Bessingers... the whole story

I was reminded today of a great article from 2001 in the NYT. Thanks to Karl Z for turning me on to this story a while back. The Bessinger family has a long history of BBQ in the South, and this is worth the read if you're a fan of all things porky.

Mmmmmm

"Mmmm! I can't wait to take this sharp knife and fork and dig into this plate of... WAIT A MINUTE!!" "That's PORK! - That's ME!"

I chuckle every time I see the Slopes logo. The image may be cannibalistic, but they do cook a fine ham. The sauce is yummy too.
Check em out next time you're in metro Atlanta and are craving a not-so-messy BBQ sandwich.

Big Green Egg - Pork Butt (1)

Working my way through the user's manual recipes for the BGE has been a lot of fun this month. Saturday evening was the start of a long, slow, low temp cook for a 9lb pork butt.

Here's the way things went...

I trimmed the butt of exterior fat, leaving lots of marbling. Most of the fat is supposed to render out during the long, slow cook.
At least that's what Dad and Alton Brown say.



Rubbed it down heavily with a dry mixture of brown sugar, kosher salt, black pepper and everything worth using from the spice cabinet. Nutmeg? Why not?

Injected the 1 remaining tablespoon of rub along with 1/4 cup of worchestershire and cider vinegar.

Wrapped in plastic for 4 hours in the fridge

After 4 hours, took the butt out of the fridge to sit for 30 mins at room temp.

Fired up the egg for indirect heat. Including some large chunks of hickory in the coals.
Dropped in the BGE plate setter, legs up, drip pan in the gap.

Dropped in the rack and placed the butt over the drip pan.

Lots of beautiful good-smelling smoke, smoke and more smoke.












Adjusted the damper and top vents on the egg until it hung around 225 degrees.



Watched football (9 PM Saturday) went to bed (midnight)










Woke up at 7AM and went to check on the egg, which had gone out completely (DOH!!!!)

Popped the butt in the oven at 225 degrees, covered the top with foil, stuck in the probe thermometer and went about the day's activities (watching more football, diaper-changing, etc...)

Pondered what I had done wrong to make the cooker go out, lamented on the phone to David Henderson, a Big Green Egg veteran. Turns out I had not put large enough lumps of charcoal in the firebox, and sometime in the night, ash had probably fallen into the air intake holes. Chalk it up to experience.

At 5:30 PM (20 hours after starting the cook) the internal temp of the butt hit 195 F

Took the butt out of the oven and covered it in foil, set aside on the counter for 30 mins.

Unwrapped, pulled out the bone and shredded the whole thing using two forks









6:30 PM... DINNERTIME! (burp) more football, satisfaction

Got any good BBQ recipes, sauce or rub mix ideas? Email me. I won't divulge secrets... promise.


Smoke & Spice,

Travis

Big Green Egg - whole chicken

Santa (Bob & Ruth) brought us a medium BGE this Christmas. I have always heard good things about this ceramic cooker, and have been curious if the stories were just folks worshiping their device because of its "different" style and high-ish pricetag. Well, after cooking two dishes on the egg, Im a true believer. This thing is as stable as an oven. Its job is to cook with an even temperature without burning, and it does its job precisely as advertised. Wonderful when things do that.

Tonight, I washed and patted dry two whole frying chickens. Then brushed them with ollive oil nd rubbed on Mrs Dash spice mix. (no time for a fancy rub, maybe next time.)The egg was set up for direct cooking with the porcelain covered grate, allowed to come up to 500 degrees F, then the chickens went on (front to front) on full containers of beer. One is a "sittin chicken" I picked up at the BGE store, and the other is simply on an open can of Coors Light.
Per Karl's suggestion, I set the top daisy wheel so that the small openings were 100% open, and set the lower damper to halfway open. I added several small chips of dry hickory to the fire, then shut the lid. I did not peek for a full hour. At one hour, I poked in a quick-read thermo, yielding an internal meat temp of 160. I shut the lid again for another 30 mins and reached the final temp of 170 degrees F. Note, the BGE never varied below 275 or above 300 degrees F. Beautifully stable. I can never get this kind of consistency with my brinkman charcoal smoker.

Then we too the chickens off and rested them for 15 mins before pulling them.


I was pleasantly surprised that even the white meat fell right off the bone and the end result was a moist, succulent chicken with a crispy smoky skin.

People who may be considering the Big Green Egg, do it. You will not be disappointed with your purchase. This thing is super stable and the flavor coupled with the moisture retention is fantastic.

Happy grilling!

Travis

Sauce Wars IV Winner!

Zig, being the Swell Guy that he is, sent me a couple of bottles of the championship BBQ sauce that took the gold in Sauce Wars IV

Thanks man! Can't wait to try this stuff. The label states "Flavor You Can See" and that's the truth. There's some spice in this mix for sure.

Get yer' own at SwampSauce.com