Welcome to the first real post with real content! We're going straight to the MEATPORN with this post, we can wax intellectual in my next post titled "A Theological Exploration of Meat" where we discuss the potential for the existence of a barbecue based, organized religion. Anyway, on with it.
Inaugural smoke session in my new Pit Barrel Cooker. It doesn’t get easier than this. Dump coals in the bottom, spark em up, hang your meat, get drunk, eat amazing barbecue, purge, repeat.
Went with the triple threat:
1. A whole chicken brined over night in a light sage brine which was then dried, coated in habanero honey as a binder and covered in a simple rub consisting of black pepper, garlic, paprika and a few dashes of chili powder. Hung that sumbitch in the PBC for around 2 hours (till internal temp hit 160) and hacked it to pieces so the crew could go to town. Look at that skin. Good crunch, super juicy - softcore meat porn.
2. A baby back rack. The standard in many bbq circles. Dry brined for 18 hours using good old kosher salt then covered with a generous amount of Memphis Dust. Hung in the PBC for around 3 hours or until the bones moved around in their sockets a bit. These were amazing. Little sweet, little salty but with depths of flavor from the smoke and the subtle background herbaceous notes in that rub. Served dry (except for the 10 beers that came before/after it).
3. A slab of SLC (St Louis cut aka Barbecue cut aka Kansas City cut) ribs. Also dry brined, also rubbed, this time with a brown sugar/salt rub with tomato powder added for some of that umami love. Hung in the PBC and smoked (with an apple/pecan wood addition) for 4.5 hours and then destroyed by the crew who were, at this point, probably too wasted to remember them. Glad I took a picture. Awesome meaty, chewy bark. Amazing salty, smoky pork goodness. Look at that smoke ring!
All in, the PBC is easily one of the best smoker rigs I've used, and at that price point, you really can't go wrong.