BnR Labs

25/03/2024

Did some “flanken” beef ribs and baby back pork ribs yesterday “burn end” style. Came out really good!

Recipes for sides in comments

26/02/2024

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday..

14/01/2024

Little southern twist on bbq breakfast cooked on the Recteq RT 590.

Bradley's Country Store sausage in the shotgun shells along with their grits cooked in chicken stock and half and half.

Meat Church BBQ Honey Hog on the cream cheese and shells, brushed with Bachan's OG Japanese bbq sauce in the last ten min.

Red Clay Hot Sauce hot honey and Southern Chili Crisp on the grit

03/12/2023

Did some beef ribs yesterday, and another batch of spam burnt ends

Beef ribs cooked at 250° for 4 hours and then 285° for two, then wrapped in butcher paper and rest in cooler for another two. Could have cooked them a little longer. I'm thinking 3 hours at 250° and 3 at 285° would have done it. Used a smoketube for the whole cook.

Spam is sliced, then smoked for two hrs, then diced and into a pan with a little more rub, agave butter, splash of beer, and BBQ sauce. After an hour pour put Ont a rack and cook for another 5-10 min to tack up.

13/11/2023

Been awhile since I posted (or finished) any projects.

This is a towel rack for the front porch that we use use to hang towels on after wiping down the dogs before they come in.

Cedar scrap with epoxy knot fill, 10° back-bevel to all edges, finished with Rubio Monocoat. And some cleats I had leftover from the bar doors (didn't wind up with pull son the doors)as hangers.

First-time using epoxy. I had the wrong stuff (there are various viscossities for various uses and depths of pour) so struggled a bit but it came out ok in the end.

09/07/2023

Busy weekend.

Got the old nasty pool equipment screen fence replaced with something to match the garbage corral I built awhile back.

Also made a lot of progress on finally replacing the mailbox /sign that the neighbor’s just backed into on Xmas day last year.

29/05/2023

Hog on a Log
(Aka “pork belly burnt ends)

Wow. Came out so good!

Cooked on my Recteq 590

My original plan was to rub then skewer but I got out of order and I think it worked out just fine.

I ate about 6 of them and had to walk away!

1. Score while whole
2. Cube
3. Skewer
4. Rub
5. Smoke at 275° until 195° (~2.5 hrs)
6. Put skewered cubes in foil pan
7. Add honey, butter & rub
8. Cover & cook additional hour at 300°
9. Remove skewers from pan and sauce
10. Place skewers on smoker for ~10 min

22/05/2023

Tried the Hey Grill Hey Al Pastor yesterday. Wasn't too impressed. I think next time I'll use this marinade a rub and smoke the butt to normal pulling temp.

The pineapple salsa, however, was amazing.

Tonight we are going to have the leftover pork over price with the salsa as a “bowl” so we’ll see how that goes.

Pork process
https://heygrillhey.com/smoked-al-pastor/

Pineapple salsa recipe
https://www.seriouseats.com/grilling-pineapple-fruit-salsa-recipe

06/03/2023

Swapped out the Good One offset smoker for a Recteq RT-590 pellet smoker, and did my first cooks this weekend.

After burn-in I did the biscuit test (slightly hotter in the back-left than the front-right), followed by some chicken thighs. Used the Meat Church VooDoo on the thighs. Didn’t get quote truly crispy skin but will try again.

The following day I did a 6.5 lbs bone-in Boston butt followed by some smoked salmon. The family said the Boston butt was the best one ever, so I guess the RecTeq is a keeper.

23/02/2023

Over this last weekend I got the finishing touches on the bar.

The doors are mounted, and the pull out shelves clear them!

The door frames are cedar, with half lap joints pinned with bamboo dowels. The inserts are from the front door from my old house, and may date back to the 1950s when that house was first built. The frames are finished with Rubio Monocoat, same as the bar top, which is also cedar.

Now on to the next project!

14/11/2022

Took on ribs and salmon all in the same cook. Both were about the best batch ever!

14/08/2022

For seven years, the first thing anyone sees when arriving to our house was the garbage.

Fix what bugs ya.

Even if it takes a few years…

05/07/2022

4th of July cook on the The Good-One Smoker

5 lbs boneless butt from Wild Fork Foods. Look at that fat cap!

Cooked at about 275° for 6 hours. One of the best butts I’ve ever cooked!

29/01/2022

Sometimes you gotta knock out a little bbq drawer organization while you wait for the pork butts.

“Fix what bugs ya!”

23/01/2022

Got inspired and finished the bar top today…

22/01/2022

Sometimes you gotta go backwards to go forwards.

The framing at the right end of the bar was taking up too much space for the refrigerator we ultimately want to put there, so I tore it all out, added an aluminum angle, and put the temp wood “countertop” back on.

15/01/2022

Ribs three ways.

14/11/2021

Sometimes you gotta re-purpose a thing, when you don’t have time to totally make a thing from scratch. I guess this would count as an “IKEA Hack”?

The goal was to make the top larger and get the whole thing on wheels to allow for more flexibility in how we use the kitchen.

Materials used:
1)new top
https://www.homedepot.com/p/HARDWOOD-REFLECTIONS-Unfinished-Hevea-6-ft-L-x-39-in-D-x-1-5-in-T-Butcher-Block-Island-Countertop-1539HDRW-74/314316965

2)good casters
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D26Y1N9/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_AGJGT8KA8TT2JVAYJVG6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

3)E-Z Lok threaded inserts
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002WC8TVG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_9J0GNK4EZZBBGV7PCH10?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

4) Gorilla Glue Epoxy
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gorilla-0-85-fl-oz-Epoxy-42001/100670610

It looks like IKEA doesn’t sell exactly the same island anymore, but this looks to be the closest

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/tornviken-kitchen-island-off-white-oak-40391657

31/10/2021

20/10/2021

thought I'd update on the current tiki bar progress.

21/09/2021

Final,y got around to making some pork belly burnt ends (and cracklins) this past weekend. Came out pretty dang good! Next time, bigger batch!

30/08/2021

Good day of ribs and salmon.

Rib flavor was the beat it’s ever been, but I should have stuck with the plan and let them cook to at least 203. Plan to go to at least 205 next time.

Salmon is a little salty (filets were skinless, which I’m learning allows in more brine) but has the best pellicle ever and the larger pieces will taste less salty.

I let the ribs cook at about 270 average, then wrapped in butcher paper and put in a cooler, then redistributed the coals to get the temp down below 200 to start the fish.

01/08/2021

First time doing a sous vide picanha. Finished by searing on the grill on the flat side of the GrillGrate.

13/06/2021

Yesterday’s pull pork. 5.75 lbs boneless butt. Didn’t get a pic of it “pulled” (or of the smoked chicken wings that went with it) so it must have been good!

The whole cook this time was about 9 hours. Couple of lessons learned…
1) when you get used to doing 3-4 lb butts, you gotta leave more time when you get yourself a 6 pounder.
2) to that end, nothing wrong with starting earlier. You can always wrap (in butcher paper!) and cooler if it gets done too early.
3) I had read about trying to keep the fire temp up higher while still controlling the smoke box temp, and that meant I burned more fuel than I planned for, hence all those bobbles in the yellow line. Note how the temp of the meat flattens out and even dips as we waste time refueling the fire.
4) smoked wings are awesome (Make sure you grill them when they are done being smoked or the skin stays rubbery) but all that opening and closing also affects the overall pork cook time.

30/05/2021

I was a little concerned that the ribs I picked up at Wild Fork Foods last week weren’t the cut I wanted. They were cut down, what’s apparently called “flanken style” with short sections of bone. But man, this is going to be my go-to beef rib cut from now on!

Sprinkled them with Holy Cow from Meat Church BBQ, then cooked them on my The Good-One Smoker at about 280 until they were at 205 internal temp. The increased surface area meant more rub, more smoke, shorter cook, and more bark!

Threw on a boneless pork butt as well just in case the ribs didn’t work out.

https://wildforkfoods.com/products/prime-bone-in-beef-thick-cut-short-ribs

11/04/2021

Another successful salmon smoke.

Started with about 2.3 lbs of salmon. Trimmed the fat, brined overnight for about 12 hours, the sat under the fan for a good 4-5 before getting less than 2 hours of smoke at ~190°. Let rest, vac sealed, and into the freezer for our upcoming camper trip.

Maybe a nibble or two to test 😉

The change up this time was to brine the cut hole, then cut up before drying. Kept it less salty but still lots of surface area to get that crispy Smokey flavor.

04/04/2021

First time cooking a tri tip. I got this one at Wild Fork Foods locally. Hit it with the Holy Cow rub from Meat Church BBQ and wrapped it tightly in Saran Wrap overnight. Went straight from the fridge to the The Good-One Smoker and...

1. Smoke at 220 until 110° internal temp (took about an hour)
2. Sous vide at 132° for 6 hours
3. Rest 5 min
4. Sear the Weber Grills on the flat side of the GrillGrate at 600°
5. Rest 10 min
6. Carve

Wife made a great gravy out of the bag juice that really went well with the meat.

22/03/2021

Whole lotta smokin goin on this weekend. Beef short ribs and steelhead trout.

Changed up the salmon for steelhead trout. No real discernible difference, but got about the best pellicle ever on this batch so I feel like I’m getting pretty good on the fish game. Turned this batch into a cream cheese and Greek yogurt based dip. IMO the ratios in the recipe were off so next time will increase the fish ratio by at least 50%, maybe double (or, just cut the non-fish ingredients by half, since this recipe made a LOT of dip).

Made some beef back ribs awhile back that weren’t my best effort (came out pretty chewy) so stopped by Wild Fork Foods (which is also where I got the trout) and picked up some beef short ribs to try and redeem myself. Smoked them at about 225-250 for damn near 8 hours and then pulled them off. Much more tender this time. Maybe too tender. Next time will go higher temp and cook them until at least 200, shooting for 205.

This batch came out good, the fat just didn’t render down as much as I’d like. It’s pretty disconcerting to watch $100 worth of beef shrink by 50%, haha and I think it led me to pull them off too early after the too-chewy experience of last time.

07/03/2021

I got the second deck done over the course of three weekends. Took the same number of days as the first deck, but way fewer hours per day. I learned that a deck board, including staging, takes about 20 minutes to install, on average.

Lots of lessons learned from the first one to this one, which made this one go much, much easier.

28/02/2021

Did about my best smoked salmon yet yesterday. Brined overnight, rested for about 5-6 hours under the fan to form the best pellicle I’ve seen yet, then smoked at ~190 taking the pieces off as they hit 150.

I like cutting up the bigger pieces because it gets more surface area. The good/bad about this is that it cooks faster and gets less smoke flavor.

Served with poke nachos and home baked bread (both made by my wife) and some venison sausage and Gouda cheese from some good friends. Last bit of sausage there on the tray is “breakfast sausage” from Bradley’s Country Store outside of Tallahassee. I smoked it at about 220 until it hit 140 and then seared it over the smoker fire box.