I want to thank Obie from Obie-Cue. I need to thank him for a number of things. When I first started this blog, Obie was one of the first people to respond to me. In my e-mails with him, he was funny, engaging, and obviously knew a LOT about smoking, and a lot about Q’ing. It became apparent that he loves to pass this knowledge on to all who may seek it. He also sent me some of his fantastic rubs to try, and they have already been mentioned in several posts. His products are superb. Finally, Obie has been patient in answering my interview questions, and very engaging. I hope you will visit his site, and maybe try some of his products. You won’t be disappointed. I’m splitting the interview into two parts, as I asked Obie a bunch of questions. Please enjoy, and pay Obie a visit. ~The Dry Rubbed Rat

1. How did you get started in barbecue? How long have you been at it? I’ve had meat seasonings in my line since day one, but I had no background in BBQ, as I’d been a veggie. When I heard that Trader’s Village was hosting a BBQ cook off I entered in 1986, hoping to promote my seasonings. I sucked – bad. Happily I was better at making new friends than cooking BBQ so I started going to the meetings of the NORTH TEXAS BBQ COOKERS ASSOCIATION. NTBCA was the first BBQ Cookers association in the country, pre-dating KCBS. Bob (2X4) Herring was one of the top cookers, a truly unique individual (don’t get me started on 2X4 stories), and Bob took me under his wing and taught me the basics of his method. So in a sense I actually started my BBQ career in 86, but truly I didn’t really enter a cook off until 87 and I hit 10Th brisket. I was ruined. I got serious about competing and took my first National Title in 1990 (1st Chicken, Meridian TX Invitational) and won chicken at the Jack Daniels in 91. I’m proudest of being a Founding Father and past Pres of the IBCA, (International BBQ Cookers Association) the preeminent BBQ sanctioning body in Texas. We changed the face of cook offs in Texas by promoting a standardized judging format so you’re always assured of clean judging at an IBCA sanctioned cook off. That didn’t exist in Texas before us.

2. What made you decide to start selling your products? It’s a long involved story of how I got in the spice biz, but the short version is I got into the spice biz ’cause a friend and co-worker wanted to move to Austin back when there were NO employment opportunities down there. So, he looked to buy a small biz and thus create his job, but didn’t have the bucks to do it alone. He found a guy with a spice biz & a restaurant route with a little flea market operation where he sold bulk spices, cheap. There wasn’t anyplace to buy bulk or buy cheap in Austin back then, so he did pretty well. So in 1985 I went in with my bud, bought out the guy and took half the inventory to Dallas and I was in the spice biz!! Opened up a little spice shop in the biggest flea market in the central US, a place called Trader’s Village. Soon I found that there were a LOT of places to buy bulk spices in Dallas, and no matter how much cheaper and fresher my stock was, when mama ran out of nutmeg, like she did every 6 years, she’d just hammer down to whatever store was closest, even if it meant paying an extra buck to get crap from Kroger, instead of waiting until she got back my way again. I was working two jobs, putting in 70+ hours a week and not making squat on the spice business. Then I figured it out; that if I sold a blend, a unique product that you couldn’t get anywhere else, then people would come back to ME. Ah-Ha! I dumped a bunch of stuff that didn’t move and started developing my unique blends. Happily, I was perfectly suited to do that. I’d just spent years working in laboratories–I have a BS in Biology, minored in Chem–and knew how to combine scientific methodology with a long background of intuitive, experimental cooking. So to answer your question, I was already in the biz when I started selling my seasonings.

3. What is your best-selling product? What is your favorite product? Ah an easy one. Overall, Sweet Rub is my best seller with Steakmaker a very close second. Fact: People may brag about their ribs or brisket, but they eat a helluva lot more chicken, steak and burgers. Personal Fave? Depends on what I’m cooking and my mood. I use half a dozen different things on chicken, depending on what goes best with the side dishes, Variety–always lookin’ for more variety so dinner doesn’t get boring. Fave Brisket BigBull’s, Fave rib SweetNHeat, Chicken- Sweet Rub; grilled pork chop Celerbration or Beaumont. Grilled fish – Sunshine. You can get all my recommendations on my website www.obiecue.com. Click on the very top button labeled “Whatcha Cookin?” and get all our preferences. Of course while you’re there, you should read the recipes and and smoker recommendations

4. Besides smoking and grilling, do you enjoy other cooking methods? Got started frying and stir-frying, gradually improving and learning spices–but never following recipes–always just winging it. Back when I was a big football fan (Go Cowboys!) and dedicated couch potato, every Sunday I discovered I could bake a big batch of bread and only miss a few minutes of game time, so I wasn’t being a useless beer-sotted slob every Sunday, I was a beer-sotted BAKER–much better. So cooking in general came first. BBQ came much later because when I started cooking I was a vegetarian. I’m a better BBQer these days ’cause I was a veggie-biter back then, because without the big broad flavors of meat to hide your screw-ups you have to be very precise with your seasonings. You’re also very motivated to season so you can make all that hay taste like food.

5. In our e-mails, your passion to teach was apparent. Tell my readers about your mission to teach BBQ, and some of the ways you accomplish that. Teaching is sharing information, and all the best things in life, love, friendship, music, great meals, etc. are best when they’re shared. Besides, a lot of what I know was handed down to me, so I pass it on. Plus, it’s a kick when you see that light turn on in somebody’s eyes, when all of a sudden they get it-boom!-suddenly it all makes sense!. From a commercial standpoint, my core business is helping other people cook better–that’s the whole point of selling rubs and seasonings–so if I can provide the whole package–the product AND the technique–and you suddenly start cooking a whole LOT better…you’ll prob’ly think I’m smarter than I am and I’ll get a life-long customer. It’s a classic win-win.

Where and how do I teach? I teach all day every day in my retail store, and been doing that for 25 years. We actually keep a continuous cooking demo going at all times. Plus, EVERYTHING that 2X4 taught me, (I was mentored by Bob (2X4) Herring, who was one of the top competitive cooks in North Texas at the time.).and a bunch of nifty tricks that I figured out on my own (I was a damn good cook already when I started BBQ’n.) is in the “RECIPES” section on my website at www.obiecue.com. If you want to cook like a champion, bring it on! The info is all there, and it ain’t rocket science. It’s really pretty easy. The rest is up to you, reader. Get off your dead duff and build a fire!

6. What is the most common mistake that new folks make? The same mistake that a lot of cooks in general make…Not knowing if it’s done. It’s either undercooked or overdone and never consistent. There’s just too damn many factors to consider–the weather, the exact temp of that fire as opposed to last week’s fire…the thickness and temperature of the meat…yada yada Too much mental strain. Stick a damn thermometer in it. Read the numbers. Relax. That’s the reason that rule #1 on my Tips page is get a meat thermometer!!

Thanks again to Obie – look for Part II next week!

Well, last weekend I did an unscheduled cook of chicken. My family had been out and around running errands, and as we do, stopped for a bite to eat around 2:30 or 3:00. I knew that meant that we would be hungry again, in the evening, and I hadn’t anything really planned (I usually do all of the weekend cooking). We got home around 4:00 and knowing I had about 3 hours, I thought of the smoker! I got some chicken thighs out of the freezer and defrosted them. I rubbed them heavy with some Sweet Rub generously provided by my friend Obie over at Obie-Cue, and then left them to soak for a bit in some apple juice.

Meanwhile, I fired up the chimney starter, and filled the basket in the smoker with Kingsford briquettes. I also made up some foil packets of the mesquite chips I had on hand. Now, I am not crazy about chicken, and even less so, about chicken thighs. that being said, lots of folks had recommended them, I had some, so what the heck? besides, so far on my smoker I had made pastrami, pulled pork, ABTs and beef ribs.

Remembering Obie’s advice (“You can push a cow, but you can’t push a chicken”) I planned to put these in at 225. That seems to be the sweet spot for my ProQ; since Day One, I can get it there and hold it, fairly easily.
I pulled the chicken out of the apple juice, hit em with a bit more rub, and threw em in the smoker. I set the vents and walked away. No peeking really, I could see the thermometer from my living room window. After about an hour, I flipped the thighs. After 2 hours, the thighs were at about 155 degrees internal. 165 was my goal, so I knew I was close. I added a few more briquettes, popped the vents, and started basting with some sauce. My wife loves spicy stuff, so 1/3 of the thighs got hit with some “Fiery” sauce sent to me by the folks at Russ and Frank’s BBQ sauce. The rest got basted with Bill Johnson’s. The smoker was now cranking pretty good at 325 or so. Each piece got turned twice and basted twice, until they hit about 167 or so, and I pulled em off.

So, I had two batches – fiery and regular, all rubbed down with Obie-Cue’s Sweet Rub. Russ n Frank’s sauce was awesome, and important to note, loses some of it’s fieriness, once cooked. (When you taste a bit, out of the bottle, it is HOT). My wife and daughter LOVED this chicken, and admittedly, so did I. They proclaimed it the best they have ever had. Now, understand, it’s a tough crowd in my house. My family doesn’t say stuff like that, unless they mean it. I wanted to thank Obiecue (look for an interview with Obie soon) and Russ N Frank’s as well – both put out awesome products, and more reviews to come! This week, the Holy Grail – pork ribs!

A week or two ago I made a post about my first attempt at pastrami. It tasted good, looked great, but wasn’t very tender. Well, I had several people recommend steaming it. I had set half of my pastrami aside and froze it. This weekend I got it out, and let it steam in the double boiler for about an hour.

Wow – what a difference! This stuff was falling apart and tasted awesome. I made some pastrami sandwiches with dill pickle and some awesome jalapeno mustard sent to me by the folks at Uncle Dougie’s. This mustard is the bomb, and made a good sandwich even better!

Sunday night I pulled off of the Q what my family has proclaimed to be “The best chicken they’ve ever had”. Now to be clear, my wife and daughter are not known for idle flattery.

Stay tuned for story and photos!

You may or may not have read about Voyage #2 last weekend – pulled pork and it turned out great! That makes beef ribs, pastrami and pulled pork so far, and so far – everything has been a hit! So since my pork was taking up one rack in the proQ, and I have two – I decided to try ABTs as well.

WOW! These turned out great! So, for the uninformed, “ABT” stands for “Atomic Buffalo Turd”. They are a high-end, customized jalapeno popper. There are a ton of variations, but the standard is this: A jalapeno split in half. Put a “little smokie in the middle, buried in cream cheese. Put the halves back together, wrap in bacon and throw on the smoker. For my first time, I didn’t stray too far from the base recipe.

Little Smokies were about 4 bucks for a package, so I found some smoked sausage on sale for 99 cents instead. I cut it up to “Lil Smokie-sized” pieces. The cream cheese seemed kind of blah, so I threw a couple of spoonfuls of salsa inside and stirred until smooth. I wore gloves while splitting the jalapenos and scraping out the seeds. I then filled with cream cheese and a piece of sausage, and put the two halves back together. I wrapped with a piece of bacon and stuck in a couple of toothpicks to hold it all together. Oh – they were dusted inside and out with some BBQ Bomber rub, from Obie-Cue.

No worries about the cheese squeezing out the end; it forms a “skin” and seems to seal it just fine.

I think these were on the smoker about 3 hours at 230 or so.
The finished product. Even my wife liked them!

So, I had a 7 lb pork shoulder lined up for Voyage # 2 on my new ProQ. After last weekend’s maiden voyage including beef ribs and pastrami, I wanted to try something different. I also took a crack at ABT’s, but you’ll learn about those later this week. I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions on a bunch of BBQ forums. Finally, I settled on rub and wrap the night before, no slather, and fat-cap down.

As stated, I rubbed the pork heavy the night before and wrapped in saran wrap. I want to thank Fred Bernardo over at Tasty Licks BBQ Company for graciously providing me with some rubs to try. On this outing I chose Fred’s “Original Smokin Good BBQ Rub”. It was awesome, with some sweet, some chili powder and some hints of black pepper shining through. Fred has a ton of stuff available at his site – racks and stands and gadgets of every kind, along with a bunch of different rubs and sauces. Oh – and music supply as well. I really recommend that you try one of his his rubs!

Pork shoulder and tasty Licks Original

So, the next morning around 8:00 I drag out the ProQ and fill the charcoal basket as full as possible. I foiled the water pan and filled it about 2/3 full. For kicks, I threw some fresh sage and basil in the pan – my wife had an herb garden growing not too far from the smoker.

Ready to launch

Someone told me that if I dumped the chimney right and the middle (and didn’t spread the lit briquets), that the temp would come up quicker. That’s what I did, and it did seem to make a difference. I don’t yet have any wood chunks, so I had to do the “chips in foil” routine. After about 3 hours, I added some more charcoal and snapped a pic.

Getting some color now!

And so it went, until it hit 160. At that point I pulled it off, foiled with some apple juice, stoked up the ProQ and threw her on again. Now we’re at about 7 hours. I’m at the bottom of the bag of charcoal, and the internal temp has barely moved since I foiled it. We’re at about 170 now. the Q seemed to be struggling a little and I wondered if the bottom of the smoker had accumulated enough ash to restrict airflow. I grabbed some gloves and pulled out the basket and dumped the ash. I put the basket in, topped up the basket with more charcoal, popped the vents and decided to go have a nap. About 2 hours later I emerged from my siesta and went out to check the smoker. I turned the thermometer on and wow – 190, baby! Woo hoo. By the time I farted around getting everything ready – it was at 195 and off she came! I left foiled and got the rest of dinner ready. I know some guys put them in towels in a cooler for 2-3 hours, but it was dinner time, and we were hungry. It got an hour in the foil on the top of the stove, while I finished with dinner! I peeled back the foil and – YUMMMMM!

Is this right? I think so!

The family loved this! We served sauce on the side – nothing exotic – Sweet Baby Ray’s. Had some penne alfredo and veggies. Mmmmm

Lots of leftovers to take to work the next day! It was a hit!

Pulled Pork and Tasty Licks

One of the best pieces of advice I received was “buy a chimney starter”. I’d never used one before. I tell you, charcoal lighter fluid is a hassle, and I am suspicious that it leaves a taste sometimes.

I picked up a chimney starter at Wal-Mart for less than 10 bucks. You put some charcoal in the top, a wadded up newspaper in the bottom. Sit it on an appropriate surface (I use my retired old BBQ), light the newspaper, and “Voila”. The first time I tried it, I thought the newspaper flared up, burnt and didn’t do anything. On closer inspection though, the charcoal was lit!

Seriously, this is slick. If you don’t have one, you need to get one. Light the newspaper, wait 15 minutes, dump the perfectly burning charcoal into your smoker. I can’t believe I waited this long. I just never knew.

So, last week when I sent my new ProQ on her maiden voyage, I started with beef ribs. Well, my Q has 2 racks, so i wanted to try something on the other rack also. I’d been reading about pastrami over on the AZBarbeque Forums. The gist of it is this – take a corned beef, soak the salt out of it, roll in coriander and black pepper – and smoke.

So first, I soaked a small corned been over night in the fridge. It was submerged, and I did throw in the little spice packet that comes with it. I changed the water out twice. In the morning, I hit it pretty good with coriander and black pepper, and put it on the lower rack.

It was in there about 6 hours. I pulled it out when the internal temperature reached around 160. No particular reason other than my ribs were done, and I didn’t want to keep feeding er charcoal. Well, lesson learned. The pastrami looked good, tasted great, but wasn’t very tender. Some of the guys on different message boards said to steam it. They also said that I should have foiled it and taken the internal temp higher. Next time, that’s exactly what I will do. Oh – and more coriander and pepper next time. It could have used some more “bark”.

This looks like an awesome event! Unfortunately I have another commitment that day. I hope you all get a chance to make it! ~DRR

1st Annual Arizona BBQ Festival in Scottsdale

WHOLE FOODS FARMER’S MARKET
A full food experience on the day of the event, celebrating our local growers and farmers. The Whole Foods Farmer’s Market will feature the best our state has to offer in fruits, vegetables, meats and all things local.
VIP AREA
Here, our VIP guests will be able to relax in a bit more fashionable comfort. Think sofas, not picnic tables; top shelf liquor, not beer from a keg; and food not available to the masses. The VIP area will also be located closest to the stage to insure the best seats in the house.
MAIN STAGE
Our main performance stage will feature live music throughout the day. Various local bands will perform, providing the musical backdrop for the event.
CHECK IN
Your basic setup for Will-Call, collecting entrance fees, and food/drink sample ticket puchases.
PIT ROW
The 60+ cooking teams will be located in the west side of the site. Here, they will be getting their grill on. On the day, guests will be able to visit with the teams and sample their competition cooking.
BEER GARDEN
Our entire event site is one giant beer garden. Guests will be able to roam freely from vendor, to team, to expo with drink in hand. We will provide a seating area for our general admission guests.
VIKING COOKING DEMO STAGE
Our cooking stage sponsored by Viking, will not only have chef cooking demos, but also full BBQ seminars. This class will feature a real pitmaster taking our guests through a start-to-finish experience in BBQ’ing. This is a great team-builder.
KID’S ZONE
We will have an area dedicated to keeping the kids busy while the adults get to relax. Some features will include games, bouncy castle, petting zoo and more.
JUDGING AREA
This stage will feature the 40+ judges that will be presiding over the competition. The competitors will have to walk our “Cowhide Runway” to deliver their entries to our judges.
BBQ EXPO
The BBQ area will be the first thing visitors walk past. The expo will feature vendors displaying everything from grills to sauces, this will be a cornucopia of “All things BBQ.”
JACK DANIEL’S WHISKEY TENT
We will be hosting an area wherein visitors can sample all types of top shelf whiskey and bourbon. Samples will be sold; there will also be a full bar on hand.
GREEN LOUNGE
An exhibit area of the green technologies that are being developed right here in Arizona.

Finally, after a few weeks of prepping and reading and learning, my new ProQ smoker was fired up for the first time this weekend. First up was beef ribs. I bought them on sale a couple weeks ago. Wicked big racks of ribs!

The night before, I rubbed the ribs down with rubs from Big Ron Garcia. One rack got “Big Ron is in the House”, one rack got “Hint of Houston”. Being very green, I planned on using the 3-2-1 method for doing the ribs.

Up at 10 the next morning, I got everything set. I also was going to try and make pastrami on the other rack – more on that later. Because the ribs were so big, I had to use the first rack – they wouldn’t fit on the second rack, under the dome cover.

I filled the charcoal basket full of briquettes (Kingsford Competition), lit a half chimney starter full, and spread them over the basket.

Buttoned up and waiting.

The plan was to get to a temp of 225 and hold for 3 hours. Then the ribs would be wrapped in foil and put back on for 2 hours (with a splash of apple juice). Then they would be unwrapped and put back on for a final hour. It seemed to take a long time to get to 225. It held at around 200 for a long time. I kept messing with the vents. Finally I opened the bottom door a little, added some more charcoal, and voila!

Here they are going on for the last hour:

The ribs were awesome. We served sauce on the side, which we’ve never done before. The meat was falling off of the bones, and my wife and daughter loved them! I want to thank Big Ron for the awesome rub. I think I liked the Hint of Houston a little better – but they were both wicked good. I’d give myself a B+ or A-. Overall, for the very first time I’d smoked anything, I think it went great. Oh – and got a great smoke ring too!