This year has marked the start of an important relationship with Indiana farmers for one Indianapolis area restaurant. Squealers Award Winning Barbeque owner Jeff Yater says his restaurants, one on 86th street and another in Mooresville are partnering with Indiana Packers in Carroll County and the company’s retail supplier Indiana Kitchen.
“What that means for visitors is that we are working with a local company, an Indiana company that produces pork. For us that means 85% of the pork that we serve in our restaurants is being supplied by Indiana farmers, so for us that’s a win-win situation. Obviously pork is something that we need for our barbeque restaurant and it’s great to be able to give it back to the Indiana farmers. In turn our guests come in and they get Indiana pork.”
Serving barbeque during the holiday season could be a unique twist to the December menus. Yater says smoked turkeys have become popular and pulled pork and ribs are always a favorite. He says the first tip for great barbeque creations is don’t rush through the cooking process.
“Time is critical when it comes to doing good barbeque. It’s a slow process. We like to do a dry rub on both those meats at least 24 hours out before we put it on the smoker. So we rub down ribs with our special rub or our pork shoulders with our special rub. Then we allow them to just kind of marinate in that rub at least overnight before they go onto the smoker. Once they’re on the smoker just don’t rush it. Let it do its thing and let all the juices mingle.”
He says allow 4 hours for ribs and 12-14 hours for pork butts.
At the Squealers Award Winning Barbeque dine-in locations and on the website there are plenty of barbeque gift ideas.
Listen to the HAT interview in which Yater has more tips and an update on Squealers 2013 competition honors:Jeff Yater-Squealers