All hail the BBQ 2013 thread!!!

[MOD ONE]

Well BBQ season will be starting for me very shortly.

I love my new smoker it fucking kicks ass!!!

Pic below you have a Beef Blade, Beef Brisket and a pork butt. I gave the beef a brine and also injected it. The pork butt I just injected as a brine wont do anything to that meat, so it's best to go with an injection.

The beef comes out amazing so tender and moist. I'm really impressed with the way my new smoker cooks the meat. The pork butt just melts in your mouth.

I have hired most of my staff just looking for a part time cook now.

 

[MOD ONE]

Just painted the front of the smokehouse!!!

 

[MoFo]

Oh, the sign looks good! Whereabouts?

 

[MoFo]

Just went to Fatty 'Cue in Brooklyn (I guess this belongs in the hipster food thread too) and they roasted a pig's head and gave me gloves to pick out all the meat. We also had quail, beef ribs, animal fat dip with Texas toast and bacon bourbon. I think we only ate maybe a quarter of this. It was odd snapping the jaw and digging into its eyes with my hands but also quite an experience. I think I quite enjoy BBQ with an Asian twist.

 

[MOD ONE]

Oh, the sign looks good! Whereabouts?

520 Annette St. in the Junction area.

We are launching on May 10th it is excepted to be a zoo that launch weekend.

That BBQ place you went to sounds pretty cool. It sounds like a fusion and when that's done right it can really create a great experience.

 

[ravinjunkie]

Barque smokehouse is delicious, went for the first time today and loved it!

 

[MOD ONE]

I've been there myself they made a great brisket and chicken wings where awesome.

They had some chicken skewer things that where kind of bland.

Over all the meal was great we got the chef platter so we pretty much got a taste of everything. To me their brisket was their best cut of meat. The chicken wings coming in second.

Even their chocolate moose with some peanut brittle on top was yummy!!!

The west end of the city is slowly becoming the destination for smoked BBQ in Toronto. I can count a few places that come to mind including my smokehouse.

it's pretty hard to sleep when your less then a week away from open.

 

[R4V4G3D_SKU11S]

This is the summer of the smoking!

All I have right now though is a smoker box for my gas grill. Is this going to be useful or should I upgrade?

 

[I_bRAD]

Does it work well?

 

[R4V4G3D_SKU11S]

I haven't tried it out yet. I got it for Christmas.

I hear what you are saying though - I'm going to give it a go next week and re-evaluate.

 

[alexd]

I bbq'd a nice sirloin on charcoal in the back yard this evening. Had it with some steamed mixed veg. The perfect end to 20km of biking and my first pilates class in a year.

 

[MOD ONE]

I haven't tried it out yet. I got it for Christmas.

I hear what you are saying though - I'm going to give it a go next week and re-evaluate.

The trick is with the smoke box is not the smoke box it self because it will work. The main thing you want to look out for is your cooking temp and if you can keep it at the consistent temperature. If you heat thermometer works well on your Que then you have no worries (the thing that measures your heat). If not then you may want to also buy a thermometer to see your heat of your unit (BBQ).

 

[R4V4G3D_SKU11S]

I have a remote thermometer that tracks the temp of the meat and the bbq separately.

What are your thoughts on soaking the wood chips?

 

[MOD ONE]

I should of said our cooking temp. Meaning you want to at least keep your cooking temp at 250 through out your cook (that being said I do cook different cuts of meat at different temps). The theory is if you keep your cooking temp at a consistent temp without dipping up and down too much you will cooking a much better piece of meat.

So you basically you want a thermometer for your meat and one to see what your BBQ is at. Now if your BBQ already has a good thermometer on it then no worries. If not then invest in a thermometer that can tell you where your internal heat of the BBQ is at, which is really important.

edit: You have a very cool thermometer so it sounds like you have your angles covered there.

 

[MOD ONE]

As for wood chips play around with a fruit wood because they are known to have sugar saps in them which supposedly gives the meat a nice settle sweet taste.

At my smokehouse we use Apple and Hickory logs.

Apple gives you a nice settle taste, but produces some of the best smoke rings for the meat.

Hickory IMO is the classic BBQ taste people like to have.

If you're using wood chips try to find wood that came from a whiskey barrel. When I started out slow smoking I used these types wood chips, and they added such a great taste to the meat.

 

[AgentSanchez]

I have a remote thermometer that tracks the temp of the meat and the bbq separately.

What are your thoughts on soaking the wood chips?

DEFINITELY necessary - overnight is best. I like to mix maybe 15-25% dry chips into my smoke packs just so you start getting some smoke earlier. Alot depends on how airtight your smoker setup is. If it's just a BBQ, you'll need A LOT of smoke packs. If it's more sealed, you can get away with less, and the humidity of the chips will be less important.

 

[djglobalkiller]

congrats to mod one..

i was in the hood last night and stopped by for a visit.. the place was getting prepped for todays launch, so it smelled of lovely sauces, marinade, spices and smoke. wish i could be there today to go and try a slab of ribs. looking forward to when the second part of that place is open and can bring in some friends for a proper sit down menu!

 

[dstarr]

Here are some pics of recent exploits and sessions:

My buddy and I going for a brisket on a weber kettle

A good by of mine, Jason Inniss formerly of Amuse Bouche catered my wedding of 180 last fall here in Ottawa. Did beef brisket in smoker at Smoke Shack

Also did a whole pig caja china style... people lost their minds and this food came to like $60/head.

I recently did up some ribs on a cheap ($50) kettle I got at Can Tire

 

[alexd]

Yesteday I made 10 lbs of BBQ Portuguese pir piri (peri peri) chicken breasts on the weber.

I brought back some ground peri peri from South Africa so I made a nice marinade

1 tablespoon peri peri powder
5 lemons juiced
large glub of grapessed oil (same amount as lemon juice)
Herbamare to taste (maybe 1 teaspoon)
5 cloves garlic minced

I let the chicken breasts sit in that for a couple of hours b4 grilling.

Turned out excellent. I froze them and now I have nice stuff for sandwiches, or suppers with a side of veg.

While I was out in the back yard grilling, a huge racoon came over and was like 2 meters away from me watching. I whistled at the thing and it wouldn't move so I ran at it with a pair of bbq tongs and he took off. Man those giant Toronto racoons are fearless and scary.

 

[djfear]

I need a new gas BBQ for my condo balcony (yes, I'm allowed one). Should I just look for something on sale at Crappy Tire, Home Depot, or Rona? Any particular brands I should look for?

Also, I was thinking of getting a small portable wood/coal burning one that I can take to parks in the summer, but I haven't been able to find any cool ones...

 

[MOD ONE]

congrats to mod one..

i was in the hood last night and stopped by for a visit.. the place was getting prepped for todays launch, so it smelled of lovely sauces, marinade, spices and smoke. wish i could be there today to go and try a slab of ribs. looking forward to when the second part of that place is open and can bring in some friends for a proper sit down menu!

Thanks for coming by!!!

First day open and we sold out of all our meats about hour before close. It was a huge success and a great intro to the restaurant industry. Man am I ever beat... back to the smokehouse for round 2.

 

[I_bRAD]

Congrats mod one. It's a great feeling to be working on your own terms, doing something you love that others appreciate!

Next time I'm in toronto I'll try to swing by.

You got the local papers all coming in to do a piece?

edit: and say hi to Frank and dimitri for me! BBN is one of the very few places in Toronto that I miss. (although I still get really good stuff from local farms and hunting out here)

 

[g0nz0]

got 8 racks of ribs on the smoker today for a staff bbq. 7 jalapeño peppers as well to make some smokey jalapeno vodka. We call it Hot Fiya.

 

[MOD ONE]

Congrats mod one. It's a great feeling to be working on your own terms, doing something you love that others appreciate!

Next time I'm in toronto I'll try to swing by.

You got the local papers all coming in to do a piece?

edit: and say hi to Frank and dimitri for me! BBN is one of the very few places in Toronto that I miss. (although I still get really good stuff from local farms and hunting out here)

Today felt like we started to get a good flow in the kitchen. Been running into a few hurdles as I expected.

However we are getting some great reviews, and of course when you make a mistake the internet will let you know. I look at these reviews as a good thing because it allows me to fix our errors quickly.

Launch day we got hit really hard and got our asses kicked lol. Yesterday we made a few tweeks to the way people where working on their lines. These passed 3 days has taught me a lot. Today we started to feel a good flow in the kitchen. Still a few mistakes, but over all people are loving the food.

 

[Big Cheese]

nice write up in TL marc