Third Annual 'Diary of a Memorial Day Barbecue'

[hornian]

Hi.

It's that time of the year again. I'm doing my barbecue on the Sunday before Memorial Day this time, but not to worry, it's still going to rock.

I have four meats on the menu this year:

Briskets.
Pork Spare Ribs.
Alsation Style Venison Sausage.
Smoked Venison Backstraps.

And now for the first pics.

We've got meat.

Here's the briskets:

I forgot to get one after I dry-rubbed them. But here's the ribs, sausage, and backstraps. The won't get much attention until late tomorrow/early Sunday.

Briskets go on the pit tomorrow afternoon. Check back then for more updates.

 

[ColumbusHornsFan]

We bought our first smoker yesterday at The Anderson's. We have a 9-pound brisket on order for pick up today at 9 a.m. Our smoker is unseasoned and we are untested, but I am firmly of the opinion that you can't score if you don't take a swing.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

I think I will be doing a pictoral for Independence Day 2008, a continuance of my photo pr0n from last year (complete with wood prep shots again).

I may even have a preview photo of some smoker repair, i.e. taking my DeWalt 7" grinder with a wire wheel to the lid - it has issues in closing right now & that makes it nearly impossible to get the firebox lid fully closed. Right now, I am placing a rather large hunk of Oak on the firebox side, however the wood is beginning to smolder on the two ends (I flip it over & spritz some water in there to keep it from going aflame).

Nice stuff, Hornian. I look forward to your updates & for me, the hard part is finding someone who will suffer the fool (me) in taking action shots as I work it.

 

[hornian]

Briskets are on the pit.

And I'm on Lonestar numero uno.

 

[kjgirl]

Looks good so far

 

[hornian]

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[kjgirl]

I feel loved Ian

 

[SomeMildLanguage]

I thought I'd be able to make it, but that's because I thought it was on Monday... can't do it tomorrow... looks freaking delicious, though.

 

[hornian]

I'm a little over 4 hours into the smoke, and I just rotated the briskets. This is what they looked like:

 

[LosIllini]

What kind of wood are you smoking with this year?

 

[hornian]

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[3_yard-out]

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[hornian]

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[hornian]

Hi again.

Briskets are resting comfortably in a ~225 degree oven right now, wrapped snugly in foil after 8.5 hours on the smoker. They'll stay there for another 5 or 6 hours or so.

Here's what my babies looked like before I swaddled them up.

On the pit:

And just before they went in the oven:

I'm going to get some rest. I have to wake up around 5 to go start getting the fire back up and get to work on the rest of the meat.

And in case we were counting, it was 3 lonestars and 3 miller lite tallboys for the briskets. I could have gone harder but I had guests.

 

[hornian]

I got up at about 5, started the fire, and trimmed and rubbed the ribs. Once the pit reaches the proper temperatures, I'll put them on.

More pics shortly.

 

[hornian]

Alright, the ribs are on the pit. Woot.

This was from about 6 AM:

I'm in the process of whipping up a big batch of barbecue sauce. It's still a work in progress, I think this is the 4th or 5th time I've made my own sauce and the recipe has been slightly different each time - but this one tastes pretty awesome early on, I may have to write this one down.

 

[hornian]

Alright, I'm writing my sauce "recipe" here so that it's saved for posterity, most of these are guestimates on the amounts:

3 cups tomato sauce
1 cup brisket drippings
1 cup apple cider vinegar
Onion powder (~2 tbsp)
Garlic powder (~2 tbsp)
Black pepper (~2 tbsp)
Brown sugar (~1/2 a cup)
Worcestershire sauce (1/4 cup)
Crushed red pepper (~1 tsp)
Chili powder (~1 tsp)
Dry musatrd (~ 1 tsp)

Wisk it all together in a large pot, bring to a boil, and simmer for about half an hour.

Oh, and because of the acidity of the tomatoes + the vinegar, what ever I don't use today will probably last about 3 months or so in the fridge - so the quantities may seem like a lot, but it can be used over and over again.

 

[MeaHorn]

hornian ->

I myself just pulled my 12lb brisket off the WSM after letting it cook for almost 12 hours. I would post a pic, but I don't want to hijack the master's thread.

 

[hornian]

Ribs are wrapped up and in the oven (part 2 of my 3-2-1 method), sausage is on the smoker.

Here's the ribs after 3 hours in the smoke:

And the sausage on the pit:

 

[hornian]

t minus 2 hours and counting. The sausage is pretty much done.

And now its time for the backstraps.

They will actually be off the pit soon and wrapped in foil, to baisically cook up to medium rare off of just its own internal heat. And then I put the ribs back on the grill. I think I'm going to throw the briskets on for 45 minutes or so with the ribs, they have been done since about 5 AM, and are still warm, but this will heat them and firm them up a bit before slicing.

 

[Rip76]

That BBQ sauce recipe looks pretty good..
Just wondering if adding a little beer to that would make it too thin?

 

[hornian]

Almost done boys.

The sausage and backstraps are off the smoker now, here's what they looked like just before I pulled them.

And the ribs and brisket are back on the smoke for a few more minutes.

 

[Rip76]

very nice....

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

MeaHorn, no thread of your own = fail.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Outstanding sir!

 

[kjgirl]

Looks good
I am writing down your sauce recipe to try sometime

We are about to put some beef short ribs on the grill and I am making a batch of baked beans

 

[Ramathorn]

wow.

 

[hornian]

I'm so tired. I'm gonna go pass out. I'll get some more pics up and answer some questions after I go to Lake Travis tomorrow.

 

[Horn_2004]

Boy knows how to cook some que. **** was dynamite!! Thanks for having us even thought it was late!

 

[SouthernSooner]

Man, everything looks outstanding. The sausage looks very good as well. Are these from around Castroville?