Barbecue Tips

Photo: Tate Carlson

After a long winter, Joel Symmank heads outside to barbecue pork spare ribs and brats on his Weber kettle.

It’s summertime, and the living—and cooking—is easy. This is the time to fire up the grill for some barbecue and special times with family and friends.

“Food brings people together and makes them happy,” says Joel Symmank, youth minister and worship leader at Woodbury Lutheran Church, husband, and father of three sons. “When you barbecue, you have to stay close to monitor the heat and smoke, so it’s the perfect cooking to do when you’re outside doing yard work or playing with the kids and dog. And there’s something really satisfying about sitting on the deck, reading the paper, talking or doing nothing at all with a nice cloud of smoke coming out of the Weber lid.”

Symmank has roots in the barbecue state of Texas and lived in Kansas City, “a barbecue town with a lot of hobbyists and hard-core competitors,” he says. “I love to eat barbecue, so it was only natural to try cooking it myself.” Following are some tips from this local master barbecue:

Equipment

The only way to get the real flavor is charcoal. Last summer I switched from briquettes to natural lump charcoal and I really liked the results. For smoky flavor, add your choice of wood chips (I like apple especially for pork, also pecan and oak). I use a Weber kettle; maybe someday I’ll graduate up to a real smoker, but the Weber is so versatile and useful, it’s hard to give up.

Foods

Pork spare ribs are my favorite; they’re so meaty and take the smoke so well. Baby-back ribs work well and take less time, pork shoulder/butt is great and hard to mess up, and brisket is good too. Often I’ll throw some brats around the edges for an hour or so as well. I did a turkey early on and it was amazing.

Preparation

The night before barbecuing, I apply a generous amount of a dry rub of salt and pepper, celery salt, brown and white sugar, paprika and some other spices. As the meat cooks, the sugars and spices turn into a nice crust.

The Day Of

In the morning, I let the meat sit out for an hour or so while the coals are getting ready. The meat goes on the grill with a drip pan underneath and coals off to the side. The target temperature is around 225 degrees, so just a handful of briquettes or lump charcoal will do the trick. I add wood chips (soaked in water and drained) every 30 minutes or so for the first few hours, and coals all along the way to keep the temperature at the right spot.

Cooking Time

Ribs usually go for 6-8 hours total cooking time, the larger cuts like pork shoulder or brisket for 8-10 hours. I usually take the large cuts off the grill after 6-8 hours and finish them, double-wrapped in foil, in the oven at 225 degrees for a couple more hours. Hard-core barbecuers will shun me for it; I can live with that.

Sauce

My all-around favorite sauce is Cowtown, made by the guys at Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue in Kansas City. Gates Bar-B-Q and LC’s Bar-B-Q, also in Kansas City, make some fine sauces as well.

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