Go to kansas city find a person and say i want good bbq, i don't want kc masterpeice. then perpare to be fat. Gates is prolly my fav.
haha The people I know in KC know that if you want good BBQ you don't go to KC Masterpiece. Some amazing dives in that city.
There are so many good places it's hard to name 'em all... Hayward's (amazing sauce), Jack Stack (amazing everything), Gates, Arthur Bryant's, Oklahoma Joes, Wyandot BBQ and so so so many more!
I make my own BBQ...much more rewarding. Buy a smoker, some cuts of meat, smoking chips, seasonings, and start experimenting! Here in Illinois we don't have very many good BBQ places. A local place called Hickory River isn't bad. I have lots of family down south and we love to go to Rudy's BBQ
Oh, I agree with you 100% there! I built my own UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) last year and smoke ribs, chicken, salmon & brisket all the time. Thinking about buying a BBQ Guru DigiQ controller for my smoker...but then that might take $$$ away from my RAD!
No pork butt?!? That's one of my favorites! Although they're all my favorites :happy102 Smoked food is just so good Never heard of one of those devices before...does it automatically feed your charcoal/chips for you or what? Have you seen the Traegers?
The two finalists and eventual winner ( Smoky D's and Ponderosa BBQ) of this year's BBQ Pitmasters on TLC have both come from the Des Moines area. Sorry to say, i've not been to either ,,,, perhaps need to visit one this weekend. "Swallow at the Hollow" BBQ in Alpharetta GA is one of my favorites. The BBQ is pretty dard good (Pork, Sausage, and Brisket), plus great atmosphere and live music.
That's one thing I just haven't gotten around to yet, but it's on the list! A UDS is literally a 55 gallon drum (usually a reconditioned food grade steel barrel, such as my own). The design is really simple, which consists of a large charcoal basket that sits at the bottom and a grate near the top. There are typically three air intake holes drilled around the bottom and the tempurature is controlled with these. The advantage of a UDS is that it's simple and inexpensive to build, can hold temperature like a rock, burn for a long long time on one load of charcoal or lump and makes really superior BBQ. Here's a link to the mother of all threads about building a UDS: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23436 I attached some pics of the BBQ from mine...
I have a smoker in the backyard. I use oak, maple and cherry wood. Hickory if I can get it. I just smoked a turkey for Thanksgiving. We smoke a brisket about once a week, no matter what the weather. Believe me Dr. Mike; you have "seen the light".
What type of smoker are you sporting? I have used mostly hickory and cherry, but have used mequite with salmon to great effect.
That looks great. I personally have one of these by Chargriller....got it for free It was sitting on the side of the road.....sweet I like it but it doesn't keep charcoal that long....I constantly have to continue to add charcoal as I cook, especially if I'm cooking a pork butt or something that takes longer than 4 or 5 hours. Not sure if it's my technique or the smoker itself, but it's a pain to always worry about adding charcoal as I go. Nevertheless, it gets the job done. I generally use cherry chips for ribs, apple chips for pork and chicken, hickory/mesquite chips for just about anything. I will also mix some of the varieties up...use apple and mesquite on chicken wings or mix some hickory chips with my cherry chips for ribs. I don't think I've ever had a 'bad' smoke flavor...we had a smoked turkey this Thanksgiving with some apple chips and it was delicious
There is no good BBQ in Chicago Period. Back Home in KC the Burnt End from Bryants, But Gates takes the overall.
True, there is nothing quite like the Gates experience of being screamed at by the cashier when you're five people back in line.
That's awesome! Free is always hard to beat! Have you tried utilizing the "Minion Method" for lighting your coals? If not, it will really help you stretch out the burn time you get. The turkey sounds great! I won't be able to do that with my UDS until I get a Weber dome lid for it.
So you basically put a lot of unlit charcoal pieces above some lit ones and eventually they will catch? Or put a few lit pieces on top of unlit ones? And slowly the entire pile will catch?
:sihns011 It greatly increases the burn time of a load of charcoal. I've never tried it in a sidebox smoker though, so can't comment on how well it would work for you.
That is my concern. I will try it though next time I smoke a butt... I would think it would be difficult to regulate your temperature this way since you don't really know when the coals will ignite and how many will ignite....I personally babysit my smoker religiously when I smoke to maintain that 200-225 temperature. I think this method has some merit....I will have to try it out sometime to see if I can make it work for me.
I usually light about 10 to 12 pieces in my chimney starter and once they're ready, sprinkle them around my unlit pile of charcoal. From my own experience, I don't usually run into trouble this way with the whole pile igniting unless I accidentally let too much air get to the coal basket (one of the dangers of using a UDS). As far as temp regulation, I've found this method helps me out greatly.
