The BBQ Pit Blog

Dinner at John's City Diner Leads to Green Top BBQ.......

I attended a Birmingham Chamber event at the Summit Club tonight in downtown Birmingham.  After the event I met my wife at John's City Diner which back in the day was known as John's Restaurant.  I always enjoy eating at John's because of its history and the great food and service. 

Tonight though was one of those nights that brought back some great memories.  I don't know if it was because we were there very late and it was almost empty, if it was the waitress telling stories of the older patrons arguing about if the new food or the food from the past was better, but it really reminded me of the old days and  why I cater BBQ the way I do ----to give people something to remember and talk about for years to come..(more to come on this topic)

Lets go back to 1980, it is Saturday in Jasper, Alabama, and it is the end of the month - that means payday..... The Wade family loads up and heads east on 78 Highway towards Birmingham to shop at Eastwood Mall and then to John's Restaurant for dinner.  Of course back in the day , you had Baby Doe's, The Bright Star, Joy Young's, Green Top BBQ, and John's Restaurant -that was the best..........Man do I wish Joy Young's was still around but lets get back to the story........

I can still remember the family waiting in line to get in John's.  We ordered John's Restaurant's famous steaks, fried shrimp(that was seafood back then, you didn't have 30 seafood restaurants in town like you do now), and John's famous slaw with that homemade French Dressing....You always felt like you were on top of the world after eating at John's Restaurant.  Like Bear Bryant said "I can't define class, but I sure can recognize it when I see it", and John's City Diner had class back then and still does today.

There is just something about how food brings people together and how the older restaurants that we went to years back are still the one's we go to now or we wish were still around.  I like John's City Diner because the waiters and waitresses tell me their name, they are friendly, they know the history of the restaurant, and they let me ramble about how when I was 5 years old I sat in this same booth with my
family ......That is a restaurant, that is food.........

It is the same reason I have to stop at Green Top BBQ every time I make the trip home to Jasper.  BBQ cooked over an open wood fire pit and you better know how to order it when the waitress asks for your order -  outside, inside, chopped, or sliced........It has history.......my family stopped there every time we traveled to Legion Field-"The Old Grey Lady" to watch Alabama play football.  We order BBQ from there for the holidays, they know us by name, and the BBQ is OLD SCHOOL........  It Ain't Pretty on the outside but the BBQ is legendary.... 

My rambling blog post tonight reminds me that BBQ isn't supposed to be pretty, petite, shiny, brand new, or served on fancy plates........BBQ is about going back, way back, back when it was ok to spill bbq sauce on your shirt, back when the whole family sat around the TV watching Alabama and Auburn playing football at Legion Field while eating Green Top BBQ or Crutchfield's smoked pork shoulder, back when you could just order a bbq sandwich and it only came with a bag of golden flake potato chips, back when Coca Cola or Grapico in the bottle was the drink of choice to go with your chopped outside meat bbq sandwich............... 

I can go on and on about John's City Diner and Green Top BBQ because they are classics, landmarks, remind us of past great times and more to follow.  That is why I partnered with Ted's Restaurant which has been around for 35 years in downtown Birmingham... combining their history of great meats and vegetables with my traditional BBQ......trying to make a classic of our own.

Smoking BBQ on a Charcoal Grill or Gas Grill

I get asked all the time about how to make mouth watering BBQ at home using a small charcoal grill or even a gas grill.  When I am not catering events I do use a Weber 22 1/2 inch charcoal grill to cook meals for our family.  Although I would love to break out my 7 foot Lang Smoker and smoke a giant piece of meat for the family, my wife reminds me that can be a bit overkill for a family of four....Go figure...

Charcoal Grills - For those of you with a charcoal grill you will want to have your coals & wood chunks/chips burning on one side of your grill and your meat on the opposite side of the grill.  This allows you to cook indirect which slowly cooks the meat and allows the meat to stay very moist.  The  heat/smoke produced from the fire will surround the meat and produce great BBQ. The picture on the right shows the coals and wood chips on one side of the grill and the rack of ribs on the other side. 

When you place the lid on the grill make sure to have the lid air vents open and located on the side where you meat is located.  You can cook all kinds of meat this way including chicken pieces, whole chicken, ribeye roasts, sausage, etc.....  I would recommend starting with just chicken breasts, thighs, pork ribs, or wings to just get a hang of it.  Then work your way up to doing ribeye roasts, whole chickens, pork loins and other larger cuts that will take a bit longer to cook.  Invest in a meat thermometer for checking the temps on your meat and also document your cooking times so you will be able to repeat your success each time. 

Gas Grills - I have to tell you there are BBQ enthusiasts across the world that will not use the word BBQ and Gas together.  The argument between gas vs. charcoal/wood is similar to the battle between the Hatfield's and McCoy's or better yet Rocky & Clubber Lang in Rocky 111 ... Hands down in my opinion charcoal and/or wood cooked BBQ is the best tasting when done properly.  But there are so many people out there with gas grills that I wanted to discuss how to produce a great quality BBQ on a gas grill. 

You will basically follow the same Indirect Cooking procedure as with the charcoal grill.  Light only one side/panel of your gas grill.  Place your meat on the opposite end of the grill over the unlit panel.  Make a tinfoil pouch and fill it up with a couple of  hand-fulls  of wood chips.  Close up the chips in the foil and then put them over the lit panel on your grill (place pouch on the burner itself and not the grill grate). Poke a few holes in the foil on top and that will allow the smoke to release.  You can soak the wood chips in water before adding but dry chips will work fine as well.  Most gas grills come with a temperature gauge mounted in the top so try to keep your temp at 250-325 degrees while cooking.  Also, use a meat thermometer to determine when your meat is done on larger cuts and chicken.

Wood Chips/Chunks - Go to your local BBQ store or grill section of WalMart, Home Depot, etc...department store and buy some wood chips or chunks.  I recommend peach, cherry, pecan, or hickory for pork butts, pork loins, ribs, chicken, Turkey, and lamb.  For ribeye roasts I suggest pecan or hickory chips.  In Birmingham, the  The Smoke & Fire Place in Vestavia Hills on Highway 31 across from Mark's Outdoors carries the largest supply of wood chips in the area.   You can also buy a cast iron or steel smoker box as well that will hold the chips instead of using a self made tinfoil pouch.

FYI - the larger the grill or smoker doesn't mean that it will produce a better BBQ.  You can cook great bbq on a charcoal grill or a gas grill.  Steaks are great for grilling but when it comes to chicken, roasts, leg of lamb, pork butts, ribs, turkeys, other large cuts, go with the indirect cooking method and you and your guests will be knocked out by the flavor and moisture.  Give yourself some extra time to get the food done on the first couple tries because you will probably end up checking on the meat a bit more than once you get this method down.  Once you start to master this indirect cooking method you will be amazed by the taste and flavor of the food. 

4th Annual Pig Roast - PARTY

The 4th annual Pig Roast aka "Boar Bash" at Swann's house in Vestavia  was another huge success this year.  We had the largest turnout ever with over 120 guests at one point awaiting the unveiling of the star of the party - a 130 pound pig  slow smoked to perfection.

Each year this party brings attendees from all over the Southeast and I have to call it like it is - this party has reached legendary status.  We are going to have to move this party to the Civic Center or take it on the road to Walker County!!!

If there was a list of the top parties in Alabama, the "Boar Bash" would  rank up at the top.  I know most of you think the Boar Bash sign in the picture was professionally done by a Graphic Artist but it actually is the same sign from 2005, we just add the current year and
X out the previous - Art at its best :o)

We started smoking the pig at midnight Friday night and at 5pm on Saturday the pig was smoked to perfection 17 hours later.  A combination of charcoal and cherry wood was used to provide a great flavor to the meat.  Temperature on the smoker stayed between 275 and 325 degrees through the night. For some of the guests, this was their first "pig pickin" but for many of our return guests, this was another opportunity to eat some mouth watering pork.  I have catered many events before, but a Pig Roast is just one of those that is so unique and everyone loves it.

In this picture we have just taken the pig off the smoker and I am about to remove all the skin which has helped keep the meat moist during the smoking process.  When cooking a pig this size, the meat when cooked to perfection will be the most tender/moist meat you will ever eat.  Once the skin is removed the pig is then ready for everyone to come and pull the meat from the tenderloin, hams, boston butts, picnic, ribs, and/or bacon. 

You can tell who has been to a "pig picken"  before because they know exactly which pieces they want to get and rush to the pig to get in line.  First timers always sort of just stare at the pig for a while, then try a small piece(get someone else to get them a small piece), and then the next thing you know they have a fork out and end up with a plate full of pork shoulder- Never Fails.......

This year's party will be talked about for months to come and preparation for next years event will start up as usual once college football season winds down.  Oh, I guess I forgot about the live music.  What did you think, a pig roast without live country music ...Come On....

 

Pulled Pork for 100

I was fortunate to get to cook BBQ again for the Church of the Highlands / Tittusville AOH Church of God  prayer luncheon Saturday.  Pulled Pork was chosen as the main course.

I had seasoned eight Boston Butts with my dry rub the night before and then smoked the Butts for 12 hours over Cherry Wood.  For a BBQ enthusiast like myself, this is the best meat to smoke.  It also goes along way when feeding a hungry crowd.

The outside surface (bark) of the Butts was dark and crisp. The bark still held a good amount of the sweet flavor from the dry rub.  The smoke from the cherry wood had really infused well into the meat and gave it a great flavor that complimented the pork.

The Butts had been smoked to the ideal internal temperature.  This allowed the fat inside the butts to render which in turn made the meat moist and pull off the bone (Pulled Pork). 

The raw weight of the uncooked Butts was 56 pounds.  After smoking the Butts and shrinkage that occurs during cooking, we ended up with about 30 pounds of pulled pork which was plenty of food for the luncheon. 

For sides we had coleslaw, baked beans, and BBQ buns.  Brownies were for dessert.

We had a great group that helped put on the event, prepare the food, and serve all the attendees.  We are all looking forward to
the next one!!!