Picnics & CSR's

[rivet]

Yesterday the weatherman was calling for 45 degrees, little wind and sun. Sounding good, gonna do some Southern Style Barbecue! Got two picnics and a bunch of CSR's to smoke over hickory and applewood mix.

Decided to try 3 different rubs on the CSR's, one of which was my own. Made it last night with some Chile Lime seasoning and Big Belly Rub from TASUNKAWITKO-



My plan was to save the rinds for some cracklin's or baked beans, so I skinned the picnics-



Woke up this morning to 32F, spitting freezing rain, winds 15 mph gusting to 22 the weatherman says. Oh well, no worries...we're smokin' anyway!

Rubbed the picnics with a tweaked version of my house rub. Substituted about 30% Sweet Hungarian paprika for Sweet Spanish Smoked and changd my nutmeg/cinnamon combo to allspice instead. Smells great and looking forward to seeing the results-



Have 5 CSR's. Two on the left got a BEER-B-QUE's house rub, the two in the middle got my concoction and the one on the right got RICHOSO's hot rub!



Fired up the smoker and here we go-



Gonna stick with 225-240 all day dependent on the wind. Steady right now at 10 mph, with small gusts, but we're shielded by the house and the huge sycamore. Freezing rain has stopped but I'm sure it will kick in again. No matter...we're havin' barbecue!

 

[chisoxjim]

good lookin' start, cant wait to see the end results.

 

[tasunkawitko]

looking nice so far ~ plenty of experimentation going on, which is a good way to find some great stuff. the great thing about CSRs is that they don't take very long and you can treat them just like PPB if you want, or like ribs.

temperature control might be a bit of a challenge, but good to see that you're allowing yourself a wide range rather than trying to stick to one temperature.

let me know how that belly rub works out, and if you don't mind, could you post the website on top of the jar? i got those from the guy who makes them at the county fair, but i haven't seen it on the shelves at the stores, so i'll need to order some!

 

[rivet]

No worries here it is. Also a couple closeups. The fish/poultry one has been great on salmon and chicken breasts.

http://www.bigjerkbbq.com/

 

[got14u]

Nice lookin start Rivet....if you weren't so far away I would be beating down your door..or your gate to the back yard..lol

 

[rivet]

Here we are at about 3 3/4 hrs into the barbecue. Rain has been off and all morning and not gonna change. Least the temps got above freezing so it shouldn't be bad at all.

 

[richoso1]

Rivet, that is some lip smackin' Q View you shared with us. I know what I'll be missing...

 

[alx]

Love when folks experiment.Looks really good so far John.

I also like your dedication with the weather being crud.

 

[mballi3011]

This sure does speak for your stick to nes there John. I hope everything comes out good this one sounds a little on the differant side for sure. But I'm sure you know what you doing. I have eaten the results a couple of times. I'll have to check back in with this one.

 

[bigtrain74]

Looking really good there John!!! I have smoked something for the past 3 days now... I guess I gotta spend some time with the family if I'm going to watch football tomorrow...

 

[fire it up]

Those are the biggest CSRs I have ever seen John!
Either they are huge or our selection here in Jersey just sucks...

Nice assortment of spices going on, I love trying out different spices from exchanges at the same time.

 

[chefrob]

looks good! planning on doing some csr's in an hour.

 

[rivet]

You are right Jim, they are huge. Five-pound pack with 5 CSR's...a pound apiece.

The perspective of my camera does make them look bigger than they are, especially next to the picnics. The picnics look much smaller than they are...

Here we are at 6 and 1/2 hrs into the barbecue, internals at 140F. Low and slow we go in the cold, cold rain and blowing wind. No worries, I keep piling on the wood and briquettes and we roll on steady. While I was out there, the wood-man delivered another load of hardwood for the woodstove, so we are set~woo-hoo!

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Looking great. Going to be some good eating...

 

[beer-b-q]

Those Look Great John...

 

[rivet]

Thanks Alex, I appreciate those words! The wind has been ranging from 10to20 mph steady off and on. The cold rain has been alternating from nothing to a downpour. The temp, thankfully, has remained steady at 38F.

What a barbecue this has turned out to be~ But...It is still a barbecue and good eats will come from it!

The meat has stalled at 140F internal. I mopped it and tried to coax it a bit but no dice. I'll just hafta wait it out, ey?

Dang; cold beer time!



The hickory and apple do smell good through the rain and wind, so I know we are smoking! It'll be ready when it's ready. Words to live by.

 

[fire it up]

Amazing how good a nice cold beer can be on a nice cold day, or hot day, or mild day, or windy day...
Reminds me of that song "Beer is good for you"

Hope you rise out of the stall quickly and the goodness progresses.
Try to stay warm and dry John!

 

[rivet]

Well the stall lasted forever...many beers anyway~ finally it came through. What a day! First ready were the CSR's and the rubs were delicious! On the left was BEER-B-QUE's rub. Initial taste was a deep-dark sweet not really brown sugar, but not molasses neither. A very good balance of spices came in a small wave right after the sweet. Excellent rub that anyone in the family can love. In the center was my concoction. It turned out pretty good, with a tang of citrus in the background to even out the heat from the Belly Rub. A bit hotter than BEER's but still mild. The spicy lime powder must have also had ground coriander, cause that brightened up the taste too. On the right is RICHOSO's rub ...Wowee, Jiminy! That's hot~It had a real nice strong initial heat starting in the middle of the mouth, then changing into a mellow smoky flavor. Then more heat built back up in a wave that washed over - but in a real good way....slowly gaining strength. All the time a savory richness right behind it. This would be perfect with brisket or a smoked chuck. Excellent stuff!



Eventually the picnics were done. Did they smell good. Uncovering the foil after resting just flooded the kitchen with PPB! The rub looked great too, nice bark not too thick-



Pulled them both and into a pan. Had so much of the CSR's and Mrs Rivet's homemade macaroni and cheese there wasn't any room for a PPB sammie. Looked real good though and the bark was outstanding. Here's the load of barbecue-

 

[john3198]

Looks great, Rivet. I've gotta try some of those rubs. I tend to get stuck in a rut......got to experiement more.

Were the picnic's precooked hams or fresh pork? What did you cook them to?

 

[desertlites]

great looking smoke John-gotta love playing with flavors.