WHY DO WE INSIST ON A BARBECUE PIT THAT BURNS ONLY WOOD INSTEAD OF A COMBINATION OF GAS AND WOOD?
No one says it better then the company that specializes in barbecue pits that only burn wood, so I’ll just let them explain it:
“We pioneered the gas/wood combination pit in the 1970's, but we discontinued it after only two years because we found that the barbecue produced in pits using gas to assist the wood was inferior to all woodfired pits. The "gas" taste was very evident in the finished product. For safety, gas contains smelly sulfur chemicals called mercaptans* to make it noticeable when there is a leak. This adversely affects the taste of barbecue. That is why barbecue from all wood fired pits is always better than product from our competitors' gas/wood ovens. In these ovens, the products of the gas burner combustion, including the odorous components pass through the cooking chamber and come in direct contact with the meat. They will tell you that the gas is just there to ignite the wood, but don't fall for that line...the gas burners in these ovens fire every time the temperature drops, tainting the meat with each firing”.
So that’s why we smoke our barbecue the old fashioned way by using only hardwood. We do not use gas fired smokers because they produce an inferior product. The hardwood we use is a combination of oak, apple and nut woods. We do not use mesquite or soft wood, because the smoke from those types of wood tends to be too strong.
Compared to gas fired smoke ovens, wood smoked barbecue is not an easy or inexpensive way to barbecue. “The best wood fired pits (like the one we use) cost over $15,000 vs. $200 to $7,500 for the commonly used gas fired pits with a supplementary wood box that creates some smoke.” A wood fire is more expensive than propane and requires more handling, time and attention than just turning on the gas, but the results are worth it. Because we can’t help ourselves from striving to give the very best, we decided to choose the road less taken because we always go to whatever lengths are necessary to create the best possible barbecue and nothing else is acceptable.
To shed light on why we have such high standards, clients should know that Larry Vito, the owner of Barbecue Smokehouse & Catering, is a nationally known chef who has been on the cutting edge of fine cuisine throughout his twenty-five year career in some of America’s most highly acclaimed restaurants and hotels. Your barbecue will receive the same attention to detail as a 7 course wine and food pairing dinner. To learn more about his background, please visit our parent company's website www.larryvitocatering.com
Over the years, we have developed different rubs and marinades for each type of meat or fish that we smoke. We
do this because the “one size fits all” approach to barbecue doesn’t bring out the very best flavors. Different types of meat are enhanced by different herbs and spices. Chef Vito’s classical training in French cuisine at the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park New York anable him to create signature rubs that are truly unique.
► Brisket is smoked at a very low temperature for a minimum of 14 hours. We know of no other company in the Bay Area that smokes their brisket for this long. You can read on some companies web sites and menus that their brisket is smoked for a mere 8 hours. We charge a little more for our brisket because the long cooking time causes it to shrink more and yield less than other meats, costing us more per pound. Our clients are thankful for the extra time we take to do it right and tell us that it tastes better and is more tender than any brisket they have had in the Bay Area.
► Pulled pork is smoked with the bone in for a minimum of 12 hours at 225 degrees. This makes it lean, flavorful, tender and smoked all the way through. Then we “pull” or shred it with a fork and chop it. Our favorite way to serve it is North Carolina style with a hot and sweet vinegar sauce.
► Chicken is cut into 8 pieces, marinated and then finished with our signature dry rub that is made especially for chicken. The dark and light meat is separated and smoked for different amounts of time to ensure the breast meat is not overcooked and dried out.
To make our ► signature sausage, we buy lean, boneless, skinless chicken and season it with our secret blend of herbs and spices. Then it’s stuffed into natural casings, and smoked gently with apple wood over indirect heat. The result is lean, moist, firm, flavorful smoked chicken sausage that is better than any sausage available in the stores. Try it and see why our clients swear by it.
► Ribs are trimmed, heavily dusted with our signature pork dry rub and slow smoked in our pit until tender and juicy.
By the way, if anyone ever tells you that the meat on their ribs is “falling off the bone" you can bet they were boiled, steamed or baked and not barbecued. “Fall off the bone tender” is just one iconic example where people use an incorrect benchmark to measure good barbecue, because barbecue isn’t made anywhere other than in a barbecue pit. Ask for some of that “fall off the bone” barbecue without sauce and you will see that there is no caramelized crust on the outside or flavor inside. Right here in Sonoma County there are plenty of caterers and well known “barbecue” restaurants that don’t own a barbecue pit or cheat to speed up the cooking process by par-boiling their ribs and brisket.
Larry Vito's BBQ Smokehouse Catering, 6811 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, California 95472,
707-575-3277