Danger Pigs BBQ

Andy thought it would be a good idea to leave the country for the first 9 days of beautiful weather here in Chicago, so I decided to whip out the smoker and spend two weekends using it. Unfortunately, my first weekend wasn’t captured on camera, but the menu was as follows. All meats from Gene’s Sausage Shop in Lincoln Square here in Chicago. If you haven’t been, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Smoked and pulled pork butt – no rub, no marinade. Just smoked, pulled, then served plain or with Andy’s homemade sauce. If you’re looking for pure pork flavor, nothing beats this.

Marinated Chicken Wings – I had four huge skin-on legs, and they weighed in at nearly 2 lbs. total. The marinade was a buttermilk base with some garlic, ancho chili powder, lime, coriander, cumin, tumeric and hot sauce. This was hands down some of the juiciest chicken legs I’ve ever had.

This last weekend, I went back to Gene’s and picked up a 5 lb. brisket and a few huge logs of cherry wood for the smoke. I had to go to Jewel for a 3.5 lb. salmon fillet. I’m not proud.

Here’s the lineup:

Salmon – I picked up the 3.5 lb. filet and had to cut it in two. It was huge. I had soaked a couple of Woot branded (not kidding) cedar planks for a few hours and put the fillets on there skin down. The fish was brushed with olive oil and seasoned lightly with salt, pepper and dry rosemary. The final touches were to cover the fish in lemon slices. This was grilled over a very hot grill and when I could no longer manage keeping the planks from bursting into flames, I pulled it. It was the best fish I’ve ever made and I will be making that again.

Brisket – Like I said, the brisket was about 5 lbs and given a dry rub of paprika, salt, pepper, sugar, ancho chili and cumin. Very simple, but very aromatic. While that was put back in the fridge to chill, I got the smoker up to temp. After about an hour, I put the brisket in and smoked it at about 230 degrees for about 8 hours. Due to some wind, it fluctuated +/- 20 degrees all day but I tried to manage it pretty well. I pulled it and let it rest in foil for about an hour. The end result was a very flavorful and juicy brisket, but the texture was too firm. I think I need to get the internal temp up to about 190 instead of the 170 I pulled it at. That should help the connective tissue break down more and give me a more tender brisket.

I’m moving at the end of the month, and I’ll be much closer to Andy’s place. We look forward to bringing you many more BBQs this summer. Stay tuned and stuff.