When I made my first rounds of the Kansas City BBQ Restaurant icons in the early 90's the first thing I noticed was the amount of beef on the menu and the amount of beef being ordered. Most of the BBQ places I had been to in the south offered a chopped beef sandwich as a courtesy to those that couldn't eat pork but you would have never found beef ribs or sliced brisket on the menu. I was asking myself "how does a BBQ Restaurant survive without mastering the hickory smoked, pulled pork sandwich, topped with slaw and and a generous splash of a good tangy sauce?" That being said I was more than happy to be able to get my BBQ fix with fantastic ribs and pit smoked beans that are unmatched in any other city throughout this great country. BBQ critics often show up on television or in magazine features using various terms to describe Memphis BBQ, Kansas City BBQ, Texas BBQ or Carolina BBQ. Usually I can relate to and agree with the vague descriptions that they use in describing the various styles but one thing I think that should always be used when talking about Kansas City BBQ is "best Hickory Smoked Beans on the planet." So on this first big cooking weekend of the summer to be, I will be focusing on the staple good of where I come from, Hickory Smoked Southern Pulled Pork and my favorite thing from where I am, Hickory Smoked BBQ Beans.
As usual I was looking forward to this cook with great anticipation. I was looking at the extended weather forecast, plotting my menu, and going on shopping excursions for some of my favorite things. Since I am firing up the large smoker I will be making it worth my while and cooking enough to vacuum seal and freeze leftovers that will make for great dishes in the near future. I will be doing Pork Butts, Spare Ribs, a variety of Sausages, with sides of Smoked Mac n Cheese and BBQ Beans.
Though I enjoy the Memorial Day Weekend and it usually serves as a big kickoff to my summer season it is always done with a very heavy heart. My father was a soldier in World War II. My father was a soldier until his death in 2003. With all the great things my father did in his life, his work, providing for his family, traveling the world in his retirement, nothing meant as much to him or defined him more than being a soldier, putting his life on the line defending his country and being a brother to all of those that have given Americans the freedoms that allow us to do the things we all love to do. My father didn't think about the soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice on Memorial Day, my father mourned, often times for days, over the loss of those he knew and didn't know alike. I've never met a man I respected and idolized more than my father and it is he that impressed upon me the deep gratitude and love we should have for all, that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. So on this Memorial Day Weekend I will enjoy the freedoms our fallen soldiers have preserved, while I think about the sacrifice the soldiers and their families made.
On my midweek off day I did one of my favorite things, going shopping at two of Kansas City's finest BBQ supply stores. I picked up sauces, rubs and grill accessories, all the while feeling like a chocolate addict in a candy store or a kid in a great toy store. What fun!! After that it was off to pick up Pork Butts and Spare Ribs. While reading some online reviews I had seen several people praising the Sausages from Krizmans House Of Sausage in Kansas City, Ks. It is in an area I'm unfamiliar with, so realizing my son was familiar with the area I called him asking for general directions and before I could tell him what I was looking for, he told me he had been right to that area years back to pick up a half a hog for a pig roast. I said well, I might be sending you back to the same place because I'm looking for a place that is well known for their sausage making abilities. Now the plan is coming together well, I've been to the BBQ stores, I'm picking up the butts and ribs and my son is 25 miles away picking up the sausages.
I woke up on Sunday with plans of getting the smoker up and running by 11 am and being able to have things ready by noon on Memorial Day. I will be feeding some of my friends at my local Minsky's that serve me great drinks and make me outstanding pizzas. I start out by putting the rub on the Pork Butts while the smoker is coming up to temperature. The smoker will be fueled by Royal Oak Lump Charcoal and Hickory splits.
I will be putting my usual dry rub on the Pork Butts which is a commercially available rub (Head Country) and adding about 15% by volume of Raw Sugar and Cracked Black Pepper. I will put on a light coat of grape seed oil and then rub the mixture deep into the crevasses. The added Raw Sugar will be what produces the bark or the crusty outer edge of the meat that makes Pulled Pork the crown jewel of Southern BBQ. The butts are in a two pack cryovac weighing approximately 17.5 lbs. In an ideal situation I would like that to be two butts at 8.75 lbs each for more uniform cooking times but this has one a little over 10 lbs and one a little over 7 lbs. They were the ones that stood out to me when picking through the selection so I will live with the variation. Pork Butt is the perfect cut for someone wanting to smoke their first large cut of meat. It is very forgiving to temperature spikes and has no problems in the 225 -275 temperature range while being able to survive spikes up to 300 degrees, due to it's fat content. The object is to slowly render out the fat and break down connective tissue within the muscle. For pulled pork that is achieved when the internal temperature reaches 195-205 degrees. When done correctly the blade bone in the butt will pull right out of the meat with a slight pull. The bone will be virtually devoid of meat and indicates that your hard work will be handsomely rewarded.
I usually cut my Spare Ribs down to St Louis Cut which involves removing the skirt meat off the back. I place the knife parallel to the back of the ribs, lift the skirt up and cut it as close to the back of the ribs as possible. Next I remove the membrane from the back and the brisket bone and cartilage at the top of the ribs These rib tips actually are my favorite meat on the rack of Spare Ribs. I cook them closer to the fire box at hotter temperatures for less time than the ribs. They make for great snacks or great seasoning for beans at a later time. The ribs will be rubbed with a light coat of grape seed oil and seasoned with a commercial rub, The Slabs Birds and Bones and Cracked Black Pepper.
The smoker is up to temperature and it is time to load it up.
Approximately five hours in the smoker has been running at 225 degrees throughout the cook. I will bump it up to 250 degrees for 30-45 minutes to sweat more fat out of the ribs and get the surface a bit crusty. Total cook time on the ribs will be between 5.5 hrs and 6 hrs while the rib tips will cook about 4 hrs.
With the ribs coming off there won't be a whole lot more going on today. Peggy and I have nibbled on some rib tips and will have a hot polish with sauerkraut or a knackwurst with sauerkraut for dinner. My plan is to leave the Pork Butts on the stick burner until dark or approximately 10 hrs. I will then move them to the Ceramic Cooker (Primo XL) until they reach the desired temperature. The ceramic holds heat very well and requires very little attention while cooking. I have planned on 18 plus hours for the largest of the two butts so I will keep an eye on them throughout the evening into the early morning hours of Memorial Day.
My son John got me the hook up at Krizmans House of Sausage. I've got Polish, Hot Polish and Garlic Knackwurst. I kind of felt like I was cheating when I asked him to stop in and pick me up sausages from there. I've been going to Fritz's in South Kansas City for years to get some of the best Hot Polish and Knackwurst ever made. Fritz's was originated almost 90 years ago by a German immigrant that was a master sausage maker in his homeland. I really enjoy patronizing businesses that are family run and the end result is getting an outstanding product that the family name stands behind. I have now found another great sausage making bunch at Krizmans. The Hot Polish is spicy, spicy and the Knackwurst is a fat mans dream! I usually put my sausage on the smoker but I will cook these with indirect heat on a medium grill for a nice slow cook that allows them to swell up on their own juices. We will have a few dogs and I will slice the rest to share with friends.
I had quite the night on Sunday night. I spent my day on Sunday cooking, working in the yard and watching and listening to various sports. Around 9 pm on Sunday night I moved the Pork Butts to the ceramic cooker which will allow me the opportunity to sleep some, while the cooking is going on. It was a nice night to sit out, have a couple of cold beers and listen to some good music. I turned in around 1am but set the alarm for 3 to check and make sure everything was good, then got up again around 4:45 to take the small butt off. It reached 195 after approximately 17.5 hrs of cook time and the thermometer probe passed through with ease. I wrapped it up in foil and put it in an empty cooler to let it rest and hold its temperature. The larger of the 2 Pork Butts was as stubborn as any I have cooked. After 20 hours it was still sitting at 177 degrees and had stalled twice, once in the low 160's and now it had sat at 177 for 90 minutes. I bumped the heat up between 250 and 275 and it finally reached 195 in a shade under 22 hours of cook time.
The Pulled Pork is beautiful! The bone eased right out. With a hand on each end of the Pork Butt I gave it a flex and it started cracking open where the different muscles join. As I flexed it more it opened up revealing just what I wanted to see, a deep penetrating smoke ring with the color that a smoker dreams of. The bark is full of flavor, the meat is juicy and the texture is perfect. This result was well worth 22 hours. With the Pulled Pork finished it is time to turn my attention to the sides.
I will be trying a new recipe with the Smoked Mac n Cheese. I'm not a huge fan of Mac n Cheese but I want to give this a try to see if it is a recipe I would like to prepare as a side in future cooks.
This recipe uses 4 cheeses. Gouda, Extra Sharp Cheddar, Grated Parmesan, and Cream Cheese. It begins with cooking the pasta to just tender because it will cook further in the smoker. I made a roux using the butter and flour, then added the milk, and cream cheese. As the sauce thickens up, Peggy tossed the cooked macaroni with half of the grated Cheddar, Gouda and Parmesan then added her special touch with a few dashes of nutmeg. The sauce is poured over the macaroni and then it is spooned into a cooking dish.It is then layered with the remaining half of the grated cheeses, and it is ready for the smoker.
With the Mac n Cheese ready to go on I will start working on my beans. I normally use Navy Beans but have gone with the back up Great Northern Beans. Since they will be cooked with a lot of seasoning I initially cooked the dry beans rather simply with garlic salt, onion salt and black pepper. I saute some of my favorite things. We have minced garlic, a diced Serrano pepper, a small chopped bell pepper and a small white onion. I'm combining 1.5 lbs of Pulled Pork from the freezer, 1 lb of Great Northern Beans, my sauteed veggies, a bottle of Smoke House Baked Bean Sauce and I add a mixture of 2 of our favorite BBQ sauces.
Now the sides are ready for the smoker. I've prepared the ceramic cooker with 3 or 4 hickory chunks and and will put these on together. When I'm trying to knock my beans out of the park I put them in the big smoker under a Brisket or Pork Butt and let them catch the drippings but I've decided on this route mainly because of the timing issues. I'll be cooking the beans for approximately 90 minutes and the mac until it reaches a nice golden color.
As I started preparing the care package for our friends that were spending the day working, Peggy had an addition from her kitchen. A batch of her cookies simply known as "the best cookie".
As is often the case it took a couple of days before I sat down to eat anything that was cooked. I have a taste of this and a taste of that and usually in a couple of days I'm ready to chow. Everything came out great but I wasn't that fond of the Mac n Cheese. It was an absolute beautiful dish but for my taste it took on a little too much smokiness, others including Peggy thought it was very good. I will try the dish again and put it in the large smoker which imparts a much milder smoke over the same cooking time frames. The beans were some of my best ever, with a great balance of flavors and a noticeable but not overbearing hickory flavor.
I finally sat down and enjoyed the fruits of my labor. A Pulled Pork sandwich on a grilled bun, piled high with smokey goodness, topped with Peggy's Cole Slaw and drizzled with a great sauce from my favorite childhood BBQ restaurant "McClards" from Hot Springs, Ar. It goes great with Pulled Pork and I still remember my trips with my dad to McClards like they were yesterday. Onion Rings, Hickory Smoked Beans, an ice cold Coors Light and the cook remembers why he loves doing this.
At one time I thought about doing a recipe section so people would know exactly what I'm putting into a dish. After putting that to thought I decided against it because I rarely cook the same thing the exact same way twice, even if it was very successful. Peggy and I discuss the evolution of dishes that we cook and how some dishes that started out with 8 ingredients are up to 18 ingredients by the 4th time we cook them. I like looking for recipes that have been reviewed by many people and rated highly. I cook it once as the recipe dictates and it then becomes a canvas that I look at and make changes to that suit my tastes. So look up a recipe and give it a try so you can start personalizing it to your taste.
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