Shabbos #Smokefest

My son had his first high school Shabbatone this past weekend which meant I was going to have 3 teenage boys for the Friday night meal. Since this was my son's first year in high school, and first time hosting kids from his class, this could be a make or break weekend for him. If the boys have a great time, it reflects positively on him, if they have a bad time, it reflects negatively. Or so my wife and I thought. Therefore it was time to pull out the big guns for these boys.

I decided to go with Beef Flanken ribs that were well marbled. For these I went with my go to dry rub with the addition of some brown sugar to help the bark form during the smoke.

Fresh foil for the water bowl

 For this smoke I went with Cherry and Pecan wood

Using the minion method I went with about 25 briquettes

Once the charcoal was hot, I poured in the center

For best smoke, its important to space out the ribs so that the smoke can circulate better

Temperature was kept constant at 225 with air flow being regulated through bottom vents

After 3 hours, the ribs were ready to come off, and get a thin layer of BBQ sauce and then wrapped for another 3 hours

At this point I threw on a cut up chicken that I did with my go to dry rub. I added a couple of chunks of apple wood to get the smoke going again.

And of course, what is shabbos without an Apple Kugel

Smoked Lamb Shoulder for the Jewish New Year

This year, I decided that for the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) I would smoke a boneless lamb shoulder in addition to other festive foods. What I really enjoy about my local butcher is that you ask for is what you get (if not more). My requested 5-6 pound lamb shoulder turned into 7.5 pounds. In addition, he had a great package of beef short ribs that I couldn't pass up.


Lamb:
6 pound boneless lamb shoulder roast
2 tablespoon fresh garlic
2 tablespoon fresh rosemary
2 tablespoon fresh thyme
cooking string

Mop:
1/4 cup pomegranite juice
1 tablespoon fresh garlic
3 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme

Rub for Beef Ribs:
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

Start by opening the lamb shoulder up and undoing any string that may be holding together your roast.

Combine the garlic, thyme, and rosemary

Spread the garlic/rosemary/thyme mixture all over the lamb and tie the roast again

While this was marinating, I used the rub on the ribs and made pancakes for the kids

start the smoker by taking 30 charcoal briquettes and lighting in the chimney

In the bottom of the smoker, pour charcoal making a space in the middle and add your cherry wood

When your neighbors start smelling your BBQ and come over to take a selfie

After 3 hours, I pulled the ribs off of the smoker

and sauced them before covering them and placing them in an oven to finish cooking

Take the pomegranite juice, garlic, thyme and rosemary sprigs

Every 30 minutes for next 2 hours, go and mop the lamb using the sprigs

Cook the lamb until you reach an internal temperature of 135 degrees Farenheit and allow carry over temperature to 140 degrees.

Pulled BBQ Beef Sliders

One of my favorite low and slow recipes is pulled BBQ beef. While historically this is done with brisket, I like doing it with the less expensive beef chuck roast. The last time that I made this, I served it on slider rolls, however next time I am thinking of getting mini tortillas and have them as pulled BBQ beef tacos.

Recipe:

5 pound chuck roast
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
Disposable aluminum pan

Start by lighting about 25 charcoal briquettes and setup your smoker with charcoal and wood for minion method smoking

For this smoke, I am using cherry wood 

Cut the chuck roast into large chunks and spread the rub evenly over the meat

Once the charcoal is white, pour it in the center of the charcoal and the wood

For the first 3 hours, cook the chuck roast chunks in the pan uncovered. After 3 hours, cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook for an additional 2-3 hours until the meat is fork tender

After 5.5 hours the meat looked amazing with great bark

Take the chunks and two forks and start shreadding the meat

Take 1/4 cup of the juice from the bottom of the pan and mix with 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce and mix with the shredded beef

With this BBQ, I also grilled some yellow and green squash that I marinated in olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and black pepper and smoked some chicken

I

BBQ Beef Sliders with smoked chicken and grilled squash

#smokalicious Shabbos

A work from home Friday means a #smokalicious Shabbos. My son has my same culinary BBQ tastes and always appreciates when I bring some smokiness to the Shabbos table. Since this was the official BBQ month, it was go big or go home. For this Shabbos, I did some smoked ribs with cherry and pecan woods, and smoked chicken with hickory wood.

Started chimney with about 30 charcoals.

 Minion method with cherry and pecan woods

 Beef Flanken Ribs marinating with spice rub and brown sugar

Ribs Smoking

Ribs coming off to be sauced and wrapped (sorry for the shadow)

Chicken Smoking at 250 Farenheit

Chicken smoked with hickory wood

 Apple Bourbon Vanilla Kugel

BBQ Bar Mitzvah Shabbos

This past Shabbos was 13 years in the making as we celebrated the bar mitzvah of our son. This also meant 13 people for Friday night's meal and another 11 for Shabbos day. An oppurtunity like this could not be passed up as I decided to use both the smoker and the grill for this Shabbos.

The first chimney getting lit

12 Pounds of Flanken Ribs to be smoked with cherry wood

3.5 hours later the ribs were ready for phase 2. They were given a light brushing of BBQ sauce and wrapped and placed in the oven for another 1.5 hours to finish.

A very important beer run was made for the part 2 of the Shabbos Bar Mitzvah BBQ

Finally at 6:30 PM before heading to shul I put the Beer Can Chickens on that were pulled off around 8:15 PM

For Those Who Like It A Bit 'Saucey'

Over the last year I have been asked many times to address how to make chicken on the grill using BBQ sauce instead of my preferred dry rub method. Well today, your voices have finally been heard. I adapted it for the 'chirp and turf' technique my family loves. Most BBQ recipes call for cooking your chicken the 'normal' way and adding the sauce for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Unfortunately, this doesn't build enough layers of flavor into our chicken for my EIBG grilling standards.

Ingrediants:

3 pounds of wings
1/4 cup olive oil
bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce.
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Thoroughly wash and clean your wings and set them on paper towels.

Step 2: Dry the wings very well

Step 3: Place wings in a strong ziploc bag. Add salt and pepper to taste as well as the olive oil.

Step 4: Close the bag, removing as much air as possible and shake to make sure wings are thoroughly coated in the seasonings and oil.

Step 5: Go out and start your charcoal/gas grill.

Step 6: Pour some of your favorite BBQ sauce into a bowl and grab a brush. In my house, we really like the K.C. Masterpiece Original and Honey.

Step 7: When your charcoal is ready/gas grill is hot, make sure you pour the charcoal on one side of the grill so that you allow for direct and indirect cooking. For a gas grill, make sure that the burners are on med-high on one side only.

Step 8: Begin grilling the wings skin side down for a few minutes and then flip them to the other side for an additional few minutes. This step is done so that the wings begin to cook, get good grill marks for presentation, and also infuse the BBQ taste into the wings.

Step 9: move the wings over to the cooler side of the grill. Apply your first coating of BBQ sauce and cover the grill.

Step 10: After 15 minutes, uncover the grill and add an additional coating of BBQ sauce onto the wings and cover the grill. This is where the layers of flavor begin to happen.

Step 11: Repeat Step 10.

Step 12: Repeat Step 11 and add 12-15 unlit briquettes to the grill.

Step 13: Repeat Step 10 and add your burgers.

Step 14: Once you pull off the wings and burgers from the grill, it is important to let them rest for a minutes before attacking the food.

So what do you prefer? Dry Rub? Sauce?