Barbecue season is here, and Drew Darneille wants to help you up your grilling game.
The owner and pitmaster of Smokecraft Modern Barbecue, Darneille knows his way around a smoker. In addition to dishing up plates of pulled pork, brisket and ribs at the four-year-old Clarendon restaurant, he has competed in 94 barbecue competitions in multiple categories—and won 263 top-10 finishes. (On June 22 and 23, you’ll find the Bethesda native at the 32nd Annual Giant Barbecue Battle on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, between Third and Seventh streets in D.C.)
Before you dust off that gas grill or Big Green Egg, check out Darneille’s tips for preparing a truly tasty carnivorous feast.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What are some common mistakes people make when grilling or barbecuing at home?
First off, there’s grilling and there’s barbecuing, and I think they got put into the same category. With grilling, you’re talking high heat and things like steaks, grilled chicken, fajitas, shrimp—things that you’re cooking on open flame and/or gas. Barbecue really is more low and slow in terms of temperature and cooking time.
One of the biggest mistakes people make at home is they see big, puffy smoke and think that’s good. But that’s where you can get that really ashy taste in your mouth. You want to have clean smoke—just a little bit of smoke that’s quickly dissipating, not some big, smoke signal-level smoke.
For me, gas grills are best for burgers, hot dogs and quick, easy backyard grilling. The biggest advantage of cooking with gas is quick, easy cooking with minimal cleanup. But given a choice, I always prefer to use charcoal or wood fires. You can get so much more flavor since the wood is like another ingredient. Different types of wood add different flavors to whatever you’re cooking.
How should you prep your grill or smoker?
You want to have a clean cooker, always. Everyone’s like, “All that grease, that’s just flavor.” Well, that is flavor, but it’s not good flavor. Keeping your grill clean and your smoker clean is super important. Get heavy-duty foil and line the bottom so you don’t have a giant mess. Take advantage of this and other simple tools, because the worst part about barbecue—and really cooking in general—is cleaning up afterward.
What other tools do you recommend?
A cheap tool that most people don’t use or think about is thick cotton gloves that you can put on underneath rubber gloves to handle meat. This extra layer of insulation (like an oven mitt) means you and pick up a piece of meat and get your hands on it, and you’re not going to burn yourself. I like to feel what I’m cooking to know how it’s progressing. One caveat: Gloves only work if you’re doing low-and-slow barbecue. If you’re cooking with high heat, they’re not going to be enough protection.
Let’s talk temperature.
That brings up another critical tool. Have a great thermometer so you can not only keep an eye on the temperature inside your cooker, but probe the food to make sure it’s cooked to doneness. You want to cook the food further than what the Agriculture Department recommends. This varies by meat, but let’s use pork as an example. The USDA says to cook pork to 145 degrees. If you’re going to cook pork butt, you’re going to cook it to 203 degrees. For brisket, the same rule applies: According to the government, it can be safely consumed at 145 degrees, but you’re taking it to 208 degrees. Why? For big cuts, pushing the final temperature to 196-203 degrees helps break down the fats in the meat, which leads to a more tender final product. Items like brisket and pork butt will be very tough if you don’t cook them long enough to fully break down the fats.
How do you know when the meat is done?
It depends on what type of protein you’re cooking. Turkey is lean and more sensitive. If I’m cooking a turkey breast, then I am cooking it closer to that USDA recommended temperature, finishing at 165. We typically pull our turkey out of the smoker at 155 and let it rest for a minimum of 15-30 minutes before slicing it. Even after it’s removed from the heat source, the temperature will continue to rise in what’s known as “carryover cooking” heat, bringing it to the USDA-recommended 165 degrees. Because poultry is so lean, however, you don’t want to exceed that or it will quickly dry out. A lot of big meats, such as pork, brisket and ribs, also experience carryover cooking, so you want to make sure you’re pulling them before you get to that top temperature. A meat thermometer is your friend here, but also consider how the meat feels. When you put your thermometer into it, you want it to drop in like soft butter. You don’t ever want to feel like you’re jabbing to get a temperature reading. If you can drop it in without resistance, that’s a good indicator that it’s ready to go.
I think with any meat you’re cooking or barbecuing, you want to let it rest for at least 15 to 30 minutes before you eat it. Bigger meats should rest longer—ideally an hour to an hour and a half, wrapped in a blanket or towel. There’s a science to it. The molecules get really, really tight while the meat is cooking. Then we let it rest, the meat relaxes and the moisture is reabsorbed so the texture isn’t dry.
OK, we’ve prepared the cooker and got our tools. How do we prep the meat?
It depends on what you’re making. I would brine or marinate poultry. A lot of people inject brisket and pork butt, which is basically injecting the marinade inside the meat. A general rule of thumb is to marinate at least three to four hours ahead of cooking to really let the flavors begin to expand. I know the marinade packets say on the outside to do it for 15 minutes or so, but you don’t get a ton of flavor that way. The longer you go, the more flavor you get. Giant Ziploc bags make marinating all kinds of proteins super easy.
Is it possible to over-marinate?
Absolutely. What’s in your marinade is important. If you’re using citrus, that can cure things. That’s how you make ceviche, right? It’s an acid. Same with vinegar. If you go too long with an acidic marinade, the meat will start to “cook” before it hits the grill. I wouldn’t recommend longer than three to four hours because after that, the citrus or vinegar will start to cure the protein. Otherwise, overnight (eight to 10 hours) is usually the longest before the flavor begins to take over the protein. But again, it varies greatly depending on the type of meat and what’s in the marinade.
Salt is another ingredient that requires care. If you put too much salt on for too long, the final result can be too salty, but that also depends on the protein and the process. Certain meats like salt; others don’t. The size of the piece of meat also impacts how much to put on, because the surface area of most meat will shrink as it cooks. Too much salt will become overpowering as the cut of meat shrinks and the salt has less space to occupy.
Which cuts of meat are best for beginners?
There’s no reason to start with the most expensive steak you can find. You can get great-quality proteins at your local grocery store (that’s where I get a lot of my competition meat). Then you can move toward higher-end cuts as you get more comfortable with your tools and process.
Does placement in the cooker matter?
That completely depends on the type of cooker you’re using and whether you’re doing a fast or slow cook. There are a lot of variations. It does help to know where your high-heat points are vs. low-heat points. To understand where the hotter and cooler points of your cooker are, get a pack of frozen biscuits. Put the frozen biscuits on top of the grates and you’ll see which ones brown faster. Knowing where the hot spots are allows you to adjust the meat as you go—rotate it or move things around so one side or piece isn’t taking all the heat the entire time. Or maybe you want to start hot to get a good bark (the flavorful “crust” on barbecued meat) and sear, but then move to a cooler spot to allow even cooking. It’s always good to rotate meats and move things around for more even cooking.
What’s one thing you want people to remember about barbecuing?
This is stuff you learn with practice. The only way you learn how to make great barbecue is by starting with bad barbecue. It’s only going to get better. Just go out there and give it a shot and have fun with it.
Find Smokecraft Modern Barbecue at 1051 N. Highland St., Arlington (Clarendon)