What are YOU grilling for Labor Day?

[58limited]

I'm copycatting DaveD and cooking a tri tip tomorrow. I also have to cook six pounds of Texas style sausage that I made today. I'll do the sausage on the KBQ starting at 150^o for the first couple of hours then I'll go to 200^o until an IT of 155^o or so. The tri tip will be cooked on the SnS Kamado, reverse sear method.

Wild Fork tri tip, about 2.5 lbs. I had to shave one area of freezer burn, this showed up more in the photo than in person. It was very thin and I didn't notice it until I looked at the photo.



Seasoned with OakRidge BBQ Santa Maria seasoning - I haven't used this seasoning yet - and into the fridge overnight.



Sausage - simple pork and beef recipe (I used venison and brisket blend and pork): https://youtu.be/LSqy6iNSk5I?si=oD73IibDp346yfX4

I have so much ground meat in the freezer right now that it is pretty easy to make a spur of the moment batch of sausage - just season the meat and stuff into casings.

Well, I see that I moved when I took the pic, too lazy to retake it so here ya go:

[fzxdoc]

Fork in hand, waiting for the results report...which may just be a scroll or two down the page, hopefully.

K.

[klflowers]

No pics but the brisket flat my cousin did came out pretty good. It was a little dry but the flavor was spot on. He also did some ribs that were excellent. My only coaching contribution was to say just leave it alone; it will be ok. And don't worry so much about pit temps; 275 is ok. And lastly, who cares if it is 190 or 205. Does that probe go in like buttah?

[SheilaAnn]

Spoken like a true Pitmaster klflowers

[fzxdoc]

You done good.

K.

[Huskee]

My garage band mates and I put on a little gig for friends & family yesterday at my buddy Dave's place, his wife's dad has been a career drummer for decades and was recently given only a few months to live (kidney failure among many other things), so we put on a little show for him playing a few of his favorites spanning a few decades. He even played one song with us, albeit at a much slower tempo because he is so weak. It was touching and memorable.

Anyway, my buddy Dave planned smashburgers on his griddle and dogs on his charcoal grill. He asked me if I'd pick one to cook one for him, and since I was wearing a white t-shirt I opted for the dogs (less splattering to stain my shirt). So I cooked hot dogs, lol. But I did pour an entire chimney of blazing lump charcoal while wearing sandals and didn't get burnt toes.

[DaveD]

Wow, that really tugs at the heartstrings... good on ya for using the power of music for your friend.

[fzxdoc]

What a touching story. I bet he really appreciated your concert.

K.

[Michael_in_TX]

Ribs might be going back in the freezer for a later time. It is supposed to let up around 3 pm; I'm make my go/no-go decision a bit before that.

[JustKyle]

Seeing as I am a die hard union member and a proud member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, I’m going extra for Labor Day. I’m doing a Prime Rib. Will be doing a garlic, rosemary, thyme, shallot, butter rub and smoking it to medium rare, mashed potatoes & broccoli (gotta so something healthy).

[DaveD]

Wow! That sounds amazing!

[Rob Johnston]

Ribs, Ribs and more Ribs!

[realdocBBQ]

Just like jlazar I am trying Kenji and Clint Cantwell's method of sous vide babybacks. I gotta give credik though to Clint, as Kenji did his entirely indoors and with liquid smoke. I'm not going that route, I'm following Clint's lead and actually smoking them.

I did one rack of babybacks and one racks of St. Louis. Salted, seasoned with MMD+ and bagged with the Avid Armor and double sealed the ends. Then placed each in a second bag and double sealed both ends AGAIN. Taking no chances here.

Placed in the fridge overnight, sealed in their bags for about 12 hours.

Placed in the water bath yesterday morning at 152ºF. Right now, as I type, they are about.... 21½ hours in. I doubt I'll make it to the full 24 hours, because that would mean I'd need to be around here till 0945, and I really need to get to the shop to get some work done, so I can come home and get some smoking done this afternoon. Nothing really special, it's just The Wife and me. Kids blew us off this weekend and stayed at college. So, it'll be a relatively low-key dinner with just the two of us, some ribs (ok, a lot of ribs), broccoli or Brussels sprouts and some mashed taters. Oh, and she's gonna do some of her "homemade cheater rolls" I think. That is, Ms. Baird's or some such frozen rolls. They're great.

I'm really looking forward to the ribs, I have a feeling they're going to be superb. My only problem is trying to decide how to smoke them - Weber kettle for ease, Yoder pellet for even more ease, or fire up the stickburner and really try to get the best smoke and bark I can achieve in a short period - maybe 1-2 hours max? I'm leaning towards The Duk, my backyard 80-gallon, as I haven't used it in a few weeks, I think, and I really want to get the best result I can achieve for this first foray into sous vie/que ribs BUT... I honestly think I might want to semi-sear the racks towards the end. No sauce for us. Although, now that I thnk about it, I can get one helluva top-down sear on the The Duk if I put them on the top rack and crank the heat the last 20 minutes or so.

So maybe I've talked myself into it... I dunno, we'll see how my day working in the shop goes and if I have the energy to fire up The Duk at the end of it all. Probably won't be out there all day, just 6 or 7 hours, so I still have time to get dinner cooked up. It'll be time to pull the ribs outta sous vide soon, back into the fridge, and then off to get to work.

[Jfrosty27]

No set plans but I have a few things in the fridge and ready to go. Fresh brats from my favorite local butcher. Thick cut, bone in, Berkshire pork chops from Wild fork. These baby’s are huge and tender when smoked low and slow on the Recteq. BLT’s with some very thick cut homemade bacon from a local Pitmaster friend and fresh picked tomatoes. Yum. And I suspect there’ll be a pizza in there somewhere. Happy Holiday!

Well I’ve stuck to my plan so far. All I have left to do is the chops which will be for dinner tonight. Wifey wants teriyaki pork so I put the chops in a ziplock bag and dumped some teriyaki marinade on them last night. I’l smoke them on the RT as I usually do. They turn out pretty good this way. Happy Labor Day!

[GolfGeezer]

Pre-LD dinner. Teriyaki wings on the SnS with some Uncle Ben's rice. The wings are from Wildfork - they seem to be the only place around here that sells whole wings. My pics s**k - I'm blaming my Samsung Galaxy 'cause it obviously can't be my lack of skills .....

PS Beef plate ribs in the frig ready for this morning's launch, but no pic (yet).

[Panhead John]

Pics look great Sam, nuttin’ wrong with em! The only thing I see that’s out of whack is your decision to wear socks with sandals. 🥸

[GolfGeezer]

Panhead John Not a choice I get to make- SWMBO insists on "shoes off" in the house. Maybe if I dropped some hot ash on my feet and the socks burn, that might change her mind. Not counting on it though...😎

[58limited]

The wings look great! Opposite here, I can usually only find whole wings at the store but I don't mind - they are cheaper, easy to cut up if I wish, and I keep the tips for stock.

[58limited]

So far...cooked earlier than I intended due to impending weather. Tri tip is wrapped in foil in a warm oven, sausage actually took longer since I started at a low temp with a smoky fire. I cooled them in an ice bath and they are sitting out blooming right now. I'll cook a few for dinner but most will be vacuum sealed and frozen.

Sausage on the KBQ first, started at 150^o and when they hit 120^o I bumped the temp to 200^o until they hit 155^o and cooled them down.



Tri tip on the SnSK, cooked at 225^o until an IT of 125^o then rested while the fire got hot, seared then wrapped to hold in the oven.



Sausage is ready for the water bath.



Sausage blooming on the counter.

[58limited]

Might have made a major boo boo: I wasn't paying attention to the oven which was set on the lowest setting. I think it went too high. I'll know when I cut into the tri tip. If its over done then I guess it will become chopped beef or maybe I'll simmer it in a chili verde.

[TripleB]

Sausage looking good Dave.

[fzxdoc]

Well? How was the sausage and TT? Still hoping that continuing to scroll down will result in a dinnerplate photo. I'm curious to know how you liked that rub on your TT.

K.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Well, last night was a rollercoaster... shredding up the pork in the next half hour or so https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...32#post1641132

[Jfrosty27]

Pork chops just went on the RT running at 275. I’ll post the finished product later in SUWYC.

[Panhead John]

Killer looking chops Jim!

[HawkerXP]

Wibs!

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

As mentioned above this cook was a rollercoaster. End result is good but I wish the weather would have held out for some better bark.

[58limited]

That looks really good despite the weather.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

58limited other than the weak bark it's good stuff

[Panhead John]

Bark looks great to me Greg!

[jlazar]

Sous Vide Baby Backs for 24 hrs at 151F. Ice bath cooled and in fridge for 3 hours. Took less than an hour on the kettle at 225 to bring up to IT 160. Definitely fall off the bone ribs. Moist but with more of a chop texture. This is the way to go if you want fall off the bone and no monitoring/wrapping, etc. Don't think I would try it with SLC ribs due to higher fat content. Definitely need to flip meat side down to cut or they tend to shred.

[TripleB]

Well you answered my main question on SV ribs. Another question - Did you add any wood chunks and if so, did you get any smoke flavor on the ribs?

[fzxdoc]

Good to know. Some folks like FOtB ribs. A couple of my family members do. I still prefer more texture and adherence to the bone. Maybe a shorter time in the SV for the next go-round?

K.

[jlazar]

TripleB Added 3 apple chunks. Also added 3 drops of liquid smoke to each sous vide bag. Next time I will try it without the drops. It did have a nice mild smoke flavor. I did not try them before glazing to see how much smoke there was, so I think the sauce may have masked some.

fzxdoc Per Clint and Kenji, the time is right. Its just the way they come out sous vide.