The BBQ Pit Blog

Peach Wood Smoked Chicken on the Weber - Indirect Heat

It had been a while since I had used my Weber Grill so the the boys and I decided to smoke some chickens over the weekend.  We ended up having to do some inventory of our dry rub and BBQ sauce ingredients before we got started. 

The boys helped make our red sauce and the dry rub that we put on the chickens.  Although they love to tell their friends about how good the BBQ they cook tastes, they also follow the BBQ Code of Honor to never reveal the secret recipes for our sauce and dry rub :o)

We started out with 2 whole chickens and put the dry rub on them.  We then put charcoal on one side of the Weber Grill and placed the 2 chickens on the opposite side of the Weber Grill creating the Indirect Heat method.  The following link -  Difference between direct & indirect cooking - will give you some great information about the differences between direct and indirect cooking. 

We added a couple of chunks of Peach Wood and then cooked the chicken on the Weber about 3 hours.  The Birds were ready once the breast meat reached 160 degrees and the legs are easy to "shake". 

We are looking forward to our next opportunity to smoke some more BBQ this weekend and start to do some practice runs cooking ribs and chicken for the upcoming Birmingham Habitat For Humanity BBQ Contest in June.

Fireplace Grill is a HOMERUN!!

Christmas has come and gone and I got a great surprise present from my wife.  She bought me a Fireplace Grill from SpitJack which makes pig rotisseries, grills, smokers, and other unique BBQ equipment that you just don't find at the local hardware or retail store.   

If I didn't already have enough outdoor grills and smokers, I now have the ability to grill and bbq inside  the house.  While most people are sitting around their fireplaces roasting marshmallows or just having a great quiet family moment, we have pork tenderloin, ribeye steaks, and greek chicken sizzling in the fireplace.  Romantic, I know.....

The grill was simple to put together and is easy to use.  I built the fire with oak and cherry wood, then let it burn a couple of hours until the fire started to die down and the embers were bright red. I then slid the grill into the fireplace and put the cooking grate on top.  Next was just adding the meat. I started the meat closer to the back of the fireplace which is the hottest area and then moved the meat towards the front to get it to away from the flame but close enough to the fire to still cook well. 

The smoke flavor from the wood was outstanding and the meat was very tender.  This product is just a great way to continue cooking through the winter time without having to fight the cold weather outside.

For all of you that just have to grill and bbq year round, the answer is now here.  I have to say that I have to rank the originator of the spitjack fireplace grill up there with the greatest minds of all time.....   No more excuses for not grilling out in the winter because it is too cold outside, or you might get sick in the freezing weather, No more excuses now - 365 days of grilling and bbq is now at your fingertips.....

Wild Game Cookoff - Sweet Taste of Victory

The Alabama Wildlife Federation held its annual cookoff on September 18th at the Birmingham Zoo. There were around 20 teams that competed this year in the event which has 3 categories which included Wild Game, Fish, and Fowl.  

Ted's Restaurant entered the event and competed in the wild game and the fish categories.  We grilled deer tenderloin and served it with a blackberry sauce for the game category.  In the fish category we fried catfish and served it covered in a cajun crawfish cream sauce.  

At the end of the night's event attended by over 1000 visitors, Ted's Restaurant took 1st place in the Wild Game category with our grilled deer tenderloin covered in blackberry sauce.  We also took 2nd place in presentation based on the way that dish looked visually to the judges.  

Our team was made up of Tasos Touloupis, owner of Ted's Restaurant, Jeff Latham with Porter Capital, and myself.  We were all very excited about taking the Big Win at the event and expanding our style of cooking to include the Wild Game Competition.  

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.