How to Smoke Bologna

June 16 , 2005 | Issue 11

Good afternoon and welcome to the June edition of the Smoking-Meat.com monthly newsletter. I am your host, Jeff Phillips, and I have lots of great information for you in this edition including some super exciting things that are happening at Smoking-Meat.com.

Happy Father's Day

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you Dads a happy Father's Day! I hope all of you get lots of barbecue tools, new smokers and grills, and have the time of your lives with those you love on Father's day.

We have a ton of great information in this issue so let's get right to it!

Some Less Popular but Tasty Side Meats

I am absolutely overwhelmed by the number of people who have told me recently that they have never had smoked bologna (baloney as we call it it northeastern Oklahoma). Folks, folks, folks! If you have never wrapped your hungry, quivering lips around a piece of wood smoked bologna then you have yet to live.

Bologna will never be the main attraction most likely but it works so well when you serve it as an extra meat along side your ribs, brisket or pulled pork.

Here is the very complex recipe...

Buy a 5 pound block of bologna at your local meat market or grocer, unwrap, and throw on the smoker for about 2 or 3 hours while everything else is smoking away. It really is that simple.

Another overlooked item is the vast array of sausages that are oh so tasty when they are smoked or grilled. I like the big, fat, hot links but suit yourself on what you buy. Throw it on the smoker for several hours and it takes on a whole new flavor.

Serve with some great tasting sauce and you will truly be in barbecue heaven!

Ok.. let's talk rib skirts..

You know the little flap on the bone side of the spare ribs? This needs to be removed along with the membrane before smoking them ribs to allow the smoke to get to the meat a little better. Cut them little pieces of heaven up into 3 inch strips or so, dust them lightly with your favorite rub and smoke them for an hour and a half or so until they get tender.. the pitmaster (that's you) will have a wonderful treat only an hour and a half into the smoke.

Another great item on the spare ribs is the brisket bone... it runs perpendicular to the ribs and if you are like me and prefer to trim the ribs.. this piece comes off. Well go ahead and smoke it with everything else and throw it in the freezer for the next pot of beans, soup, or stew.

While the beans or soup is cooking, get one of the brisket bones out of the freezer and add it to the pot for an absolutely delectable delight. The smoky meat will come off the bone into the beans or soup and create a flavor that will literally knock your socks off! This is something you must try!

If you are making baked beans or maybe just regular pintos or white beans try this..

Place the pan of beans in the smoker for several hours under the pulled pork, brisket or ribs and allow the drippings to drip off right into the pan... this works best in a vertical smoker with multiple racks but can be accomplished in any smoker with a little modification.

If you have more questions on any of these tips please post a question in the barbecue forum and we will do our best to answer in as much detail as is needed.

What's New on the Website?

Be sure to check out the new information on the website... basic information on smoking tri-tip and how to smoke a raw or pre-cooked ham.

New Barbecue Forum

If you will remember, last month I expressed the need for a better forum hosted on its own domain and with more options. We have been with Yahoo for almost a year and with more than 300 members and growing exponentially week by week we are more than ready to bust out of the Yahoo confines and become a real community with vBulletin or phpbb (no offence to yahoo who has been an excellent host but just lacks a few of the options we are needing).

I asked you to vote at the poll I created and the results demonstrated that most of you wanted a new and better forum.. a few of you said you did not care either way so I took that as a yes as well;-)

Here is the good news:

I am already in the process of setting up the new forum and should have it ready by the first of July.. I will make the grand announcement in the July edition of this newsletter.

The only major difference that I see between vBulletin and phpbb is the price. vBulletin is around $85/year while phpbb is open source meaning it has been a public project and is free for use by anyone who desires to do so under certain terms and conditions. I have been doing testing and it seems that phpbb will be able to handle all the we need in regards to a community where we can have multiple moderators, private messaging, email from within the program, profiles, avatars, automatic signatures with each post, advanced searching for posts, multiple forums and categories and more

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Have a Wonderful Day and Keep Smoking (meat that is)!!!

Jeff Phillips
Pitmaster/Webmaster
www.Smoking-Meat.com
www.SmokingMeatForums.com

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