Summer BBQ

It’s summertime.  Summer always reminds me of BBQ.  BBQ is one of those things that if you don’t have the proper equipment, you will never get it to taste right.  One of my favorite restaurants here in Cincinnati is Walt’s BBQ.  They have the best BBQ ribs I’ve ever tasted.  I would dress up like a hooker for these ribs.  One day I was looking at Craigslist and ran across a Bradley Electric Smoker.  It was only a $100 – these usually retail for $400 and up.  So, I decided to go ahead and get it.  It was honestly one of the best purchases I have ever made. 

The Bradley Smoker uses wood discs that you can purchase online.  They have different flavors, like hickory, apple wood, you get the picture.  The discs are fed every 20 minutes, so you don’t have to do anything.  It’s completely mindless – which is right up my alley.  I set the ribs for 4 hours and they came out great.  Obviously, not as good as Walt’s, but very good nonetheless.  I have used this quite a bit and tried some different meats, including a pork roast that I used for pulled pork.  I cooked the pork roast for about 5 hours and it came out perfect.  It works great every time.  If you’re a beginner and looking to try BBQ and smoking ribs, I would definitely recommend one of these electric smokers. 

Of course, one of the key ingredients when cooking BBQ is the rub.  Below is a recipe I found a long time ago and it’s the one I use the most when making ribs or pulled pork.  The one thing I really like about this rub is that it will also help form a really nice bark as seen on the ribs above.

BBQ Rub

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cup sugar
• 1 cup salt
• 4 tablespoons paprika
• 4 tablespoons red pepper
• 2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoon ground celery

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients