Barbecue Tips From A Pitmaster
I love the smoky flavor of barbecue, and I’ve eaten my way through ribs, brisket, pork shoulder and more from some of the top pit masters in Memphis, Kansas City, the Carolinas, and Texas. But lacking in equipment and patience, I’ve never attempted to cook it myself. However, after reading Matt Pelton’s cookbook, “Up In Smoke,” (Cedar Fort, $18.99) and seeing his enthusiastic cooking demo a few weeks ago in Springvile, I am tempted to try it. I did a Standard Examiner column about Pelton, his new book, and barbecue tips.
Pelton, of Provo, says he has barbecue sauce running through his blood. Or so he writes in his new cookbook, “Up in Smoke,” (Cedar Fort, $18.99) “If I am not cooking barbecue, I am dreaming about cooking barbecue,” she said.
At his class, Pelton served a whole smoked hog — a 20-hour cooking job, as well as baby back ribs.
I’m not talking about grilling, which I do all the time. Here in Utah, when people invite you to a barbecue, it’s a bit of a misnomer, because they are usually grilling burgers or steaks. But true barbecue involves a long, slow cooking time (we’re talking hours, not minutes) over low, smoky heat, at around 200-300 degrees, Pelton said. This allows cheaper cuts of meat to soak up the smoke flavors, and become tender.
On the other hand, grilling is rapid cooking over high heat (above 300 degrees). A third category, is smoking, where the temperature is below 150 degrees., according to Pelton. Examples are fish, jerky and smoked cheeses, where the food is preserved. “The smoke contains aldehydes, which are great food preservatives,” said Pelton.
Barbecue’s roots are in the South, but in the past ten years, Utah has seen a big influx of barbecue restaurants, competitions and backyard enthusiasts.
“Barbecue started with cheap cuts of meat, the shoulders and ribs that were tough. They learned that if you cook them low and slow, the collagen would dissolve,” said Pelton. “And back in the 1800s, people in the South cooked outdoors because it was too hot to cook in the house.”
Wood choices: Don’t use soft woods such as pine and fir, which have pitch in them. When they cook, they give off fumes which give the meat a turpentine flavor.
“The only time you can use a soft wood for cooking is if it is burned completely to coals,” he said.
Charcoal is compressed wood chips that have been heated to the point of turning into char. They still have a lot of flavor left in them, said Pelton. Hickory, fruit woods, mesquite, maple and pecan are popular wood choices.
Barbecue pits can vary from a grate set on stones over an open fire pit, to a $20,000 custom-built trailer rig. Pelton writes that you can also use your backyard gas grill for barbecuing as well. Make a pouch of aluminum foil, and place wood chips in it. Leave a small opening in the top of the pouch. If your gas grill has two sides of heat, only use the heat on the side with the foil and chips, and place the meat on the other side so that it gets indirect heat.
Pelton says one of the biggest mistakes people make is to soak the wood beforehand in order to build up lots of smoke.
“Wet wood never burns properly,” Pelton said. “If the fire is too smoky, it will coat the outside of the meat with a black, bitter coating on it. It won’t allow the smoke flavors to actually penetrate the meat.”
When you’re smoking ribs, chicken legs and other boned meats, set the bone side down closest to the fire. If the bone gets heated first, the meat will cook more naturally and will stay more moist, Pelton said. He learned this tip from an Eskimo while he was hunting moose along the Yukon River in Alaska.
Among the many recipes in Pelton’s book are directions for smoking jerky, cheese, maple-cured bacon, Cajun-style smoked fish, maple-cured bacon, and barbecuing beef brisket, pork baby back ribs, whole chicken and turkey, chicken, mutton, and yes, even a whole hog. But you might want to perfect your technique on smaller cuts of meat before going “whole hog.”