BBQ Pitmaster Answers BBQ Questions From Twitter

Barbecue chef Rodney Scott takes to Twitter to answer the internet's burning questions about barbecue. What's the difference between barbecue and grilling? What does the 'Q' stand for in BBQ? What's the best cut of meat to barbecue with? What's the most essential utensil for barbecuing? What's better to cook with, wood, charcoal or propane? Rodney answers all these questions and much more! Director: Justin Wolfson Director of Photography: Norris Lanius Editors: Shandor Garrison, Matthew Colby Expert: Rodney Scott Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi Associate Producer: Brandon White Production Manager: Eric Martinez Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila Assistant Camera: Dylan Newman Audio: Lee Bailey Production Assistant: Devin Williams Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen

Video Transcript

- I'm Rodney Scott, barbecue pit master and restaurant owner, and today I will be answering your questions on Twitter.

This is Barbecue Support.

[upbeat music] First up, from Danielhugz, is there a difference between grilling and barbecuing?

Isn't barbecue when it has barbecue sauce?

There is a difference between grilling and barbecuing.

Grilling is when you're open flame pretty hot and fast, barbecuing is when you're low and slow.

Barbecue sauce, that's your personal preference.

Next up from LucifersQuinoa, wait, how do you make barbecue sauce?

What goes into it?

Barbecue sauce can be a base of vinegar, it can be a base of pepper or molasses, and you can make barbecue sauce pretty much in your own personal flavors.

You can create, or you can follow along with any recipes that you've seen, heard of, or experienced.

N6four, McDonald's barbecue sauce, thoughts?

Drive on through.

Next up, Joesrealbbq asks how do you make your brisket sandwich?

Brisket is a beef cut from the chest of the cow, kind of like the peck of the cow.

You can make your brisket sandwich either chopped or sliced, the way I do it is chopped and sliced.

Sliced is basically against the grain with a touch of fattiness in there.

The chopped brisket sandwich, which is just what it says, chopped brisket.

You can add cheese, thick sauce, no sauce at all, there's so many different ways you can make a brisket sandwich.

Next, basket savor, what is your favorite tool to barbecue with?

My favorite tool to barbecue with is a long pair of tongs, like such.

A long tong is important because you want to make sure and have nice clearance when you're reaching in to rotate your proteins, or to grab your vegetables when you're cooking on a grill.

And if you're making a sauce, my second favorite tool is a whisk to make sure you get all your ingredients stirred in when you're making your barbecue sauce.

Next up, Arctic Cabins Ltd asks what are the best cuts of meat for barbecuing?

If it's beef, I would say bone in rib eye, it's great protein, doesn't take long to cook, and it doesn't take a lot of seasoning on the grill.

If it's chicken, leg quarter because it's a little fatty and it stays juicier on the grill.

And if it's pork, pork shoulder because you get a combination of the shoulder and a little bit of the top of the ribs, perfect cut.

Darrel Faz asks smoke a brisket fat side up or fat side down?

Fat side up, because that fat renders down and flavors the rest of the brisket.

Carne 250 says what is a barbecue style?

A barbecue style is a recognition of a general area.

There's several styles of barbecue, you have what they call Texas style, which is more of a beef base and is served without sauce.

You have some Saint Louis styles where some of them are dry rub, and Memphis style that's used with a dry rub.

There's a Carolina style which is mostly either mustard or vinegar.

Out of all of those, my favorite is Carolina because that's what I grew up on, that's what I love the most, and that's what we serve to this day.

Chavezz Cris, laughing my ass off, what's so special about Texas barbecue?

Texas is known for barbecue, I highly respect everybody in Texas that cooks barbecue.

Not only is it celebrated, it's also cooked without any sauces and it's using just basic ingredients most of the time of kosher salt and black pepper, and all the natural flavors come out through the smoke and it's so celebrated in Texas as well as around the world.

The Rowe diaries asks are fall off the bone baby back ribs overcooked?

Yes.

Next.

Nosoyjero, Siri, how do you roast a pig?

Low and slow baby, low and slow.

You want to make sure when your pig is laid on the grate meat side down that you only apply your heat to the hams and the shoulders, those are the thickest parts.

Every 10 to 15 minutes maintaining a temperature between 225 to 250.

This is about 135 to 160 pound hog, and this should be about a 10 to 12 hour cook time.

Next up, Prairie Joe's, what's a pit master?

Do you need a PhD?

A pit master is considered to be a person that's cooking barbecue without any gauges, any modern utensils, or gadgets, just cooking with the basics.

And no you don't need a PhD to be a pit master.

Next up, Orgasmic Chef, which type of barbecue do you prefer?

A brick built one that burns wood or charcoal, or propane burning one?

The flavors on propane are kind of not as flavorful as wood a little bit more bland, I prefer brick pit.

And I can actually show you that now.

You can burn your wood down, get charcoals, you will get the natural flavors of wood, smoke, and everything that's so nice.

If you're using charcoal, I prefer to use a wood lump charcoal.

It's a great natural flavor, and it's as close as you can get with buying charcoal.

Next Bri Dehlinger asks I know this is off-topic, but I am making my first pulled pork tomorrow.

Any tips or tricks?

If you're doing your first pulled pork that can be a pork shoulder, that can be a pork butt, either or you want to make sure and start with the meat side down, cook it to about 165 to 190 degrees to make sure that your pork is cooked all the way through.

Once you reach that temperature of 190 you're able to pull it apart without any other utensils other than your hands.

That's why it's nicknamed pulled pork.

And when you turn it over, increase the heat just a little to get the skin nice and crispy and add your sauce of your choice.

Stromile PDX asks any tips, recipes for making beef brisket?

If you're gonna cook your brisket I recommend that you put your offset of having the coals on one side and the brisket on the other, and always be sure to check for a temp.

Next up, Foul G, too much seasoning or nah?

This looks like a picture of a brisket with some seasoning on it, and it looks like kosher salt and pepper.

Seasoning is a personal preference, you just don't want it too salty or too spicy.

Yung Jojobi, unanswered questions, what does the Q stand for in barbecue?

Quality.

Next, Char Griller, what's your best tip of perfect ribs?

You want to take the membrane off your ribs so you can allow the rub that you're using to kind of go all the way through to the bone.

As you can see the ribs are membrane off, dry rub, you got a little caramelization from the brown sugar, you have that tenderness, not fall off the bone, but just easy enough to chew.

And if you put your rib on a grill that's way too hot, it's gonna burn before it starts to cook.

And you also want them to cook nice and brown on one side where you can get a nice char, and flip them over, let them cook on the other side to temp which is 165 degrees.

Kevins BBQ Joints, why is barbecue so special?

Barbecue is so special because it's one of those moments and times that so many people come together and celebrate either an event or just a gathering for people to forget about all of your day to day woes.

Marietta Smokehouse, what's the advantage of cooking on racks in the pan versus right on the grate of a smoker?

Cooking with a rack in a pan you trap all the juices and the flavors, versus the grill a lot of your fat is gonna render down into the hot coals and steam back up.

You'll still get flavor, but not quite as much as you would get if it's in a pan.

Next up, Greg Gasa two, this is a smoker setup using 130 pounds hog cut in half.

Son's graduation is at four, reception at five, how many hours early is too early?

And we're looking at an offset smoker with a hot box on the end, and my advice to you Greg is you need to start at least 13 hours earlier to your four o'clock, and you need to make sure and have enough time to pull and prepare for the five o'clock reception.

Always allow yourself an extra hour from the cook time which averages about 12 hours.

Now if you rush your hog the chances are you can get a flare up which we don't want, and that can destroy your hog.

You can rush it to a point where you burn it and it's no good, it'll be tough and you'll just have to throw the whole thing away.

BBQ Confessions, barbecue rubs, wet or dry and why?

I would have to say both because I'm a lover of both wet and dry.

Mostly wet because it's not as gritty.

Dry on occasions because it's just so good.

BBQ and Bottles, love me some short ribs, how do you prep these?

Here we have a picture of short ribs all stacked up.

My suggestion to you is to take some olive oil, kind of rub on your short rib, and you want to go with a kosher salt and some black pepper.

You can add any other ingredient that you wish to like garlic powder or maybe a little bit of cayenne.

It's your choice.

Matthews Sonya asks what is a critical barbecue side for you?

For me, a critical barbecue side is definitely the baked beans.

For the baked beans I like to make them nice and slow with bell pepper, a little brown sugar, a little barbecue sauce added, some proteins if you already have some smoked would be a great addition to your baked beans.

Next, Joysonism, I don't think I've ever had really good coleslaw.

Where do I find it, and how do I make it?

A really good coleslaw stars with cabbage, carrots, a little salt and pepper in there, a touch of vinegar, and of course it's all tossed in a dressing that's mayo based.

From alien gena queen, I'm such a big fan of barbecue, like who invented this?

The story goes that Hispaniola is where barbecue was started by the Spanish and the British.

I think it was born in the Carolinas.

Cinders Barbecue asks what does the future of barbecue look like?

Bright.

I feel like it's gonna be so international, all over the world, it's gonna be one of the best and most celebrated things in the entire world.

Stuff Motherland asks, okay tweeps, come and rep your state, who has the best barbecue?

You do.

All right, that's it.

I hope you all learned something.

Go out and enjoy your barbecue.