I’ll resolve the issue on my next trip to Brooklyn, although those with limited patience will want to check for themselves.
The pork barbecue looks weird. I suppose it could be pork shoulder, but I cant imagine anyone from North Carolina serving that. Maybe someone from CARY.
The charcoal grill appears to be for grilling chicken, not for barbecue.
Ah, thanks, John. I can add to my list of excuses, “(5) the ambient smoke from the charcoal chicken grill also flavors the pork.”
I have had some bad barbecue in Cary, it’s true, but I have to say that the relatively new Dampf Good BBQ in Cary is really good, the highlight of a recent food road trip Toni and I took through eastern Virginia and the Research Triangle area. It’s geographically atypical (Texas-style), but extremely well done.
Daniel Vaughn of the Texas Monthly has also been to NC and southeastern Virginia recently, and called their brisket the best of his trip, the pastrami “well executed,” the spareribs “old-school Central Texas style,” the sausages “impresssive,” and the bacon brisket aka sliced pork belly a “great bite”
Mmm! pastrami!
I think that grill is from a previous incarnation of their kitchen, looks like the chicken is also cooked in the rotisserie. I’ve been thinking it wouldn’t be too hard to outfit a rotisserie with a pellet chamber underneath and some sort of air filtration system?
To be honest, I find fascinating is that you, a bbq expert, thought the pork was smoked. When we moved from the suburbs to nyc I gave my smokers and grills to friends and have been experimenting with various cooking methods and spices in a futile attempt to create something close to the taste profile of smoked meat.
I’ve found it easy to replicate the texture of smoked ribs (for example) but haven’t come close to anything resembling a smokey taste. I may have to visit if only to experience what you were tasting.
Best,
There’s a well-known story where someone at a tasting asked a famous wine writer if they’d ever mistaken a Bordeaux for a Burgundy.
“Not since lunch” was the reply. 
Well, to commit heresy, liquid smoke actually is real smoke dissolved in water. The quick and easy route.
All it takes to make barbecue is pork butts or shoulders, a Weber grill, charcoal, hickory chunks, and practice — and a good vinegar based sauce. Really
I’ve tried liquid smoke, unfortunately doesn’t seem to get me close.
I cooked many pork shoulders on a Weber kettle prior to purchasing WSMs but where we live, like most of manhattan, doesn’t allow grills.
Given your engagement with bbq, wouldn’t it make sense to purchase a wsm? It has a much larger capacity which is useful for entertaining, requires less oversight, is more versatile and can produce true competition level bbq.
They are available slightly used on Facebook marketplace in our area for around $120, I kept our two covered, they were heavily used in our backyard and at competitions, they were over 15 years old and still going strong when I gave them away.
Finally, chris allingham has created a fantastic site, peopled with a supportive community over at https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/
Best,
Yes, “real” and “real good” are not synonymous in the case of liquid smoke.
That’s one advantage Brooklyn has over Manhattan, I guess. The place we had in Bed-Stuy the past two summers had a backyard grill, which we used.
Unfortunately, the great place in Bed-Stuy is no longer available for rentals, so this year we’ve had to switch to a place in Crown Heights. $1200 more and 8 minutes further away from the A train.
They’ll allow a barrel smoker? I used to have one and used it for turkeys, and it worked beautifully. Then I’d have 10 pounds of smoked turkey. I tried it on a pork butt and threw it away. The bark, internal texture, and flavor were all wrong. I eventually gave the smoker away.
no smoker or grill of any kind. not even a propane pizza oven.
Again, a wsm is versatile, i smoked a turkey every thanksgiving and the pork, brisket, chicken and fish were fantastic. 10-12 hours on a load of charcoal, very little temp variation.
I’m more in the eating line than the equipment line, but if you think it’ll work, go for it
Maybe we can move all the discussion of BBQ in general to its own thread? This is Good Eats NYC. Lots of good BBQ chat though for others interested. @moderators
Are you renting an apartment through something like AirBnB or VRBO? The law has changed since last summer and basically short term rentals of entire apartments for less than 30 days is illegal and the city has begun enforcing it.
Have you looked into this?
I have heard good things but I am tight on counter space already. I may have to figure out which other appliance I put into storage to make room.
Oooo! This is relevant to my interests! (Although, I too am dealing with a lack of counter space.)
I think the enforcement of the law has affected us only indirectly, since our prior two rentals and this year’s rental were all for 30 days and thus exempt from the law.
I assume there are indirect effects of the new enforcement throughout the entire housing market, of course, but I don’t know in which direction the effect would be for 30+ day rentals. I do wonder if the new highs in NYC hotel prices (as reported by the Times) might be a direct effect of the new enforcement program.
We stay edin an airbnb place once on the Lower East Side for about 5 days where the instructions were that we were never to mention in any public place that this was a short term rental. This was before the law began being seriously enforced.
