Labor Day Feast

We typically go over to friend's or family's for holiday BBQs, but this Labor Day we decided to have it at our house. I invited my Dad and Michele over for some chicken, pork ribs, potato salad (recipe below), corn on the cob and an afternoon of Wii.

Chickens:

Sarah wanted left overs, so I picked out two 3.5 - 4lb chickens. The brine that I used the first time was excellent so I went with that and tried a different mop to change it up.



I brined the chickens from 10pm until about 8am Labor Day morning and then pulled them from the brine and used a meat injector to suck up brine and inject it into the breasts, thighs and legs of each chicken.



2 hours into the smoke:



1 hour before I pulled them, I began putting on the mop to make the skin tasty.

Mop:
1 cup barbecue sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (we used Chipotle Tabasco)
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon celery salt

Mix and refrigerate until ready to mop the chickens.

Chickens right after flipping:



Carving the chicken:



These chickens came out great. I think using the meat injector to inject brine into the breast, legs and thighs made a HUGE difference in the overall moistness of the chicken. It was flavorful, sloppy and really juicy!


Ribs:

This was our first attempt at ribs, and I can easily see that we'll be doing them any chance we get as they came out fantastic! Bahrbeekeureefic is the term Sarah used in an attempt to sound either southern or Texan (I'm not really sure which it was, but it made me laugh) :-) I bought two racks of pork ribs and set out to create a rub with just the right amount of sweet and spicy to compliment them. Sarah volunteered to create a BBQ sauce from scratch that matched the rub flavors and we were off.



I started by opening the ribs and giving them a thorough rinsing and then placed them on a cookie sheet so I could work with them. I peeled off the membrane on the back of them with a little effort and then applied the rub generously to both sides. A good thing to remember if you would like to use the excess rub later is to shake it on the ribs and then spread it with your hands rather than tossing your ribs in the mixture which will contaminate the entire batch. You can then seal up the remaining rub and use it another time.





David's Rib Rub:
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup paprika
3 tablespoon black pepper
3 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoon garlic powder
3 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon cumin
PREPARATION:
Put all the ingredients in large container with lid. Close up and shake until mixed to your satisfaction. Taste to suit.

I put the ribs on and smoked them for roughly 4 hours, flipping them at the halfway point. About 30 minutes before I pulled the ribs I applied Sarah's "Secret" BBQ sauce to one side, flipped them after 15 minutes and did the other side.

Sarah's Sweet, Spicy & Flavorful BBQ Sauce ("Ssshhhh") :-)

Ingredients:
2 8 ounce can tomato sauce
2 6 ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup golden brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup minced onion
3 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste, this recipe has quite a kick)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup whisky (the cheap stuff works)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon season salt (I used a coarse sea salt blend, if using a traditional season salt, reduce this to 1/2 tablespoon to prevent over salting)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions:
Sautee minced onion and garlic in olive oil until onions turn opaque, and the garlic softens. Add remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes; be careful leaving this unattended as the sauce is heat sensitive can splatter everywhere. Makes roughly 4 cups of barbecue sauce. Refrigerate any unused sauce to use later.



Halfway point:


Applying Mop and BBQ sauce:


Cutting up the ribs (didn't require much cutting, they're falling of the bone):


Plateful O' Ribs:


Dinnertime at last!


After eating Notes:
These ribs came out yummy, although my temperature did rise above 240 towards then end of the smoke and the rub charred slightly. Luckily I caught it before it got to hot and ruined the rub.
Sarah's BBQ sauce is yummy, if you don't like spice then you can tone down on the cayenne, but we like it hot here.
Timing would be the only issue I had and it wasn't much of one. I managed overall to get everything out at once an dinner was great.