BBQ/Smokers Get Smokin'!

Barbeque Goes High-Tech

By Laura Doty -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 5/1/2003

Although barbecue aficionados may argue the fine points of preparation, spices and sauces, all agree that genuine American barbecue requires slow cooking at a low heat and the addition of smoke from burning wood to enhance flavors. Methods of cooking barbecue-style have certainly evolved, however, from the old smokehouse containing meat hooks and wood-burning pits dug into the ground. Equipment manufacturers now offer high-tech, electrically powered, self-contained smoking equipment with fully automatic time and temperature controls and gas-fired wood boxes, available in sizes and configurations to suit any type of foodservice establishment that wishes to offer customers a barbecue menu.

In the vast ranchlands of Texas or even in urban areas such as Memphis or Kansas City, everybody knows how to find a great local barbecue joint - just follow your nose. But in New York City, stringent environmental codes unfortunately prohibit such a method of discovery. Danny Meyer, one of NYC's most noted restaurateurs (Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, 11 Madison Park, Tabla), reportedly had to get through miles of red tape while working to fulfill his dream of opening an authentic, smoked-barbecue restaurant in Gotham. After years of dealing with the time-consuming activities of acquiring the proper permits, engineering the required ventilation and having food smokers approved and custom-built, his upscale barbecue place Blue Smoke (which includes the nightclub Jazz Standard, located downstairs) was finally opened in March of 2002.

At the heart of the two kitchens at Blue Smoke, which were designed by Executive Chef Ken Callaghan, are twin commercial custom-built smokers. Located just off the main kitchen at the back of the facility, the two 10-foot-wide, double-door smokers can each accommodate 30 removable, revolving racks that measure four feet by a foot and contain barbecued menu items such as ribs, chicken, chicken wings, foie gras and prime rib. The rack arrangement can be reconfigured to accommodate the slow cooking of large cuts of meat such as pork butt and brisket, and appropriate time and temperature settings are programmable and automatic. This self-contained smoking area of the kitchen also conveniently contains two windowed, double-door walk-in refrigerators able to accommodate rolling racks of products destined for the smoker, with each rack labeled according to the day the product will be cooked. A back door leads outside to the automatic gas-fired wood box that provides the hickory and applewood smoke for cooking.

Ventilation for the two smokers is provided by ductwork that runs through the back wall and then extends up the side of the 12-story building that houses Blue Smoke, eventually reaching beyond the water tower on top of the building, releasing smoke high into the atmosphere above the neighborhood. The prep kitchen downstairs at Blue Smoke also contains a small, cold-smoking unit. "We use the cold smoker mostly for items like fish, such as the cold smoked salmon currently on the menu, where we want to impart a smoky flavor without actually cooking the product," explained Callaghan.

The smoking operation at Blue Smoke is supported by a full complement of equipment in the state-of-the-art main kitchen and large prep kitchen downstairs, which also prepares menu items for patrons of Jazz Standard.

Hot-holding cabinets, used to hold products that have come out of the smokers, are ubiquitous at various locations throughout the kitchens. Cook lines in both kitchens include cheese melters, similar to salamanders, but with lower heat and more temperature-control capability. "Those cheese melters are invaluable in our operation. We place our ribs, which are held at 150°F. in the cheese melters, first bone side up, then we give them a quick flash of heat on the meat side, to bring them up to 180°F. before serving," said Callaghan.

Chef Ken Callaghan (above) checks on ribs in one of Blue Smoke's two custom-built smokers. Smokers include 30 rotating racks and fully automatic time and temperature controls. Callaghan designed special refrigerators that are located directly adjacent to smokers for convenient storage of product in roll-in carts.

Barbecue cooking is a departure for Callaghan, who was executive sous-chef at Union Square Café for years before taking on chef duties at Blue Smoke. "Our team at Blue Smoke did a lot of research, visiting different kinds of barbecue joints all over the country," said Callaghan. "I received training from an expert - Mike Mills- a three-time grand champion at the annual Barbecue Cook-Off in Memphis. After a year at Blue Smoke, I think I'm really getting the hang of it."

Big Bubba's BBQ, which opened in November 2001, in the Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Conn., is a spin-off concept from a former partner in Virgil's, a popular midtown Manhattan BBQ restaurant. Another partner in Big Bubba's is a New York-based equipment supplier who designed and equipped the kitchen, including the state-of-the-art, high-volume commercial smokers responsible for turning out barbecue dishes that are "packing them in" at this 240-seat Americana- themed casino restaurant.

"We have three commercial smokers - capable of slow cooking and smoking up to 1,400 lbs. of meat at a time - and they operate pretty much 24 hours a day," said Larry Mesiti, general manager at Big Bubba's. "Pork butt and beef brisket, which we cook for 12 to 14 hours, go into the smokers in the evening and cook all night. During the day, our smokers, which are equipped with rotating shelves, are filled with ribs, chicken and chicken wings. Each smoker includes a gas-fired, self-contained firebox that we load with hickory and cherry wood to impart the fragrant, hardwood-smoked barbecue flavor to our meats.

"After going through the slow-cook process in the smokers, the meat is removed and placed in hot-holding cabinets," Mesiti continued. "From there, these products are stored in hot holding drawers prior to being sliced, pulled or plated up for service. Most of these stages of preparation are accomplished in our back kitchen prep area, with ready-to-serve-barbecue then going up into a window in the kitchen area where sides are added before service."

To address environmental concerns created by the smoke at this BBQ restaurant within a casino, each smoker is equipped with an added precipitator unit to cleanse and filter discharge before it reaches the atmosphere. These units contain three filters, as well as a medium consisting of absorbent pellets, to accomplish the task, according to Mesiti.

Big Bubba's menu also offers many other favorite Southern dishes such as buttermilk fried chicken, po'boy sandwiches, cheese grits and banana pudding. Equipment to support the menu includes a four-fryer fry station, a salad and dessert station with undercounter refrigeration and refrigerated wells, two convection ovens, two four-burner ranges and a high-temperature range for steaks, a 30-gallon kettle and tilting skillet. A grill station includes a char-grill and a flat-top grill, where smoked ribs and chicken are brought up to temperature before service.

"Our smokers, with their automatic time and temperature controls, provide us with an amazing consistency and dependability when we're preparing our barbecue menu," said Mesiti. "Every now and then a smoker fan motor might die, but that's to be expected with the constant use that they get. Our smokers are basically self-contained equipment units. We just put them in place, vented them and they were ready to smoke."

Since 1974, barbecue lovers have braved the 50 miles of two-lane blacktop from Dallas to Tioga, Texas, simply for the barbecue offered at Clark's Outpost. The walls of the rambling succession of small dining rooms and a bar grouped around a central kitchen at this authentic roadhouse are covered with pictures of horses and horse people from area ranches.

The kitchen at Clark's Outpost is configured with two cook lines with the "head coordinator's" table right down the middle, where menu items are plated for service. Equipment found on the two cook lines includes microwave ovens, convection ovens, fryers, a grill mostly used for steaks and refrigerated drawers, as well as one large cutting board where staff hand-slice brisket and another where they hand-pull pork for sandwiches.

Commercial smokers at Big Bubba's BBQ (above) have self-contained fireboxes for hickory- and cherry-wood logs, located in the lower rear section of the unit.

Clark's Outpost utilizes three walk-in refrigerators and two walk-in freezers. "One of our coolers is just for beer, one is for pre-cooked meats and one for produce," said Steve Gressett, the restaurant's co-owner. "We have to keep the meat and produce separate, and we always did, even before the heightened awareness of HACCP requirements, because that smoked meat can flavor anything it's stored with, and smoky-flavor salad is just pushing it a little." Gressett explained that after meats go through a slow-cooking and smoking cycle, they are stored in a freezer. The meat products then go into a refrigerator to thaw slowly, and are reheated at a low temperature in a large convection oven prior to plating.

Last but certainly not least here, four smokers in the kitchen alternately operate 24 hours a day, slow-cooking items such as beef brisket (72 hours at 160°F.), turkey breast (24 hours), pork ribs and ham. "Three of our smokers were custom-built for Clark's Outpost by a local outfit that also fabricated our metal holding tanks. We added a fourth commercial rotisserie smoker to our kitchen a few years back," explained Gressett. "The custom-built units are 'Southern-engineered,' though, and can require quite a bit of maintenance," he commented wryly. "Mostly, the gaskets in the smokers dry out and have to be replaced. We take care of that bit of maintenance ourselves. The rotisserie smoker, which provides the same cooking results, is very reliable. Each smoker contains gas-fired fireboxes to burn hickory logs and these are vented right out of the kitchen roof," continued Gressett. "We figure it can help people find us if we give them a delicious aroma to follow."