A chicken treated right, will treat you right!

It's been awhile since I have blogged. Time to get back on the horse!

Today's topic is the beloved chicken. It is an incredibly easy and awesome type of meat to barbecue.

There are a few popular ways to cook a chicken:

1. Whole - usually called "beer can chicken" which eludes to sitting the whole chicken down on a can of beer and then placing it on the grill to be cooked whole. The theory is that the fragrance and steam from the liquid in the can will impart flavor to the chicken. We here at Colorado BBQ Outfitters has a great selection of beer can chicken products.

2. Cut in pieces - most of the "pros" will tell you this is a better way to bbq chicken than whole. It cooks evenly and you are assured usually of doneness. One of my favorite chicken items to smoke and/or cook are wings. Super easy and a big favorite! Colorado BBQ Outfitters carries a wing rack that makes cooking wings a piece of cake!

3. Spatchcocked or Splayed - this involves cutting out the back bone of the chicken and laying it out flat and cooking it that way. One simple method is to splay the chicken and place a foil wrapped brick on it while it is cooking. It will keep it flat and cook it more evenly.

My personal favorite is spatchcocked. I feel it cooks similar to whole but more evenly and thoroughly.

Few tips with regard to grilling/barbequing chicken:
1. Always put any seasoning UNDER the skin between the skin and the meat. The skin acts as a scuba suit so the flavoring on top of the skin will not reach the meat. With two fingers separate the skin from the meat and run your fingers up inside the skin to create a space between. Then stuff your seasoning or whatnot on the meat under the skin.
2. When checking internal temperature, check in three areas: breast, armpit, and thigh. One part of the chicken may be more done than another and we do not want anyone to get sick from your chicken!
3. To get that "golden look" after cooking, you can brush some extra virgin olive oil on the outside of the chicken while cooking.
4. Squeeze oranges or lemons over the skin of the chicken if cooking it over direct heat. This will keep the skin from drying out.
5. Assuming you have cleaned and oiled your grates before cooking, if the chicken sticks, it is not ready to be turned. Give it a few minutes and it will release.

Chicken can be grilled (direct heat) or bbq'd (low and slow heat). It is simple to do and the family will love it!

Add some sauce on the table and enjoy!

Colorado BBQ Outfitters
6850 N. Academy Blvd
719-465-1041

Best BBQ Ribs!!

Do you love a great barbecued rib? We here at Colorado BBQ Outfitters do as well!

We have all ordered some type of BBQ Ribs at a restaurant. Slathered in sauce and "falling off the bone".

But did you know that ribs should never fall off the bone? We are instilled to believe that by the restaurants. Why would they do that? Well, restaurants do not have the luxury of cooking ribs for 6 hours making you wait that long for your meal. So they take what I call shortcuts.

Restaurants usually boil their ribs. This makes cooking them much faster. The problem is, it also boils the flavor right out of the meat. NEVER, EVER BOIL YOUR MEAT. This is why restaurants slather all that sauce on them. To hide the fact they boiled the taste right out of them. They will also cook them in an oven at a higher temperature. Nothing really wrong with this but this is not barbecuing. Barbecuing involves cooking food with a low temperature over a longer period of time. This method makes the meat literally fall from the bone. BBQ experts will tell you that meat should never just fall from the bone. Competition teams never cook their ribs to "fall off the bone". Meathead with www.amazingribs.com says the following, "Properly cooked ribs will pull cleanly off the bone with your teeth, but they will still have some resilience and chew, like a properly cooked steak, but not be tough. Remember, boiling meat is the way to make flavorful soup, not flavorful meat."

I use what is called the 3-2-1 method when barbecuing my ribs. I prefer pork baby backs myself. First step is the remove the membrane from the bone side of the ribs. This is very important. Using a dry paper towel, grab a corner of the membrane and pull it completely off. 

The night before my cook I put an ample amount of rub on my rubs. I wrap them in cellophane (Saran Wrap) and put them in the fridge overnight. When it's ready to cook them I get my grill/smoker up to 220 degrees (anywhere from 180 to 225 is acceptable) and put the ribs on uncovered. Just straight on the grill/smoker bone side down. I smoke them for 3 hours (hence the 3 part of the 3-2-1 method. After 3 hours I take them off and double wrap them in a heavy duty foil. I put them back on the grill/smoker for 2 hours meat side down. During this time they are cooking in their own fat rendered and sort of steaming which makes them somewhat more tender. 

After 2 hours I pull them off the grill/smoker, unwrap the foil, and put them back on for an hour. The last 20 to 25 minutes I will put my sauce on if I choose to sauce them. I will usually turn my grill/smoker temp up to 250 for that last hour. 

You know your ribs are done one of two ways. When you take a good pair of tongs and hold them up and the meat "cracks". See picture below. Or, when the meat pulls back about 1 1/2 to 2 inches from the end of the bone tip. You cannot use a meat thermometer as the meat is to close to the bone on ribs. 

No need to let them rest. You can take them off the grill/smoker and enjoy them! 

Have more questions? Come on down to Colorado BBQ Outfitters at 6850 N. Academy Blvd and we would love to give you more tips. Colorado BBQ Outfitters also has all the accessories and/or sauces and rubs you need to make the best ribs ever! 

Want to learn how to make the best brisket, ribs and pork on your grill? Check out our website at www.719bbq.com for information on our BBQ classes. 

BARBECUING DOESN'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ABOUT MEAT!

Well, we are on the downside of winter which is good news for you “seasonal” BBQ/grillers! I have to admit, this time of year I tend to start getting Spring fever as well even though I BBQ all year long.

This time of year; especially here in Colorado, can cause drastic outside temperature variations. I have already blogged about some easy ways to help maintain constant temperature in your grill or smoker.  One cheap and easy way is to wrap your grill with an inexpensive welder’s blanket.

Lately I have been asked about alternatives to meat when it comes to using the grill or smoker. Although I am somewhat of a carnivore myself, there is nothing wrong with looking for healthier alternatives in cooking.

There are all sorts of vegetables that are awesome on your grill and/or smoker. Corn and potatoes can be done many, many ways on both! (One of my personal favorites is Twice Baked Potatoes on the smoker. Simple and very tasty. With the use of skewers, you can put many veggies on the grill at once. By just brushing a bit of olive oil on the veggies and then flavoring to taste (our store has many rubs and spices that are great on veggies!), you can get that bit of smoky flavor or grilled ambience on your vegetables.  Here is a great website for grilling vegetables as a reference guide: Grilling Vegetable Reference Guide.

Fruit also makes a fun alternative to meat on the grill. Yes, I said fruit! Another great article for reference on grilling fruit: Grilling Fruit. Again, my favorite is grilled peach halves and then serve warm with fat free frozen yogurt. Yum!

Also, I will smoke a lot of casseroles and whatnot in my smoker. I have a cast iron 5 quart seasoned pot that I use quite a bit. They can be cheaply found on Amazon and free shipping! Most of the Lodge cast iron products come pre-seasoned these days.  Even something like box dinners can be easily made in a cast iron pot or equivalent on the grill/smoker!

You will find that grilling and barbecuing (yes, there is a difference!) can be fun and adventurous. It doesn’t always have to be about the meat!