Chicago’s Best Chicago-Style Bbq: Slab Bbq

We touched on hot links and their birthplace in Chicago-style barbecue, but I wanted to talk to you about the method for how it's cooked. You always hear barbecue being low and slow, but the reality is Chicago barbecue is cooked pretty hot, pretty fast. It doesn't completely render out the fats and the collagens that give you really fall-off-the-bone barbecue. For me personally, if I'm going somewhere to grab barbecue in Chicago, it's always rib tips and hot links. However, from time to time, I do see turkey legs pop up. There's definitely a trend toward finding healthier versions of things, and one of them is smoking turkey legs, because they're one of the things that can take a lot of smoke the same way pork does. I'm driving down 71st Street, and I was still a half mile flat, but I knew that I was heading in the right direction. The whole neighborhood is filled with this beautiful hickory wood smell. Absolutely, you'd be surprised how many people say that their nose led them to the slab, and it's because of the rich aroma of the hickory wood that we use for our barbecue. We use an aquarium pit, and we cook over an open flame, so things move really, really fast, because you have to keep turning the meat to make sure it doesn't burn. We work with a special rub that my husband created, and it's slow-cooked for hours before it's actually ready to serve our customers. And you guys are truly a family affair. You mentioned your husband. My son has become a pit master. My daughter, she's the manager of the restaurant, so we're very proud of the fact that we are a family-owned restaurant, and we hire from the community as well. What are some of your top items? Our St. Louis ribs. We sell three different kinds of hot links, beef, pork, and turkey. All of our sides are baked from scratch. We can pick our greens every day. We cook fresh-baked macaroni and cheese. We hand-cut our french fries. And definitely our slow-smoked turkey legs. Those are a big hit, so it's best to get in early to get your turkey legs or reserve them, and we will set them aside for you when they're gone for the day they're gone. So if you told them, reserve your turkey leg or go early, you'll miss it. Trice, your wife mentioned that you do good old Southern-style Chicago barbecue. Where are you from? I'm from Chicago, but my father's from Dubuque, Kentucky. You got a winning combo, I think. It's Southern-style barbecue, but it's Chicago, too. We kind of marinate them, and we let them sit for 48 hours until the season actually soaks into the turkey leg. That is one beautiful aquarium pit you have there, Trice. Thank you. And how long is it now until they're ready to eat? 10 to 12 hours. That's almost as good as it gets. You dip it in the sauce, it's ready to go. Perfect. Tell me what you think makes Chicago-style barbecue so unique and so good. It's the aquarium pit and open flame and the season that really makes the Chicago barbecue best. Should we dig in? Why do you have a knife? I was sort of envisioning medieval times. Does this work for you? Oh yeah, that works. This is incredible. Every portion of it has seasoning. It's not just the outside, it's not just that char you get. It's really within the meat. And that's because we marinate the turkey legs for 48 hours, and we smoke them for 10 to 12 hours. So the seasoning, the flavor, penetrates inside of the meat. You can taste it. But I want to jump in the barbecue sauce. I did the mix. Tanya told me mix medium and hot. That's a winner. So I guess you're enjoying it. Oh yeah, I'm enjoying it. I'll probably be enjoying it for the next hour. If anyone wants to come help me, I might have leftovers. Can you even see me behind this?