Low and Slow over open fire

[harrybbq]

Being from Brazil, I've been familiar with open fire cooking my entire life. Then living in the US for the past 27 years, I've also become obsessed with smoking meats using tools like BTG and offset smokers.

I've been watching these videos of some Brazilian pitmasters cooking ribs over open fire for hours and hours, and this past weekend I gave it a go. I did a 7 bone short rib over 8 hours, low and slow AND over open fire, on the Argentine tagwood grill. Without a temp gauge, I have been learning to gauge heat by "seconds", i.e. how long can I keep my hand at grate level before its unbearable. For this cook, it was a 12 second heat for 8 hours. 7 hours bone down, and the last hour bone up, fat down, so the fat would get crispy. And crispy it got....

Let's just say that my mind was blown. It was like the best of both worlds, with the salty beefiness of the crispy top fat layer (I left it), along with fully rendered , juicy and soft meat. I can't quite explain the smell that was coming out of this while I cooked. When we ate it, it was one of those moments that you realized it actually tastes like the smell. It was mind blowingly good.

I don't think I will ever smoke beef ribs on my offset again.

 

[Flatbroke]

Very nice. Any finish pics?

 

[Cat797]

Looks like an awesome set up. Did you just salt the ribs (standard Brazilian way)? Use the special salt that they use in Brazil? I'm ready to do more cooking in this way.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Impressive looking set up. Sounds really good. Would love to see some finished pics if you have them :thumb:

 

[thirdeye]

Nice set-up . Are you using charcoal, or burning down wood to cook over coals?

I'm curious if you have cooked on or tasted meats cooked in an upright drum? They have similar attributes such as directly cooking 24" or more above the coals, and having fats drip into the fire. The taste is different, and as far as the smell... the best description was the term "Grandpaw smell" that Danny Gaulden wrote in a review. Many believe that drums come close to reproducing the open pit style of barbecue popular in the US.

 

[harrybbq]

Impressive looking set up. Sounds really good. Would love to see some finished pics if you have them :thumb:

sadly I didn't take pics of the finished product . The fat cap turned dark yellow / brown with some crusty spots. The inside was fully rendered, had the same soft wet consistency as smoked beef ribs, minus the smoke ring of course.

 

[harrybbq]

Nice set-up . Are you using charcoal, or burning down wood to cook over coals?

I'm curious if you have cooked on or tasted meats cooked in an upright drum? They have similar attributes such as directly cooking 24" or more above the coals, and having fats drip into the fire. The taste is different, and as far as the smell... the best description was the term "Grandpaw smell" that Danny Gaulden wrote in a review. Many believe that drums come close to reproducing the open pit style of barbecue popular in the US.

I'm burning oak logs to cook over coal ambers. I never tasted meat from an upright drum. Sounds amazing.

 

[harrybbq]

Looks like an awesome set up. Did you just salt the ribs (standard Brazilian way)? Use the special salt that they use in Brazil? I'm ready to do more cooking in this way.

Yes, I used only salt, the same Brazilian rock bbq salt you referred to. I got it at amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Thick-Barbec...=1702401768&sprefix=sal+de+chu,aps,157&sr=8-5

 

[Pife]

Do you ever use a lid in this style of cooking?

 

[harrybbq]

Do you ever use a lid in this style of cooking?

No lid. This was the main reason why I was skeptical for the long cook, but it worked really well.

Cooking steaks (2-5 second heat) is straight forward, but the low and slow was something I did not anticipate working well

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

You're singin my song, Harry.
I love open fire cooks.
I do what I can with the cookers I have.
Not as fine as that cooker of yours :thumb:
Ya done good.

 

[edmonds]

Great cook. I bet that tasted fantastic. Grilled/roasted flavor with subtle smoking from live fire.
I don't have a brasero, so I cook with a little bit of flame. Maybe 8-10 hand-seconds so not as slow as you, about 4.5 hours for 2-bone segments of plate ribs.

 

[Itsdone]

If its any comfort, I won't be smoking short ribs ever again now that they are pricing them at $10/lb. They are much better braised anyway.

 

[cowgirl]

I enjoy slow roasting meats over the fire too. Venison shoulders , I plan on around 8 hours, depending on the outside air temperature and the wind. I keep the heat going on one side and the meat sits on the low heat side of the fire.

Tri tip...

Beef ribs take 5 to 6 hrs depending on the weather.

Pork spares take 5 or so hours... can't find any pics of them.

 

[ModelMaker]

Your girls are making some fantastic yolks!!
Ed

 

[harrybbq]

I enjoy slow roasting meats over the fire too. Venison shoulders , I plan on around 8 hours, depending on the outside air temperature and the wind. I keep the heat going on one side and the meat sits on the low heat side of the fire.

...

Pork spares take 5 or so hours... can't find any pics of them.

OMG!!!! this is it, this is what I am aspiring to do more frequently! It looks fantastic, love the setting too! Amazing!

 

[LordRiffenstein]

I bet that was fantastic, love doing the same on my Santa Maria grill, it's a whole different flavor experience.

Do you ever use a lid in this style of cooking?

I have used a lid for some cooks on the Santa Maria, mostly to catch some more smoke and it works really well.

 

[SoCalWJS]

Being from Brazil, I've been familiar with open fire cooking my entire life. Then living in the US for the past 27 years, I've also become obsessed with smoking meats using tools like BTG and offset smokers.

I've been watching these videos of some Brazilian pitmasters cooking ribs over open fire for hours and hours, and this past weekend I gave it a go. I did a 7 bone short rib over 8 hours, low and slow AND over open fire, on the Argentine tagwood grill. Without a temp gauge, I have been learning to gauge heat by "seconds", i.e. how long can I keep my hand at grate level before its unbearable. For this cook, it was a 12 second heat for 8 hours. 7 hours bone down, and the last hour bone up, fat down, so the fat would get crispy. And crispy it got....

Let's just say that my mind was blown. It was like the best of both worlds, with the salty beefiness of the crispy top fat layer (I left it), along with fully rendered , juicy and soft meat. I can't quite explain the smell that was coming out of this while I cooked. When we ate it, it was one of those moments that you realized it actually tastes like the smell. It was mind blowingly good.

I don't think I will ever smoke beef ribs on my offset again.

Very nice rig!

Not sure how I missed this post. Looking at Tagwood myself. How do you like it?

Looks much like the one I’m considering except you went built in. Would you do anything different if you could?

:clap2:

 

[harrybbq]

Very nice rig!

Not sure how I missed this post. Looking at Tagwood myself. How do you like it?

Looks much like the one I’m considering except you went built in. Would you do anything different if you could?

:clap2:

Hi there! I love this thing, always try to find excuses and opportunities to use it the only thing I would do differently is to clean the entire stainless surface with stainless polish before your first fire. Hand and fingerprints from a assembly and packaging showed up and got stained on the braseiro sides during my first fire, other than that it's perfect!

I also have some thought on V vs regular grates, ended up with regular and don't regret. I don't have flare ups so don't see the need for V grates, which are also harder to clean