Don

Cooking Tips By Chef Davis

1. Always use seasoned wood, this is the key to wonderful smoked flavored barbecue, the most popular wood is red oak, pecan and hickory. Never use green wood it smokes too much and burns poorly. Never use lighter fluids cause they tend to put off undesired flavor. The best way to start a wood fire, is to use a propane gas starter, it's fast and odor free.

2. Bring cooker temperature up to 250 to 300 degrees; 275 is the perfect cooking temperature. When smoke rising out of the stack is clear, you are cooking at it's best.

3. Use a good barbecue rub. 1/4 cup coarse salt, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar,1/4 cup paprika, 3 tablespoons fresh ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes,1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

4. 5 to 7 lbs. Boston Butt: Cook open (unwrapped) 2 hours, then wrap the meat with heavy duty aluminum foil, finish cooking 2 more hours until tender. 7 lbs. butts will take up to 1 hour more. Meat will be pulling away from the bone, cooked in it's own juices with a wonderful smoked BBQ flavor.

5. Slab Ribs: I never boil the ribs before cooking them, you can cook tender ribs without boiling the meat. Cook slab ribs 2 hours open, then wrap them the next 2 hours and they will fall off the bone, I sometimes apply BBQ sauce during the wrapped stage of cooking. I know your mouth is watering!

6. Chicken: Chicken does not require wrapping, it will cook in it's own skin. Cook 2 to 2 1/2 hours. The leg bone will turn in it's socket when it's done. Do not overcook the meat it will become soft and mushy.

7. Turkey: Cook bird open with breast down, insert one block of butter in the chest cavity, cook 1 1/2 hours. Wrap the bird in foil leaving the breast down, finish cooking 1 1/2 hours. Meat will be moist and juicy. 20 pound birds will take 5 1/2 hours cooking time.