This is a basic coated chicken that is a perfect starting point for your adventures and experimentation in dipping. It’s easy to make, is wickedly versatile, and can be cooked in pretty much anything that offers an option for indirect heat. You can use a good ol’ Weber kettle, your oven (yes, I said oven), or something that is built just for this sort of task like a Big Green Egg. You want to use a clean fire here – you are roasting, not smoking. A plain charcoal fire would be your best bet, you only want to use a wood fire if you really know how to control the smoke and (in this case) keep it to a minimum.

If you are unsure, then do your first batch in the oven – this works really well in the oven. Everyone can play on this one, and you will be glad you did. Besides the aforementioned dipping, this chicken is a great thing to have in your back pocket as a go-to technique for any time you need a big mound of crispy tasty crunchy juicy bird.

Total prep time is about 10 minutes, cooking time is about one hour. Ready? Let’s go.
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In previous posts I have made passing mention of – and will expand later this week upon – the fact that smoking brisket isn’t hard, tricky, or any great arcade mystery. All you really need is the right cut of meat and some patience. A lot of patience, since cooking a brisket the traditional way can take anywhere from 12 to 20 hours. Generally, this is not an issue – when you cook brisket you plan ahead, you clear your day, and you turn the cooking (and the subsequent eating of the meat) an event.

However, there will eventually come a time when you either need or want a nicely-cooked brisket but you don’t have the time or the equipment to do it in the time-honoured fashion. What then?

Obviously, I have an answer, or I wouldn’t be writing this. The answer is “Emergency Brisket” and you can do it in as little as 6 hours total time, with a 4 hour cook. However, there are two items you need to have to make this work:

A probe-style thermometer that you can insert into the meat and leave in during the cook so you know the exact point to pull the meat out of your oven

A roasting pan that is deep enough to cover with foil and not have the brisket touching the cover

It would also be helpful to have a second roasting pan that has shallow sides, but it is not necessary.

So – if you have your equipment, follow the jump to the main recipe and lets make some beefy goodness! And be sure to read through the whole thing first to make sure you have the tools you need and understand when to change pans and when to use the rack and when to take it out. Ready? Let’s cook!
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FAUX-Q ALERT! This is a dish that you can – if you don’t have access to a smoker or barbeque pit – quite happily make in your oven and get a result that won’t have the same taste as smoked beef ribs, but will have an excellent flavour profile and be insanely tender and juicy. Oven instructions will be included for those of you that want to give this a try.

Beef ribs are one of the great underrated cuts of meat. They have ridiculous amounts of flavour, are fun to eat, and make a real splash when you plunk a big ol’ platter of them on the table. They are also something most people don’t buy, either because they haven’t a clue what do do with them or because their supermarket doesn’t have any worth buying. But there is no great mystery here, the same principles of any great barbeque hold true: Rub the meat, cook it with indirect heat from a wood fire, and do it low and slow. You will get amazing results and giant mouthfuls of beef flavour that you just aren’t going to get any other way – and the smell is amazing. The total cook time here is a very reasonable 3 hours.
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