Up-coming Smoke for my BIL's Bachelor Party

[McGurk]

Got a pre-party lunch this coming Sat for my Brother In Law's Bachelor Party. On the Menu:

-A couple of racks of St Louis style spare ribs (only done BBs up to now)

-The flap and other trimmings from the spare ribs (any advice?)

-About a 3 lb Italian sausage coil (smoked at first, then simmered in a cast iron skillet w/ onions and peppers), pieces to be served on a bun w/ onions and peppers (am I missing anything here?)

-A couple dozen Jalapeno Poppers, w/ a piece of shrimp in each one

-Cole Slaw

-Beverages

I'll try to take some pix of the whole ordeal. Wish me luck!

[reinhard1]

you need advice? i need to copy that. here is something i'm going to try with 5 out of the 20 racks of st. louis ribs. another x meatcutter told me to use ketchup and western dressing in equal ammounts. i heated it up and found it a little thick so i added some apple juice so i can mop properly. my wife and motherinlaw gave it thumbs up and its part of the menu. of course i used my rub first. i still think your jocking about needing advice. i will be looking forward to your pictures. i will take some to and see if i can manage to get them on here. good luck.

[McGurk]

I think I've said it before, reinhard: You've probably been cutting and working meat longer than I've been walking! I know what I know, but I'm still learning! Cripes; I've never even smoked a brisket! It's on my to-do list, though, but I don't have the time this weekend.

[reinhard1]

hey take it easy, i'm 61 and you probably have more hair.good luck.

[Redlantern]

Why is brisket so expensive? It's kind of a tough cut, right? I thought it'd be cheaper than it is.

[Kidd]

-About a 3 lb Italian sausage coil (smoked at first, then simmered in a cast iron skillet w/ onions and peppers), pieces to be served on a bun w/ onions and peppers (am I missing anything here?)

Galic and Olive oil. Sauté the onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil and then add the sausage.

Good luck

[McGurk]

Thanks, Kidd. I would have skipped the garlic had you not brought it up (silly me!). I was just going to throw a can or 2 of beer into the skillet and get it to temp before adding the veggies (and later the sausage), but what you say makes more sense now that you say it. I don't want the sausage to dry out, though.

Brisket, cooked in a standard "beef" way, is a very tough cut. That's why it lends itself so well to a low-n-slow cook (12 hour smoke). The fat needs a long time to break down (get tender) so if you rush it, it will be almost inedible. I wouldn't call it overly expensive (usually around the price of ground hamburger), but it can seem expensive relative to some pork or chicken cuts, I suppose. A chuck roast is another popular meat to smoke of the bovine variety.

[Jim Almquist]

I just did my first brisket last year and it turned out great. As long as you don't rush the amount of time you smoke/ slow cook it, it really is a easy piece of meat to cook and very tasty. I have done 2 more since and they all have been great.

Good luck with your party. They will be a well feed bunch

[reinhard1]

there is a lot of waste [fat] on a brisket. the leaner you buy a brisket the more its going to cost you. there is a point cut which is generaly fatter and there is a flat cut which is leaner. brisket is very popular in the south and gaining popularity up here. like stated above, brisket is all about time-take it slow. it is one of the most tasty cuts in beef. good luck.

[reinhard1]

the chuck roast is my favorite all time cut of beef. part of the chuck is called the chuck eye. i have bought just the chuck eye and tied two together and roasted it for a holliday meal. also a chuck eye steak is actualy part of the rib eye or extention of the rib eye. try one on the grill, my favorite steak. half the cost of a rib eye. i usualy marinade mine, cant beat the flavor. good luck.

[LABS4ME]

I do sausage and peppers acouple times a month. I combine Italian sausage and Kielbasa sausage.

Do as Kidd said with olive oil and galic, then onions, red and green peppers, maybe 1/2 a jalepeno, then I chop some fresh basil and fresh oregano and at the last 5-10 minutes sprinkle in to the dish. The last couple of minutes I add some fresh cracked black pepper and a nice layer of freshly grated parmesan cheese...

You will not be dissapointed!

Good Luck!

Ken

p.s. if you want it as a pasta dish vs. putting on buns, when addingthe herbs, stir in a 1/3 of a jar of quality pasta sauce and then proceed with the cheese and seve over mastocolli or penne pasta

[McGurk]

Thanks, Labs. So, it sounds like the ol' fry it all in beer isn't a popular option after all...

[McGurk]

Prepped my spare ribs last night, cut 'em up St louis style, and got a rub on them to sit for a couple of nights. Made my own rub again and added ground cumin for the first time; hope if works out. I'm more of a savory guy than a sweet guy so I don't use a ton of br sugar in my rubs, and not a lot of salt as I don't want "hammy" ribs, either. This is what I've used with good success:

6 parts br sugar

3+ parts chili powder

2+ parts paprika

2+ parts garlic powder

2 parts celery salt

2 parts onion powder

2 parts blk pepper

1 part cayenne pepper

for the first time, 1 part ground cumin

So for a total of 21 "parts", only 3 of them are salt, and only 6 of them are sugar. The other 12 parts are all spice powders. You won't get a tremendous "bark" on ribs this way (limited sugar) but I like the flavor more than the bark anyways.

I also cut up all the veggies, hallowed out the jalopenos, made sure everything will be thawed for prep tonight, and cleaned up the house good including a lawn mowing. Not too bad of a night!

[LABS4ME]

Don't e afraid of the cumin... I use it on all my rib rubs. Fantastic flavor.

Little secret... add 1 part cinnamon to yor rub. Waaaaay under utilized spice!

Goo Luck!

Ken

[McGurk]

You know, LABS, that cinnamon bottle just stares at me from the spice cabinet, daring me to use it for something other than oatmeal. I always associate with sugar and its uses in baking, but now that you mention it it makes sense. On its own, there is no reason NOT to use it in this fashion. Thanks for that! Why could't I have posted this 2 days ago so I could have tried it?

I am going to try some different small batch rubs on cut up pieces of the flap to see what I think of some different flavor pairings. Hopefully I can keep track of them!

[LABS4ME]

' course you could always un-wrap the ribs and sprinkle some on top and re-rub the rub..... mmmm cinnamon!

The flap... rub and smoke (even for just a couple hours for flavor) the flap ahead of time... cut it up and use in Baked Beans slow cooked all day on the smoker. True pork and beans... add some onion and a little mustard, brwn sugar, garic powder and worteshire sauce

or, Smoke it all the way with the ribs, chop it, mix in some smokey chipolte Tobassco sauce and then saute' some onions and peppers, a big hunk of swiss and a big hunk of sharp cheddar cheese, add all in the middle of a hangover absorbing omlette the next morning! mmm mmm

[wolfman-k]

You're right on about the chuck eye Reinhard, I spent over 14 years in a beef processing plant where we could 'tag' some meat for ourselves to buy at cost each Thursday, and I'd buy at least 2-3 eyes each month. These have great flavor on the grill, and you can cut them however thick you like. I worked in the tenderloin area, pulling, weighing & sorting them by weight. Needless to say, my family ate tenderloin about 3-4 times a week!

The grill barely cooled from day to day.

Good luck tomorrow McGurk, as if you'd need it!

[McGurk]

Got up at 5:30 to get the smoker going, so the meat will be on before 6. And now....we wait.

[reinhard1]

my wife is going to take the gran kids to the beach so i can be by myself and do prep work for tommorow. rub the ribs wrap them in double foil and get the three grills going to pre-cook the ribs and later store them in my other fridge to grill them tommorow with the mop. made the cole slaw yesterday and cooked the potatoes to peel today and make the potatoe salad. making your wild rice salad today. made baked beans yesterday with venison italian sausage,ground beef, and chucks of ham. pick up some corn today at a local farm also. fun stuff. good luck with your meal.

[McGurk]

The rain at 9 to noon gave me a scare, but I was able to cover the smoke and some of the prep table with a patio umbrella before it actually rained. Crisis averted. No use of the Weber kettle, but I made it work in the house regardless. Sun came out at noon, and the sun scorching began.

Overall, I'd give the ribs a B. Good flavor and smoke ring, but probably could have been cooked a bit longer but noon was noon. They were tender and tasty, but I like a little more fat to render out and the meat to come cleanly off the bone (but NOT fall off the bone). Next time I do spares I'll make sure to allow for a bit more time or bump the temps to around 275 deg.

I used the "flap" pieces in my beans (a late addition that I can't believe I forgot) which worked out great. Rubbed them and smoked them for about 3 hours, cubed them small and added them to my simmering beans.

The sausage was AWESOME! Smoked around 3 hours and then I tried it. It was phenomenal. I could have stopped there, but put it in with the onions and peppers for a couple of hours on low low heat. The skin was easily cut and the flavor was great. I don't think anything was gained with the veggies, and not many people ate them anyway. The veggies were just mush by the time came to eat, which was my fault as I chose to do it that way. I'm going to get a couple more of those coil sausages, though!

Had about 15 people, most with minimal up-close smoker experience. They were all in awe of my ridiculous redneck drum smoker, but loved the concept just the same. Got a lot of compliments (but no pictures, sorry), so I think it all turned out well.

Hope your meal went well too, reinhard.

[reinhard1]

sorry you had the rain during the event. i ended up making 20 rack of st. louis ribs. the ribs took me a good half a day. i rubed them and wrapped them in double foil. i pre-grilled them in the am until almost done in batches of 10. this way they stay moist during the whole time. i was going to do it on sat but was worried that they might get a little dry overnight. i already had the potato salad, cole slaw, your wild rice cold salad[which everyone loved], my baked beans with italian sauge,ground beef, and ham chunks in it, and hot dish from our friend from dark of ny. then we had better than sex cake, lemon morang pie, chocolate morang pie, watermelon, and hard rolls. to finish the ribs off i waited until the people came so i can watch them drool during the mopping session. i also mopped them in batches of ten with a mix of ketchup and western dressing half and half. i heated the stuff slowly and added apple juice to thin it out. i took the ribs off the grill while they were almost falling apart [two spatulas] and put them in a meat lugger [large plastic container with handles on each end]. then someone helped me put it on the dining room table and served them from there. not the most fancy way of serving but it works. i bought these st. louis ribs the week of memorial day at target for 1.48 per pound. they were hormel and had the flap taken off which was unusual] they had a limit of 6 per day and i went 6 day. everyone left full and most said they were going home to take a nap. the kids had fun in the back yard in a blow up swimpool below one of those big air blown water slides the kids climb up on and slide down. some ate in the airconditiond house and some in the back yard. it was a good day to spend with family and friends. thanks again for your input and dark. good luck.