Well, with my experience, extensive research and polling of many barbequers in the know, this is likely not the case. I have smoked on a Primo Ceramic, Traeger Pellet, Tucker Trailer all the way up to a 6’ Austin Rotisserie Trailer and have never used water.

The theory is that the water would provide a humid environment while stabilizing temperatures and help keep meat from drying out. In my experience, spraying the meat with apple juice or mopping with your favorite concoction will do much more for keeping the meat moist than a water pan.

This is not to say that water pans don’t have beneficial uses based on the design of your smoker. For example, the Good-One Smoker, with its bottom drain valve, benefits from water in the pan when it comes time for clean up. Draining the pan while the water is still hot carries away the fat drippings, and such is the case in other smoker designs.

Just the opposite for a WSM (Weber Bullet). Lining the bottom of the water pan with foil and filling it with sand to 1-2” from the top and covering with foil will make clean up much easier. By design the water pan in the WSM does two things: protects meat from fire and aides in stabilizing temperature, both of which can be accomplished with sand, just as well as with water.

And there is a drawback with water in the WSM that you won’t get with sand. Water will turn to steam and rise to the top of the smoker, where it mixes with the creosote that has formed there. The creosote and water mixture then drips back down onto your food.

But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself or do your own research. Food for thought I like to say. If water is beneficial to your smoker design, use it. If not, see if it makes sense to use sand, or go without.

If you have questions about grills, grilling, really anything BBQ, then email Jay and he’ll try to answer them. We may post the Q & A on the website to share the knowledge with our other customers. Contact Jay with your question now!

Ingredients:

Whole pork tenderloin
Bacon
Plowboy’s Yardbird Rub

Start with a whole pork tenderloin and remove any silver skin. Cut fillets twice as wide as your bacon. Butterfly the loin fillets so they fold over into large round medallions. Run a tooth pick through to hold in place and wrap with bacon. Our Plowboys Yardbird Rub goes great on pork. I dare say that it is better on pork than even on chicken.

Grill or smoke until 140 to 145 degrees. If you grill, use a medium fire. These aren’t beef steaks. They are better grilled a little slower than a high sear. Be sure to remove the tooth pick.

Plowboys BBQ started in 2001 as the Pork Pullin Plowboys competition bbq team. Brothers in law Randy Hinck; Concordia, MO; and Todd Johns; Blue Springs, MO; started their first year of competition doing a couple of small contests off of the KCBS circuit. Fast forwarding to 2007, Pork Pullin Plowboys competed in 18 contests including a Grand Championship in Kearney, MO and Home Town Team in Blue Springs. Both Randy and Todd have begun to cater and both have concession trailers with pellet cookers mounted on the back. Todd writes articles for the team’s web site at www.plowboysbbq.com, www.GetYourGrillOn.net, and www.JustBaking,net. He is also the editor for www.theCooksKitchen.net.

Plowboys Yardbird Rub was created seven years ago as the team’s original chicken rub. The very first time it was used, they won 1st place in chicken out of 27 teams. It has been used off and on over the years until it was sampled across the country a year ago with 25 different cooks. After rave reviews, the process to bottle a commercial product began. Two weeks after the first commercial batch was produced, Yardbird rub won some major awards at the Great American BBQ contest: 1st place hot rub, 2nd place mild rub, 2nd place overall rub and 2nd place overall product. The Plowboy’s rub topped all new products at the GAB in 2007. Topping a great GAB finish, their friend Andy Groneman of the Hodedo’s won first place in chicken at the GAB Open using Yardbird Rub. Many teams in 2007 saw major awards and major improvments in their pork and chicken entries using Yardbird in competition.

Tired of the same old canned cranberry sauce? Jay’s cranberry salsa is the perfect update for this year’s holiday spread, combining tart cranberries, sweet citrus and spicy cilantro, peppers and ginger. It might just be your new holiday tradition!

Ingredients:
1 12 ounce package fresh cranberries
2 whole oranges
½ cup sugar
1 bunch fresh cilantro
½ medium onion
2 jalepenos or 2 serrano chiles. (remove seeds and de-vein if you want less heat)
1 1” chunk fresh ginger root peeled
¼ tsp green chile powder if available (optional)

Place cranberries in food processor.  Squeeze in the juice of one orange, quarter the orange and add it, including peel.

Peel and add the other orange sectioned.  Add sugar and cilantro. Pulse for 1-2 minutes until well blended, while keeping some texture.

Slice the onion and chiles into the mixture and add fresh ginger. Process with the cranberries.  Add green chile powder to taste and blend.

Makes 2-3 cups and keeps well. May prepare 2-3 days in advance, but heat will increase.  Serve with blue corn chips if available.

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
garlic salt
greek seasoning
Lawry’s Seasoned Black Pepper
curry powder
4 thick steaks, such as KC strip or Ribeyes

Instructions:
Pour sauces over steaks.

Sprinkle one side of steaks lightly with each of the seasonings. Put steaks in the refrigerator for 1/2 – 1 hour, and then turn steaks and sprinkle other side with seasonings. Put the steaks back in the refrigerator for 1/2 – 1 hour. Grill to desired doneness and baste with marinade if you like.

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen chopped broccoli
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp minced onion

Cook and drain frozen broccoli. Mix with other ingredients and salt to taste. Pour into greased, 1.5 Qt Casserole pan. Cube 3-4 slices of bread and arrange evenly over casserole. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over bread. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
Whole Fresh Pineapple or Pineapples
1/4 cup Dark Rum
Juice of 2-3 oranges
Juice of 2-3 limes
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar

Cut off the top of the pineapple and then cut it lengthwise into eight wedges to the core. Remove the core. Leave exterior skin on wedges and ensure that all of the tough inner core has been removed. Jay suggests using an electric knife to cut the pineapple.

Marinate in rum, juices and brown sugar for 1-2 hours.

Grill over direct fire until exterior starts to carmelize and turn slightly brown, turning to ensure that the segments do not burn.

Put on platter and pour some of the remaining marinade over the slices. This is meant to be eaten with your hands like an ear of corn.

Whether you like hickory, cherry, pecan, or apple etc., too much of a good thing can actually be a bad thing. I think we all probably started out thinking the more smoke the better, I know my first attempt at smoking resulted in a meal that closely resembled a charred pine tree after a wild fire. This was caused mostly by not having a clue as to what I was doing. I used all wood for the fire and I think it was mesquite; gee I wonder why it didn’t turn out.

I, like so many, use natural lump charcoal as a fuel and wood chunks or logs for flavor, and of course there are the pellet cookers.  Some folks, and my hat goes off to you, can smoke entirely with wood and the food turns out great. For the rest of us, one thing to keep in mind is that meats will only accept smoke until the internal temperature reaches 120 – 130 F. so beyond that you are just wasting wood and can actually make your meat taste bitter or over smoked. This is not to say that you have to immediately cut off the smoke, like turning off a switch. Just don’t add any additional wood.

The first thing I will notice when eating someone else’s bbq is if it was over smoked, because the most tender and moist meat can be ruined by the over powering taste of too much smoke.

So drop your club unless you need it for self defense and if you need a pickup to haul the wood your using for a single brisket you may be over smoking. The important thing to remember is that unlike what the Surgeon General says, smoking is actually good for you.

Jay’s Brisket Rub 

1/3 C. Paprika

1 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Seasoned Salt

1/2 C. Garlic Salt

2 T. Powdered Beef Stock

1 T. Chili Powder

1/2 T. Lemon Pepper

1/2 T. Coarse Black Pepper

1/4 tsp. Allspice

1/2 tsp. Ground Celery Seed

1/2 tsp. Wasabi Powder

1/2 tsp. Ground Sage

1/4 tsp. Cayenne

1/4 tsp. Ground Jalapeno Powder

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon