Review: Midwood Smokehouse

Name: Midwood Smokehouse 
Location: Charlotte, NC
Price: $$ - $6-$34 (that's for the Pig Out)
Hours: Sun - Wed • 11am - 10pm
Thurs - Sat • 11am - 11pm

Charlotte has a bad rap for BBQ joints. It's located in the center of the Carolina's, so you'd think they would have some great BBQ places. Well, over the last 10 years that has started to change. and it is AWESOME!

Recently my wife and I went to Midwood Smokehouse to try their BBQ. My friend Wayne of Big Wayner recommended it awhile back, but they had one location that I was rarely near it. In the past year they have opened up two other locations and one was much closer to me. I finally had a chance to get over there and try it. I was not disappointed.

Review - Ultimate Book of BBQ

I received an email a couple weeks ago asking if I would be interested in reviewing a BBQ cook book. My initial response was, "Is this a trick question?" I'm always looking for new recipes, tips on cooking and just improving my BBQ skills in general.

I agreed to review Southern Living Ultimate Book of BBQ - the complete year-round guide to grilling & smoking. A couple days later I received it and two other grilling books which I will be reviewing later.

Pitmaster Christopher Prieto of PRIME Barbecue in Wendell, NC has worked with Southern Living to compile over 200 recipes, creating a hefty cook book that covers the basics to the finer points of BBQ.

Chicken and Noodles

Something that I have always wanted to make is pasta. Why? I don't know I just think it would be cool to make my own pasta. So I finally took the plunge and tried it out. I made grilled chicken which I served over my pasta with a simple tomato sauce. For a first try it turned out ok.

I used a simple pasta recipe consisting of, 2 cups of flour, 3 eggs, 1tbls olive oil, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of garlic powder. Mixing the dough was simple but the next parts took some doing. I don't have a pasta maker. I hand rolled the dough and cut it with a pizza slicer.

Super Bowl Sunday

Our SUPER Super Bowl Screen

This weekend we had a Super Bowl party and I smoked a bunch of food for it. I had done some St. Louis ribs last month and had saved the trimmed tips so I used those along with some country style ribs. I also did the crowd pleasing MOINK balls, wings and Pigs on the Wing. We had a great time with lots of friends eating, talking, cheering on our teams and making fun of the half time show.

Drunken Chicken with a Twist

I've been thinking about trying to make a drunken spatchcock chicken for a long time. I finally tried it this weekend and videoed it. Normally with a drunken chicken you take a half can of beer and stick the chicken on it and set it on the cooker until it's done. Spatchcocking basically means you butterfly it. Therefor it can't fit it on a can of beer any more. I laid mine on a rack in a pan and put some wine in the pan to cook it. It was a first for me to try it this way and also video it. 

Pigs with wings? (Bacon Wrapped Wings)

I was trying to figure out what to make for supper and looked in the freezer to see what I had. I had some chicken breast, wings and bacon. So I figured I would grill some chicken and wings. As I was thinking about how to season the chicken I thought, "Bacon wrapped chicken wings would be good." Here's how I made the wings.

Ingredients 
Chicken wings - I made 12
Bacon - 12 pieces to wrap the wings
Rub - I recommend something that has a bit of sweet to it.
BBQ sauce - I use a homemade one similar to Sweet Baby Rays

When ever I grill I start my coals before I start to prep the food. Coals take longer to to heat up then gas so you need to plan ahead. You can cook these on either gas or coals.

Lighting the charcoal.

BBQ 101 - Parts of BBQ and Judging Criteria

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of judging at BBQ & Blues here in Charlotte, NC. I was judging the pork entries with three lovely ladies, and we started talking about the BBQ. As we talked I realized that, while they knew what they liked in the flavor and texture, they were unfamiliar with the terms used in BBQ and what the different parts were.

I’d like to explain some of the fundamentals of good Q to help the less experienced understand the terms and get more familiar with the food we love.

Many argue what the true definition of BBQ is. Some define it as whole hog; others limit their definition to pork shoulder or butt. Still others say BBQ means beef brisket. Many up North call any grilling out BBQ.

To me, grilling hot dog and hamburgers doesn't really fall into the category of BBQ. For me, it’s BBQ when it is cooked with smoke, usually at a low temperature. (See my more in depth definition here: What is BBQ?)

BBQ varies by region too. Most judges and aficionados will agree that good BBQ can stand on its own and needs no sauce. If the meat is cooked correctly, the rub, mop and smoke will make for a symphony on your taste buds.

When it is cooked correctly, all BBQ will share three main parts (chicken may be an exception to this rule): bark, smoke ring and the meat. When the meat is judged, it is judged on three criteria: appearance, tenderness and taste.

Parts is Parts in BBQ

Bark
Bark, also known as Mr. Brown, is the outer part of the BBQ’d meat. Many think this is burnt and charred. If the meat is cooked low and slow, however, the meat doesn't burn. If there is lots of sugar in the rub, it may caramelize and burn; but most bark is simply carmelized spices. The bark tends to be tan, mahogany or dark brown almost black color, depending on the rub spices used.

You can see the dark brown to black bark on this pork butt

The bark is formed from the rub that is put on the meat. As the meat cooks, the juices pull to the surface and mix with the rub creating a shell of sorts. It is this shell that helps keep the rest of the moisture in to make a flavor that is oh so good. If you mop while cooking, this also contributes to the bark's flavor and helps to return some moisture to the meat.

Chicken doesn't tend to get bark on it, but it does get a smoke ring. The hardest part of cooking chicken is getting bite-through skin. Bite-through skin is the grail of the pit master for chicken.

When the meat is served, always put some bark in with it. Mixing the bark in with the rest of the meat helps to highlight the flavors that you work so hard to get.

Smoke Ring
Just under the bark is usually a red ring called the smoke ring. This can be from 1/8" to 1/4" depending on conditions. Many say this is a sign of good BBQ, and it can be. Certain chemicals can be used to enhance this ring without smoke, but a good smoke ring sure looks nice when serving up a plate of brisket.

The meat takes on a red tinge due to a chemical reaction between the smoke and the meat. Many mistake this pink tinge as undercooked meat. That misconception is one reason many BBQ restaurants don't serve smoked chicken, as it tends to look pinker than the other meats and gets mistaken as being undercooked.

You can see the red smoke ring on this box of brisket.

The Meat
Depending on what you are cooking, the meat will vary in color. Pork is also known as Mrs. White. When pork is done cooking, it tends to be white to tan, hence the name.

Mrs. White and Mr. Brown getting together.

If you ever hear a pit master or BBQ fanatic talking about Mr. Brown and Mrs. White, they are referring to the bark and the inner meat. When they get together in good Q, magic happens.

If the meat is cooked correctly, it will come apart easily and be very tender and moist. The low and slow style of cooking helps to break down the connective tissue and take a regularly tough piece of meat and make it into a beautiful, tender bite of sustenance.

What Judges Want

The judging criteria can be a bit subjective.

• Appearance : Would I want to eat this? Does it look appetizing? We each have our own opinions.
• Tenderness: Is it tough? Soft? Does it fall apart? This one is a little less subjective, but people like their meat different ways.
• Taste: Do you like it? Is it too salty? Too smokey? Too spicy? One persons spicy is another persons mild.

Each of these three things help you decide what good Q is.

Appearance
When a box or plate of BBQ is set in front of me, I look at it and think, “Does this make me want to eat it?” We eat with our eyes first, so if something doesn't look appetizing we will tend not to want to eat it. If it is sloppy and messy, it doesn't make me want taste it.

Looks good enough to eat.

Tenderness
This one is a less subjective then the other criteria. With pork if you feel like you are tearing off a piece or have to chew it forever, it is too tough. If it feels like a pork paste in your mouth, it is over cooked and just has a nasty texture.

Chicken is much like pork in the area of tenderness. One thing many try to achieve is a bite-through skin. When smoking chicken, the skin may have great flavor but tends to get rubbery. You want to be able to bite into the chicken and have just the piece of skin you bite into come off into your mouth and leave the rest of the skin on the piece of meat.

Many people like their ribs to "fall off the bone." These are overcooked. When you bite into a rib you should get what is called a "watermelon bite". You know when you bite into a piece of watermelon and you leave teeth marks? Kind of like that. When you bite into a rib, only the piece you bit into should come away, leaving the rest of the meat on the bone. That’s when you know the ribs are cooked correctly.

Brisket shouldn't fall apart when it is served. You should be able to slice it about the thickness of a #2 pencil without it falling apart. You can do a pull test with brisket, where you take one of your slices and pull it apart gently. It shouldn't fall apart but shouldn't be hard to pull part either. As it stretches you should see some of the connective tissue holding it together stretching out. If it's like shoe leather, it is too tough. If it falls to bits, it is too soft.

Taste
I think this is one of the most subjective parts of good BBQ. Everyone has different flavor preferences, but there are some that most can agree on. Good BBQ doesn't need sauce to enhance it. It should taste good on its own to let the meat flavor shine through.

Many judges seem to lump taste and tenderness together. When I compete, I find that the taste and tenderness scores seem to go together. I have turned in meat that I thought tasted ok but the tenderness was perfect and gotten great scores. I have also turned in meat where the tenderness was awful and the flavor was phenomenal and received terrible taste scores. For some reason, many judges don't differentiate the two.

When judging, I've had BBQ that I want to keep eating and BBQ that I just want to spit out. When comparing notes with the judges after the tasting, we often have all agreed on which BBQ was the worst but could not agree on which one was the best. Most people can tell bad BBQ without difficulty. When it comes to what you think is best, opinions may differ.

As I have said, BBQ varies from region to region. Tastes vary but the main parts of BBQ stay the same: bark, smoke ring and meat. The judging criteria doesn't change: appearance, tenderness and taste. A little bit of knowledge can enhance your experience with BBQ and help you understand what the fanatics are talking about.

Smokin' Gumbo

This week is our ASC fund raiser at work. One of the annual traditions for it is a chili cook off. Last year I entered and won. So, of course this year I had to defend the title. The theme of the fund raiser this year is Mardis Gras, so, of course, the food was to be Cajun or Creole.

I tossed around a few ideas and decided to make a gumbo using smoked chicken, smoked andouille sausage and smoked peppers. The only gumbo I have ever made has been a quick version that I don't really think qualifies as gumbo but more as a soup.

I went online and searched for a recipe to use and found one on Food Network. It is one of Emeril Lagasse's gumbo recipes. I used the main part of it but altered it to suit my needs and style of cooking. 


Ingredients
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped Roasted bell pepper
• 1 pound smoked sausage, such as andouille or kielbasa, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 pound smoked chicken removed from the bones.
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions

Directions
Combine the oil and flour in a large stock pot over medium heat. Stirring slowly and constantly for 20 to 25 minutes, make a dark brown roux, the color of chocolate. Add the onions, celery, and bell peppers and continue to stir for 4 to 5 minutes, or until wilted. Add the sausage, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves. Continue to stir for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth. Stir until the roux mixture and water are well combined. Bring to aboil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.

Add smoked chicken. Simmer for 2 hours. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface. Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley and green onions. Remove the bay leaves and serve in deep bowls over rice.

How I did it
That is the recipe I used. I made my stock also and smoked my chicken, sausage and peppers which bring a nice flavor to the mix. I followed the above directions after I had smoked my meat and peppers.

I butterflied the chicken and took the backs, necks and gizzards, put them into the stock pot and covered them with water, chopped celery, garlic, onions slat and pepper and brought it all to a boil. I then put the lid on  and let it simmer over medium heat while I cooked the meats and peppers (about two hours).

Butterflied Chickens

Chicken stock cooking

I smoked the chicken as I talked about in my "Smoked Chicken" entry. It took about two hours for it to be ready. I added the andouille to the smoker about half way through so it would cook for an hour. 

The smokin' meats

Done cookin'

I let the chicken cool down and then carved it. As I carved the meat off the bones I added the bones and some of the skin to the stock. It gave it that extra punch of flavor. 

Once that was all done I strained the stock into another bowl so I wouldn't have any chunks in the broth. I then started the roux. Roux takes time, but is worth it to make it right. It is not difficult but you do need to watch it carefully so it doesn't get too dark, too quick.

The roux

After the roux was done I added the "Holy Trinity" onions, celery and the roasted peppers.

The roux and the trinity

Then the andouille sausage was added.

Marrying the flavors

Once it was all combined I added the stock and let it simmer. 

Flavors combining into a happy mess.

After simmering for an hour gumbo and the chicken was combined and it simmered for another two hours with the flavors getting all happy.

Ready to serve.

I made the gumbo on Saturday for our Thursday event so the family taste tested it to make sure it was all good. This also allowed the gumbo to sit in the fridge to let the flavors get more integrated. 

The final product

Thursday I served it all up and ended up tying for first place. It was a good time and good food. I would make this dish again just because the flavors are so good. 

Beer Can Chicken & Ribs

A couple days ago we had some friends over for supper and I made smoked beer-can-chicken and ribs. Once again they were awesome.

After the first beer-can-chicken I made I started to experiment using different beers. Each beer adds a different flavor to the chicken. I have used Modelo, an oatmeal stout and a Hefeweizen. This time I used a Serria Nevada Pale Ale. I really liked the flavor of it over the others I have done. Before I put the rub on I painted the chicken with a mustard base BBQ sauce to help the rub hold. I then stuff the cavity with onions and garlic to add additional flavor to the meat as it cooks.

You might notice that the pale ale is in a bottle which doesn't work to well when cooking. I take and empty soda can and rinse it out and then fill it half way with which ever beer I'm using.




I smoked the chicken and the ribs at about 225°. I did the ribs using a 2-1-1 method. This means I put the ribs on the Cooker for two hours uncovered, then wrapped the ribs in tinfoil with some Woodchuck Apple Cider in it to add moisture for an hour, after that hour I unwrapped the ribs and glazed them with a BBQ sauce and cooked them for another hour.

The finished ribs.



The finished chicken.



It was all really good and I wished we had more ribs.

Snow Day Nuggets

The last two days we have been home bound due to snow and ice. They shut down everything in SC. Today I was craving chicken nuggets so I decided to make some.

Ingredients
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup milk
1 egg

1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tbls rub
1/2 tbls cayenne pepper

I took the chicken breasts and cut them into cubes then set them aside.

I mixed the milk and eggs together in a bowl and set that aside also. Then I mixed the dry ingredients together. I dredged the chicken in the milk and egg mixture and then the dry mixture. After they were coated I dropped them into hot oil and cooked them until they were golden brown.

The family loved them so much I have none left for photos.

Ewe... No its Goat

This weekend was a first for me. I smoked a goat for about 60 people. A scary prospect as I had never done this before. I searched the Internet, my cookbooks and asked people who had cooked goat before for any help. I found the recipe I used in the Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book. It was good.

The night before the cook, I needed to do some prep work. I needed to rub some pork butts I was going to smoke, make my BBQ sauce, BBQ mop and the Barbados baste so the next day everything would be ready to go.

We were over at the cook site by 7am to get the fire going. While I was starting the fire, my wife and brother-in-law finished cleaning the goat my other brother-in-law had butchered. Goats are hairy beasts and the meat had picked up some of that hair when it was butchered.

After the meat was cleaned we rubbed the goat with suya mix. Suya is a street food you can buy in West Africa. It is beef or goat coated with a spicy mixture of ground up peanuts, pepper and other spices. I had the four goat legs and a couple of other smaller pieces of goat that needed to be cooked. The four legs and the pork butts all went on at the same time as they would take about eight hours to cook at 225 degrees.



Every hour I would add wood and spray the pork butts with the mop. After the first three hours of cooking I started to baste the goat with the Barbados baste every hour.



Around 12:30pm I put the rest of the goat and the chicken on. My plan was to start to pull the smaller pieces off at 5pm and keep them in the warmer.



5pm came around and the chicken was ready. I pulled it off and dipped it in BBQ sauce I had been warming and put it in the warmer to be served at 6. The pork and larger pieces of goat weren't quite ready so I started to pull off the smaller goat pieces and slice them up. Of course I had to take a taste sample. It was good.



By 7 we had all the meat off, cut up and many happy diners. Those who had eaten goat before complemented me on doing a great job of cooking it.










My mop:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water

Q Class

Last weekend my friend Ken (of CatchaFire for Q) and I went to a BBQ class called Road to the Winners Circle. It was a a great class. Not one for the beginning BBQer but really good for someone who competes and is trying to get the edge to move to the next level.

The class was taught by Troy Black (pictured left) of Learn2Q.com. He’s a really good guy and knows his stuff. He was able to answer many questions we had about things and we got some great tips that will, hopefully, take us to the next level. No, I’m not going to share what he taught us here you have to go to his class.

He covered how to get your brisket, pork, ribs and chicken prepared and cooked and then how to set up the presentation boxes. Each of the things he went over are key to impressing judges and making sure you can get a good score. The best part of a class is you get to taste what you cook, and it was GOOD!

He also has a BBQ 101 class where he teaches you how to BBQ in your backyard. It would take out some of the guess work when you first start out and help you understand how to get a fire going and how to use the cooking equipment properly.

Both Ken and I are excited about this years competitions after going to this class. We’re looking forward to trying out what we learned and getting some wins.

Drunken Chicken

I had heard about the drunken chicken for years and finally tried it last summer. It is one of our favorite grill dishes (yes I know this is supposed to be about BBQ. This also works well on a smoker if you have one.) I have had friends try it with soda and they say it is good too. I have tried with different beers and found that they will give you a different flavor profile. You can also stuff the rest of the cavity with other aromatics. The juice left in the pan after cooking makes great gravy. I have also made it in the oven set at 350 but it doesn’t taste as good as coming off the grill.

Ingredients

• 1 can of beer
• 1 Whole Chicken
• Your favorite rub or seasoning salt ( I use my homemade one)
  
• 1 cup yellow mustard
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for low heat.
2. In a bowl mix together the honey and the mustard
3. Brush the honey mustard all over the chicken
4. Put your favorite seasoning all over the chicken (rub it in)
   
5. Drink 1/2 the beer, leaving the remainder in the can.
6. Place can on a disposable baking sheet. Set chicken on can, inserting can into the cavity of the chicken.
7. Chop up the onion and garlic and place it in the cavity above the beer.
8. Place baking sheet with beer and chicken on the prepared grill. Cook over low heat for about 3 hours, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C).

What is BBQ?

I grill and I BBQ. Aren’t they the same thing? No. Don’t you fire up the BBQ for burgers and hot dogs? No. Grilling and BBQ are two different animals. Both are good and give you great results. But, they are very different.

Grilling and BBQ both use fire to cook your meat on a cooker of some sort. It can use gas (though that doesn’t make great BBQ, IMHO), charcoal or wood. You get a fire going and throw the meat on until it is done. That’s about it for similarities.

Grilling is hot and fast. You can fire up your grill and be ready to go in a few minutes. You put your meat on it for 10 minutes to 2 hours, depending on what you’re grilling. Usually your cook temps are around 300° F. It creates a hot, quick cook. I love to grill burgers, hotdogs, steaks and chicken.

BBQ is low and slow. You fire up your grill, usually charcoal or wood, and bring it up to about 230°F and your cook time can be anywhere from 3 hours to 18 hours depending on the meat and the weight of it. BBQ usually imparts smoke to the meat and breaks down the connective tissue slowly giving you an awesome tender piece of meat as a finished product. Pork, Chicken, turkey, beef, ribs all work great for a low and slow cook.


So when I’m talking about BBQ, I’m talking low and slow. As I continue to blog I will be adding some BBQ recipes and some grilling recipes. But the main focus will be on BBQ.