BBQ Roadtrip, part 3 - The Timing is Everything edition

For those of you that have read my previous blogs about my BBQ road trips in Minnesota, you know that I'm always comparing anything I taste to what I love about Central Texas BBQ. If you haven't read them, they can be found here:

http://hartoftexas.blogspot.com/2013/12/minnesota-bbq-road-trip-12-12-13-my.html

http://hartoftexas.blogspot.com/2014/06/minnesota-bbq-roadtrip-twin-cities.html


For road trip #3, my friend Darren and I headed north this time and really the route only took us North and West.

Smoke-In D's BBQ, Sauk Rapids

http://smokeindsbbq.com/

As is the case most of the time we visit a new place, we have a hard time convincing them of what we want. We ask for a sampler platter of all the meats, and they think we want something for free. Then when they realize that we're paying, the never can figure out how to just give us meat without the sides. The final issue we have is to get them to leave any sauce OFF of the meat. That is the one thing that trips them up most of the time. They are proud of their sauce and use it to help flavor the meat. That is why I love some Central Texas joints - they don't even offer sauce at all!

We ended up with a sampler platter that included chicken, ribs, and pulled pork. Of course, everything had their "liquid gold" sauce all over it.

The chicken was very dry. Sometimes when you visit a place when they first open, they are serving meats that were smoked the day before. I'm pretty sure this was the case, thus the chicken was dry. The taste was good however.

The pulled pork didn't have much smoke flavor and any other taste was probably covered up by the sauce. This would have made a good sandwich.

The ribs were the best thing we were served, but they were overcooked. They fell of the bone when you picked them up. I'm from the camp that there should be a "little chew" to get them off the bone.

If I lived in Sauk Rapids, I would visit there again, but I won't be going out of my way to go again.

I was able to find out that they use hickory wood, but they couldn't/wouldn't tell me what kind of smoker they used. The owner kept telling us how busy he was, but of course he kept coming out to see if we liked it.

 

Louie's Bucket of Bones, Ironton

This is where our timing issues began. I was under the impression they were open from 11 - 6. It turns out they are open 11-1 and then 4-6. We arrived at 1:20. Darren was able to get someone to come out to talk to us, but she wouldn't serve us and she did give us a skewer with some smoked pork on it that was good, but left us disappointed. Oh well, some other time.

The Piggy, Walker

Here's where our second timing issue came into play. By the time we got to Walker (3:15), they were sold out. We didn't even see anyone to talk to.

Elmer's Authentic Texas BBQ, Battle Lake

http://www.elmersbarbeque.com/

Here's place that went out of their way to welcome us and accommodate us. As soon as they found out what we were doing, they took us back into the kitchen to show off their Oyler smoker. They told us they use oak (I think they said white oak).

Because we hadn't eaten that much because of having two places closed on us, we decided to order a full meal including sides.

We ordered The Duke, a dinner for two that included:        
1/2 Rack Pork Ribs, 4oz. Pulled Pork, 4oz Beef Brisket, 4 Jumbo Shrimp. and sides.

We also ordered 1/2 chicken which is cooked rotisserie style and then finished off in the smoker.

The brisket could have used some more time in the smoker, but was good overall. We did get a slice that was very dry, but the others were moist and tasty.

The ribs were good, but like I often find at too many places, they fell off the bone, meaning they were overcooked.

The pulled pork was shredded nicely, but the smoke flavor had not penetrated the inside of the pork shoulder. It still had a good taste though.

The shrimp (not BBQ) were very good.

The chicken was good, but could have used more time in the smoker was a little more taste.
As for the sides, the slaw was light and crunchy, they had good hushpuppies, the cornbread was too sweet and the beans were canned (they even admitted that.)

Because the food was good and that they offered great hospitality, I would definitely come here again.

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480 miles for two meals...the scenery was pretty, the company good and the tunes were blaring.