Naked BBQ

This is kind of a long story, so you can skip the boring parts.

When I was a kid my grandma took me to a supermarket to get chicken for a 4th of July picnic. 

Here's the important part.  I wanted the chicken that was smothered in BBQ sauce and she refused.  Instead we got the baked chicken and our own BBQ sauce.  The reason?  Grandma was convinced that they were trying to hide old chicken under that BBQ sauce.  From what I have seen since, I think she was right.   

At the Smokehouse we serve our BBQ naked.

Why?  Because we want to be honest with you.  We are not hiding nasty old meat under that sauce. 

We also figure that we spend a lot of time and money to ensure that our BBQ is good enough to be served without sauce, so why hide our hard work?

It all starts with the meat.  Most of our meat comes from Milford, Utah and is dressed in Payson, only about 15 to 20 minutes from our restaurants.  Why is this important?  Our meat isn't coming from huge freezers where it has been hanging out for weeks or months.  It is coming from a small operation run by a guy named Gary who lives in Payson.  It is just about as fresh as meat gets.

So, once Gary's guys drop off the meat we take it from there.  We trim off most of the fat and inspect each piece.  Then you know what we do?  We don't marinate it or rub it with fancy tenderizing chemicals.  Our meat is so fresh we don't need to.

We rub it with our secret recipe rub and set it gently in our Southern Pride smoker.  Why use a Southern Pride smoker?  Because it is the Mercedes-Benz of smokers.  It is a lot more expensive, but it is what the pros down South use, so that is what we use. 

Now, I am not a big fan of Hickory.  I just think that it is too harsh.  Instead we smoke our meat with fruitwood from orchards in American Fork.  I think it is the best way to go since it gives the meat a sweeter flavor that doesn't overpower the flavor of the meat like hickory.

Then, it is just a matter of time.  12 to 14 hours to be exact.  The meat rotates around that big smoker for a long time, basting itself, opening its pores to accept the smoke, and just generally having a really good time.  That is some lucky meat.

We then take great care to keep it sealed and covered until it is hand pulled and served to you naked as a jaybird.

You can do with it as you please from there.  Sauce it up, or just enjoy the purity of fresh slow smoked meat that just got done with its 12 hour ride in the best smoker in Utah.