Barbecue Tricks

BBQ Tips and Tricks

smoke ring

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How To Get A Good Smoke Ring

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A good smoke ring is a pit master’s point of pride.   A beautiful deep rustic red outer layer of the meat that is so tantalizing it’s considered a badge of honor.Here, red meat does not mean rare or under cooked it means roasted low and slow and smoked to perfection.

So how you really get a good smoke ring? Here are a few quick tricks to perfect your smoke ring – win friends, influence people and delight cookout guests.

A good smoke ring is actually formed as a chemical reaction with nitrogen and chemicals in wood smoke reacting to the surface of the meat. I’m not convinced the actual creation of a ring tastes any different… But it’s coveted and looks great.

Here’s How you Can Make The Smoke Ring:

  • First, the “ring” likes lower temps. Start extra low and slow. When your meat tops 145 degrees bark forms and smoke ring formation ( that chemical reaction ) ends. If you want a darker ring you’ll need to ramp up slowly. After that you could even throw it in the oven.
  • wetSecond. the “ring” likes it wet. Keep it moist with water pan and baste or sop with a mop sauce for first half of cook (or again until about 145f).
  • Trim fat. The smokering will not form or penetrate fat if it’s too thick (surprise on the brisket pictured here it did).
  • Use wood fire. More than just smoke, actual fire really develops the chemical reaction with the smoke & meat.
  • The cooker used in the video is spectacular for forming a great smoke ring.  Traeger pellet cookers use small compressed wood pellets. It’s real wood in the little fire pot underneath the cooker. It allows you to cook at a consistent low temperature and then ramp up and really give a strong fire source. It is real wood. I’m using the hickory pellets in the video example here and the flavor you get from the smoke is deep and spectacular. I really think that’s why so many of the competitive barbecue pit masters use Traegers. It makes it easy, and in a lot of the competition rules you have to cook with wood and the Traeger passes that test. It features the assistance of an electric fan controlling your temperature so you take your eyes off the cook and relax a bit.

A Special Ingredient

I said earlier you don’t necessarily taste the smoke ring but if you really want to there are ways to kind of cheat the ring without a lot of smoke.

Try Morton’s Tenderquick. It’s a curing salt with nitrites and nitrates that you can use before cooking (warning: in a rub – a little goes a long way. You can also dust on for an hour and rinse off before cooking). The “whole food” foodies probably wont like it but it forces the chemical reaction on the surface of the meat. It’s one secret ingredient for getting a smoke ring.

There’s also a thing called Fab and/or Pink Salt that is also out there. You can even take a more natural route by using celery. Celery salt, celery juice, and celery seed in your rubs will add more naturally occurring nitrates.

Just a few tricks will showcase the ring…. My precious… If u have tricks share in comments and send along a bbq plate pic #grateplate – Head over to www.barbecuetricks.com

Competitions

Top Ways To Cheat at Your Next BBQ Competition

Brisket Smoke Ring

Brisket Smoke Ring

The sanctioned BBQ world is serious business.  Maybe too serious if you’ve ever seen BBQ Pit Masters on TV.  There are pages of detailed rules that are never really reviewed prior to competitions by judges or by cookers.  Some rules are regional by nature.  Like, meat categories (whole hog is hard to find outside the South). Others – like the rule for only using charcoal or gas as a heat source – is somewhat common.  I’ve even seen rules against team members drinking to excess.

If you are looking to get the upper hand and bend the rules a bit here are a few ways that competition cooks quietly get an edge.

First, start with better meat.    You can use meat that the tournament provides or bring in your own grain fed premium grade organic – more tasty – better meat.    There may or may not be fine print on “only using what the sponsor provides” but the rule is rarely enforced or even checked.  It’s more likely your meat cooler will only be checked for food safety reasons (like maintaining a cold enough temperature).   I’ve seen teams bring in top of the line Wagyu beef brisket.  It’s pricey.  But if it indeed tastes better it’s a real edge.  Some winning cookers have been known to bring in secret recipe pre-brined chicken.

Next, use electricity to help your cooking efficiency and consistency    Many big organizations (like KCBS and MIM)  forbid heat sources other than wood or charcoal.  Still it’s within guidelines to get a little electric help.  So gadgets have been designed to make charcoal (use hardwood lump for best flavor)  more reliable and consistent in temperature.    Look into retrofitting your smoker with an electric blower with a thermostat to stoke your fire up or down to the ideal temperature while you play Angry Birds in the RV.   Most common are the BBQ Guru and the Stoker.

Two Pork Butts with Money Muscle circled. Note fat stripes.

Two Pork Butts with Money Muscle circled. Note fat stripes.

Get the most bark for your buck.  Judges like bark, that savory sweet charred crust found on great BBQ meats.    Trim your pork so you have the most and best tasting.   The “money muscle is a tucked away tube of succulence on the Boston Butt that many cooks are trying to really take advantage of for it’s tender texture and flavor.  It’s almost entirely surrounded by other parts of the butt so if you want to combine the great meat of the money muscle and the magic of great tasting bark you’ll have to trim out the money muscle before cooking.  In some competitions it’s against the rules to cook large meats in parts so you may want to simply keep it a small portion still attached to the mother ship.

Cheat the smoke ring.   It is absolutely expected for brisket and pork to have a nice smoke ring when turned in to judges.  This is formed by a chemical reaction to the smoke over low and slow temp. and time.    Some say if you put COLD meat on the smoker from the start it will enhance the ring.  We say don’t leave it to chance.    Cheat the ring by adding some curing salt to your rub like Morton’s Tender Quick.  It’s strong stuff so some cookers will coat the meat for a few hours and rinse it off before adding the tasty – bark creating rub.

detach money muscle

Semi-detaching the Money Muscle

Microwave friendly.  As stated above… cooking with fuel other than wood or coal could be against the rules so why would you need a microwave?   Well, judges like to bite into a warm piece of meat.   They also judge on smell and warm meat will always be more fragrant than cold meat.    A fifteen second zap in the box is sometimes the perfect bump to setting your entry a part.   Against the rules?  Is 15 seconds really cooking? You decide. Just silence the “beeping” and don’t let Bubba’s team see you doing it.

These rarely policed barbecue tricks may or may not be truly cheating the BBQ Rules.   Read the fine print of your rules and let your conscience be your guide.  The one rule you can not and should not bend is “marking” a box.  This is where a team has a mole in the judging tent clued in on a special trait or “mark” on a turn in box.  Don’t try.   It won’t work due to rotating judges and will probably get you disqualified or marked down in appearance points.   Instead, use care to really “present” your meat in the box.   Follow the guidance in the rules on garnish and ask around about traditional layout.   Appearance is almost always a big part of your score and it’s surprising how many cooks just plop it in the box.   Pull pork (never chop) and lay out pieces in an orderly presentation.

 

 

Featured

Smoke Ring Hack for BBQ

Brisket Smoke Ring

A smoke ring is often thought to be a sign of barbecue perfection. It’s a coveted low and slow cooking phenomenon that looks like a luscious pink edge that boarders the outside border of the meat. It’s vital to competition pulled pork and especially beef brisket. Pit Masters use it as a sign of true craftsmanship but you can achieve this mark of cooking success too.

The smoke ring by itself will not enhance the flavor of your meat. It is not smoke flavor soaking into the meat. It is, in fact, a mark made by a chemical reaction. When nitric acid is absorbed back into the surface of the meat it changes the color of the flesh. Nitrogen dioxide comes from the natural wood smoke and combines with the wet surface of the meat to create this reaction.

Some people say cooking with green or water soaked wood will enhance the color of the ring. Others insist you must put the meat on the grill or smoker while it is still cold and fresh from the refrigerator to get a better ring. One competition team actually fakes the smoke ring by painting the edge of the meat strategically with sauce!

One of the most common ways to “hack” a barbecue smoke ring is by using a curing solution like Morton’s Tender Quick. The package reads, “Tender Quick is a blend of the finest quality salt, sugar and meat curing ingredients. It is perfectly blended for fast cure action and improved flavor and color of the meats.” The secret is that it contains the sodium nitrate/nitrite that you can use to make your smoke ring with no smoke at all. It’s the kind of stuff that makes cured ham pink.

Add some Tender Quick to a rub or dissolve it in a brine and you will see an immediate difference in your meat’s smoke ring. Many competitive cookers will also use products referred to as “pink salt,” Prague Powder or Fab (a meat enhancer).

A spoonful of Tender Quick mixed into your rub before coating the meat should do the trick. For an extreme smoke ring some cooks rub the meat with Tender Quick and then let the meat set for an hour before rinsing and cooking. Use caution with the amount of Tender Quick you use on you meat. You don’t want to end up with corned beef or cured ham.

There are many ways to manufacture a smoke ring on your barbecue but remember using a chemical nitrate like Tender Quick will not add any smoke flavor and that is the true hallmark of great barbecue. Visit Barbecue Tricks to discover more tips to enhance your outdoor cooking.

Recipes

Sweet Southern Brisket

That name may be a bit confusing… beef Brisket has always been a Texas thing. Mesquite, slow slow smoked, a tradition down there.

Here’s a Barbecue Tricks version of the brisket that tastes great with HICKORY smoke and a bit of sweet heat to give it a southern twist.

We used a Brinkmann Gourmet Electric smoker that keeps the smoker a low 225 degrees and also used a combination of chunk and chipped hickory for smoke.

Brisket is an all day affair… so using a true smoker (with a good drip pan) will really save you some peace of mind. Electric smokers are offensive to purists (no charcoal?!) but if you keep it smoking with pre-soaked wood chips (in a foil pouch) you can’t tell the difference.

Start the night/day before by separating the FLAT portion of the brisket from the tip. Trim away most of the excess fat (down to about 1/4 of an inch covering the flat). This will cut the cooking time way down and give you more smokey surface area. Continue by rinsing clean and rubbing a 5 to 10 pound brisket with a simple RUB. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until morning. It should “cure” 4-12 hours for best results.

Give yourself extra time for the smoker and restrain yourself from lifting the dome lid more than you absolutely have to. Lifting the dome lid will add at least a half hour to the entire process every time you release the already low heat. Hopefully the smoker has a side door to replenish chips and drip pan liquid.

Remove your meat, unwrap and allow to slowly come to room temperature (about an hour). Start your smoker and give it 40 minutes to heat up.

Place the meat – fat side up – over the drip pan to avoid messy drips.

After smoking 5 or 6 hours we enlisted our Barbecue Trick: sprinkle the brisket liberally with brown sugar and paprika. Place it upside down (fat side down) on aluminum foil and coat the other side. Check the internal temperature. Wrap tightly with foil and put back on the smoker.

The entire smoking process will vary but our Flat cut was finished (internal thermometer to 190 degrees ) in about eleven hours (opening the lid only once). The Point cut took an additional 2 hours to get to internal 190 degrees (the lid was often opened for testing).

One you remove from the smoker you STILL will want to wait another 40 minutes to allow the meat to rest and retain coveted juices. Remember YOU NEED TO ALLOW A LOT OF TIME for this entire process. Back time from meal time and make sure to include an hour for “heating up the smoker” and getting the chill off the meat. Plus another hour for the final “rest”.

It’s an all day affair. Our tested brisket started as a 10.5 lbs piece of meat but when the flay was separated it was two approximately 5 lbs. pieces. Flat took eleven hours on the smoker. The point was thicker and a bit bigger and took thirteen.

It’s also important to note that -IF YOU CAN WAIT- some say it’s best to refrigerate and re-heat the next day for the best results (good luck with that waiting!)