Feeding the Fire

The hardest part about brining is knowing how long to soak the meat. You want to wait long enough for the brine to do its work, but not so long that it continues breaking down protein to the point of mushiness. A spongy, overbrined pork chop is much worse than a nonbrined one. How long you brine depends on the type and size of the meat: pork and chicken parts should be brined for anywhere from 30 minutes (for thin cuts) to 6 hours (for thick cuts, chops, and tenderloins). Whole chickens need 4 to 8 hours, depending on their size; turkeys require about 1 hour per pound. And big pork roasts need about 2 hours per inch of thickness.

Many recipes call for overnight brining, which is excessive, and destructive, to all but the largest cuts of meat. It’s better to err on the side of underbrining; you’ll find that even a quick brine is better than none at all.

If you’re brining chicken or other poultry and want its skin to crisp up while it cooks (you do!), then let the brined bird dry for a few hours before you cook it. The best way to do this is to place it atop a wire rack set over a baking sheet (or something else to catch any drippings) and refrigerate it until about an hour before you’re ready to cook. Then let the bird come to room temperature while you prepare the grill or smoker.

I occasionally brine seafood before throwing it on the grill. I’ve found that 10 to 15 minutes in a simple brine will plump up a piece of fish and help it stay firm and moist when grilled. With oily fish like salmon, brining also helps prevent that foamy white albumin from creeping up through the flesh as the fish cooks. With shrimp and other shellfish, a quick brine is all you need to boost the flavor.

One very important thing to remember with any meat that’s been brined: be careful about seasoning it during and after cooking. Cook the meat and taste it before adding any salt.

5 Grill the pork chops over high heat until well charred on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Then move the pork chops to the medium-heat side and grill, turning every few minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into the center of the chops reads 145°F, 12 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer the pork to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes.

6 While the pork chops rest, in a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Carefully add the bourbon and then tilt the pan away from you until it ignites (use a match or a lighter if using an electric stove). Let the alcohol burn off, then swirl the sauce until emulsified.

7 Transfer the pork chops to plates and spoon some of the sauce over each chop. Sprinkle with coarse salt and serve.

1 Put the turkey in a large nonreactive container and cover with the brine; or use a brining bag. Refrigerate for 8 to 16 hours, turning the turkey over halfway through brining.

2 Set a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet. Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well; discard the brine. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels and put it on the wire rack. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

3 Remove the rack, leaving the turkey on the baking sheet, and coat it lightly all over with the dry rub, if using (you may not need all of the rub).

5 Place the turkey in the smoker and smoke, maintaining a smoker temperature between 200°F and 250°F, replenishing the wood chunks or chips as needed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a leg registers 165°F. Total smoking time will be 6 to 7 hours. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

1 If brining the chicken: In a stockpot, bring the water and dry rub to a boil, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let the brine cool to room temperature, then transfer to a nonreactive container and refrigerate until chilled.

3 Set a wire rack on a baking sheet. Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry with paper towels, and place on the wire rack. Discard the brine. Refrigerate for 6 hours.

4 If using just the dry rub: Put the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and coat the chicken lightly all over with the dry rub (you may not need all of the rub).

6 Place the chicken in the smoker and smoke, maintaining a smoker temperature of between 200° and 225°F, replenishing the wood chunks or chips as needed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a leg registers 165°F. Total smoking time will be 3 to 5 hours. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes.

7 At this point, you can cut the chicken into quarters or tear the meat into shreds to make pulled chicken. Or, if you want extra-crispy skin, you can briefly roast the chicken in a 450°F oven, or prepare a grill with hot and cool sides, put the chicken over the cool side, cover the grill, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.

1 In a container large enough to hold the brisket, combine the water, kosher and curing salts, onion, garlic, and pickling spices and whisk until the salt is dissolved. Add the brisket, cover, and refrigerate for 2 weeks, turning the brisket over periodically if it’s not completely submerged.

3 Remove the brisket from the brine and pat dry. Trim the fat cap to about ⅛ inch thick, removing any hard lumps of fat. Put the brisket on a rimmed baking sheet and coat all over with the dry rub, patting it onto the surface until the meat has an even layer of rub (you may not need all of the rub). If you have time, let the meat rest for 1 to 2 hours, until the rub starts to moisten and turn into a pasty coating.

5 Place the brisket, fatty side up, in the smoker and smoke, maintaining a smoker temperature of between 210° and 225°F, replenishing the wood chunks or chips as needed.

6 After about 8 hours, start checking the meat periodically: Poke the brisket in a few places; the fat cap should be soft and pliant and the meat should separate under your finger. If you think your brisket is nearly done, cut off a good chunk and eat it. The bark should be dry and crisp, and the meat should be moist and tender but not mushy or overly chewy. Total smoking time will be 12 to 16 hours.

7 When the brisket is smoked to your liking, using two pairs of tongs or a pair of heavy rubber gloves, transfer it to a cutting board. If your cutting board doesn’t have a channel for catching juices, put it on a rimmed baking sheet. Let the meat rest for at least 30 minutes.

8 Just before serving (once sliced, brisket dries out quickly), slice the brisket across the grain into ¼-inch pieces, beginning at the thinner end of the cut. When you encounter the thick band of tough fat that separates the point from the flat, cut the remaining brisket into two pieces between the point and the flat. Remove most of the fat, then continue. Serve with the spicy mustard.

Note:

Brisket is best eaten right away, but if you have to cook it ahead of time, let it cool to room temperature, then wrap it in multiple layers of plastic and refrigerate. To rewarm the brisket, unwrap it and place it in a roasting pan. Add a splash of water and cover with foil, then heat it in a 200°F oven until warmed through. If the bark has gone soft, you can recrisp it over a medium-hot grill fire for a few minutes.

1 In a large pot, cover the tongue with cold water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer the tongue for 1½ hours.

2 Transfer the tongue to a cutting board. When it is cool enough to handle, peel away the skin.

3 In a container or resealable plastic bag large enough to hold the tongue, combine the water, kosher and curing salts, onion, garlic, and pickling spices and whisk until the salt is dissolved. Add the tongue, cover, and refrigerate for 1 week.

5 Remove the tongue from the brine and pat dry. Put the tongue on a rimmed baking sheet and coat it all over with the dry rub, patting it onto the surface until the meat has an even layer of rub (you may not need all of the rub).

7 Place the tongue in the smoker and smoke, maintaining a smoker temperature of between 210° and 225°F, replenishing the wood chunks or chips as needed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the tongue reads 175°F. Total smoking time will be 6 to 8 hours.

8 To serve the tongue warm, thinly slice it across the grain on a bias. Or refrigerate until chilled, then slice as thin as possible. Serve with the spicy mustard and pickles.

1 In a small bowl, combine the kosher salt, curing salt, brown sugar, and pepper. Put the pork belly on a rimmed baking sheet and cover it with the cure, rubbing it well into the meat and fat (you may not need all of the cure). Wrap the belly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 7 days.

4 Place the pork belly in the smoker and smoke, maintaining a smoker temperature of between 140° and 160°F, replenishing the wood chunks or chips as needed, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the belly registers 140°F. Total smoking time will be 4 to 5 hours. Transfer the bacon to a clean surface and let cool to room temperature.

5 Pat the bacon dry with a paper towel, then wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm before slicing and cooking. You can also cut the bacon into large slabs, wrap them individually, and refrigerate or freeze. The bacon can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.

An Outsider at Memphis in May

I’ve never been interested in competition barbecue. There’s something about competitive cooking in general that I can’t get behind: why does cooking need to be a sport? It makes about as much sense to me as a competitive painting tournament or battle-royal jazz.

But I couldn’t pass up the chance to play pitmaster for a couple of days back in 2009, when the editors of Men’s Health magazine offered to send me and three other guys from the New York barbecue restaurant scene to compete in Memphis in May, one of the largest and fiercest barbecue competitions in the world. Some 250 teams vie for the top spot (and $100,000 in prize money) in several categories, with an emphasis on pork (ribs, shoulder, and whole hog), along with ancillary categories like poultry, brisket, sauce, and wings.

For most competitors, an invite to Memphis in May means you’re a top pitmaster who’s won other events. Many teams consist of twenty or more people who “train” together throughout the year, are well traveled on the barbecue circuit, and roll up to the event with massive custom-built smoker rigs; some even have corporate sponsors. Our team, which snuck in through the back door opened by the magazine, consisted of Kenny Callaghan of Manhattan’s Blue Smoke; John Stage of the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurants; Craig Samuel, who owns Brooklyn’s Smoke Joint; and me. Of our quartet, only Kenny had some competitive barbecue experience; the rest of us were complete newbies. Each of us would work with one meat and would fend for himself throughout the competition. Kenny took on beef brisket, John went with baby back ribs, Craig made prime rib, and I chose chicken.

By the time we got to the event, we knew we were walking into a buzz saw—or perhaps bringing knives to a gunfight. While our competitors unhitched their elaborate bespoke smokers, we set up a small fleet of Weber kettle grills and bullet smokers—the same equipment we use in our own backyards. I still think the best thing about attending a barbecue competition is seeing the insane rigs some of the teams build. I’ve seen vintage buses, motorcycles, and cars retrofitted into smokers; a smoker shaped like a giant six-shooter; and too many smokers adorned with pig’s ears and snouts to count. A barbecue competition is basically a hot-rod show cloaked in sauce and smoke.

Competitive barbecue has a bunch of very particular, sometimes seemingly counterintuitive, rules. For example, everything must be served to the judges in 9-by-9-inch Styrofoam clamshells, yet you are judged on “appearance” for the way you arrange your barbecue in said container, using only parsley or lettuce as your garnish; other adornments are forbidden. Winning a trophy is as much about following these very specific rules as it is about making great-tasting meat, which itself must play to the judges’ proclivities; they tend to favor a sticky, heavily sauced style of barbecue.

Our team decided to stick with the styles of barbecue we make back in New York. I wanted my chickens to have the distinctive flavor of Fette Sau’s dry rub, but I elected to turn it into a brine instead of applying it to the outside of the birds, which would help keep the skin crispy and the meat moist during the stretch of time after they came off the smoker and before they were sampled by the judges. I brined the chickens in our hotel’s commissary kitchen and hoped for the best.

My best landed me somewhere near the middle of the pack after judging, along with my fellow city-slicker teammates. We were all more than pleased with how our meat turned out, but we knew that it wasn’t what the judges were looking for. Despite getting our asses kicked, though, we ended up having a blast: we met a few legendary pitmasters, tasted some amazing barbecue, and had an all-around good hang with people who care as much about smoke and meat as we do.

But I’ll probably never do it again.

Brining Times
Whole chicken	4 to 8 hours (about 1 hour per pound)
Chicken pieces	30 minutes to 2 hours
Whole turkey	12 to 24 hours (about 1 hour per pound)
Pork chops	2 to 6 hours or 8 to 12 hours for double-cut chops
Pork tenderloin	4 to 8 hours
Whole pork loin	24 hours