Jan 7, 2007 Posted in Cooking, Magazine Articles

Barbeque

Teton Home & Living | January 2007

Barbeque is extremely popular these days. It seems to be a growing trend in our local restaurant scene and our own backyards. One of the newest and busiest local restaurants is Q Roadhouse Barbeque in Jackson Hole on Teton Village Road. The longstanding, successful Knotty Pine bar and restaurant in Victor, Idaho has added a grand new smoker that is enhancing patrons dining experience. It’s no wonder this savory, succulent style of cooking is filling our bellies and our imaginations. The rich, complex flavors are enjoyable in themselves or accompanied by many lively side dishes, salsas and salads. Perhaps barbeque is a path toward healthier eating habits, totally contemporary and yet the evolution of a long history.

The term barbeque comes to us from the West Indies and the Spanish word barbacoa, according to Harold McGee in his book On Food and Cooking. The word from the island inhabitants reflected a style utilizing adjustable green wood frames hung from posts over open fires to cook a variety of foods. In the days of our founding fathers barbeques were festive focal point for rallies of social, political or religious purposes with an abundance of meats cooked outdoors.

Barbeque has developed a language all its own with terms like low & slow or hot & quick to reflect the styles of cooking. Low fire temperature and a slow smoking process are appropriate for larger, tougher cuts of meat. Hotter fires and faster cooking times seal in juices for smaller, more tender portions. The jargon expands with words like rubs, brines, mops and bastes, reflecting the treatment of the products before and during the cooking process. A rub is a combination of dry spices used to coat the outside of the meat or fish. After applying the rub some advocate refrigerating the product for differing lengths of time before the cooking process. Brines are liquid baths used to hydrate the meats, and to inject flavor and change the acid content before grilling or smoking. Mops and bastes are sauces brushed on intermittently during the barbequing to produce a gloss on the finished product.

Another whole aspect of the flavor balance of barbeque is the kind of fire and the kinds of woods used to create the coals for grilling and smoking. Like the spices used for rubs, there are regional availabilities that have influenced styles of barbeque. Fruit woods like apple, peach or cherry are said to invoke a sweet and fruity flavor. Hickory is used for a sweet, but nutty edge most appropriate for pork. Mesquite is the favorite with a more acid tone for beef’s stronger flavor.

To achieve optimum texture and an end delicacy that is moist and tender, temperature and timing are of the utmost importance. Cold smoking meats and fish has long been a way of preserving food so that it does not require refrigeration. Cold smoking refers to the fire compartment of an enclosed smoker being adjacent but not directly below the food. The wood is burned past the hot flame stage to beds of coals that imparts intense flavors. During this slow process with the smoke chamber temperatures barely above 100°F, the smoke creates a semi-dried exterior, a flavorful food, nutritious, delicious and portable. Hot smoking works best with temperatures around 200°F and creates product that requires refrigeration for storing. As Ken Wolfe, the executive chef at Q Roadhouse Barbeque shared, “It’s a fine line between jerky and a crust that seals the juices in.”

The equipment, the grill or smoker itself, to achieve the barbeque of your dreams is another variable. At Q they have a new Southern Pride smoker that utilizes propane and wood, but for many years chef Wolfe at his Cafe Wyoming in Dubois, his restaurant prior to Q, loved using an old two door Trauner refrigerator with a hole cut in the bottom. Bryce Nelson has installed a new SPK 1500 model smoker in his quest to create perfect barbeque, but has seen and used a variety of options while exploring the haunts of Kansas City where he went to school. AJ DeRosa, a local legend in adventure dining with his decades of experience as a fishing guide and outfitter, owner of Wooden Boat River Trips and Wooden Snowshoes Winter Adventures, is another master of barbeque. He exalts in cooking for large groups of people in the great outdoors. His years of guiding in Argentina have broadened his views on barbeque. For decades he has favored an old Coolerator refrigerator as his home smoker.

In today’s world there are endless websites, catalogs and stores full of fancy equipment for barbequing. There are hundreds of recipes and techniques. The deeper one explores the subject the more fascinating and challenging it becomes. There are authorities by the score sharing good advice, some of it contradictory. Three good reference books on barbeque are Paul Kirk’s Championship Barbeque Sauces, The Smoked Foods Cookbook by Lue & Ed Park and Smoke & Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison. The best advice that is shared by all is that practice is the most important component. “There are about as many recipes for doing BBQ as there are people doing it. It’s about what you like. It’s about the practice” are some words of wisdom from Bryce Nelson, the owner of the Knotty Pine.

We don’t have to be professionals to barbeque at home. Have fun while you experiment. If you use a charcoal grill, it’s a good idea to seek out the “all natural” briquettes that are free of undesirable petroleum additives. Use a chimney with paper in the bottom rather than lighter to start your fire. If you need to add more briquettes later, again use the chimney and add the coals to your fire with tongs after they are burned down. With gas grills it is more difficult to achieve low temperatures, but easier to have constant temperatures. An instant read thermometer is handy for either kind of grill. Use wood chips to achieve flavor. Soak the chips for at least half an hour in water, beer or wine. To make the chips smoke but not burn, make a flat packet with heavy duty aluminum foil with the chips inside. Make a few quarter-sized holes on the top. Place the packet on your coals when they have burned down to ash gray, just before placing the meat on the fire. If you are using a gas grill the wood chips work better on top of foil rather than enclosed. A tight fitting lid is essential to the smoking process. It is easier to experiment with items that require less cooking time, such as fish or vegetables. Include lots of fresh seasonal choices to balance your meals.
 

Recipes

Grilled Salmon Filet
Smoked Lake Trout
Chimichurri
Smoked Pork Butt
Thai Barbeque Chicken
Mexican Pork Marinade