So, I spent the weekend doing a barbecue roadtrip. I headed up north (in Sweden), to a non-profit event called Sundsvall BBQ. Sundsvall is the town where it was held. The idea was for a bunch of bbq teams to cook food and serve it to the public on Saturday. Everyone (visitors) paid a small fee at the door, and then they were free to visit each team and sample their food. It was done buffet style, so they could eat as much as they wanted, from whoever they wanted. Overall a great place to introduce good barbecue to the public!
So, I hooked up my offset smoker to the car and headed up. I had planned the event meticulously weeks before, as I was the only one on my team and I knew I had to optimize the work flow, as in: what to smoke, when, how do I serve it, et.c.
Heading out
​
The map says 4 hours, but it took 6 hours since I had a heavy trailer.
The location, a small marina. Talk about sweet spot! (teams just getting set up with tents 'n grills)
The food was supplied by sponsors, there was a truck load arriving with a few hundred pounds of meat. The selection was brisket, beef ribs, pork belly, salmon, (pork) ham, freshly made sausages, ribs, and some other stuff. Plus lots of greens like sweet potatoes, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, oranges, lemons.
I planned to do only long cooks, since I was just one man, and I had the biggest smoker. All the other teams were 3-5 people. So I did:
The Reuben: brisket served on rye with home made Russian dressing, saurkraut, cheese.
Beef ribs: just chopped it up in pieces, real finger food. If it ain't broken, don't fix it :-)
Pork belly sammies: Smoked pork belly slices served on a pumpernickel bread with sriracha sauce, spinach leaves and a dash of thick apple sauce (apple mash?)
Salmon on hard bread: Smoked salmon on rye hard bread with spinach leaves and a homemade lime sauce (yoghurt based).
Various veggies served with a homemade dressing made with greek yoghurt, allspice and honey. This sauce is a killer.
In the end when we split up the proteins and veggies there weren't too much salmon, so I offered my share to the other teams. I had enough on my plate as it was, so that was a smart move. The other teams were keen on doing the salmon too, so it was a win win.
Setup
I arrived on Friday evening and started setting everything up. There was a local beer producer offering a tasting on Friday night which was a nice surprice to the teams. I wasn't gonna drink anything for the whole weekend because I wanted to stay sharp, so I just sipped a few small shots. Since I knew I was gonna be up all night I went to bed at 9:30 pm trying to catch some zzz's. That went so so, I woke up at 10:15 pm. Oh well.
The cook
I fired up my pit and trimmed the rest of the meat. The beef ribs where gorgeous, and massive. Probably 6 inches thick, so I knew they had to go on first. They went on at 11 pm. I then trimmed the briskets and put them in my smoker at midnight, together with the pork bellies. The briskets were very large, but a bit thin, so I knew I had to wrap them in alu foil after the stall, which I did.
Overall I did 2 massive beef ribs, 6 pork bellies and 5 large briskets. It all fit in easily in my offset. Beautiful!
I stayed up all night tending the fire, it was a calm evening. Since I was a bit north the sun came up at 2 am (!).
The pork bellies were done at 5 am, so I wrapped them in tin foil and put them in the 'real' cambro. Yep, I have bought proper catering equipment. I took one brisket at 6 am, one at 7 am, and the rest at 7:30 am. The beef ribs were done at 07:45 am, and I could finally get some sleep. So I went to bed for 1.5 hours. During that time the other teams cooked breakfast. I missed that completely, but just had to rest up a bit before the crowd came in.
Midnight cooking
This was the first real test of my smoker, stuffing it with that much meat, but it sure delivered. I love how efficient it is, and how easy it is to maintain temp. And since it is so even in temps (within the food chamber), I don't have to move meats around or anything, just baby-sit it and feed it a stick or two every now and then. Love it.
Before serving
I fired up my smoker at 10:00 am again, I figured I would use it as warmer, and also 'dry up' the meat from the faux cambro. Did various prep, food station setup et.c.
Feeding the crowd
At 11 am the crowd rolled in, and it was so much fun! I served brisket, pork belly and beef ribs left and right. This was the best part. I sampled my food and must say I knocked this one out the park. Both the brisket, pork belly and beef ribs were divine. Super succulent with a very balanced oak wood flavor. Just gorgeous.
Large briskets
Pork bellies
Beef ribs
The appreciation
Serving people good food and seeing their smiles is such a beautiful thing. You know you nailed it when they don't even say anything, just roll their eyes and put on the biggest grin ever. One couple couldn't stop munching on my beef ribs, they came back 4 (!) times. Several others came back saying "are you the guy with the brisket everyone talks about?". Man, I had the time of my life!
Packing up
So on Saturday evening we packed everything up, and I was dead tired. I got up on Friday morning at 5 am, and by saturday evening I had slept a total of 2 hours 15 minutes. But it was worth every minute.
I managed to sell some of my books also, which felt great. It meant a lot that the other team members bought it.
Overall, I'll do this again anytime.
So, I hooked up my offset smoker to the car and headed up. I had planned the event meticulously weeks before, as I was the only one on my team and I knew I had to optimize the work flow, as in: what to smoke, when, how do I serve it, et.c.
Heading out
​
The map says 4 hours, but it took 6 hours since I had a heavy trailer.
The location, a small marina. Talk about sweet spot! (teams just getting set up with tents 'n grills)
The food was supplied by sponsors, there was a truck load arriving with a few hundred pounds of meat. The selection was brisket, beef ribs, pork belly, salmon, (pork) ham, freshly made sausages, ribs, and some other stuff. Plus lots of greens like sweet potatoes, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, oranges, lemons.
I planned to do only long cooks, since I was just one man, and I had the biggest smoker. All the other teams were 3-5 people. So I did:
The Reuben: brisket served on rye with home made Russian dressing, saurkraut, cheese.
Beef ribs: just chopped it up in pieces, real finger food. If it ain't broken, don't fix it :-)
Pork belly sammies: Smoked pork belly slices served on a pumpernickel bread with sriracha sauce, spinach leaves and a dash of thick apple sauce (apple mash?)
Salmon on hard bread: Smoked salmon on rye hard bread with spinach leaves and a homemade lime sauce (yoghurt based).
Various veggies served with a homemade dressing made with greek yoghurt, allspice and honey. This sauce is a killer.
In the end when we split up the proteins and veggies there weren't too much salmon, so I offered my share to the other teams. I had enough on my plate as it was, so that was a smart move. The other teams were keen on doing the salmon too, so it was a win win.
Setup
I arrived on Friday evening and started setting everything up. There was a local beer producer offering a tasting on Friday night which was a nice surprice to the teams. I wasn't gonna drink anything for the whole weekend because I wanted to stay sharp, so I just sipped a few small shots. Since I knew I was gonna be up all night I went to bed at 9:30 pm trying to catch some zzz's. That went so so, I woke up at 10:15 pm. Oh well.
The cook
I fired up my pit and trimmed the rest of the meat. The beef ribs where gorgeous, and massive. Probably 6 inches thick, so I knew they had to go on first. They went on at 11 pm. I then trimmed the briskets and put them in my smoker at midnight, together with the pork bellies. The briskets were very large, but a bit thin, so I knew I had to wrap them in alu foil after the stall, which I did.
Overall I did 2 massive beef ribs, 6 pork bellies and 5 large briskets. It all fit in easily in my offset. Beautiful!
I stayed up all night tending the fire, it was a calm evening. Since I was a bit north the sun came up at 2 am (!).
The pork bellies were done at 5 am, so I wrapped them in tin foil and put them in the 'real' cambro. Yep, I have bought proper catering equipment. I took one brisket at 6 am, one at 7 am, and the rest at 7:30 am. The beef ribs were done at 07:45 am, and I could finally get some sleep. So I went to bed for 1.5 hours. During that time the other teams cooked breakfast. I missed that completely, but just had to rest up a bit before the crowd came in.
Midnight cooking
This was the first real test of my smoker, stuffing it with that much meat, but it sure delivered. I love how efficient it is, and how easy it is to maintain temp. And since it is so even in temps (within the food chamber), I don't have to move meats around or anything, just baby-sit it and feed it a stick or two every now and then. Love it.
Before serving
I fired up my smoker at 10:00 am again, I figured I would use it as warmer, and also 'dry up' the meat from the faux cambro. Did various prep, food station setup et.c.
Feeding the crowd
At 11 am the crowd rolled in, and it was so much fun! I served brisket, pork belly and beef ribs left and right. This was the best part. I sampled my food and must say I knocked this one out the park. Both the brisket, pork belly and beef ribs were divine. Super succulent with a very balanced oak wood flavor. Just gorgeous.
Large briskets
Pork bellies
Beef ribs
The appreciation
Serving people good food and seeing their smiles is such a beautiful thing. You know you nailed it when they don't even say anything, just roll their eyes and put on the biggest grin ever. One couple couldn't stop munching on my beef ribs, they came back 4 (!) times. Several others came back saying "are you the guy with the brisket everyone talks about?". Man, I had the time of my life!
Packing up
So on Saturday evening we packed everything up, and I was dead tired. I got up on Friday morning at 5 am, and by saturday evening I had slept a total of 2 hours 15 minutes. But it was worth every minute.
I managed to sell some of my books also, which felt great. It meant a lot that the other team members bought it.
Overall, I'll do this again anytime.
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