Your fav BBQ sauce

[WaHoo]

'Tis the season....

Ok guys, how're you grillin'? The whole sauce thing was kinda new to me when I came over here from Bratwurstland, so I went trough pretty much every BBQ sauce I could get my hands on. Nothing really special though. Nothing to get overly excited about.

I went through the hassle of making my own, playing with brown sugar, molasses, and whatnot, and even though I ended up with a recipe that was awfully tasty, I found myself spending more time cooking the sauce than actually grilling the meat.

So.... back to storebought sauce, and I found my sauce exactly where I didn't expect it: Aldi's.

Their Kansas City BBQ sauce is awesome after just adding some garlic, chopped onion, and a shot of liquid mesquite.

[Chairman_Kaga]

That KC BBQ is pretty good. And before anyone chimes in, that's NOT KC Masterpiece. (UGH)

I love Sweet Baby Ray's. They have an Original, Honey BBQ and a Hot-N-Spicy version. I prefer the Original and Hot-n-Spicy. It's really more of a tangy sauce but it's great on smoked ribs.

Also, when making my own, I prefer plain liquid smoke to the liquid mesquite. Just a little too strong of a flavor from the mesquite for me. Purely a personal preference though.


Made my own for a while too. It's just too damn time consuming and it doesn't keep in the fridge all that well.


For good ribs, the taste is all in the dry rub you put on the day before though.

My neighbor and I are going to have a cookoff this summer. I gave him my old charcoal smoker. He now claims the best ribs on the block. Got to put that man back in his place. :D <Not going to be fair though. It's at his wife's birthday party in his back yard :( >

[OverDose]

'Tis the season....

Ok guys, how're you grillin'? The whole sauce thing was kinda new to me when I came over here from Bratwurstland, so I went trough pretty much every BBQ sauce I could get my hands on. Nothing really special though. Nothing to get overly excited about.

I went through the hassle of making my own, playing with brown sugar, molasses, and whatnot, and even though I ended up with a recipe that was awfully tasty, I found myself spending more time cooking the sauce than actually grilling the meat.

So.... back to storebought sauce, and I found my sauce exactly where I didn't expect it: Aldi's.

Their Kansas City BBQ sauce is awesome after just adding some garlic, chopped onion, and a shot of liquid mesquite.

I LOVE this stuff:
http://www.shopstickyfingers.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=21
Good on ANYTHING (well, meats anyway).

[Hsnopi]

Oh yeah
Sweet Baby Rays!
hellls yeah!

[Chairman_Kaga]

To add......

Q'd up some ribs this weekend.

This whole thing will take a while but it's worth it. Also, I use a http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/1b/93/pr-Brinkmann_All-In-One_Gas_and_Charcoal_810-5000-0_All-in-One_Grill_Smoker-resized200.jpg gas smoker.

24 hours in advance put on the dry rub. Make sure to remove that nasty, tough membrane from the ribs first.
Ingr: (adjust to # of slabs of ribs this is for 2 slabs)
<works great for both beef ribs and baby backs (or other pork ribs)
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp coarse (kosher or sea) salt
1/2 tbsp ground cumin

Coat the ribs and rub it in. Put ribs in glass or ceramic dish, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

About 1 hour before smoking ribs, put the wood chips (I prefer hickory but mesquite will work too) in water and soak them good. Leave them in water till you need 'em. Wet chips smoke more. BTW - Do not get cherry wood wet. Aroma changes a lot. :(
Fire up the smoker and keep heat to 220-240 tops. most smokers that will be in the lower 1/3 of the "normal" range on the temp gauge.
Put cold ribs on top shelf if you can fit them all. My smoker is a "wet" smoker meaning it has a water bowl inside to keep the meat from drying out. Make sure you have enough in there for a long time.

About every 45 minutes to an hour, add a handfull of wet chips to keep the smoke going. I use a gas smoker now b/c it's easier to keep the temp even. I think charcoal works better overall but it was too tough to keep it at the right temp in the winter. (now my neighbor Jerome has it and we're having a cook-off this summer) Put the chips right on the coals if it's charcoal or right on the "hot rocks" if it's gas.

If you're doing it right, baby backs should take 5-6 hours. You'll know it's about time when the ends of the bones are starting to stick out. About that time it's time to add your favorite Q <Sweet Baby Ray's> sauce. Do not do this earlier as any store bought Q has lots of sugar in it and it will blacken and burn. ICK. Q up one side and let cook for about 15 minutes or so to "gel" up the sauce a little. Flip and Q up the other side and cook another 15 minutes. I like to throw a fresh handfull of chips on when I put on the sauce. Seems to make a nice smokey flavor.

Beef ribs may take a little longer if they are thick. Keep that in mind. Last time mine took about 7 hours.

If you're doing this for guests, be sure they're not too picky about what time they eat or have LOTS of snacks. :)

I can honestly (ok, i'm a little bias) say that only a few places come close to ribs done like this. ALL of those places are smokehouses that essentially do their ribs the same way. Ribs done on the grill are not even close. They cook too fast and are no where near as tender and juicy. When baby backs come off my smoker, I have to use tongs the full length of the slab to keep them from falling apart and the inner meat is pink like a ham. MMMMMmmmMMMMmmm.

You need patience though. Rushing them will ruin them.

Anyone coming to the south side anytime soon, I'll cook some up. Baby backs are my favorite but I need to start practicing beef ribs. My neighbor is Muslim and won't eat pork. :( So anyone that wants to be a guinea pig... :)

[Hsnopi]

WAAAAAH!
i want some.
iwoudl love to get a smoker. they are supposed to rock. you can make some mean brisket in there too. tender as all hek.

[Chairman_Kaga]

WAAAAAH!
i want some.
iwoudl love to get a smoker. they are supposed to rock. you can make some mean brisket in there too. tender as all hek.
Yes. But finding a good non-corned (corned beef) brisket on the south side of Chicago is next to impossible. You really can't smoke a brisket under 5 lbs w/o it getting tough. You also need a good thick layer of fat on one side of it.

However, if you find the right hunk of meat and you are VERY patient, you'll have a great brisket. Takes forever b/c you have to cook it really slow. It's a cheap tough piece of meat and will be chewy if you cook it too fast.

I haven't had much luck with consitently good brisket yet.

[WaHoo]

A smoker... one of the things that are pretty high on top of the neverending wishlist. Hasn't been an option so far though since the place down in Georgia was an apartment, and now up here all the lawn and garden tools have a higher priority... :(

Or maybe I should just get a smoker, fire it up, and blow the smoke over to the neighbors... Then tell them what's cooking, and also mention that there is plenty of it, but it couldn't be eaten until the lawn in mowed :D I know at least one of the folks around here would send one of his boys :roll:

[Chairman_Kaga]

Charcoal one I had was only $35. To heck with the tools. Just means more work and less time to Q.

[Hsnopi]

we took about 6 hours to make our brisket. it was tasty. though the guy who made it had an affinity for spices. so much so you couldn't taste the meat.