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Hi Everyone,
So I load everything up this last friday and head to Iowa so I can cook for a family reunion. This is gonna be a challenge as the Missouri River flooding has closed the highway I use in several spots. Won't do me much good to get on the interstate and then get off, get on and get off, so I found a different way. With my trailer on secondary roads, it added an hour and 15 to the one way drive time.
Got there late, and jumped out of bed the next day to fire up the rig and get some Que on. The sis's kids were dinking around and I grabbed my camera only to find out that the battery icon was flashing at me...didn't bring a charger in my haste to get everything I needed for the cook...decided that we didn't need prep pics or stuff in the smoker. Reserved battery life for the important things...a few pics of the kids.
Here we are set up in the driveway pumping some awesome smelling smoke into the neighborhood I grew up in.
On the menu was Angus brisket and burnt ends, Ribs, Chicken, Sausage, and beans. I also decided to do something I never do...try a new rub for the first time for a large gathering. Paul was gracious enough to send me some rub a while back, and I have been so busy that I haven't been able to try it and share my thoughts...well today was the day. I used Paul's rub on 3 racks of spare ribs, and Hunky on 3 racks. I smoked them with cherry wood and spritzed with concentrated apple juice. My personal tip from this trip...I like to buy the frozen concentrate apple juice and mix it strong. It says add three cans of water, I only add 1 1/2 or 2 so the juice is strong. Here is a pic of some of the finished ribs...
Here are my thoughts....Using the concentrated apple juice really left the ribs with a great taste. It was almost like the ribs were a bit sticky from being glazed. Pauls Beer B Q Rub was really tasty. Everyone liked the ribs and the skirt meat that I doctored with rub as taste samples disappeared in a flash. I could easily recommend this rub to anyone as the ribs were delicious. I initially thought that the sticky glaze action came from the sugar in the rub, but since the hunky ribs had a bit of sticky on them too, it had to be the apple juice.
The Hunky Ribs were also a big hit. The apple juice sweetness and the sweet cherry wood smoke really blended well with the savory rub.
I can't declare a throwdown winner only to say that either of these will produce a fantastic taste on some apple juice basted spares. The sis's kids were all over these. The 60+ people at the reunion were too.
Nephew Hamming it up with a gigantor rib bone...they loved the ribs and when I asked them which they liked better they had a tough time choosing.
Thanks to Paul for the rub sample...I will use it again and again and provide more feedback hopefully on a weekend cook where I can take some better pics.
Here is my Nephew with "brisket tongue". He is a crack-up
I couldn't let this go without a pic of my niece...she is adorable and what a little rock she is. Will probably be a gymnast or something...she can kick her bro's asses.
a crappy pic of some awesome eats...chicken, brisket, ribs, sausage.
Here is a wind farm that I stumbled across...these things were massive and this pic through my bug smeared windshield doesn't do them justice, but they were pretty impressive.
Here is a pic of the flooding that has closed the interstate...this is miles away from the river. I saw complete farms...houses, barns, silos sitting in the middle of giant lakes. Pretty sad.
At one point when I got back on the interstate, I was cruising along and all of the sudden the road went to 1 lane...because there were giant bags filled with gravel on both sides with water on both sides...SON OF A....kinda wierd to be driving through a tunnel of sand bags in a flood.
Sorry for such few pics, but the food was great...best beans I have ever made, and a new rub to add to full rotation in the arsenal. The extended family were blown away by the food...they even took up a collection and insisted that I take it...I think they want to make sure I can come back again next year!
So I load everything up this last friday and head to Iowa so I can cook for a family reunion. This is gonna be a challenge as the Missouri River flooding has closed the highway I use in several spots. Won't do me much good to get on the interstate and then get off, get on and get off, so I found a different way. With my trailer on secondary roads, it added an hour and 15 to the one way drive time.
Got there late, and jumped out of bed the next day to fire up the rig and get some Que on. The sis's kids were dinking around and I grabbed my camera only to find out that the battery icon was flashing at me...didn't bring a charger in my haste to get everything I needed for the cook...decided that we didn't need prep pics or stuff in the smoker. Reserved battery life for the important things...a few pics of the kids.
Here we are set up in the driveway pumping some awesome smelling smoke into the neighborhood I grew up in.
On the menu was Angus brisket and burnt ends, Ribs, Chicken, Sausage, and beans. I also decided to do something I never do...try a new rub for the first time for a large gathering. Paul was gracious enough to send me some rub a while back, and I have been so busy that I haven't been able to try it and share my thoughts...well today was the day. I used Paul's rub on 3 racks of spare ribs, and Hunky on 3 racks. I smoked them with cherry wood and spritzed with concentrated apple juice. My personal tip from this trip...I like to buy the frozen concentrate apple juice and mix it strong. It says add three cans of water, I only add 1 1/2 or 2 so the juice is strong. Here is a pic of some of the finished ribs...
Here are my thoughts....Using the concentrated apple juice really left the ribs with a great taste. It was almost like the ribs were a bit sticky from being glazed. Pauls Beer B Q Rub was really tasty. Everyone liked the ribs and the skirt meat that I doctored with rub as taste samples disappeared in a flash. I could easily recommend this rub to anyone as the ribs were delicious. I initially thought that the sticky glaze action came from the sugar in the rub, but since the hunky ribs had a bit of sticky on them too, it had to be the apple juice.
The Hunky Ribs were also a big hit. The apple juice sweetness and the sweet cherry wood smoke really blended well with the savory rub.
I can't declare a throwdown winner only to say that either of these will produce a fantastic taste on some apple juice basted spares. The sis's kids were all over these. The 60+ people at the reunion were too.
Nephew Hamming it up with a gigantor rib bone...they loved the ribs and when I asked them which they liked better they had a tough time choosing.
Thanks to Paul for the rub sample...I will use it again and again and provide more feedback hopefully on a weekend cook where I can take some better pics.
Here is my Nephew with "brisket tongue". He is a crack-up
I couldn't let this go without a pic of my niece...she is adorable and what a little rock she is. Will probably be a gymnast or something...she can kick her bro's asses.
a crappy pic of some awesome eats...chicken, brisket, ribs, sausage.
Here is a wind farm that I stumbled across...these things were massive and this pic through my bug smeared windshield doesn't do them justice, but they were pretty impressive.
Here is a pic of the flooding that has closed the interstate...this is miles away from the river. I saw complete farms...houses, barns, silos sitting in the middle of giant lakes. Pretty sad.
At one point when I got back on the interstate, I was cruising along and all of the sudden the road went to 1 lane...because there were giant bags filled with gravel on both sides with water on both sides...SON OF A....kinda wierd to be driving through a tunnel of sand bags in a flood.
Sorry for such few pics, but the food was great...best beans I have ever made, and a new rub to add to full rotation in the arsenal. The extended family were blown away by the food...they even took up a collection and insisted that I take it...I think they want to make sure I can come back again next year!
I don't have any of Paul's rub, but I do have enough Hunky to cover a batch of ribs.
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