NORTHERN Ireland's wet and windy weather may not make it the ideal location for barbecuing, but the climate has done nothing to discourage local barbecue team The Smokin' Yankees. Having been invited to the home of barbecue for a competition this autumn, the Belfast pit-masters are hoping for a taste of victory.
Formed last year, The Smokin’ Yankees started their 'pro barbecue' journey with a resounding performance at the 2015 Big Grill Fest in Dublin, when they were declared All-Ireland barbecue champions. On the back of that, the Yankees are now set to compete in the 28th annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue.
The team may be in their infancy, but barbecue has been a long time passion of its captain, Michael Duffy.
“I’ve always been an outdoors person and I’ve always been into barbecue,” Michael says. "From barbecuing in my mum's house when I was 15 or 16, and progressing from disposable barbecues to now, where I have six or seven different barbecues.”
Michael says the US-style 'low and slow' is a relatively new development in Ireland, but social media has contributed immensely to its increasing popularity.
“In Ireland we didn’t really have much of a barbecue culture,” he explains.
“Twitter is a big inspiration and I’ve got to know so many people from the barbecue world through social media. One of the guys in our team is actually from England. I got to know him through twitter, and he came with us last year to compete in a competition.”
One of the best aspects of barbecuing for Michael is the sense of community, and the barbecue boss is keen to highlight the social side of barbecue.
“It’s the social thing,” he says.
“Sitting out your back with your family and friends, and maybe having a few beers – there’s just something very primordial about it.”
Smokin’ Yankees is a cross-community barbecue team that was started when Michael and a few friends decided to enter the aforementioned barbecue competition in Dublin.
"Last year, when it came to the possibility of getting to compete at the Big Grill Fest in [Dublin's] Herbert Park, I spoke to a few friends who get together to barbecue,” he says.
“The whole point was to represent the whole of Belfast. Being a cross-community team does have added value. There were teams from all over Europe and we were so delighted when we came out as the top-placing Irish team.”
Becoming Irish champions has encouraged Michael and his team to raise their game to compete in more contests, and adapt to the more difficult low and slow style barbecue.
“You have to put so much more care into the meat,” he says.
"We have several huge needles that we use to inject different kinds of juice into the meats. The biggest task is learning to maintain the temperature in your smokers, which means you have to control the fire and the air movement. There’s a lot of physics involved in it.”
The Smokin' Yankees may have adapted quickly, but the says that he has had his fair share of disasters.
“The first time I used my smoker was crazy,” Michael says. “I decided to smoke a chicken, so I set up the gazebo and the rain started to pelt – typical Belfast weather. It was like barbecuing on the decks of the Titanic.”
He laughs: “There are many other disasters that I choose not to admit to."
Michael and his team may be underdogs in the Jack Daniels World Invitational Barbecue Competition in Tennessee, one of the world’s top barbecue competitions, but he says they will be great representatives for Ireland, and for Irish barbecue.
“To be brutally honest, I’m excited and intimidated in equal measure,” Michael admits.
“We are a very small barbecue team and we are going over there to compete against the very people that I watch on shows like Man v. Food or Pitmaster. Some of these guys have smokers that are bigger than my house, and we’re going over to beg borrow and steal."
At the end of the day, though, he says: “We’re going to do Ireland proud, because barbecue isn’t just about cooking – it’s about making friends, it’s about socialising and it’s about having a sense of community. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
RECIPE
Here’s a Smokin’ Yankees barbecue sauce recipe that you can try at home:
The Smokin’ Yankees' Apple Whiskey Barbecue Sauce
In this recipe the whiskey is optional; it can add a lovely little twist to the end of the sauce. Just choose your favourite whiskey or bourbon. What the hell, try a few just to see which one you like; it's educational you know – just like proper research.
This is a very easy recipe to start your barbecue journey; it will taste quite different from the normal shop-bought sauce but is very worthwhile. It is especially good with pork as it brings out the natural sweetness of the meat.
Make a pot full and when barbecuing impress your guests by placing a small pot on the grill and using a basting brush to finish off your meat – you’ll look like a seasoned pit master!
Ingredients:
2 cups of tomato ketchup
1 large Tablespoon of Molasses
½ cup of apple cider vinegar
1 large jar of apple sauce (choose between lumps of apple or no lumps, just remember lumps will get stuck in a squeezy-type sauce bottle)
1 cup of apple juice
1/8 cup of Worcestershire sauce
2 shots of your favourite whiskey (1 for the sauce and 1 just for you – you’re welcome!)
1 teaspoon of kosher salt (if u can get it, ½ teaspoon of normal salt if you can’t)
1 teaspoon of Garlic powder
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of onion granules
½ cup of light Muscavado sugar
Place a heavy bottomed pot on a medium heat and slowly add all the wet ingredients, bringing them to a rolling boil for around 5 minutes. Add salt, garlic, paprika and onion granules, continue for 5 minutes, stirring all the time, and then add sugar last (to avoid burning, as will taste bitter).
Turn heat down but continually stir for five more minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool, the sauce will thicken during this process.
Use this as a base sauce, if you like a bit of heat simply add cayenne/ dried chillies according to your own taste.
This sauce has a lot of sweet, sweet sugar in it so use at the end of your cook so as to avoid burning the sugar and making your meat bitter.
Enjoy!
