KBQ Recipes and Procedures

[BBQ_Bill]

Looking for solid KBQ recipes and procedures that anyone with this smoker can follow and successfully duplicate the results.
Please follow a format that gives the ingredients, times, temperatures and procedures for success.
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My hopes are that these KBQ recipes along with instructions, placement of meats, such as bone or fat side up/down, settings for the smoke poppets, etc will help all us KBQ owners to produce incredible eats the very first time the recipe is tried.
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That's the goal anyway and if we post well, this will work!
So far, looking great!
I gotta post a good one here for sure.

[BBQ_Bill]

Am needing a 2" thick pork steak recipe.

[pmillen]

PRIME RIB ROAST ON THE C-60

This is a variation on John Setzler's recipe for cooking a prime rib roast on a Kamado. The general instructions work fine on the KBQ.

Ambient temperature....... 63° at start
Wind.................................. Calm
C-60 temperature.............. 250°
Cook duration.................... 4½ hours
Wood consumed 12 brick-sized pieces (9 oak, 3 cherry)


A 19 lb. Costco Choice prime rib roast. I could see what I thought to be a bit of silver skin peeking out from under the fat cap.


Yep. There was a lot of silver skin that needed to be trimmed away.


Trussed and seasoned. Ready to rest in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Ingredients
Prime rib roast
Worcestershire sauce
Salt/Pepper/Garlic blend rub
1½ tablespoons flour
2 cups cold beef broth

Prime Rib Directions

1. Using the Worcestershire sauce as a binder, season the meat liberally with the Salt/Pepper/Garlic blend, wrap it in plastic or vacuum seal it and put it back in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours.
2. No rub except for the SPG applied in step 1.
3. No sear, neither before nor after the roasting.
4. Smoke-roast at 250°F until the internal temperature in the thickest part is 128°F if resting or 132°F if not.
5. Catch the drippings for au jus.
6. When it's done cooking, let it rest unwrapped for 10 minutes or so and then wrap it in foil and let it rest another 30 minutes.
7. While the meat is resting, prepare the beef au jus.

Beef Au Jus Directions

1. Catch the prime rib drippings. It’s best to use a roasting pan that can go directly onto the kitchen range burners.
2. Warm the captured drippings over medium-high heat and sprinkle in a 1½ tablespoons of flour in two steps, whisking continually. (This is not a thick gravy.)
3. Continue whisking and scraping the fond free.
4. After a couple of minutes, drizzle in 2 cups of cold beef broth.
5. Raise to high heat, bring to a boil and it’s ready.

EDIT:
I thought that I should post the Pit temperature graph. It ran most of the time at ± 2° around the center (4° from peak to valley). Small periodic adjustments ran it along my 250° target. I don't think temperature swings are very significant to the output quality, but affect the cook duration, and I need to time the sides so they hit the table with the entrée.

[pmillen]

When I served it, I kept some au jus simmering in an enameled cast iron frying pan behind me. If someone asked for their serving to be cooked a bit more, I simmered it in the au jus for a minute. It doesn't cook it much but it appears to be because it comes out nicely browned. They get a MR piece of meat that looks medium (no red myoglobin).

[BBQ_Bill]

So cool! As a young man, still in high school, I did this exact same thing for Prime Rib at Paulos, a Greek Steak and Chop house in Tucson, Arizona.

[Craigar]

pmillen That's a brilliant trick! I will have to pull that trick on my MIL the next time she's invited for prime rib.

[Dr. Pepper]

pmillen RE: dipping the 'too rare for me' slice into warm gravy is a great move. The recipient feels 'better' about their meal, yet still enjoys the tender moistness of an 'a punto' slice of meat. Kind of like serving our vegetarian guests meatless pasta; they don't have to know that there were two filets of anchovies blended into the hot olive oil and pepper flakes in the bottom of the saute pan! (OK, I'm not discussing politics or religion, just deception for the ultimate benefit of those who are deceived. 😏) (To paraphrase from My Big Fat Greek Wedding: 'Oh, you're a vegetarian. No problem, we're serving lamb!')

[BBQ_Bill]

Luv it!
The dark brown color of the juice actually stains the surface of the meat, making it look as if it has been cooked a bit more.

[pmillen]

Most of the people who are opposed to rare or medium rare meat feel that way because they aren't comfortable with he redness. They call it bloody. They don't know that the blood is drained from the animal during the butchering process. The red liquid they see is myoglobin, a protein in the meat that turns red when exposed to oxygen and brown when heated. I just camouflage the myoglobin and they are happy.

[BBQ_Bill]

Well my friends...
I have updated my beef rib processing, and KBQ smoking procedure recently.
My thoughts are that they are now more flavorful than before, however, if they are not better in actuality, but I find that my latest process simply makes me "FEEL" better... I basically just go ahead and do it.
(So as Guga says, "Let's Dew It!)
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To start off with, when I say beef ribs, I am referring to the meaty beef chuck ribs or the meaty beef plate ribs.
As a note, these latest experimental procedures are for both types.
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My latest beef rib experimental process and smoke in the KBQ is as shown below.
I am having fun and playing with things so as always, you may like it or maybe not, but either way, it's here for your viewing:
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First off, I open the cryovac bag and rinse them with cool water.
Then, with the bone side of the beef rack placed down and against the cutting board...
I removed ALL external fat off of the top "meat" side of the ribs, and I removed the membrane on that side as well.
This seems important to me as I believe that fat cannot build an extremely flavorful bark like a meat surface does.
My thoughts are that beef ribs are well marbled with internal fat and will not dry out as bad as a brisket flat will.
For this reason I removed all top surface fat. (I left the bone side alone and did not process it at all)
So I left the two bottom (bone side) membranes on and fully intact.
This seemed important to me because I discovered that the bone-side membrane makes it incredibly easy to check for final doneness.
This bone-side membrane cooks and will become more tender in time, so it is a valuable "indicator" as to just how close each rack of ribs is to being done.
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I also decided to keep the ribs whole, as a complete rack. I now plan to do this whether they are 3-rib or 4-rib racks.
My discovery was that during this new hotter and faster cooking method, being whole helped to prevent them from drying out really bad.
Both of the ribs on the ends of each rack were dry on the outside edges.
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All rubs on beef ribs are currently being applied by "EYE" because after repetition, I now seem to know when to stop sprinkling things on.
Also, I have discovered that it's hard to actually over-do pepper on them. Just look at some on-line videos where they "dip" the ribs in pepper and "shovel" it on. (I am seeing a major pepper coating online at top beef rib houses)
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So I'm currently spritzing with Apple Cider Vinegar, and then a medium layer of rub by "eye" using a 50/50 salt/pepper by volume mix.
My salt is Morton's Kosher Salt due to Aaron's recommendation.
Afterwards, I spritz and rub them with a nice sprinkle of medley pepper, again simply by eye as it is really hard to mess them up.
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As a note...
I like ALL of my applied peppers to be a 1/16" grind size.
Again this is due to Aaron's recommendation.
He states it is good as it "catches" more smoke due to the increased surface roughness.
(Seems to make sense to me anyway)
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Finally, I am spritzing and rubbing them with a red very mild Hatch pepper flake.
FYI, this Hatch has had all of the seeds removed and is also a 1/16" flake or grind size.
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I always place the bone sides down in the preheated and ready KBQ smoker AND keep them closer to the door so that they are farther from the heat manifold in the back.
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Aaron Franklin states...
"Cook them too low and too slow and the fat will not render correctly."
"Cook them too hot and too fast and they will dry out before getting tender."
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So after looking for (And Finding) my KBQ smoking Hot and Fast limits, my absolute latest idea is to try to smoke them at a 243°F average. (255°F was too hot and it kept seeming to creep up to 260°F and higher and they dried out a bit)
This chamber temperature is measured by a FireBoard probe placed in the middle of a centrally located KBQ rack.
Basically this temperature probe is attached to a KBQ rack and is in-between two other KBQ racks loaded up with the racks of beef ribs.
My reasoning is to keep the smoke chamber temperature probe away from the "bubble" of moist cooler air that is right next to the meat.
The 243°F was derived (but not tried yet) from pushing the temperature up until the ribs actually dried out before they got done. (See photos below)
Am thinking that the KBQ convection 243°F somewhat equates to 268°F in an offset smoker?
(Common recommendations are that convection oven cooking should be done at 25° F below conventional oven cooking)
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So... at the start of hour number three, I then added hot water to the bottom pans in the KBQ.
I waited to add water to begin the cook with a dryer smoker in an attempt to brown the ribs surfaces better and more quickly.
For the first three hours I want the meats surfaces to be dry for the same reason, so no spritzing after the initial spray added to aid in rub (pepper) retention.
I'll spritz with Apple Cider Vinegar at the beginning of the 3rd hour and then once every hour from then on.
At the beginning of the 5th hour, I added more hot water to the pans below.
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As recommended by Aaron Franklin, I do spritz often near the end of the smoke which is about from the 6th hour on.
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After six hours, I found the color to be looking quite nice but still not as dark as I'd like them to be.
As the professor Greg Blonder and others have pointed out, the dark red color one sees on ribs comes from being heated and cooked, like in a simple kitchen oven.
This color is nothing special really as some seem to think.
That surface color can change in a smoker, and depending on the quality of the smoke and the time therein, will darken, even turning black, like tar if bathed in enough large molecule smoke and given enough time.
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Anyway...
As time went on, I continued smoking and checking for dry spots and spritzing as needed.
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ARE THEY DONE YET?
Depending on how large they are, in my experience, these racks of beef ribs smoked at a 225°F to 235°F average, will take about 9 or 10 hours to get to where they are completely done.
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In this new experimental hot and fast cook, they took only 7 hours to reach perfection in doneness.
How to Check if Done...
The check for doneness is sweet, easy and works great.
I poked a Thermapen meat probe in-between the ribs from the top meat side downwards towards the bottom membrane side, paying no attention to the temperature reading. (They are generally a bit over 200°F IT when getting close)
My desire at this time is to focus on the feel and not a specific number.
I'm wanting to carefully feel the resistance of the meat to the probes penetration.
When the probe hits that membrane across the bones on the bottom side, I am now feeling for the resistance of that membrane to penetration.
As the probe pierces through that membrane, I note the resistance as this happens.
The Thermapen is made with a thin point area that changes to a thicker section. Many temperature probes are designed this way.
Anyway, as it pierces the membrane, I can feel the double "bump" when it actually breaks through the membrane.
(It really was an enjoyable learning experience that Aaron Franklin briefly mentioned. Am thinking that I saw this in his Master Class lesson on Beef ribs?)
Anyway, to continue to expand on his brief mention of the back membrane check... Basically the more done the beef rib rack is, the easier the probe breaks through that bottom membrane.
So the pressure perceived as the probes point breaks through changes in time, and becomes lighter and easier as the rack of ribs moves closer to being done.
When finally tender and the back or bone side membrane is puncturing through easily with little resistance, I pull them from the smoker.
Another note:
To really get the feel of what done versus not done feels like, try this...
(BBQ Bill luvs to experiment)
After slicing the rack into individual ribs, before you eat that thang, take one and run your probe point through the cooked membrane near the cut edge. Next, place your probe at an angle, and run it through closer to the bone. You will feel a huge difference in the memranes resistance to your probe point. When I did this, it seemed to me that the membrane covering the bone was simply less cooked due to the bone protecting it, and was tougher to pierce. (Just a guess)
Anyway, on another note Aaron states:
They should be close to falling off the bone, but not quite when absolutely perfect.
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THE HOLD (Embrace the hold)
Contrary to my former beliefs, they DO need to be held at 148°F to make them better.
When I say better, with a few hours of holding they become WAY better, like WOW better!
First, I wrap two or three racks in aluminum foil.
Next I then wrap them in plastic wrap over the foil.
With three racks of ribs in a bunch, I will funnel about 1/4 cup of hot water though a hole I punch in the plastic wrap.
I will then wrap a couple of layers of plastic wrap over the hole to "seal" the moisture in.
This hot water is in-between the foil and the plastic wrap.
In time, the meat will draw the water in and distribute the moisture throughout.
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After probing done, they are wrapped as explained and placed in a holding cabinet @ 148°F for several hours to redistribute moisture, and they REALLY do get much better. EVERYONE noticed after eating a rib straight off of the smoker and then eating one the next morning.
It was like, Wow! Are these the same ribs or what?
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My past experience has been that after too long, like 48-55 hours in the 148°F hold, the meat fiber texture will begin to change ever so slightly.
This change that I have detected was that the actual "mouth feel" while being chewed would slightly begin to exhibit a fine "chalky" like texture.
This very fine grainy feel becomes more noticeable the longer they are held after two days or so.
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Photo 1) Removing the thick membrane and fat covering the meat.
Photo 2) Three hours in, time to spritz.
Photo 3) Seven hours in the smoke and probing perfectly done, however...
If you look closely at the final photo below, you can see that too hot and fast made them a bit dry.





I will come back later and edit typos, grammar, etc.

[SmokeyNate]

Great write up BBQ_Bill Thanks for taking the time to detail your findings. I am going to have to give these a try. Due to a remodeling project I have yet to fire up my new KBQ but hopefully soon.

[MartinNC]

BBQ_Bill I have a question about holding the meat. If I finish brisket or beef ribs by 6pm one evening, wrap them in foil to retain moisture, and plan to serve at lunch the next day; how does that affect the meat texture and taste in your experience? (I know the bark will suffer some). Does it dry out? What temp are you holding at? I shoot for 145, but you mentioned a higher temp. Thank you for your time! Keep smoking my friend.

[SoCalGeo]

Great post, thanks Bill. Been looking at beef rib techniques for a long time. I have a commercial weekends-only enterprise and ideally I prefer to prep a few days in advance, and finish over charcoal at point of sale. My goal is to guarantee a tender, moist rib and with my constraints it all keys on the pre-cook technique. I could use sous vide, but I have space and equipment limitations. I have tried wrapping in foil and baking in an oven for 2 or 3 hours at 140 degree, then into a fridge.

[BBQ_Bill]

MartinNC
I find that beef rib bark is more forgiving than beef brisket bark when holding in regards to becoming soft.
Really don't know why, it just works out that way for me.
My best guess is that the packer brisket has way more moisture in it when compared to a rib, but as stated, that is just a guess.
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I hold beef ribs as mentioned in the above post, foil wrapped, plastic wrap over the foil, water added inside the plastic, held at 148°F.
I began to hold at that temperature when I "spied" on Aaron Franklin using an odd method and that is what his "back room" cabinet was set to.
Both beef ribs and packer brisket will be much better held for a longish period than if served fresh.
This is absolute, with no doubt whatsoever.
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I have held literally hundreds of packers wrapped in butcher paper with plastic wrap over.
Many were held for over 18 hours and texture is ever so slightly different in the brisket, but almost not discernible in that short time.
I notice this because I am LOOKING for anything different and in the examination/inspection I pick up on that ever so slight chalky, or super fine grainy mouth-feel when chewing and moving the meat around in my mouth trying to detect anything that feels or tastes different after the 2 hour rest and 10 hour hold.
Brisket flavor and mouth-feel after 2 + 10 is simply better, period.
I believe this to be true for both beef ribs and for brisket.
You see...
Aaron Franklin has a choice, and he rests his 100 or so packer briskets for about two hours and then holds them for 10 to 11 hours on purpose.
He does this day in and day out because he KNOWS they are better after the long hold.
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My method to re-set the bark is 45 minutes in my large dehydrator set at 160°F.
This is done when I want to really WOW special customers or at an important occasion.
I do this with $140 CreekStone Farms prime packers and am sure they could win comps.
The bark firms up and has a delicate crunch on the surface.
The two-hour rest, the 10-hour holding and finally the 45 minute dehydrating of beef brisket is my most HIGHLY recommended procedure when you are wanting to REALLY "blow" people away.
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One might argue that the hold will "wash" the smoke flavor out of the bark.
I find that with the KBQ, most are LOOKING for smoke flavor due to the very light smoke profile it naturally imbues.
Basically, if it got "washed out" in the hold, I would not know it.
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I paper wrap my packers after the color looks good and before they start dumping gelatin into my smoker.
Just before I wrap them the bark is overly crunchy, but becomes almost perfect in the rest and 10 hour hold.
The short stint in the dehydrator "perks" up the very exterior surface of the bark, making it exquisite in my opinion and in my "expert eaters" opinions as well.

[MartinNC]

This is an awesome explanation and am grateful for your time in responding. I tend to use foil rather than paper. I will have to do some more experimenting. I salute your expertise. Keep smoking my friend.

[hogdog6]

As always I'm learning so much from your Excellent writing
Thank you BBQ_Bill for sharing.

[BBQ_Bill]

I want to thank all of you for your kind words.
My personality does seem to most that I am a "ramble on" fellow but generally, I am wanting to share my successes and failures so that others can benefit from my revelations and falls.
Again, a humble, Thank You Guys.

[teamrider17]

Bbq Bill any tips on smoking a 13lb turkey on the kbq

[Ronaldf123]

BBQ_Bill after you take the meat out of the KBQ, what do you do to it for the rest period, and then the hold period? Is it different? Still trying to get my courage up,to cook one. Also is it possible to cut a brisket into smaller pieces before cooking and still have it come out? Small family, I’m not sure what we would do with all the meat of a large one.

[Santamarina]

I always cut my packers in half because I have a smaller vertical offset stickburner and a whole packer is too long to fit. Always comes out great.

Also, my family of four (two are young boys) has no trouble devouring a packer. If the neighbors and friends don’t come over and finish it off that day we usually kill one in a couple days, so there’s no waste!