Tips and Recipes

Birthdays are always a big deal at our house. My special day three weeks ago was no exception and somehow it ended up involving barbecue. (How did that happen?) Anyway, I gathered the goods, fired my Meadow Creek SQ36 Smoker, and cooked up a storm.

The latest (March) issue of StoryQue contains my story and a bunch of dazzling photos. I shared quite a few tips for beginners, including how I cooked and prepped everything. Here is a video from the magazine and the first part of my story:

As you may have heard, I had a birthday earlier this month, and I just had to cook some good barbecue. I’d like to talk about my day, what I cooked, and briefly how I cooked it. The whole experience was a little extreme but I had a great time.

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Here’s a helpful food safety infographic, courtesy of Compliance and Safety. You can be a great chef and crank out wonderful barbecue every time, but if you don’t handle it wisely, it can turn around and bite you and your guests. You surely don’t want Mr. Campylobactor visiting you for 10 days.

Be safe and have fun!

Lavern

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There is a lot of attention given to the idea of cooking a whole pig for catering events or a whole turkey around the Thanksgiving holiday. That’s all fine and dandy, but I think sometimes the romance of cooking the whole critter causes people to overlook the advantages of smoking only certain cuts. For example, smoking a batch of Boston butts instead of a whole pig.

The idea of going whole hog is wrapped up in a lot of culture, tradition, and novelty—especially at parties and other special events. People love hanging around the pit, and a whole pig or bird on the smoker makes a great conversation piece or an interesting place to take your picture.

Cook Time

One slight challenge when cooking a whole turkey or pig is making sure every part of the animal is fully cooked. White meat cooks faster than brown, so in a whole turkey, the breast is often on the verge of drying out by the time the legs are done. If you cook breasts separately, you’re only dealing with white meat and don’t need to worry about scaring off that red juice around the leg bones.

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In the last two months I’ve shared some tips on cooking for a crowd. I’d like to wrap up this three part series today with a discussion on keeping records. I suspect that most people don’t keep records. (I am just trying to get into the habit myself.) But you need to try it and see how easy it really is. This one trick can dramatically boost your confidence for future events PLUS eliminate frustration when you’re trying to go by memory and can’t remember half of what you did three months ago.

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A few months ago I asked my wife for a snack and she walked into my office with the plate above. Believe me, it really filled my tanks (food tank and love tank). It was a DELICIOUS example of how to combine two or three favorite foods to make a taste explosion.

When it comes to snacking, these are some of my favorites: crackers and cheese ball (or cheese), peanuts and/or chocolate, old-fashioned popcorn with about three different seasonings on it, and so on. You get the idea.

Now add barbecue to the mix. Sliced cheese and low ‘n slow chicken breast on a good ole club cracker. That’s where the explosion happens. Does snacking get any better than this?

Share your snack ideas with a comment below.

Have fun,

Lavern

In a recent post, I talked about the importance of good planning when you’re cooking for a crowd. Maybe I am a bit imbalanced since I always like to have my chickens lined up, but I think my concerns were valid.

Today I want to move on to my second tip on cooking for a crowd: using decent equipment.

So you are interested in catering for money, fund-raising for non-profits, or being the honored chef at family gatherings, graduation parties, church picnics, or some sort of crowd setting. You are serious about cooking and don’t mind investing in your dream. A good smoker or grill is a solid investment and the best way to achieve your goals.

When it comes to the equipment, here is what you need to think about:

1. Size of cooking space/amount of output.
2. Ease of use.
3. Ease of cleanup.
4. Lifetime value for your investment.

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