BBQ Supplies in Boston

[crimsonca]

Brookline Ice has the Natures Own Hardwood Lump Charcoal along with the Cowboy. The Natures own was 20# for $13.00. It is like one stop shopping, propaine, ice, and anything else you ned to BBQ.

[Luther]

That's pretty sweet, in previous years they only had cowboy and some royal oak briquettes (really bad quality).

[crimsonca]

They seemed pretty easy to light , burned clean and carmilized nicley.

[justbeingpolite]

How do you BBQ with ice, Ive never tried it.
Seriously though, I tried the Royal Oak recently and found it quite good, much better than Cowboy. Got it at Market Basket.
I think my local WF (Bedford) was carrying something other than Cowboy recently as well, could be Nature's Own?

[Luther]

I know there's at least three different kinds of Royal Oak, produced in different countries. Also, my comment was about the briquettes, I can't make any comment on the Royal Oak hardwood they sell at BI&C.

[devilham]

I've used both the royal oak and the cowboy kind, and don't really see a discernable difference. The cowboy might cook down with less ash, but can't say for certain.

[El Guapo]

The problem with Cowboy is that you get too many small and thin pieces that burn too fast.

[AHan]

Their brands change frequently. They used to carry Maple Leaf , which is a far better lump than these other brands, but is no longer imported from Canada.

[Bob MacAdoo]

BBQ Barn in Arlington is a good resource.

http://bbqbarn.com/

I forget what brand of lump I got there last, but it was high quality.

[Ruprecht]

Just as a couple of points of reference (I happen to just have been researching the care and feeding of my new Big Green Egg):

The Alewife Whole Foods stocks a couple of different varieties of hardwood lump, including 20lb bags of Wicked Good Weekend Warrior (lump, not briquettes.) for $19.

Russo's in Watertown is reportedly also a dealer of Nature's Own, don't know the price.

[El Guapo]

Hey Ruprecht,

When did you get the Egg? What size? Have you had a chance to use it yet. Last I heard you had the big Weber with the attached table and gas lighter.

Guapo

[Bob MacAdoo]

Hey EG, I got a BGE on the internet three years ago. I got the "large" which is a great size for my situation. We do everything from Thanksgiving turkey (about 22 lbs. max) to ribs and pork shoulder brisket to basic grilling. In addition to BBQ Barn, I've bought wood and lump online at various sites.

[Ruprecht]

Ditto on the large. So where's a good local source for 8-10lb briskets for smoking? I doubt many supermarket meat departments have that size with the fat cap still on.

[PinchOfSalt]

Russo's does finally have Nature's Own again. (It was MIA until a week or so ago.) It is $9.50 for an 8.8 pound bag. I thought I would never see the day that Whole Foods had a better deal on anything than Russo's, but the Wicked Good charcoal at WF is a better deal than the NO charcoal at Russo's. Who'da thought?

By the way, if memory serves, the last time I bought NO charcoal at Russo's the price was a lot lower. Strange.

[janzy]

Wicked Good is probably the best lump I have ever used.
It has really big pieces and burns very long with minimal ash.

[bear]

I just picked up and 8.8# bag of Royal Oak for $4.99 at the Burlington Market Basket.

Trader Joe's used to sell Cowboy, which was fine in a pinch, but beware...they are selling briquets now. I was careless and learned the hard way.

[allwirka]

a little off topic but does anyone have any tips on where to find reasonably priced, quality meat (especially beef brisket and ribs) to smoke? preferably in the metrowest area?

[spicyivan]

Costco is best for ribs (babybacks and spares) and brisket (flat). I get full briskets (flat + point) at Restaurant Depot in Needham. Low prices so both stores do big volume -- turnover and freshness are excellent. Anybody have additional recommendations?

[janzy]

Don't you need a card or be in the trade to get into Restaurant Depot?

[itaunas]

For MetroWest the only other thing I would mention that Brazilian butchers can sometimes be a good source for full racks of Beef ribs. They usually cut them flanken style to sell. So many have popped up in Framingham, Hudson, Shrewsbury, and Worcester, I am not certain which one to point you to... but would probably try Fresh Beef Market or Casa de Carnes in Framingham, or Casa de Carnes Solucao in Worcester (this is the one I am most familiar with). Market Basket in Ashland is probably a decent place to get racks of ribs (they usually cut them in half, so flag down a butcher if you need a whole rack).

There are some in-town options which are pretty easy from the pike. Lord Jeff's at Newmarket is excellent for pork ribs (and oxtail), I know some hound wasn't happy with brisket from there but I have done ok. Smoked hocks, turkey wings and all sorts of things for collards, in general good for southern sides. Puritan Beef at Haymarket validates parking (and you get a gift card if spending more than $50). They always have pork ribs and butts out, but have a lot more in the walkin (including cuts I can't get from Lord Jeff's)... in fact the meat out of the walkin tends to be fresher.

I wouldn't come from Metrowest, but Johnnie's and Market Basket often have decent sales on ribs and almost always have them in stock. Their prices are often less than the unit (sometimes even the case) price at RD, but don't know about Cosco. McKinnon's is usually good for pork butts, with varying prices, and they often have baby backs although sometimes only seasoned (?). McKinnon's can order brisket with the cap on, but you have to give them 24 hours usually. I don't know anybody which sells cuts with the cap on.

For Restaurant Depot you need to sign up as a business, which doesn't have to be a restaurant or borrow a card from someone. The are other ways to slip in, although they are checking a bit more closely when someone gives a restaurant name and doesn't have a card. In any case they just started carrying Calabro (cheese) products which are worth checking out, they have huge blocks of Queso para Frier which are easy to grill on skewers... and have a lot of the Leidy's products which I like (I wish the kielbasa wasn't quite as smokey, but in metrowest there are other options for that).

[itaunas]

And speaking of Johnnie's they have full racks of spare-ribs for $.99/lb next Tues, Wed, Thurs.

[bear]

Awesome. Do you know if they are St. Louis style?

[itaunas]

Untrimmed. They do sell St Louis style ribs, but I believe only seasoned/cooked. Usually they are fairly accomodating about cutting meat, even sale meat, so you might be able to get them to do the work for you paying the full untrimmed rack. Update: looks like they probably have St Louis style ribs for $2.79/lb.

[bear]

Thanks so much. I'll definitely head on over. I don't mind trimming myself, although the results usually aren't too pretty.