My wife’s best friend Linda made a surprise visit here from Maine last week, so I wanted to be sure and fire up the smoker while she was here. She wanted to try ribs and I wanted to try brisket for the first time. Well, there are two racks in the smoker – so – we had both! It was a small brisket from Costco – around four pounds. Rubbed it he night before with Black Bart’s Brisket Rub from Tasty Lick’s BBQ. I let Linda pick out two rubs she liked for the ribs – I have a shelf full, thanks to a number of generous vendors. I had a huge package of ribs, also from Costco, so I stuck one rack in the freezer for later and prepped the other. I got the membrane off and cut the rack in half. One piece got liberally rubbed with Smooth Moove, from my friend Obie at Obiecue; the other chunk got some Hint of Houston from another supporter of The Dry Rubbed Rat – Big Ron.

The brisket went on first, as I was thinking it would take hours. I took it to 160 or so, and wrapped with a splash of apple juice for the remainder. Another hour and a half and it was at 195. I wrapped it in a towel and threw it in a cooler. The ribs went well too – Linda thought everything came out awesome so I declare this a successful outing! The leftover brisket was gobbled up in minutes at work, sliced thin and topped with some Russ N Frank’s Sassy barbeque sauce. I had some potato salad left as well, and it went quick with the meat!

My good friend Daniel from Mad Cow Cutlery was good enough to send me some fine cutlery to try, back when I was getting started. I am here to tell you that this Mundial cutlery is awesome! The handles are non-slip, comfortable, and treated with an anti-microbial agent. The blades are razor sharp and have held their edge under continued use.

You can buy individual knives, or they have some great pricing on sets as well. The biggest thing I like about Mad Cow Cutlery is their customer service. Daniel has a ton of knowledge about knives and is eager to share! Be sure and hit the Customer Service staff with all of your questions – you’ll be impressed. They’re not sell, sell, sell – they are help, help, help!

Here’s more from Mundial:

The totally unique, ergonomic handle in our new MundiGRIP line has been developed based on extensive industrial heavy-duty use tests. This new shape provides unequalled comfort and safety regardless of the many task-specific ways it can be gripped.

The MundiGRIP handle itself is made from our new soft-textured MundiGRIP compound which provides a more positive, non-slip, ergonomic grip while simultaneously minimizing muscle stress and fatigue. As an added benefit, the handle boasts an antimicrobial treatment that provides maximum protection against the growth or proliferation of germs, bacteria and mold.

Like all of Mundial’s fine professional knives, MundiGRIP is manufactured from premium high carbon stainless steel strengthened with molybdenum and vanadium. The combination of these key elements coupled with rigorous process controls allows Mundial to achieve an outstanding balance between hardness and resilience. With an edge honed to perfection, all Mundial Knives provide an astonishing cutting performance. Our Lifetime Guarantee is testament to the world-class quality of all Mundial cutlery and product

When I first started down the road of smoking 9and blogging about it), I sent out a number of introductions to various companies found in the smoking/rub/sauce/grilling world. One of the first people to respond was Gloria Cabada-Leman from the Carolina Sauce Company. Gloria generously sent me a bottle of Apple Butter BBQ sauce to try – it was awesome – and also agreed to a future interview. Her husband Greg, she told me, was a master at cooking wild game, and Gloria suggested I interview Greg as well. Absolutely! I want to thank Greg Leman for taking the time to answer some questions.

1. Gloria says ‘you’re the man” when it comes to wild game. What are some of your favorite game meats to cook?

I cook venison the most because that’s what we have a lot of around here. Backstrap cut into 2 inch slices marinated in Happy Sauce and grilled to medium rare is probably my favorite, although lately I’m liking venison sliders with caramelized onions and garlic and goat cheese. Doves, ducks, geese, wild boar, and rabbits are on the menu at the right time of year. My father and I killed a moose in Ontario back in 2003 and that fed us for a couple of years.

2. Any chance you could share a favorite recipe or technique with my readers?

Venison sliders. Even well prepared venison burgers have a pretty strong taste, but this recipe accents that taste to provide a wonderful combination.

Form small patties of ground venison about a half inch thick and 3 inches in diameter. Place on a well lubed plate (cooking spray such as Pam), spray the exposed side and season with Peg Pen Original. Put them in the refrigerator for at least an hour to form well — I usually do the prep in the morning so I can throw dinner together quickly.

Sautee 2 cloves of minced garlic with a 1/4 stick of butter, then put on low heat and add a large chopped sweet onion. Cook covered until the onions are mostly caramelized. Take the cover off and increase heat when the burgers hit the grill to cook off most of the liquid. Stir frequently. We’re going for dark caramelization, but not dried out and burned.

Grill the burgers on high heat, 2-3 minutes on the first slide and flip. Crumble goat cheese on the burgers and cover to get a partial melt. Place burgers on toasted potato slider rolls and add onions. Makes a great appetizer, party snack, or meal. Whether or not you tell your city slicker friends they just ate venison is up to you, because they won’t know.

3. What are some of the common mistakes you see with care and preparation/cooking of game?

The worst is a deer that gets thrown on the ground after a hunt while the hunters go have breakfast and come back to clean it. Especially early in the season when the weather is warm. You owe it to the animal to get it processed and into the cooler ASAP.

If all you have is a cooler to chill your deer, get some racks and silicon cutting boards. Put the ice on the bottom of the cooler and the venison on top of the boards. Water logged venison is quite unappetizing.

Cut all the silver skin and fat out of your venison before you package it for freezing.

For doves and early season ducks/geese bring a cooler and put your birds on ice instead of your game bag.

4. OK, you’ve got company coming and they’re “kinda down” with the whole eating wild meat thing. You have one meal to win them over – whatcha serving?

Appetizer: Grilled bacon wrapped dove breast on a bed of lettuce with Mamma T’s Olive Oil Vinaigrette (http://carolinasauce.stores.yahoo.net/matsoloilvi.html).
Main Course: Grilled Venison backstrap in Happy Sauce. Spicy creamed spinach and barbeque beans.
Dessert: Grilled peaches with butter and brown sugar and ice cream.

I have a hunting buddy that refused to eat venison. He gave me all of the deer he killed. One night I was cooking up some “beef tips” in camp and let him try a plate. Afterwards I told him it was venison in Happy Sauce — in fact it was from the deer he gave me that morning. Ever since, he’s declared that he’ll eat venison as long as I cook it.

5. Can you talk about some of the similarities and differences between cooking wild game and “regular” meat?

Wild game is really not that different. Most people overcook game because they think it’s going to be tough or too strong. Game generally needs a little more careful treatment with marinades and sauces, but overcooked venison will taste just as bad as overcooked Wagyu beef. The main difference with wild game is that you’re going to need to add some complementary flavors to the strong taste.

6. What’s your favorite thing to hunt?

Wow, tough question. I spend the most time deer hunting, but that’s because that’s the longest season we have here in NC. Turkey hunting is the most exciting, and goose/duck hunting is the best for fellowship because you can sit in the blind and talk until the birds show up. But I mostly enjoy hanging around camp afterwards with my buddies. I don’t have to kill anything to have a good time, but venison tenderloin with eggs is a mighty fine breakfast.

I did a 10 day moose hunt in northwestern Ontario with my father back in 2003 — that was the best hunt I was ever on and it was cold, windy, snowing, and I didn’t even pull the trigger.

7. What’s the dream hunt you haven’t been on yet?

A sheep hunt in Alaska. I spent a few years working on the 911 system for Anchorage and made trips there every month. I got to do a lot of salmon fishing, but I never had enough time to go hunting.

I turned down a chance several years ago to go on a Kudu hunt for free in South Africa on the farm of a business associate because I didn’t think I could take two weeks off and have been kicking myself ever since.

I want to thank Greg for taking the time to answer some questions. Lots of great info there. As an aside, Greg and Gloria have been instrumental in getting Operation Sauce Drop off of the ground. A program that ships sauce to our troops overseas. If you’ve ever eaten MRE’s, you know that some zesty sauce from home would be a gift from heaven. The program is in need of donations – please visit their site and consider supporting them.

Finally, look for an interview with Gloria in the future. Visit their site – you will be astounded with the variety of sauces, rubs and more.

I haven’t smoked anything for a couple of weeks – was taking a wee break. I smoked something every weekend for the 5 or 6 weeks following the purchase of my smoker, so was due for a time-out. Too much of a good thing can be bad ! Gearing up for some great interviews, product reviews and more smoking adventures as well.

In the mean time, visit my links on the side bar. There are lots of friends and interesting sites listed!

I’d also like to encourage that folks, especially other rookies, send me their photos and stories – disasters or masterpieces, and I’ll try to post them up for you. Questions welcome also. I’m no expert by any means, but have amassed a lot of resources, in my new hobby!

Big Ron was kind enough to send me some of his rubs, way back when I started this blog; I followed up with Ron being my very first interview. Anyway, I had already use two of Ron’s rubs with great success; I had one left – Big Ron’s Original. I had a pretty big rack of spare ribs so I decided to do half with Big Ron’s, and half with a rub I received from Raptor Rubs. Coincidentally, Ray over at Raptor is reorganizing his rub business. While that is going on, he’s heavily into promoting his great pack system – Ribz Wear. I did a review over at Desert Rat Outdoors.

So, I split the rack and rubbed them heavy with the rubs. Ron’s rubs never fail to impress, and the Original was no different. Lots of things working there, and everything smells fresh. The Raptor Rib Rub was one of my most pungent yet (in a good way) – heavy smoky, pepper taste and odor – yum!

I did the 3-2-1 method and the ribs came out great. I can’t say that I had a favorite – both were different, both were awesome! These particular ribs were finished off in the final stage, with Russ and Frank’s Mild sauce. I have tried all three of Russ and Frank’s sauces, and all are superb!

Here are the ribs on the smoker for the final hour.

And the finished product.

Thanks again to Big Ron and Ray over at Raptor Rubs, along with the folks at Russ and Franks. Please take a minute to visit them.

A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to figure out how to do some country style ribs. Then I remembered that I had a smoker! I hit the ribs pretty heavy with some “Smooth Moove” from Obiecue, wrapped them and let them spend one last night in the fridge.

The next day I used some mesquite impregnated charcoal, and some apple wood chips in foil. Some people ask if I soak the chips in water and the answer is no. I have read too much indicating that the chips don’t really absorb any anyway. Until I get some chunks, I use the chips, just maybe a 1/2 cup or so. I double-wrap in a foil pack, poke some holes in the pack and throw on the charcoal.

I used a semi 3-2-1 method on the ribs. They smoked 2 hours at 225; then they got wrapped for an hour, then I opened the vents up and got it as hot as I could (not terribly hot that day, as it was windy!) and kept basting and turning, for about another hour. I think I just used some Kraft sauce I had here – nothing terribly fancy. The family raved, we kept some leftovers and the rest came to work with me. The country style ribs were a hit too!

I’m so pleased with my smoking journey so far. I’m learning lots, and maybe more important – no disasters yet!

The folks over at Uncle Dougie’s offered to send me some things to try and boy was I surprised at their generosity!

I haven’t had a chance to try everything yet. I LOVE their jalapeno mustard. Now, I am no fire eater, but I do enjoy mustard and this stuff has just enough jalapeno in it to give it a little kick. Awesome stuff! Next I have tried Lil Boom Hot Sauce, Bang Zoom Habanero Chipotle and finally Bada Boom Habanero Mustard Sauce. These sauces are excellent! I took them to a recent cook-out with some friends who love to ‘eat the heat” and all three got a thumbs up from my friends. This stuff rocks!

I recently tried some Uncle Dougie’s Original Grub Rub and I can say it is a great rub that would work with almost anything. Savory with some zing. Fresh with a great texture.

I will continue to post my thoughts on Uncle Dougie’s products as I try them. So far, i am impressed! I encourage you to visit their site, check out their recipes, and give them a try. You can order their products online.

Turned out great, and was a big hit again at work, and with the family. I wrapped this bad boy overnight in saran wrap, rubbed generously with Sweet N Heat, compliments of my friend Obie over at Obiecue. I love this rub! As the name implies, it has some sweet, and it has some zing! Awesome stuff!

It spent about 8 hours on the ProQ. It spent the whole journey at or near 225 – it was windy that day and a bit of a struggle. Used some Kingsford Competition, some mesquite lump and some apple wood chips wrapped in foil. I wrapped it around 165 or so, and took it off to rest around 195. It was so yummy, I forgot to take “cooked” pictures! Oh well… After I pulled it, I threw some Kraft Regular BBQ sauce on there, along with some Russ and Frank’s “Sassy” sauce. The gang at work declared it the best they’ve had – what a compliment! We did the BBQ Sammys – complete with slaw. Yum!

Thanks again to the folks at Russ and Frank’s, for supplying some wicked sauce to try, and of course Obie, who has been something of a mentor. Please pay them a visit!

Knox Spice has been very generous in helping me get started and I have used a couple of their great rubs already. Bryan Knox from Knox Spice just let me know that they are in the process of changing their packaging. The new packaging is shown above; it replaces the former packaging which looked sharp but wasn’t re-sealable. You can tell that these are quality rubs from the minute you open a package. I’ve already tried several – Yummy Chicken, Jamaican jerk and Chipotle BBQ. Last one up is Cracked Pepper – I can’t wait! You can read more about these awesome rubs here: Knox Dry Rubs.

Folks, of course I want you reading my content, but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the links at the side of the page. There’s some cool sites listed over there. There are some forums and message boards full of advice and friendly people; there are some companies that have really been generous in helping me with my new venture; then there are just some really interesting places to visit. I encourage you to browse, and thanks for stopping by.

Dry Rubbed Rat