My son-in-law, Robin, in my humble opinion, is a grilling god. He knows how to cook on fires, coals, gas and even (sadly) electric grillers. He has taught me how to make and use brines, injections and rubs that bring salivation to an art form, and has a deep experience toolkit for outdoor cooking and an encyclopedic knowledge of recipes that beggar me. To talk about cooking on any outdoor system with anyone else becomes pale, shallow and dull. I, on the other hand, am a collector of cooking systems, an expert in fire, coal and smoke temperatures and times; an experimenter and self-confessed foodie, with strange appetites for smoking large slabs of unusual meats and experimenting with various flavor enhancements, such as the six pack of Tecate beer and an exotic mixture of curry powder, South African spices and Walmart applewood rub. Between us, we have probably cooked it, eaten it, done it, attempted it or (most likely) burned it beyond recognition during our formative years. As a result, we believe we have developed the expertise that will allow you to learn from our mistakes, and get to a level of competence on the smoker and grill that we lacked growing up. So here goes…
Welcome to our “Bill and Robin Outdoor Cooking/Smoking Basics” blog. This is where Robin and I will attempt to teach you, the backyard cooking novice guy or gal, what you will need to know about seriously impressing that hot chick or hot guy in the other apartment by knowing all about how to smoke meat and cook outdoors successfully. We will talk cooking, recipes, brines, injections, rubs, wines and beers, as we travel this Pagan Picnic. Something about a hot day, a pool flickering light on the balcony, the sight of smoke lazily drifting from a well-controlled charcoal fire and the scent of seasoned roasting beast wafting on the air… add the clink of ice-cold beer bottles, the slosh of a delicate wine and voila! Romance is in the air, dudes! This first blog will deal with one of the most important aspects of outdoor cooking- selecting your meat. And, before Robin chimes in, we are NOT referring to the before-mentioned chick (or guy). We’re talking a hunk of beast for smoking. Mmmm!
Like anything else, there are different types and grades of meat and, while you may be tempted to purchase that half price brisket or pork shoulder, make sure it passes Robin’s selection tests before you take it home:
- Make your meat selections last when you are in the supermarket to ensure that it stays cold until you get home,
- Select only cuts of beef that are bright red away from the red case lights for best flavor - meat should have no splotches of gray or brown,
- Make sure the packages are tightly wrapped with no tears or punctures in the package so that air doesn't spoil the taste,
- Meat should be firm to the touch, not soft and soggy - it's muscle, not pudding,
- Meat should not have an unpleasant odor - it should smell slightly sweet and flinty.
Prime beef is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling (the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat), and is preferentially sold to restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking such as broiling, roasting or grilling. Unless you’re in the trade (or have a good friend who is), this grade of meat will usually be unavailable, but sometimes we get lucky – we have found that butchers, for a pretty decent price, will often get you some of the specialty prime cuts not sold in supermarkets, so it never hurts to ask.
The most widely sold grade to consumers is USDA Select. This is excellent meat, however, with consumers being more health conscious and thinking lean meats may be the healthier option, USDA Choice has become a widely sold and popular grade as well. Select beef is very uniform in quality, and tends to be a bit leaner than Prime. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it lacks some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grade. We think that only tender cuts of Choice should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts need to be injected or marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor. Choice beef is still high quality, but has less marbling than Select. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib are very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are quite suited for dry-heat cooking. Many less tender cuts can also be cooked with dry heat if not overcooked. Those cuts are most tender if they are braised, roasted or simmered with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan, or marinated and/or injected before cooking.
Standard and Commercial grades of beef are frequently sold as ungraded or as store brand meat or stew meat. they make great dishes if marinated and injected. Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades of beef are seldom, if ever, sold at retail but are used to make ground beef and processed products such as hamburger patties. Robin sneers at the boxed patties - he makes his own, and we will share that recipe with you as well. It is exquisite.
Let us now discuss a few of the most popular smoking meats as well as brisket and ribs since those are the ones we think you will most likely need to know best. Remember, start simple and build your expertise one dish at a time.
Brisket
ROBIN:
Briskets for smoking are supposed to be pretty straight forward, but there are a few things that Bill and I want to share to help you insure that it turns out the best that it can possibly be. A well-cooked brisket is a semi-religious experience. It falls off the slab, it melts in the mouth, and it adds a little heat to the meal. To start with, you can buy brisket as an untrimmed packer cut, or, more commonly, as a flat. Your best bet when you're intending to smoke a brisket is to buy the packer cut. This is the flat and point together, unmodified by the butcher, and should have plenty of fat on top. To end up with a tender brisket, you need to start out with a tender brisket. This is relative, since briskets are NEVER tender when you buy them. However, there is a trick we learned from one of the pros - if you lay the brisket flat across the side of your hand so that it can bend on both sides, you will notice some of the cuts have more bend than others. The one with the most bend is most likely a tender piece of meat.
BILL:
This is not fool proof, we agree, but it is about the only indicator we know that has worked. If your store is one of those that loads the cuts on a Styrofoam plate then this will obviously not be possible. You can ask the meat salesperson to unpack and wrap it again if you dare – as far as that is concerned, we don’t bother. Robin and I usually go to a store where we can choose the meat before it’s packaged. If you don’t have that luxury, go for a brisket that has at least a 1/4 inch fat cap for best results. Finally, buy a brisket that is at or below ten pounds. Robin and I have used briskets larger than this for large gatherings and competitions, and had them turn out well, but we found that the best cut for flavor and tenderness is always one in the lower weight range.
Pork Shoulder
ROBIN:
Pork shoulder is usually separated into two halves at the store . The best half in my opinion is the butt, sometimes labeled the "Boston butt". The other half is the picnic roast, which is a good cut, but a little less intense in tenderness and flavor when compared to the butt, in my opinion. Frankly, it is very difficult to go wrong with a Boston butt. It almost always has lots of fat marbling throughout the meat, which gives it great flavor and absorbs seasonings rapidly and well, and a good cut should weigh between six and nine pounds. The picnic cut may have a thick skin on one side which needs to be removed. Like the butt, it has lots of marbling and will work fine for pulled pork if you cannot find a butt. The difference, though, is the picnic requires a lot more prep to get there – marinade, injection, rubbing and a slower and cooler cook, for example.
Pork Ribs
When outdoor cooks say pork ribs, we are either referring to spare ribs or baby back ribs. I will mention pork country style ribs as well, just because everyone calls them "ribs", but since they are cut from the loin and may or may not contain a bone, they are actually not ribs at all. The spare rack is the meatier strip which comes from down around the front of the rib cage. This cut is a pro favorite in competition for smoking, because of the superior flavor they develop. The rack is quite a bit larger than baby backs, and tends to have a more fat as well. The spare usually weighs in at around five pounds, and is best when there is lots of marbling of fat between the bones. Baby backs have become more of a favorite of many of our more health conscious friends due to the lower fat content and slightly shorter cook time. This cut originates closer to the back bone, so it tends to be less meaty than the spares, with considerably less fat as well. This is not a bad thing, but as with most things smoked, fat is wonderful for keeping the meat moist during the cooking process. Look for baby backs with lots of marbling of fat in the meat between the bones for best results. Both spares and baby backs have a thick membrane or skin on the bone side which must be removed prior to smoking. We'll talk that subject in depth later - there is a trick to it, which makes this easier than you think.
Chicken
BILL:
Robin says that chicken is a great meat choice for a beginner, simply because it can handle a wide range of temperatures, and if you mess one up, you are out much less money than you would be with most other cuts of meat. I agree with that, but would add that a chicken takes flavor easily, making it the best meat to learn techniques for rubs and injections on as well. We like to use chickens that are around three to four pounds, but we have noticed lately that it is not uncommon to see chickens weighing in at five pounds or more. In our experience, the smaller ones tend to be best for flavor and tenderness, but the larger ones work well for smoking and injecting, especially if that is all that you have available. Look for chickens that are labeled "MINIMALLY PROCESSED", if possible. These usually have more meat and fewer additives. If you can't find that label, find chickens that have the least amount of solution added during processing, and if at all possible, buy your bird from a butcher, not a supermarket, since it will usually not be stuffed in a shrink-wrapped plastic bag and stewing in preservatives. If you can afford it, go for the organic or free range variety as these tend to be tastier in my opinion.
Turkey
Turkeys are pretty straightforward and most of the time you don't have a lot to pick from. You also cannot see the birds as they are generally wrapped in the afore-mentioned shrink-wrapped white plastic wrapper. They are almost always injected with solutions of salt, water and other tenderizing ingredients, which is frustrating for those of us who like purchase a natural bird and use our own brines and rubs. Again, our advice is to look for the label "MINIMALLY PROCESSED". If you find one, buy it. These birds are usually very scarce, since the prep work by the chef preparing the turkey is part of the pleasure of serving up a moist, tender and flavorful bird. It is SO much easier without trying to wash out the rubbish packing plants squirt in to these birds to make the thing roast well. In the meantime, look for birds with the least amount of solution added during processing – again, it reduces the time you will need to prep the bird. I try to purchase turkeys that have never been frozen if I can - my butcher is very accommodating, in this regard. Unless you have a really good butcher, or it is within a few days of Thanksgiving or Christmas, I understand that it is not likely that you will find such a gift. The difference in taste, though, is vast. However, even the shrink-wrapped ice block turkey can be incredible, done right. Purchase birds that are twelve pounds or less, for safest cooking. Birds larger than this will stay in the danger zone between 40° and 140° F for longer than is considered safe, especially if you are slow and cool smoking, which may put you and your family at real risk of a food borne illness. If you think you need a bigger bird for more meat, then consider purchasing two smaller birds instead of one large one. There is always leftovers.
To sum up, buy the freshest, most tender and least processed meat you can find. Make sure that it goes from cold to cold in as short a time as possible. Make sure the packaging stays intact. And lastly, WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER BEFORE AND AFTER HANDLING FOOD.
Happy picnicking!
Robin and Bill
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