Plain and simple, Brother Jimmy’s is the rare place up North to get the best barbecue without a trip to the South. Anyone looking for superb Southern food set to a blues, rock ’n’ roll, and country soundtrack knows to head through our doors. Because of this, Brother Jimmy’s means a good time, and we’re here to show you how to re-create our environment right in your own home. You’ll find everything from how to center the right foods around that big weekend rivalry sports bash you’re throwing to how to mix the best cocktails that’ll keep you and your guests partying through the afternoon or night. After all, barbecue is a social affair, encompassing Southern hospitality with a crew of family and friends and great eats.
LET’S FIRE UP THE GRILL AND CALL SOME PALS. IT’S BARBECUE TIME.
In New Orleans cooking, there’s the holy trinity that every dish typically begins with: onions, green peppers, and celery. They are similar to the primary colors in that you use them as a foundation to form a thousand variations and make every other color. These same principles are applied to cooking ’cue. Except our triumvirate is formed with heat, smoke, and wood. As long as you have those three essentials, you can achieve your goals in many different ways. Let’s break down those bare necessities.
First, you need a cooking vessel—a grill, smoker, or even an oven—to serve as your heat source. We have recipes written for all three, and you can feel free to vary any of them to fit whatever device you’re using. And don’t assume you need to buy some fancy, newfangled, chromed-out monster of a grill to be able to smoke, or a smoker designed especially for the task. You can smoke meat on any grill. If you don’t have a grill (or a backyard), don’t fret. You can still barbecue via a lovely device called the stovetop smoker (though this should be regarded as a last resort, as you could be booted from your dwelling after your neighbors mistake the smoke for an actual fire), which we’ll touch on shortly.
As far as outdoor grills go, the main debate always boils down to the source of the heat: charcoal versus gas. Either will get the job done, though we think charcoal tastes better. With charcoal, assuming you’re using all-natural briquettes or charwood, which is a natural lump or chunk hardwood, you’re cooking on a natural source—wood—which doesn’t add any funky flavors to what’s sizzling above the briquettes. Gas sometimes does impart a taste to your meat, so if you can avoid it, we suggest you do. That said, if you’ve already got a propane number in the yard, it will work for the recipes in this book.
One key to the outside grill is the cover. The cover represents a method of control when you’re smoking; you have no power over the temperature or how much smoke is enveloping the meat if it’s all shooting directly up into the sky. So make sure you’ve got a solid way to shelter your meats. Vents built into the cover are always a bonus because they afford you the ability to more precisely ensure temperature and smoke volume, but they’re not mandatory.
So you’ve got your charcoal grill, your cover is at the ready, and you’re holding a platter of ribs stacked to the sun, chomping at the bit to get ’em laid out atop a crackling fire. Which typically means you’ll grab the bottle of lighter fluid, drown the entire bed of charcoal, and toss a match in, cowering and slightly grinning as the whoosh of flames reach higher than your house’s roof. But hold off on nearly singeing your eyebrows; lighter fluid—or even the type of charcoal that has lighter fluid embedded—can add an odd taste to the meat, so we recommend keeping the process as pure as possible. You may not get a column of fire shooting up from your grill that’s visible from space, but you will end up with more delicious meat.
If you don’t already have a grill and want to go the smoker route, you can pick one up (for outdoor use) for under $300. Then you can set up this spaceship-looking device in your yard and say things to friends like, “She’ll handle a whole pig in about four hours,” while they stare on enviously. Simply follow the instructions to operate the individual smoker that you have, and you’re all set.
Today we use a variety of types of smokers for a host of purposes. There are gas, electric, wood, and barrel smokers—all of which are equally effective and produce a quality product. Technically, you could dig a sizeable hole, throw some burning charcoal embers in there with some wood and a pork butt, cover the whole thing, and dig it up two days later for a delicious smoked meal, but then you’d have to remember where you put the damn hole, and if you’ve been drinking, that can be hard. So just stick to the prefabricated smokers for your outdoor needs.
For urban apartment dwellers, it’s possible to bring the barbecue indoors with a stovetop smoker. It’s the easiest way to become known around your building as “the apartment that always smells delicious.” These handy devices are about as big as a large aluminum pan and similarly constructed. Camerons makes a solid one that retails for less than $50. Again, this isn’t an ideal method, but it will work.
In a stovetop smoker, you can slowly tenderize a small piece of brisket, steaks, or half chickens, or you can even make bacon, but if you want to go bigger—with a pork butt or full piece of brisket—do away with the issued lid and opt for some aluminum foil to cover your dinner. And everything you’ll need—including the wood chips—comes with the kit. One quick thing to bear in mind is that none of our recipes are written for a stovetop smoker, so you’ll have to be handy with the modifications to the recipe. Be ready to alter the cooking times and even tend to the smoking a little more than you would in a large device. You’ll also have to check the temperature of the meat more often than with an outside unit. We recommend putting an oven thermometer inside to give you a good idea of what temperature your indoor smoker is achieving.
When it comes to barbecue, it’s all about slow and low—ask any pit master across the country. The wood you use is a complete matter of personal taste, however. We happen to smoke with hickory and applewood, but at your disposal are the following wood types:
HICKORY is a very hard, dense wood, and one of the most popular used for smoking. It supplies a strong, baconlike flavor that complements meats, leaving a unique aftertaste. Because of its robust flavor, hickory can be mixed with oak for a milder, less overpowering taste. Hickory is often associated with the “classic” American barbecue.
APPLEWOOD smoke supplies a milder, sweeter flavor that is commonly used with pork or poultry.
CHERRY WOOD is similar to apple in taste, leaving a mild, sweet, and fruity flavor. Cherry tends to be a good choice for poultry, fish, or ham. Cherry also gives meat an appealing mahogany color.
OAK is a common favorite in Texas, where it’s called post oak. It has a heavy, smoky flavor stronger than apple and cherry, but not as strong as hickory. In general, its smoky taste works best with beef or lamb.
As for the difference between wood chips and wood chunks, we’re fans of the chunks. They burn longer in a charcoal grill, you’ll use less of them, and, thus, they’re the most economical. If you can’t find chunks, wood chips will do in a pinch, and for devices like the stovetop smoker, they’re the only thing that will likely fit, given the cozy space of the device. You can also use logs, which are very common in industrial smokers or any bigger device. These work best with gas or wood-fueled smokers.
You’ll want to soak the wood in water first, to slow down the burning process. Chips should get a bath for an hour, while chunks can go longer, up to overnight. Then—with chips—you’ll seal them in an aluminum foil pouch. Poke some holes in the pouch and set it on top of the heat source and wait for the first wisps to emerge. With chunks, you’ll want to lay them right on the red-hot coals. Sometimes we specify wood chips for foods that are quick-cooking, such as grilled shrimp (typically 1 cup, depending on the size of your chips). In these recipes, using the longer-burning wood chunks would be a waste.
Grilling and smoking are a lot like following any recipe; there is a list of prep work that when followed will ensure perfect food—’cause that’s what it’s all about, right?
Here’s our checklist, modified a bit for the needs of backyard ’cuing.
KEEP YOUR GRILL GRATES CLEAN.
Grill grates should be cleaned using a metal bristle grill brush once the grill is preheated and immediately after cooking, while the grill is still hot. (Tip: If your brush comes with a straight metal edge, use that to remove the biggest pieces of food, and follow with the brush.)
OIL YOUR GRILL GRATES.
Just before putting food on the preheated grill, the grates should be oiled. This helps keep food from sticking to the grates. To do this, dampen a paper towel with oil and, holding the paper towel with a pair of tongs, rub the paper towel on the grates. Do this quickly, so the paper towel doesn’t catch on fire.
USE A CHIMNEY STARTER.
This tool, although not required for ’cuing, is very helpful. It allows you to more quickly and evenly light charcoal and to have a preheated portion at the ready when additional fuel is needed during longer barbecuing times. (Adding unlit coals may lower the temperature of the grill and will take longer to catch fire than in a chimney starter. In the worst-case scenario, adding unlit coals to your grill could extinguish the fire.) To use a chimney starter, simply add charcoal in the top, place a crumpled sheet of newspaper or a couple of paraffin or sawdust starters in the bottom of the cylinder, and light the newspaper or starters with a match.
Remember to presoak wood chunks or chips, following the instructions outlined in “Got Wood?” on this page.
SMOKIN’ REMINDER #2:
Set up your grill for indirect heat. Barbecued foods, typically large chunks of meat, like a brisket, pork shoulder, or an entire pig, are cooked with indirect heat. Direct heat would burn the outside of such large pieces of meat before the inside was fully cooked.
To set up your charcoal grill for cooking with indirect heat, place all your charcoal briquettes on one side of the grill and put a drip pan on the other side. During long, slow cooking, water is added to the pan to help keep the meat moist. The meat goes above the drip pan, and the food is cooked with the lid closed. (The lid directs the smoke in a natural, circular pattern within the chamber, creating an even smoky flavor.)
To set up your gas grill for indirect heat, you’ll turn on only half the burners. Put the meat on the side that’s cold, where the heat will always be off. You can also place your drip pan below the meat in a gas grill.
If your gas grill doesn’t allow you to turn off or lower the heat on one side of your grill, you will not be able to make the low-and-slow barbecued recipes in this book, but there are plenty of direct heat grilling recipes you’ll be able to enjoy.
If you have a smoker, you’re golden because it’s intended for indirect heat. Simply follow the directions that come with it.
SMOKIN’ REMINDER #3:
Use a drip pan. When placed beneath meat, it catches grease and reduces flare-ups. During longer barbecuing times, fill the pan with water to help keep the meat moist.
The term barbecue has lost some meaning over the years and become synonymous—for most people—with the act of cooking anything on a grill. Any connoisseur of the craft would tell you to take it a step further—that it represents food slowly cooked on a grill, or in a smoker, until it’s fork-tender and has assumed a smoky flavor from the smoldering wood. Even if you use unseasoned meat in barbecue, the result is still inherently succulent and tasty.
However, this process of cooking is merely a solid foundation for the endless amount of flavor profiles you can create before the meat hits the grill. The taste of any food is broken down into five categories: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory. With the use of rubs (dry or wet), brines, marinades, basting sauces or mops, and glazes, you can heighten these basic flavor profiles in your barbecued foods, creating a contrast of flavors that will make your taste buds dance.
DRY RUBS, the flavor cornerstone of barbecue, are combinations of dry seasoning, spices, and sometimes dried herbs rubbed onto food before it is cooked. The foundation of nearly every rub is salt, sugar, and pepper, to which a variety of spices may be added. We talk more about dry rubs, including how to make your own, in Chapter 1.
WET RUBS are a combination of spices and herbs that are bound together with liquid or fat, usually oil. Wet rubs may include fresh aromatics, such as garlic or ginger, fresh herbs, and/or dried herbs. Like dry rubs, wet rubs should be massaged into the food, but go easy on delicate foods like fish. Because most wet rubs contain oil, they are useful for keeping lean meats moist during cooking.
BRINES are solutions of salt and sugar dissolved in water, often with flavors added. They’re used to pickle vegetables (see Chapter 2), or to tenderize and flavor meats. Brining is particularly popular for poultry. (Tip: Brined foods tend to cook more quickly, so be careful not to overcook.)
MARINADES are liquid combinations, usually comprised of oil, an acid, and flavorings, that bathe foods prior to cooking. They infuse food with flavor, and the acids in them help to soften tissue, making the food more tender. But it’s a fine line; foods marinated too long can become mushy. Sometimes marinades serve double duty as basting sauce during grilling. If repurposing a marinade, always make sure to boil it for a few minutes in a nonreactive saucepan before applying it to cooked foods.
BASTING SAUCES/MOPS are liquid mixtures that are applied to food during cooking to keep the food from drying out and to add flavor. These terms are often used interchangeably, though a basting sauce may be bit thicker than a mop (also called a sop). If you want to look really pro, you can pick up a basting mop (a basting tool that looks exactly like a cleaning mop, but in miniature) to apply your mop.
GLAZES are sugary liquids that are brushed on food close to the end of grilling or after the food has been removed from the grill. If applied earlier, the high sugar content would cause the food to burn.
You don’t have to have a restaurant-quality kitchen to replicate the same delicious eats we’re plating each day at our Brother Jimmy’s locations. In fact, you’d be surprised at how basic the equipment requirements are for barbecue. Remember that this is a simple science; less is often more.
Here are some of basic tools you’ll want to have on hand when you’re ’cuing:
A METAL SPATULA WITH A LONG HANDLE.
You’ll want something that won’t melt if it should hit the grill by accident.
TONGS. The longer the better, so the flickering flames don’t accidentally sear your hand when you’re flipping.
HEATPROOF GLOVES. Heavy-duty are always best. Your hands will thank you when handling hot utensils.
A MEAT THERMOMETER. The method of cooking and the time will be determined by your heat source, but internal temperature will always dictate when the food is done. Opt for a thermometer with a probe you can leave in the meat while the readout stays a safe distance away.
AN OVEN THERMOMETER. Use this to sort out the temperature of the grill itself. Built-in thermometers can often be wonky and are not always to be trusted.
HEAVY-DUTY ALUMINUM FOIL. Consider foil the most versatile tool in the barbecue shed. You’ll use it more than you’d realize.
A WATER BOTTLE. Shoot it on the grill to cool everything down if the flames get too hot. (Or at friends who try to grab anything off the grill while it’s still cooking.)
A BASTING BRUSH. Make sure the bristles are silicone so they won’t melt when you’re dabbing on the sauce.
A DRIP PAN. Catch all the juice falling from the meat because flame-ups are bad; they burn the meat. You can also add water to the drip pan, which in turn adds moisture to the whole process, producing juicier meat.
A KITCHEN SYRINGE. This is not an everyday barbecue tool, but is highly useful when you want to inject flavors into your food. We use one to inject Cajun flavors into our Deep-Fried Cajun Chicken (this page).
A WIRE CLEANING BRUSH. Use this to keep your grill clean. A clean grill is a happy grill.
A COAL RAKE, SMALL FIREPLACE POKER, OR SHOVEL. If you plan to do a lot of ’cuing, rather than straight up direct-heat grilling, you will want something to move hot coals around in your grill or smoker.
A NONREACTIVE PAN. It’s important to use pans made of nonreactive material, such as stainless steel or enameled cast iron, when cooking acidic foods like marinades and pickling brines. Otherwise, the reactive metal may impart a metallic taste to your food and can discolor light-colored foods. Reactive metals include aluminum, copper, and cast iron.
A SPICE GRINDER. Use this to freshly grind spices you’ll need for the ’cue. You can toast your whole spices, then grind them for a fresher, deeper flavor than what’s sitting on your supermarket shelf. If you can’t find a spice grinder, a coffee mill doubles nicely.
A MICROPLANE GRATER. We use this to zest citrus and to grate garlic and ginger, among other foods. It creates a really finely grated pile that is perfect for a number of our recipes.
ZIP-TOP BAGS. Great for holding marinated meats. So long as your instruments aren’t hot, they can also double as a coaster for your utensils.
Throughout this book, we’re going to share key barbecue tips with you, plus plenty of great entertaining ideas, brought to you by our porcine pit pal and de facto mascot, Reginald Hammington—a professional party advisor if ever there was one. Good ole Reggie will pop up from time to time to share his vast knowledge with you, so look for his cheery snout in the coming pages.
’CUE BASICS
Hey there. Reggie here. Ready to do this? I’ve got some basic rules of serving great barbecue for you, because what’s the point of slaving the day away cooking if it all falls apart right before you serve it?
LET MEAT REST BEFORE CARVING OR PULLING. I know you’ll be anxious to present the proud piece of meat you’ve labored over as soon as it leaves the grill, but hold on. Always allow pieces to rest before digging into them. The time needed for resting varies based on the size and cut of the meat—beef should rest the longest. This allows juices to redistribute throughout the meat. And everyone will appreciate that when it hits the table.
ALWAYS CUT MEAT ACROSS THE GRAIN. This is a good rule of thumb to follow, but is especially imperative when slicing cuts of meat coming from the chest, shoulders, and legs—generally anything the animal used for walking around. Naturally, those cuts of meat will have more muscle fibers, which can make for chewy, fibrous meat if not sliced properly. This doesn’t happen with pork as much as it does steak—that’s because pigs are better than cows, but I’m getting off topic. To cut meat across the grain, identify the fibers in the meat. They will all be running in the same direction. Lay the piece of meat in front of you, with the fibers running from left to right. Then cut perpendicular to the fibers, or “across the grain,” as they say. Cuts that will have particularly pronounced fibers include flank steak, hanger steak, skirt steak, brisket, and London broil.
WHEN SAUCING BARBECUED MEATS, DON’T OVERDO IT. The point of barbecue is to taste the meat. After all, if you’ve made our Carolina-Style Pulled Pork (this page) or Smoked Brisket (this page), you will have spent hours, not minutes, to achieve deeply flavored, wonderfully smoky, and tender meat. Why cover up your work with too much barbecue sauce?
BRING ON THE FUN
I’ll be back shortly with some more tips on the grub, but you’ll also see me breaking down the lighter side of any festivity. That includes:
GAMES, GAMES, AND MORE GAMES. Whether you’re planning a Final Four party, Super Bowl blowout, a St. Patty’s Day bash, or an old-fashioned backyard barbecue, we have lots of games to keep your guests amused. And to help them to put down a few more drinks because a number of the games are liquor-centric.
PLAYLISTS. Music is the backbone of any party. It sets the mood and the tempo and dictates the dancing. Our Essential Playlist (opposite) is a no-fail energizer, and it’s suitable for any party. In addition, you’ll find other playlists sprinkled throughout the book, crafted with specific themes in mind—like tailgating, a Southern-style “boil” party, Final Four, and more. (If you’re going to DJ a pig pickin’, do me a little favor and play “Taps” for my fallen brethren? It’s only right.)
DRINKS. We keep things simple at Brother Jimmy’s. Besides great food, great music, and fun games, there’s only one other crucial element necessary to throwing a memorable party: drinks. Although, depending on how many drinks you have, the memories may be hazy. In addition to giving you recipes for our most popular drinks, I’ll share my favorite drinking tips with you—like how much of the silly sauce to have on hand, how to chill beer like a pro, and what to serve your drinks in.
