Noo Yawker trying to BBQ

[freebird5825]

With summer coming and that fireplace outside just staring at me, BBQ is on my mind. I have some country style pork ribs in the crockpot today.
I've had the pleasure of eating real BBQ in Ames IA, San Antonio TX, Altamont Springs FL, Tuscon AZ, Kansas City and Syracuse NY (http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/).
Right now I use BBQ sauce out of a bottle. I know I can do better.

Without giving away any old family secrets , can you folks in-the-know recommend a good bottled sauce (online ordering) or point me to a good recipe ?

I have access to just about any kind of hardwood. I plan to use charcoal briquettes with some chips on top or just burn straight wood and transfer the coals to an upper rack just under the diamond pattern metal grill surface. My traditional highneck outdoor fireplace has a regular log burning lower chamber.

[REWahoo]

Some BBQ purists do not use a sauce, preferring a dry rub instead. Here is a bit of a "family secret" located a few miles NW of the Alamo: Kanak Seasonings

Disclosure: My SIL makes it...

[Stevewc]

Sauce is more about personal taste.
I like a vinegar based sauce but some people like a more sweet one.
You'll have to decide. I say try several with those 2 ideas in mind. Read the labels to detect the vinegar ones, usually a much thinner sauce. I can tell a lot by shaking the bottles at the stores and the labels. Then you might brew up your own concoction after that. One mistake many people make when using wood, they don't wait until it is actually hots coals. Which leads to over smoking and basically putting creosote on the meat.
Steve

[Orchidflower]

Lived in Texas for 22 years, ate alot of barbeque, but I, too, like the more tangy sauce on my barbeque. A good one I am using today, in fact, is: KC Masterpiece Sweet & Tangy.
I think the apple vinegar put in sauce is North Carolina style. I found Texas style too sweet normally.
Today I am making baby back ribs baked in the oven, but am now marinating them in booze (any kind will do from whiskey to rum to beer) as booze will chemically break the meat down and make it tender as all get-out. Then I put on a rub lightly over the meat, marinate that for an hour or so then cook 2 hrs. at 350 degrees. The meat will fall off the bone, literally...mmmm, good.

[Bestwifeever]

I love anything with barbecue sauce. Yesterday I even poured a little store-bought BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's, nothing fancy, but they do mean "Sweet") over scrambled eggs. Not a purist here!

Orchid, your method (and the results!) sounds wonderful!

[jambo101]

For a great general BBQ sauce i use Sweet Baby Rays original ,its probably in your local grocery store.
sweet baby ray bbq sauce - Google Image Search

My home made stuff has so many differing ingredients and quantities that i can never get it quite the same two times in a row but its goes something like this= In no particular order or quantity cook, brown sugar,ketchup,Tabasco,HP sauce,balsamic vinegar,small jar marmalade,oyster sauce,cumin,cocoa,curry powder,and some onions and red peppers chopped fine.

[Westernskies]

It is heresy to use the words BBQ and crock pot in the same sentence, and could get you arrested in most places south of NooYawkCity...

[Moemg]

I have tried many barbecue sauces but the one that tastes the best is PubliK's generic sauce spiced up with a few dashes of red hot .

[Sarah in SC]

Cider vinegar, brown sugar and black pepper, with as much cayenne as you can stand. Pork only.

Slow (and I mean you should have to stand outside passing a bottle of Jack around for at least half a day and most of the night) cooked over coals.

And for a side: peppered slaw, chopped fairly fine with more vinegar and a bit of Duke's mayo.

Perfection.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Cider vinegar, brown sugar and black pepper, with as much cayenne as you can stand. Pork only. Slow (and I mean you should have to stand outside passing a bottle of Jack around for at least half a day and most of the night) cooked over coals.

Ah, yes. The Carolina-style pulled pork BBQ...

[bbbamI]

Freebird...

I suggest you come to my house. We'll hop in my car and take a drive. We'll go down some blacktop roads, past the horses and cattle until we get to a fork in the road. We'll make a right and then slide sideways through a curve that surprises me every time. Once we straighten out, we'll make a left and stop in at the best bbq place I've ever found. I have no idea what their recipe is, but the meat is slow cooked with the right amount of hell-fire sauce and the beer is soooo cold.

[Orchidflower]

Many people don't know that liquor or even beer poured over meat (beef, pork, chicken, any mean) chemically will break the meat down and tenderize it. I have been using pricier liquor leftover by a relative, but as soon as it's gone I will buy the cheap stuff. Same result = tender, tender meat.

[PX4sc40sw]

My BIL just moved to NC from El Paso. He has won, over the years, almost every BBQ competition in Texas. He emailed me that he is now a NC BBQ convert.

He said pick the slab of ribs like you would a wife (no explanation). He uses an injector to insert cross the rack of ribs at each bone and squeeze in some apple cider vinegar so that the tissues will break down while marinating overnight. He rubs it with:

• 2 tablespoons smoky sea salt
• 1 tablespoons cane sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons Ancho or Chipotle chili powder
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup Hungarian paprika

He then put it in plastice wrap to marinate in the fridge overnight. As mentioned above, the cooking is an all day event with a bottle of bourbon, and he's a former preacher.

Get your coals to your liking but he suggest if your hand can stay where the ribs will be for about 6-8 seconds, the heat is right.

He puts a can of Motts apple juice in a spritz bottle and as the ribs dry, he gives them a spray. A 6 inch wide by 12 rib rack will take about 4-6 hours to get "minimally" ready to eat. If you can pick up the ribs with a fork and the bones all fall out, you did good.

Start adding Sweet Baby Ray's Spicy (jazz it up however you like) about 20 minutes before you remove the ribs from the fire. It will allow the BBQ sauce to thicken and cling and gain some nice smoke flavor.

If you can hear dogs howling a mile away, you got a good rack of ribs.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PX4sc40sw My BIL... has won, over the years, almost every BBQ competition in Texas.

Doesn't every TX BBQ competitor say that - especially the BIL variety.

[PX4sc40sw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Doesn't every TX BBQ competitor say that - especially the BIL variety.

Yeah, BIL says the Kanak's stole that recipe from him.

But, he did have a lot of trophies, a couple even had his name on them.

[SarahW]

Best bottled sauce, by far...Stubb's. Texas Barbeque, Stubb's Legendary BBQ Kitchen

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI Freebird... I suggest you come to my house. We'll hop in my car and take a drive. We'll go down some blacktop roads, past the horses and cattle until we get to a fork in the road. We'll make a right and then slide sideways through a curve that surprises me every time. Once we straighten out, we'll make a left and stop in at the best bbq place I've ever found. I have no idea what their recipe is, but the meat is slow cooked with the right amount of hell-fire sauce and the beer is soooo cold.

Hands down, this is the best recipe for BBQ so far.
Girl, you tell me what airport to fly into and I'm there!

And I promise not to say BBQ and crockpot in the same sentence, ever again.
I must not say BBQ and crockpot in the same sentence.
I must not say BBQ and crockpot in the same sentence.
I must not say BBQ and crockpot in the same sentence.
I must not say BBQ and crockpot in the same sentence.

Keep those ideas and concoctions coming. I am getting a real BBQ education! Wooohoooooooo

[Moemg]

The reason you are having trouble is because New Yorkers don't know barbecue . They know lasagna , pizza , veal piccata and chicken marsala. They know good bagels are never sold in the freezer section of grocery stores and that chicken is never a pizza toping . They know how to make cannolis and pizzelle . They know that black is always fashionable especially at weddings .They know that Thanksgiving has a lot more courses than just turkey but do they know how to barbecue ? Saddly no ,they think anything placed on the grill is barbecue . They no more know how to make pulled pork than a southener knows how to flip a pizza . So just accept it and perfect your gravy recipe which is not really gravy but great spaghetti sauce and move on .

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg The reason you are having trouble is because New Yorkers don't know barbecue . They know lasagna , pizza , veal piccata and chicken marsala. They know good bagels are never sold in the freezer section of grocery stores and that chicken is never a pizza toping . They know how to make cannolis and pizzelle . They know that black is always fashionable especially at weddings .They know that Thanksgiving has a lot more courses than just turkey but do they know how to barbecue ? Saddly no ,they think anything placed on the grill is barbecue . They no more know how to make pulled pork than a southener knows how to flip a pizza . So just accept it and perfect your gravy recipe which is not really gravy but great spahetti sauce and move on .

Guilty as charged. That's why I'm asking the experts - right here!
Um...I put chicken on pizza.

[tuixiu]

Dry rub... google Memphis style.

Even if you want to go sauce afterwards, dry rub first.