It has been awhile since I have written to my few, but well liked followers. I have created a new rub by accident. It is similar but it is a little more mellow. I really like it. I tried it on some chicken and it was really good. It has just a hint of heat but draws the sweet and smoky flavor really well. It was raining out tonight, but I will be doing some more meat this weekend and take some pictures. I think that a rub is the best way to go to flavor meat. You can use marinades, and finishing sauces, but if you don't have a rub to really put that signature on it. I like the sweet and heat flavor. Especially on chicken and ribs. There is nothing better than biting into a rib or piece of chicken and realizing that you just opened the party door to your mouth. A little bit of sweet with the bite and then after you take a second to enjoy the meat, the small amount of heat sets in. Not to much to make your mouth hot, but just enough to warm it up. Well to all of my faithful readers......I bid you good eating. Eat well, live better and BBQ.

Pulled Pork

Well today was a good day. I decided to do some pulled pork in my 55 gallon drum smoker. I love those things. I started it at about 11:30 this morning and I just pulled out the first pork shoulder. I think I started with the wrong cut. It was on sale for really cheap today so I bought 3, 5lb 'ers. I know you should use the Boston Butts but I always try new things. The had the bone in and some skin on them. I did take off the skin but left the bone in. I used my rub and my basting sauce to flavor them. Using mild hickory chunks for smoke I kept the temperature at about 225-250. Two of the shoulders were wrapped individually in foil with a little Sprite in the mix. (Just trying something I read somewhere) The last one I just rubbed, sprayed and let it go. I put them on at 11:30 and checked them at about 2:45pm. I added a little spray of my basting sauce and opened the foil on the ones that were wrapped. At 5pm I took the one that was not wrapped out of the smoker. It was at about 155 degrees. I took in inside and pulled it apart. It wasn't really liked I hoped but I think it was because of the cut of meat. It tastes amazing though. I made another batch of my home made BBQ sauce today to. Put the meat and the sauce together and it really out of this world. I have attached some pictures. I hope you enjoy. If you have anything to add please feel free to respond. I would love to hear everyone's comments. I hope you like the pictures. Eat well, live better and BBQ.

Pineapple Express

Today was a milestone for Big Drew's BBQ. I have never been a big fan of salsa because it just never tasted good. Last week my pastor came to me and wanted me to provide some food of super bowl Sunday. I love to cook so I agreed. I made some salsa for the first time. I fed 159 people and the salsa was dynamite! The picture above is all that's left from about a gallon of it. Holding true to my different approach on cooking, I didn't make a salsa with tomatoes. What you might say, that's not salsa. Well I really don't care what you say, because you couldn't even tell. I used a pineapple base with green onions, red peppers, salt, cilantro, parsley, jalapenos, lime juice, chili pepper, garlic, paprika and liquid smoke. I still don't like salsa but this was off the hook!!!! It was a little sweet but not what you would think coming from pineapple. Kick was at the end, but it was so slow to get there that you actually got to enjoy the cilantro, garlic and flavors before the heat. When the heat did come it was mellow due to the lime juice. This is going to be a staple side that I will bring to parties and I also have a plan for it on smoked chicken!!! I will let you all know about that when I get there. Well happy super bowl day and good eating. I will be having my salsa with some nacho cheese. The Q is going as well! Eat well, live better and BBQ!
Drew

Big Drew's BBQ Rub

I made a the last of my trial rubs. (Yeah right!) I have been experimenting with rubs for about 5 years now, but I think I have found "The ONE!" Being born and raised in Illinois I got use to the sweet side of Q. Now that I live here in California I have started using some heat. After years of work, I have now created what I call the perfect rub. I tried it on chicken, pork and beef last night. Yee Haw it was great on all three. Little bit of heat and a little sweet. It's a 50/50 salt and sugar base. I add some heat, color and about 6 different spices. Every time I have tried to vary from my original recipe everyone has told me that it's not as good. I have tried a lot of different recipes but I have always come back to this one. I will try messing with a couple of things though. I'm going to try to smoke my sugar and salt to get more of that smoke flavor. But for right now it's perfect. You can use this stuff on pork, chicken or beef. I use a special soy sauce base with different spices added to it for the moisture on my meat. It works great even if the meat is frozen. (I will save that technique for another day) I start by spraying my "starter fluid" on my meat, and then I just dust it with my rub. I know this is not the traditional way to do a rub, but I don't care. My meat turns out moist and taste great. EVERY TIME! I can't wait to use it in my smoker soon. For now I have been using it on my grill. I'm currently in the process of building a trailer grill/smoker. It will be 8' long and 3' in diameter. (That will be another blog)
If you want some of my rub I would be happy to send some of it to you for free. I'm not popular enough to sell it yet. Besides, I just started this blog and no one will actually read this and ask me for some rub. I hope so, but here to the hope.
Eat well, live better and BBQ!

Big Drew's BBQ Page

Welcome to the first of many posts on the my blog. I was tired of not having a place to share ideas for BBQ'ing. I have taken grilling, smoking and BBQ to an entirely different level. I have decided that no one has exactly what I'm looking for in meat, ingredients and such. This blog is for people to talk about what makes their BBQ the best and why. I'm not here to judge just here to learn and promote others ideas as well as my own. I'm no better than anyone else and I just wanted to tell the world of my ideas. (And share some other peoples ideas to) In short, for now, I'm just here to talk about BBQ. More to come about me and my stuff, but for now........Eat well, live better and BBQ!
Big Drew