When I started competing, I didn’t want to share my secrets. At 2 a.m., I’d be at my pit with a penlight in my mouth to hide my work. But other competitors would wake up to watch. Now I conduct master classes, and I don’t win as many contests because my students beat me. I continue to compete because I love great barbecue: slow-cooked, tender, moist and packed with intense flavors. One student, Andrew Fischel, convinced me to help him open RUB (Righteous Urban Barbecue) in New York City in 2005. We’re not the only ones who love great barbecue.
Whether you’re a pro or a beginner, the technique is the same: low and slow. Compared to grilling, which means cooking quickly over high heat (400° to 450°), barbecuing takes four times as long and almost half the heat (anything below 250°).
Choose your fuel wisely. If you are new to barbecuing, use plain charcoal briquettes, because they burn more consistently and evenly than hardwood lump charcoal, which comes in many different sizes. I start the fire with 50 briquettes—and I am so fussy as to actually count them. Light them in the chimney starter, not with kerosene, or else your meat will taste only of fuel.
The cardinal rule of barbecue: Don’t peek into the cooker unless you have to. Open the lid only to turn the meat, baste it or add more fuel.
Grandma Kirk's Baked Beans
2 pounds
dried navy beans, soaked overnight in cold water and drained
1 onion,
coarsely chopped
1 garlic
clove, minced
3/4 cup
light molasses or sorghum syrup
3/4 cup
light brown sugar
1
tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2
teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon
Worcestershire sauce
1/4
teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 pound
slab bacon in one piece
Burnt Ends
Put the beans in a large enameled cast-iron casserole and
add enough water to cover by 1/2 inch. Bring to a simmer and cook until the
skins on the beans curl up when you blow on them, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 300°. Stir the onion, garlic, molasses,
brown sugar, soy sauce, salt, Worcestershire and mustard into the beans, then
nestle in the bacon. Cover and bake for 3 hours, until the beans are tender,
stirring occasionally and adding water as needed to cover the beans by 1/2
inch.
Stir in the Burnt Ends (if using), then bake the beans
uncovered about 1 1/2 hours longer, until richly browned on top. Remove the
bacon piece, chop into cubes and return to the beans before serving.
The baked beans can be refrigerated
for up to 3 days.
2 cups
beef broth or low-sodium consommé
1/2 cup
cider vinegar
1/2 cup
Worcestershire sauce
4 garlic
cloves, smashed
1/4 cup
grated onion
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon
kosher salt
1 teaspoon
freshly ground pepper
Slather
1/4 cup
Dijon mustard
2
tablespoons pickle juice (from a jar of dill pickles)
1
tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2
tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4
teaspoon hot sauce
Rub
2
tablespoons granulated sugar
2
tablespoons light brown sugar
2
tablespoons smoked sweet paprika
2
tablespoons garlic salt
1 1/2
teaspoons onion salt
1 1/2
teaspoons pure chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoons
freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon
celery seeds
1/2
teaspoon ground cumin
1/4
teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4
teaspoon dried thyme
1/8
teaspoon dried oregano
One
9-pound whole packer beef brisket, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch
Light
50 charcoal briquettes using a chimney. Run the wand of a thermometer through a
cork and use the cork to plug one of the air vents in the grill lid. Leave the
remaining lid vents open and adjust the lower vents as needed (if the fire gets
too hot, close the vents; too cold, open them).
Combine the ingredients in a small
saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Strain, cool
and transfer to a spray bottle.
Mix the slather ingredients in a
bowl. In another bowl, combine the rub ingredients.
Put the brisket on a large rimmed
baking sheet and coat it with the slather. Sprinkle the rub all over the
brisket.
When the coals are hot, push them to
one side of the grill and set a drip pan half-filled with water on the other
side. Using tongs, transfer 4 of the hot coals to the chimney to light an
additional 25 briquettes. Set the brisket on the grill grate over the drip pan,
fat side up, with the widest end facing the coals. Cover and cook for about 5
hours, maintaining a steady temperature inside the grill of 250° to 275° (add
more lit coals, 25 at a time, every hour or so, as needed). Spray the brisket
with the mop every hour.
After 5 hours, carefully flip the
brisket and rotate it 180° so the opposite end is now facing the coals. Cover,
then cook for 2 hours, spraying every hour with the mop and adding more hot
coals to the grill as necessary.
Flip the brisket and rotate it 90°.
Spray with the mop again, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Flip the brisket a
final time and rotate it 180°. Spray with the mop, cover and cook for about 1
hour longer, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest
part registers 185°.
To make the Burnt Ends, transfer the
brisket to a carving board and cut off the point, slicing through the layer of
fat that separates it from the brisket. Return the point to the grill. Spray it
with the mop, cover and cook for 1 hour, or until the meat is almost black on
the outside.
Transfer the point to the carving
board and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice into cubes and serve, or save for
making. Thinly slice the brisket against the grain. Serve with Kansas
City-Style Barbecue Sauce on the side.
Kansas
City-Style Barbecue Sauce
3 cups
ketchup
2/3 cup
dark brown sugar
1/2 cup
water
1/2 cup
white wine vinegar
1/2 cup
tomato paste
2
tablespoons yellow mustard
2
tablespoons pure chile powder
1
tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon
salt
1 teaspoon
granulated onion powder
1 teaspoon
granulated garlic powder
1/2
teaspoon ground ginger
In a medium saucepan, combine all of the ingredients and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching.
