back in 2002, but I keep it around because it was the first smoker I learned to BBQ on. I got a used one from an old friend of the family and I spent days with a wire brush and a can of black hi-temp paint getting it in shape. I used to smoke whatever I could find cheaply on branches from two apple trees that I had in my back yard.

5.  

   

   One Touch Silver 18.5″

   18.5″ Weber Kettle. Everyone who cooks outside needs a Weber Kettle grill of some sort. I went small and simple because of all the other things I have, but there really isn’t much out there more versatile for the money than a Weber. With a single chimney of lump charcoal I cab get the grate over 800° F to sear a steak, or I can build an indirect fire to grill more delicate things. The grills are built very well and are sturdy. If you can only afford one grill, I’d recommend a Weber charcoal grill as your first purchase.

6. 

   My La Caja China

   La Caja China #1 Roasting Box.  You can read about it in this post. Basically an aluminum lined outdoor over that roasts with charcoal on top of the food. Originally designed by a Cuban immigrant to Miami to imitate boxes that his father had seen Chinese workers using, they have really perfected the design. I first encountered one at my father-in-law’s house about 10 years ago, when a Cuban friend of his introduced it to us. This is an amazingly versitile piece of equipment. For a good idea what this can do, you can read about my arctic luau or get the definitive guides to this amazing roasting box, La Caja China Cooking by Perry P. Perkins or his follow-up book, La Caja China World.

That’s it for all of the major cooking equipment. I do have a bunch of accessories that I’ve collected over the years which I’ll describe in the future. Happy BBQ.

I just finished hosting the 8th annual Carnivore’s Carnival, the annual summer BBQ party that I throw at my house. I’ve been perfecting my BBQ for far longer, but eight years ago my wife and I decided that we should take this love of mine to a new level. It’s one thing to cook great BBQ in manageable portions for you and your family and close friends. It’s another level of undertaking to do it for 50 or 60 people on a tight schedule. As a first step towards competition, I think this endeavor teaches valuable skills. Like timing different types of food which cook at different temperatures, and handling industrial-size quantities of meat, rubs, and sauce.

This year everything turned out better than ever, judging buy the comments from the guests. The timing for just about everything worked out perfectly, except or some uncooperative chicken that took longer than expected. I used every tool in my BBQ arsenal – my Bradley electric smoker, my New Braunfels Black Diamond smoker, and even my grill.

Anyway, after eight years, I have developed some solid rules about BBQ that I will pass on here. I hope they will be of value to anyone just starting out.

1. The timing and the technique matter most. The rub, sauce, and type of wood are secondary flavors. You can put the world’s best rub on a shoulder; if you over cook it, under cook it, or over smoke it, it will still taste horrible. Practice the timing again and again. Worry about the rub later (or try my recipe).
2. Nothing beats a real wood or at least charcoal (hardwood charcoal) fire. I love my Bradley electric smoker, and my gas grill turns out some good BBQ, but the bark and smoke ring formed on a shoulder smoked over wood for 15 to 18 hours cannot be duplicated any other way.
3. For regular, normal, everyday people (particularly northerners) the sauce matters. It may be heresy to those of us who appreciate smoke flavor and the chew of a memphis-stye dry-rubbed rib, but if pleasing your guests is important, give them some good tasting sauce.
4. Buy a thermometer for the pit and one for the meat. Use them. Trust your instruments. Until you get really, really good, they will also help you understand what the bones are telling you about doneness when they start to loosen up.
5. Get some shelter. BBQ requires time. Neither you or your pit will benefit from being stuck out in inclement weather. Moving from sun to shade can change the temp of my New Braunfels pit by 50 degrees. That matters. Consistent shelter will make for consistent BBQ. I use a 10′ x 10′ EZ-Up Express II shelter with walls I can zip closed as needed.
6. You can never have too many real towels to clean and cook with. Forget paper towels – they rip too easily. A stack of heavy duty towels will clean anything and you can use them to grab hot pans too.

There you have it. Six simple rules I’ve learned the hard way so you don’t have to. Good luck.

My New Favorite BBQ Accessory

24 quart Party Stacker

I wrote a little while ago that finding equipment for handling full-size bar-b-que cuts of meat can be a royal pain. Not to mention finding insulated containers for all your bar-b-que’d goodness when you want to take it to someone else’s place. For prep work I’ve been a big fan of using commercial food containers and pans I’ve collected from EBay and other places. But while I was browsing through my local BJ’s Wholesale Club the other day I saw a special on Coleman “Party Stacker” coolers. The bundle came with a 24 quart and a 33 quart model together and was only $38.

And I have to say I love these things. For carrying food or drinks, these things are perfect. For serving drinks, they’re pretty good, but other coolers may be better.

Coleman claims to have designed these with beverages in mind. The smaller cooler holds 12 cans (and some ice) or a couple of 9″ x 13″ pans stacked. The larger cooler holds either 12 longneck bottles or 24 cans (or again, a few 9″ x 13″ pans stacked). Pretty good sizing, but I wish they could accommodate standard steam table pan sizes rather than home baking dish sizes. Oh well. A 1/3 size steam table pan might fit, though it might slide around a little.

What makes these coolers so good for handling food? First the lids are completely removable, so getting things in and out is easy. Second, there is no drain plug to leak and therefore no grooves or channels to have to scrub out. The inside is smooth and easy to clean. The lid is also well designed – not only does it securely hold other Party Stacker coolers, but it’s flat and has a good drainage notch so it can be used to hold wet stuff while it drains.

The 24 quart size is great for brining large amounts of chicken or holding ribs while the rub is working. They’re great for holding all kinds of food after it comes out of the smoker and is resting.

So – get yourself some of these. They’re great and inexpensive.

Springtime is just around the corner, and just as I am often asked about what equipment someone should buy for their grilling friend/spouse/neighbor, I am also asked by people about what kind of grill someone should get. Gas grill, charcoal grill, wood smoker, electric smoker, or some hybrid device? Believe it or not, this can be a complex question. Hopefully, I can help sort it out for you.

Your basic choices are:

Grills

• Charcoal
• Gas
  - Traditional
  - Infrared

Smokers

• Vertical/water
• Horizontal / dedicated pit
• Electric

Hybrid

• Ceramic
• Grill/smoker Combinations

As always, there are myriad factors effecting this decision. Each of the devices listed above is better at one aspect of cooking than another. Rarely can a single device prove competent at the wide range of tasks from cold-smoking salmon and sausage to hot-smoking ribs and pulled pork to grilling vegetables and fish at low heat to searing a steak. So the first question to be answered is this:

What kinds of food will you cook and how often?

The main division is between grilling and smoking, because these techniques are done at such divergent temperatures – grilling typically above 350°F (and searing meat above 700°F) while smoking is done at or just below 250°F. With few exceptions, a grill with the burner capacity to heat to 700°F will not easily maintain a low temperature of 225°F. And of course, having multiple specialized devices is best, but other considerations will affect this.

Next, you need to answer the one question that affects everything:

How much money are you willing to spend?

The simplest small charcoal grill can cost as little as $20 and make a decent steak once and a while. Yet you can also drop $20,000 or more on a large custom BBQ Pit. The amount you spend is limited only by how much you have.

Finally, there are some logistics that come into play:

How much room do you have?

Most people are limited by the space available to store their toys. Either the size of their deck or patio or the space in the garage is going to limit the number of pieces of equipment you’re going to buy.

The Pros & Cons

So, factoring in all the information above, what’s the recommendation? That’s still a tough decision. I’ll start with what I own and why, and then make some recommendations.

My Stable of Grilling and Smoking Devices

1. A Char-Broil RED 4-burner infrared gas grill. I bought this grill three years ago when the 2008 models first came out and I have been absolutely thrilled with the results. This is the first grill I have ever personally used that can get to 800° F and sear a steak, and also hold a steady 250° F temperature and turn out competent bar-b-que. I have written extensively about this grill in the Char-Broil forum on my favorite message board, the BBQ Source. Since this is such a versatile grill, it’s a good foundation to build from.One word of caution: after the initial debut of this grill in 2008, several quality problems have been reported, particularly with the similar but smaller 3-burner model of this grill. The issues are well documented in the Char-Broil forum mentioned above, but please check into the issues before buying!
2. 

   Modified NBBD Smoker

   New Braunfels Black Diamond smoker. I bought this in 2002 when I moved into my current house. It has taken some modification, but it’s now a competent bar-b-que pit. Every year I break it out in the summer to smoke for my Carnivore’s Carnival. The first five years I did four racks of pork ribs at a time. Last year I added pulled pork to the menu and did two shoulders and four racks of ribs. The smoker performed flawlessly for two days straight (14 hours for the shoulder and 6 hours for the ribs). This smoker is now sold as the Char-Broil Silver Smoker mentioned above.

3. Brinkmann Smoke-n-Pit vertical water smoker. I’ve had this for about 10 years now. The Smoke-n-Pit was the first real wood smoker I ever had the gave me the first confidence that I could produce real bar-b-que ribs by myself. Unfortunately, I haven’t used it since I bought my Black Diamond. But this was the device that got me and my friends hooked on bar-b-que, so I make sure it stays sheltered in my garage. At one point in my life, this was also the grill that let me eat good food when I had, literally, no money to my name. My first one was a gift from a friend and was well used. But an hour with an electric drill and wire brush and one can of high-temp paint and it was back in working order. When the food budget was low, I cooked hamburger and cheap pork cuts over a fire built from branches from the trees in my yard. I had several apple trees and the apple-smoked pork loin was amazing.
4. Bradley Digital Smoker. This is my newest purchase, and it’s only a month old. But I already love it. The Bradley is, IMHO, better than the Mastrbuilt because the smoke generator is a separate unit and this facilitates cold smoking better. It makes a decent hot smoker, but is really the only choice (other than a custom built device) for cold smoking. In fact, I have a nice salmon fillet that cured in salt and sugar for 12 hours waiting to go into my Bradley as I write this.

Great, So What do I buy?

OK – here are my recommendations.

If You Want to Cook and Hot Smoke

If your budget is unlimited, you can have the best of everything. Of course I recommend the equipment I have – a good quality gas grill, a dedicated smoker, and a nice electric smoker for convenience.

But if you have a medium budget — like $400 to $600, I recommend starting with a good gas grill with at least an infrared searing burner. Many people have luck with Chinese produced grills from the big-box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. Just read the imported grill message board at the BBQ Source forums and you’ll get an idea about what’s working in any given year.

If you are really limited in budget, I recommend a good charcoal grill, like a Weber kettle. A One Touch Silver starts at $89.99 retail, and as long as you are willing to put in the work, you can learn good fire control techniques and sear steaks and make passable bar-b-que all on the same grill.

The Only Thing I Smoke are Marlboros … What Grill Should I Buy?

If you want to improve your grilling technique the single best thing you can do is invest in something that allows you to really control the heat. Most cheap gas grills don’t allow this: even turning their knobs through a full range only changes the burners from really hot to very hot. So, if you have the budget, I’d recommend a good quality gas grill. And note that good quality doesn’t mean stainless steel. Stainless is a convenience feature — it does nothing to aid cooking. Weber gas grills have a great following. Jenn-Air used to have a loyal following, but I’ve read that their grills have declined in quality over the last couple of years. A company called Nexgrill makes a few models under different brands (sold at Costco and Sam’s Club for instance) and while a lot of their stuff seems like junk, a number of the people on the BBQ Source seem happy with them. Realize though, that a decent grill these days starts at ~ $600 and goes to $2000. If your budget is more modest, I recommend looking for a used deal on Craigslist and putting a little elbow grease into cleaning it up.

I Have the Grill … I Want to Smoke.

If you just want the end product and have the budget, an electric smoker can allow you to experiment with everything from sausage to ribs to shoulder to fish. For versatility and convenience, an electric smoker can’t be beat.

But, electric smokers aren’t the best for real, large cuts of bar-b-que like ribs and shoulder. For this you need something that burns wood (or charcoal). A cheap offset horizontal smoker is usually the way to start, but you can buy a pit that stretches any budget. Running a wood pit requires a commitment … smoking shoulder can mean 14 to 18 hours of tending a fire every 30 minutes to keep a constant temperature. But the reward is worth it. Nothing makes the great tasting bark on a shoulder like a long slow smoke over real hardwood.