Continuing BBQ adventures

Since the other thread has wandered so far off the original topic (and thanks again for the help), I figured I would start a new one to discuss my latest adventures in learning to drive my new big rig BBQ pit.

My parents are in town to see our new baby, so my dad and I snuck out this morning to go visit Paulina market. Forgot that the Cubs were playing, so it was a little bit of a hassle getting there, but at least my dad got to see a little more of Chicago.

I must say, Paulina market was even better than I was expecting. I wish it was closer to home; I would go there quite often. The meat selection is obviously great, but I also really enjoyed looking at the specialty rubs and sauces.

So I bought some Hungarian sausages and a couple of slightly whole fryer chickens (I know this isn't the place to buy chickens, but I wasn't making trips to multiple stores to buy meat), along with some smoked Portugese Linguica for lunch.

I threw the Hungarian sausages on the grill as soon as the pit was up to 225 degrees and then went to work preparing the chickens. We maintained the pit temp in the 280-300 range for the duration of the cooking. The chickens took about two hours (which was less than I expected) and came out well cooked and a little darker in color (dark mahogany) than I actually wanted. I think they cooked quicker than I expected because they were skimpy little chickens. The color was probably partly due to the fact that I rubbed peanut oil on them first. In any case, they were very good, but probably not quite as good as the beer can chickens I have done on my Weber.

But those Hungarian sausages! They were just what I was looking for. They came out perfect and were very similar to the smoked sausage links I have eaten all over Texas: red and spicy with paprika, with a little bit of garlic, and slightly wrinkled from the smoking. I recommend them highly.

BellevueLonghorn wrote:Since the other thread has wandered so far off the original topic (and thanks again for the help), I figured I would start a new one to discuss my latest adventures in learning to drive my new big rig BBQ pit.

My parents are in town to see our new baby, so my dad and I snuck out this morning to go visit Paulina market. Forgot that the Cubs were playing, so it was a little bit of a hassle getting there, but at least my dad got to see a little more of Chicago.

I must say, Paulina market was even better than I was expecting. I wish it was closer to home; I would go there quite often. The meat selection is obviously great, but I also really enjoyed looking at the specialty rubs and sauces.

So I bought some Hungarian sausages and a couple of slightly whole fryer chickens (I know this isn't the place to buy chickens, but I wasn't making trips to multiple stores to buy meat), along with some smoked Portugese Linguica for lunch.

I threw the Hungarian sausages on the grill as soon as the pit was up to 225 degrees and then went to work preparing the chickens. We maintained the pit temp in the 280-300 range for the duration of the cooking. The chickens took about two hours (which was less than I expected) and came out well cooked and a little darker in color (dark mahogany) than I actually wanted. I think they cooked quicker than I expected because they were skimpy little chickens. The color was probably partly due to the fact that I rubbed peanut oil on them first. In any case, they were very good, but probably not quite as good as the beer can chickens I have done on my Weber.

But those Hungarian sausages! They were just what I was looking for. They came out perfect and were very similar to the smoked sausage links I have eaten all over Texas: red and spicy with paprika, with a little bit of garlic, and slightly wrinkled from the smoking. I recommend them highly.

I agree. Hungarian sausage is great off the smoker. I used that type for a bbq comp one year in the sausage category just on a whim and to be different. Only got 5th place but a lot of people who sampled it thought it was great and a nice change from the normal kielbasa type that normally gets turend in