Review: Mr Grill Heat Resistant Grill Gloves

I can't tell you how many times I've burned myself during grilling and smoking. Okay, maybe the word "burned" is a bit excessive. More like, slight singes. I've always relied on those giant BBQ mitts to keep my hands from any excessive heat. Truth be told, I hated those things. They were clunky, didn't provide much grip, and quickly wore out its "heat resistant" capabilities. I quickly banished my oven mitts to indoor oven, cookie-making status.

Recently I came across the Mr Grill Heat Resistant Grill Gloves and they definitely keep my hands and wrists singe-free. When I first put them on, I felt like climbing the walls like Spider-Man because the non slip silicone grips were so sticky. One box comes with 2 gloves (not just one like some other ones) and they fit really snug and tight--especially around the fingers. The gloves are "one size fits most," but I can see how someone with really fat sausage-sized fingers could have some trouble fitting these gloves.

Luckily, I don't have any fat sausage fingers (not yet, anyway), so I was able to use them several times to get a good feel for them. I didn't take any selfies with the actual hot charcoal and burning flames because I didn't want my phone to suffer any unfortunate mishaps, but I did take a few reenactment pictures. The gloves are perfect for when I'm handling the chimney starter and my Weber Smokey Mountain.

Those of you living in the East coast might be suffering from just a little bit of chilly weather right now, so these gloves might provide some warmth for the fingers. Living in Southern California, these gloves kept my hands warm in 40 degree weather at night (don't hate me). Recently, I had an itch to make some spare ribs at night. I found myself gnawing on some ribs for a late-night snack. Burnt free and singe free.

Dirty Smoke rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars 
Mr Grill Heat Resistant Grill Gloves do what they're supposed to do--keep your hands and fingers from burning while BBQ'ing. They are ultra snug around the fingers with a good grip. Max temperature is 450F and they are washing machine safe. Recommended -- check them out on Amazon.com.

Eating Out: Rollin Smoke Barbeque in Las Vegas

By Dru Chai

Finding good BBQ in Vegas is one thing, but finding an open BBQ restaurant in Vegas is another. Even before I even dived head first into the world of low and slow BBQ, I had heard of several BBQ restaurants in Sin City. The Salt Lick at the Red Rock Casino, Rub BBQ at the Rio, Lynard Skynard BBQ at Excalibur, just to name a few. Heck, there was even a BBQ place out in the middle of nowhere on the way to Vegas in Baker, CA. But that fizzled out rather quickly.

Running a BBQ restaurant is already a tough business with the challenges of consistent quality control and relatively low profit margin. I can just imagine how much the lease is inside a casino, especially on the Strip. There's only so much money that people are willing to pay for BBQ. So it's no shock that many BBQ restaurants have shut down in and around Las Vegas over the years. While the chains like Famous Dave's and Lucille's have the deep pockets to expand (Lucille's is opening in Red Rock), it's the mom-and-pop places that will likely struggle.

Rollin Smoke Barbeque just passed its 1-year mark -- no small feat for any restaurant, as 90% of restaurants fail in the first year. Just a few months ago, I had never heard of them, so it's a testament to the power of online reviews, word-of-mouth marketing, and social media. I recently had the chance to check them out. Located practically underneath the freeway near a couple of strip clubs in a tiny industrial area, to say the place is a hole-in-the-wall would be an understatement. It's a hole-in-a-wall within a hole-in-the-wall.

Once you spot the bright red and yellow signage and the big smoker in the parking lot, that's all you need to see. Inside, there are two areas. On the right side, you order your food at the counter and there are several sitting booths along the side. The other side is the main dining room with a colorful, painted mural depicting families enjoying their BBQ in a picturesque setting. The owners are originally from Arkansas, and you can definitely tell by looking at the wall. A razorback serving up some 'Q -- now there's something you don't see everyday!

Right away, I could tell that is a real BBQ restaurant that smokes their meat, unlike those other horrific chain restaurants. At the front counter, Lee happily explained some of the choices on their menu and told me that they use hickory wood to smoke their meats. I went for the 2-item combo with the brisket and spare ribs, and chose a side of bacon potato salad. It also came with a roll and a drink. Heck, I couldn't resist adding a beef short rib too. They usually pour a little BBQ sauce on their meats, but I requested mine with no sauce. Total cost including tax was about $19, which was very reasonable.

When the food arrived, I was a bit disappointed in how the brisket was presented -- it looked like they were leftovers hastily chopped off along the grain. But it had some good flavor, was nicely seasoned, with just a touch of hickory smoke. Although it wasn't dry, a few douses of their housemade BBQ sauce really added a fantastic peppery profile to the meat. When I say peppery, I mean peppery! They use some very large, coarsely ground cracked black pepper in their sauce. I had to do a double-take when I saw these black particles floating around in the squeeze bottles and made sure it was really black pepper and not something funky.

As for the spare ribs, there were a bit bland on its own. There was no crunch from the exterior bark, but it was tender with a nice, pink smoke ring. The ribs definitely needed a heavy slathering of the BBQ sauce for more flavor. My favorite item by far was the beef short rib. Although not a prehistoric, monster-sized rib by any means, there was enough meat clinging on the bone to satisfy. The beef was so tender and juicy, with just a kiss of hickory smoke. I could probably eat about a half dozen of them like beef lollipops.

The bacon bits in the potato salad added a salty, crunchy element and helped provide the carbs to the protein-heavy meal. Overall, I was satisfied with my meal. This is a no-frills, non-pretentious place to enjoy some solid BBQ. I would rather eat here than any of the BBQ chain restaurants, that's for sure. All of the employees were friendly and made me feel comfortable, like I was a guest eating at their home. This was my first time eating BBQ in Las Vegas, and it hopefully won't be the last. BBQ, strip clubs, and gambling? Shh, I think I died and gone to heaven.

How to Cook and Prepare Rib Tips

By Dru Chai

In my younger days of eating BBQ, I've always wondered what rib tips were. Did people just take a rib and chop the tips off? Why would they do that--wouldn't the entire rib taste much better? Or are they simply mini-versions of a rib? Well, it's none of the above, of course. They are the leftover "scraps" after trimming a rack of spare ribs, thereby transforming them into a uniform-shaped St. Louis Style ribs.

So what do you do with these rib tips? Some people just toss them away into the garbage. Feed them to the dogs. Dry them up to make pork jerky. Or maybe even collect enough of them to make a porky meat dress out of it (click here for inspiration). Hey, the possibilities are endless and only limited to your imagination.

Rib tips still have some cartilage and good amount of meat. Since I hate to see food go to waste--even if it is the bastard-child of the almighty bone-in pork rib--might as well do something with it. Once you've trimmed away all of the fat, you can throw the rib tips in a slow cooker. You could season it first, brown it on all sides on the skillet or pan, then add some vegetables later on.

Here's what I did--I took both rib tip flaps and a few trimmings, seasoned it liberally, then wrapped it up in heavy duty aluminum foil. You can even pour in some apple juice or marinate inside the foil before wrapping it up. That way, it will give some added moisture and the juices will steam the meat--making it nice and tender. Throw in in the oven for about 3-4 hours at 225-250 degrees (low and slow, you don't want to be making leather shoe strips here).

The result should be some fork-tender pork meat--the texture is a bit similar to pulled pork (shoulder), but it still has some of that meaty rib flavor. When the rib tips cooled down, I simply used my hands to pull apart all the chunks of meat, getting rid of any huge clusters of fat and cartilage. Take the meat and make a rib-tip sandwich, throw it on top of a salad, or simply dip with your favorite BBQ sauce.

As an added bonus, I also drained some of the natural meat juices ("meat juice," now there's a phrase of the day) into a separate bowl. Don't waste it--use it for just about anything to infuse some pork flavor. I used it as base for my homemade BBQ sauce. I'll have to save that for another post.

Review: Slap Yo Daddy BBQ Pitmaster Class

By Dru Chai

I felt like a giddy grade school kid, eagerly awaiting snack time of graham crackers and milk. Only this time, it was brisket, pulled pork, ribs, tri-tip, chicken... the list goes on. I had waited about 3 months just for Harry Soo's BBQ pitmaster class (and even wrote about it on this BBQ blog), so I sure as heck could wait another few minutes. But after 6 hours of talking BBQ nonstop, I was about to faint. My stomach had been eating itself up.

Harry Soo's love for BBQ is infectious. You can feel it by the way he talks about BBQ and his techniques--the way he demonstrates how to properly trim the excess fat from a brisket, the way he shows you how to properly check if the bark has hardened using a fingernail, or the way to properly load up the charcoals using the Minion method. There's a reason why he uses a particular ingredient, and it's through his own research and blind taste tests over the years. In person, he's exactly the way I've seen him on television--humble and willing help anyone out.

Within just a few years, Harry's Slap Yo Daddy BBQ competition team has racked up awards all over the country. I wondered, just how does he do it? For Harry, BBQ is the ultimate stress reliever from the real stress of his day time job. I couldn't agree more--it's just you and your thoughts, the meat, and the smoker. Only this guy travels thousands of miles around the country and enters BBQ competitions to compete against some of the best pitmasters in the world... and wins.

As a BBQ enthusiast and writer of a BBQ blog, I learned a few tips, hints, and tricks. Sometimes, it's the little things that make a big difference. For the BBQ newbie who's just starting out, Harry covers a lot of material in just a short amount of time -- it could be overwhelming, but Harry is easy going and down-to-earth. There are no dumb questions in his class. For those who have had prior experience, the class focuses on techniques for someone who's interested in entering a real BBQ competition. Harry said that many of students go on to enter competitions and end up beating him. Now that's the ultimate compliment.

Ready to spread BBQ joy

Harry really loves his BBQ

Harry showing us how to properly trim the fat off a brisket

Harry's family of WSM's

Harry explaining how to light up his smoker

The Minion method

Using lots of foil is good

Ready to eat what we made - finally!

What are Spare Ribs vs. St Louis Style Ribs?

By Dru Chai

There's something ultra-carnivorous about eating ribs. You pick it up with your hands, tear into the meat, and let out a primal scream (or grunt) of approval. It's lip smacking, finger-licking, downright delicious to finish off an entire rack of ribs. By far, ribs is my favorite type of BBQ -- whether it's baby back ribs, spare ribs, or those dinosaur-sized beef ribs.

"Boil rice, not ribs"

However, I've eaten some bad ribs during my time, and vow never to go through that experience ever again. If you've never had bad ribs before, consider yourself lucky. Bad ribs are either mushy in texture, non-smoked, dry and flavorless, or drenched with too much generic-tasting BBQ sauce. Bad ribs are simply boiled in water, or thrown into the oven. Words to live by:

"Boil rice, not ribs."

What is the difference between baby back ribs vs. spare ribs?

It wasn't long ago, that I had no idea what the difference was between baby back and spare ribs. It all depends on the location where they come from on the pig. Baby back ribs are from the back loin. The bones are smaller in width and length, and meat is more lean and tender. So they're more popular, plus don't forget those annoying commercials.

On the other hand, I think of spare ribs as the bigger brother of the smaller baby back ribs. They are taken from the belly side of the rib cage, so spare ribs are bigger and tougher, with more meat on the bones. It is for these reasons, that I think spare ribs are perfect for cooking low and slow on the Weber Smokey Mountain. "I want my SPARE back, SPARE back, SPARE back..." just doesn't have the same ring to it though.

Costco spare ribs, $2.99 per lb

St Louis cut ribs -- remove skirt flap, trim the rib tips

Recently, I just felt like smoking some ribs, so I made a trip to Costco and bought $24 worth of spare ribs. At $2.99 per pound, I got 2 full racks of spare ribs, with each rack weighing a little over 4 pounds. It may seem like a lot of meat, but remember it will shrink down after hours of smoking. Spare ribs are usually trimmed St. Louis style before hitting the smoker.

What are St. Louis style ribs?

St. Louis style ribs are just spare ribs cut and trimmed into a rectangular shape, so that it resembles baby back ribs in appearance. The rib tips and skirt flaps are removed. You can have your butcher do it for you, or sometimes you can buy it St. Louis style already. But if not, it's easy to do it yourself. There are plenty of how-to videos online, but here's a good one. For the one I bought from Costco, I simply used a sharp knife and trimmed it myself.

I made my own rub for the ribs. It's simple and straightforward with the following ingredients:

- Seasoned salt
- Ground black pepper
- Brown sugar
- White sugar
- Garlic powder
- Paprika
- Other secret spices

The end result was some pretty darn good ribs. I love how the spare ribs are so meaty, and it was tender, smoky, and juicy at the same time. The meat came clean off the bone. Though if I were a BBQ competition judge, I would want a better bark on the outside of the ribs. Practice makes perfect, right? But for now, these ribs were better than any chain restaurant could ever produce.

Also check out this great read: Smoked Ribs: The Ultimate Guide for Ribs

Spare Me Some Spare Ribs

Having the WSM is a little addicting. It had been more than a week since the last smoke-out and I was already getting the itch. So over the weekend while grocery shopping, I picked up a "family pack" of pork spare ribs at a local grocery store for a little under $7. It was perfect because I didn't want to buy a Godzilla-sized pack at Costco that would probably feed a small hungry village in some 3rd world country.

I slapped on some homemade rub and put it in the fridge overnight. The rub I've been using has been working pretty well. It's simple and gets the job done. I posted the recipe I used in the past, but this time around I added a pinch of cumin and a little brown sugar for some extra caramelization.

The next day, I threw it on the WSM and basted the ribs with apple juice on each side after a couple of hours. The grand total smoke time was 4.5 hours. This time around, I experimented by NOT adding any water into the water pan. As you know, the purpose of the water pan is to regulate the internal temperature and to keep it low and slow. With no water, you run the risk of higher temperature, so you have to adjust the vents and monitor very carefully. On the flip side, you can achieve better results on the bark -- the outside crust of the meat. See for yourself at the jump.