QFT. The BBQ is the best part of living here in eastern NC.

Also, to the guy that mentioned Dreamland in Birmingham-I used to love that place too when I lived there.

I'm pretty much a product of my region, and people tend to love best what they grew up with. From least favorite to most:

Memphis: Mostly spare ribs and pork, served dry. It's a little one-dimensional, but I've got nothing against it.

Texas: Beef-oriented. Lots of brisket, beef ribs, spare ribs. I don't like that they tend to use hickory on everything. It's good for beef, but other meats pick up too much of the smoke. Also, spare ribs are a pain in the ass to eat because of the gristle and they don't pull apart cleanly. They should be trimmed to look like baby backs (so they pull apart like back ribs) and use the trimmings for rib tips. Trimmed this way spare ribs are called St. Louis style. BTW, St. Louis are fattier and meatier, back ribs are more tender, leaner, but have less meat.

Carolina: Pork shoulder, whole hog. The distinctive feature is the vinegar based sauce. Only way to eat pulled pork IMO, it's [censored] great.

Kansas City: Uses the tomato-based BBQ sauce we're familiar with. Cooks chicken, ribs, shoulder, and brisket, and typically picks appropriate woods for each. Not super-smoky. There tends to be an emphasis on homemade rubs and sauces which makes for especially good Q, IMO.

I really dig Kansas City mainly for the broader range of meats, use of sauce, and different woods. Smoked chicken thighs are sick cheap, easy, and as good as ribs.

BTW, most competitors I know of buy their brisket, ribs, and shoulder at Sam's.

Gotta love barbecue. I usually judge a place by its brisket because my grandpa was a BBQ competitor in Waco, Texas before he passed away. Brisket was his specialty, best I’ve ever had. He and my dad (opposite sides of the family) had the same smoker…it was a 55-gallon drum laid on its side and cut open for a lid. It had bicycle chain links for hinges, bent rebar for handles, a wire-like mesh for the grill, and cast-iron pipe for the exhaust. The larger barrel was welded to a smaller barrel where the fire was. The whole thing was spray-painted black. They always used mesquite for wood.

This is the basic recipe he had for brisket. Baste the brisket slab in French’s yellow mustard overnight to tenderize it. Soak the mesquite or whatever wood overnight so that it will smolder and not burn when you light it. In the morning, get the fire going in the smoker just so it will smoke and not burn. If the fire gets too hot, use a water squirter to keep the flames down. Baste the brisket slab with barbecue sauce and put it in the smoker. Smoke that [censored] for at least eight hours…probably more like 10-12. Brisket is a tough cut of meat, so the longer it smokes, the better. You can flip it or baste it with sauce occasionally if so desired. When it’s done smoking, pull it out and slice it up. Man, I’m hungry.

As for great BBQ places I’ve been….

Albuquerque, NM
We have a Rudy’s too, and I like their brisket. Don’t particularly like their sauce, but it’s all right. We also have a place called the Smokehouse in Rio Rancho. Great brisket and ribs. The Quarters has a pretty good barbecue beef sandwich and sausage. A place called Ribs has some great St. Louis-style ribs and good brisket too. We just got a Tony Roma’s, which is good IMO, but not great. EDIT: There's another place called Powdrell's which is pretty damn good. Great pork ribs.

Kansas City, MO
Gotta love Gates barbecue. Very tender brisket, and good burnt ends. Jack Stack’s also has great burnt ends. Now that I think about it, I wonder why we didn’t eat the burnt ends off our briskets. We were missing out. J. Alexander’s is also a good BBQ place.

Oklahoma City, OK
Earl’s Rib Palace is simply awesome. Earl was Elvis Presley’s personal cook, and his family used Earl’s recipes to open a place in 1996. Best restaurant brisket I’ve ever had. So tender that I could just push it across my plate with a fork, and it would fall apart.

Denver, CO
Breckenridge Brewery Bar-B-Que. What’s not to love about excellent microbrew beers, 16 hour smoked pulled pork, great brisket, and Friday night 30-cent wings that are HUGE? Their pulled pork is some of the best I’ve ever had. Their microbrews are also very good, especially the Avalanche Amber and Oatmeal Stout. They are becoming more available in other states, I recommend them.

Famous Dave’s is also good for a chain. I like their sauces. I’ve never been to Salt Lick. I am going to the Rio Rancho Pork-n-Brew in March though.

http://www.rioranchonm.org/porknbrew.php

ScottieK

Having grown up eating and cooking in Texas, I agree with your judgement on beef ribs. However, most of the better Texas BBQ places serve pork ribs rather than beef. Likewise, while hickory is widely used, oak and pecan are also. I wholeheartedly agree with your views on hickory for meats other than beef, but most of the places I like tend to use oak or pecan, sometimes with fruitwood (as you mentioned). Texans do not necessarily "use hickory on everything." Like you also said, mesquite sucks for smoking, but it's great for some flavor when grilling.

I agree with everything CT has written. I started with the "ECB" (el cheapo Brinkman) and almost gave it up because that thing was just too hard to use. Came across the virtualweberbullet and decided to spring the $180 for the WSM. It is the Cadillac of water smokers. I do not have the automatic temp setup described, but even so I only have to check it every 3-4 hours. It's great.

For a first cook, the Boston butt is very forgiving but takes a long time. For a shorter cook get some baby back ribs, apply a nice rub, and smoke with hickory, pecan or apple or some combo of the three. Smoke for 5-6 hours at 225-250.

Here is a link to the BBQ FAQ.
These people are into BBQ and there is a ton of good info in this FAQ. This is the Super System of BBQ.

This is the best thread ever. I am so [censored] hungry.

b's barbeque in greenville, nc. best ever.

BBQ turkey (not cold smoked, like in a store) is excellent. Cook at a higher temp 325-350'ish with cherry wood. No sauce. The leftovers make for excellent turkey/bacon/quacamole sandwiches, or turkey & ham, chipotle mayo.

Turkey I will be doing sunday


1 stick of butter
1 15 to 20lb turkey

Brine
1 5 gallon bucket
2 Gallons Water
2 cups salt
1/2 cup cayenne
1/4 cup black pepper

Ingredients for marinade
2 tablespoon Lea & Perrins worcestershire
1/4 cup apple cider
3/4 cup honey
1 bottled beer
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
pinch of clove
Couple dashes of Hot sauce

Dry Ingredients
• 2 1/2 tbsp. sweet paprika
• 2 tbsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 1 tbsp. onion powder
• 1 tbsp. Cayenne
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tbsp. dried thyme

Directions:
1. Put the turkey in brine for 10 to 15 hours, 5 gallon bucket, over night, in fridge

2. In a blender, add all the dry ingredients together and let it spin in the blender - until it’s blended. Then add all the wet ingredients to the dry to make the marinade. Puree on high for 4-6 minutes. Make sure all ingredients are completely pureed and add to an injector. The marinade is injected all over the turkey by syringe before cooking.

3. cut butter into 1/8 inch squares, put butter in between turkey skin and meat

4. Smoke over applewood @ 300 Degrees, cook until deepest part of the breast is 160 degrees F and and thigh is 175. Usually takes about 4.5 to 5 hours.

There is a new one called The Rowdy Cowgirl in Fremont on Stone Way. Haven't tried it yet.

What about Dixie Reds in Bellevue? "The Man" sauce is legendary and but the food-- so-so IMO.

KJS

Small place in Lomita, CA called Harry's Oklahoma Style Smokehouse BBQ. I think it's only carry-out. I haven't been there for a while, but I remember it as being very good. Based on the pictures on the wall it seems they do a lot of catering for show business. If I get the chance to go again I'll report.

It's a ton of stuff. You can't finish the individual ribs/thighs/slices or you won't make it to the end. While some stuff is a failed effort and isn't good, the best stuff is unreal. Many pros are using sauces they made from scratch, as in, the ketchup in the BBQ sauce is made from individual fresh ingredients. They're cooking a ton of it, and only submitting the choicest individual pieces (the rest they sell in their joints, or sell there if it's allowed). There's a ton of leftovers, and some of the happiest goddamn dogs you've ever seen.

As for standouts, it depends on how high the level is. At local level rib burns there's some pretty blah stuff. If it's a KCBS-sponsored thing, the quality jumps.

One weird thing is how firmly people get set in the idea that they know exactly what they're doing. E.g., trimming spare ribs St. Louis style just makes sense. Easier to cook, easier to eat, better presentation. Some folks will not do it because whoever came up with the idea wasn't local. Generally competitors are looking to please the judges, so there's less stubbornness, but it's still there in some folks with expensive rigs, a rib joint, and not very good taste.

This is kind of a lame quesion, how scientific are you with everything? usually when I bbq, I just light a fire, check the temp once in awhile of the meat, and thats about it. do you write down recipes, figure out all your cooking times, do everything the same everytime you cook, etc.