Meadow Creek SQ36 – Birthday BBQ

A little man at our house turned three last week, so I decided it’s time to fire the smoker one more time and get some food on the table. It was a lot of work when I felt like goofing off, but we greatly enjoyed the delights my dependable “friend”, the Meadow Creek SQ36 Smoker, puffed out for us.

On the menu were a rack of baby back ribs, five pounds of sausage, a couple chickens, 5 chicken breasts, 2 pork tenderloins, and a pan of beans. It was simply fantastic.

I did not brine, marinade, or inject anything. The ribs and tenderloin simply got Meadow Creek Brisket Rub; the chicken Meadow Creek Traditional and Smoke’n Dudes Chicken Seasoning. The sausages Butt Rub. My beans were a concoction of baked beans, chili beans, pinto beans, and various other ingredients we threw together.

I fired my Meadow Creek smoker with a propane torch. My fuel was 100% Hardwood Charcoal Briquettes and wood chips.

Smoke is in the air!

The draft vents on the firebox and the amount of fuel in the firebox controls the temperature in my smoking chamber. I used my wireless Maverick thermometer at grate level and if I remember correctly, the temp showed 250-275 degrees during most of the cook. (If you have an SQ36, I’d suggest checking the built-in thermometer against one at grate-level cause you might not be where you think you are.)

Some people insist on keeping your temperature on the bull’s eye or pulling your meat off once it hits that certain magic degree. That’s great as a guideline, but I’ve found the same piece of meat will register different temps depending where and how you probe it. And regarding operating temp, there is now a thing called “hot and fast smoking” and popular theory has it that chicken doesn’t benefit so much from low and slow.

So my point is this: Don’t stress it if you struggle walking the tight rope or you want to speed things up a little and cook a tad higher than the 225-250 range. If your meat gets a little darker or you think it’s drying out, you could foil it.

I loaded everything except the sausage around 11:00 AM. The sausages went on at noon.

Instead of spraying apple juice on the meat, I made a mop mixture to keep the meat more moist and add some flavor. I dabbed it on the meat every hour or so with a mop.

To make the mop, I melted one stick of butter in a small kettle and added some apple juice, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, cajun seasoning, and Smoke’n Dudes Chicken Seasoning. Get creative and throw some stuff together. The butter, juice, and/or vinegar can be your main base. Add anything else you’d like for flavor.

Holding My Baby… Back Ribs

Pork Tenderloin

Sliced Tenderloin

Here’s the pork sausage. I just open a pack of ground sausage and sprinkle seasoning all over it, then put it on the smoker until internal temperature reaches about 160 degrees F.

Sliced Sausage

Smoked Baby Back Ribs

Sliced Ribs

The chicken breasts were boneless, skinless. Normally I don’t recommend smoking these because they tend to dry out unless you wrap them in foil. I loaded them around 11:00 seasoned with Meadow Creek Traditional and Smoke’n Dudes Chicken Seasoning. At 1:30 I wrapped them in foil. By 2:30 some of them were up to 160 degrees F (done) and the rest were done by 3:30. They turned out moist and delicious.

Sliced Chicken Breast

Smoked Chicken

The Beans

My Wife’s Scalloped Potatoes

I made an amazing discovery to serve with sliced barbecue—the above onion and cheese topping! It is very easy to make. Just slice a couple onions in a skillet and add some butter, a little seasoning, and Velveeta cheese. Cook it down until the onions are as soft as you want them and spoon this over your sliced chicken or tenderloin.

Absolutely… outrageous!

Finished Product With Onion Topping

The Birthday Boy With His Good “Friend” James

Thanks for reading my barbecue story. I hope you enjoyed it.

If you are looking for an offset charcoal/wood smoker that will last for many years, check out the Meadow Creek SQ36 Smoker. If you need more space, check out our full line of stick burners from Meadow Creek.

Have fun,

Lavern Gingerich