Cooking for a Crowd With a Meadow Creek Reverse Flow Smoker Trailer
Recently I pulled "Big Black," my loaded TS250 reverse flow offset smoker to a friend's house for an outdoor picnic they were hosting. We smoked beef and pork ribs, gourmet baked beans, cheese-stuffed sausage balls and stuffed peppers wrapped in sausage. Later in the day, we fired up the BBQ42 to grill a case of bone-in chicken thighs.
Keep reading for some mouth-watering photos of these meats cooking on my barbecue smoker trailer.
Are you "craving" a dependable barbecue smoker that can efficiently transform cases of meat into authentic low and slow BBQ? This barbecue trailer is perfect for a BBQ take-out or roadside pop-up operation, and the BBQ42 on the front of the trailer is excellent for diversifying your menu with grilled chicken and sausages.
“I now have 3 different stick burners with the Meadow Creek TS250 being the crown jewel. It is an unbelievable piece of equipment. It is built so well and is very functional. It holds temps well and has so much space.”
- Donald DiGeronimo, Independence, Ohio -
Spraying beef ribs with a baste
Other Stories of My Experience With Big Black
What's Cookin'
Beef Short Ribs
I trimmed and seasoned these racks of beef short ribs with Killer Hogs TX Brisket and cooked them for 9 hours. Seven hours in, the meat had shrunk a lot and they were probe tender, but still had a lot of fat to render. The bones were quite loose by then, so I sliced the meat, removed the bones, and put the strips of meat into half pans covered in foil to cook them more quickly.
I don't know if it was because these ribs were from grass-fed cattle, but they did not have the amount of meat I am used to on a beef short rib. As you can see below, they had thin veins of meat mixed with large areas of fat. We ended up pulling the meat and serving it with a fair amount of fat mixed in because we ran out of time to render the fat, and we didn't have time to separate it.
Pork Ribs
We used a case of previously frozen baby back ribs for this. The recipe was very simple. We removed the membranes on the backs of the ribs, seasoned them with Meadow Creek Black Pepper Brisket Rub, and smoked them until they were tender. They didn't all finish at once, but they usually finish within 5–6 hours. I started these at 11:00 am for a 6:00 pm mealtime.
Removing membranes
Ribs seasoned and ready for the smoker
Cooking away!
Looking tasty!
Ready to slice and serve
We put the sliced ribs into pans in an insulated chest for holding.
Beautiful color and delicious flavor
Sausage-Wrapped Peppers
To make these, we stemmed jalapeno peppers, removed the membranes, filled them with cheese, and wrapped each one in loose breakfast sausage. Most people wrap the sausage in bacon and call them armadillo eggs, but I enjoy the texture and flavor of the sausage on the outside, so we skipped the bacon.
Unfortunately, we didn't use enough sausage, so these eggs hatched on us as they were cooking! I've done these before and they turned out really nice, so just make sure you use enough sausage to form a 1/2" thick layer around the entire pepper. In spite of these falling apart, the flavors were on point and all we needed was more sausage.
To make the cheese mixture, we shredded mild yellow cheddar cheese and mixed it with an equal amount of cream cheese and a sprinking of Butcher BBQ's Grilling Addiction.
Next, we just set them on the smoker until the meat was done. I cooked these for 2.5–3 hours, but the best way to do it is to check the meat with an instant-read thermometer to make sure they reach at least 160 degrees F. Slice and serve.
Peppers ready for stuffing
Stuffing peppers
Cheese-stuffed peppers
Wrapping with sausage
Ready for seasoning
These looked a bit pale, so we seasoned them with Kosmos Q Cow Cover.
Nice color developing
Click here for more stories, videos, and photos of "Big Black", the customized TS250 tank smoker.
Cheese-Stuffed Sausage Balls
These are easy to make. Roll the sausage into balls the size of your choice. Cube some cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese). Press a chunk of cheese into each ball and massage the opening shut.
Cook the meatballs in the smoker until the meat reaches at least 160 degrees F. These took two hours.
Baked Beans
We mixed up a big batch of beans (filled a gallon jar) similar to the recipe I used in this post: Beef Ribs and Baked Beans on the BX25 Smoker
We cooked them in foil half pans on the bottom grate, catching some drippings from the food on the top rack. They were a delicious addition to the meal.
Grilled Chicken
For this we fired the BBQ42 chicken cooker with charcoal briquettes and grilled a full case of bone-in chicken thighs. (The case filled up the pivoting sandwich grate.)
We seasoned the chicken with Butcher BBQ's delicious and best-selling Grilling Addiction.
The pivoting grate makes it easy to flip the entire rack at once.
Perfect grilled chicken—effortless.
“Great experience! Maintains the heat for better cooking and smoking. Ample room for a variety of meats and side dishes. Best purchase ever.”
- Richard Conley, TS250/BBQ42 owner -
Are you "craving" a dependable barbecue smoker that can efficiently transform cases of meat into authentic low and slow BBQ?
This barbecue smoker trailer is perfect for a BBQ take-out or roadside pop-up operation, and the BBQ42 on the front of the trailer is excellent for diversifying your menu with grilled chicken and sausages.
Prefer to focus on grilled chicken? Check out our chicken cooker trailers with multiple pits for cranking out perfect and tender bone-in chicken for hundreds at a roadside operation.
Loaded and ready to head off for a days' work!
This trailer would be quite handsome behind your truck or SUV.
Highway ready trailer with LED lights and safety chains
On-site and getting it fired
The TS250 has a smoker door on each side.
Both cooking grates are rust-free stainless steel.
The grates slide out for loading and unloading the meat and checking it. The optional stainless steel work shelf is a must-have for me.
The storage box on the front of the trailer is handy for charcoal and wood.
Our tank smokers offer an excellent presentation for on-site cooking.
A mounted BBQ42 chicken cooker on the front of the trailer adds a nice touch and multiplies the usefulness of your trailer by making it easy to cook with direct heat while you’re finishing the meats in the offset smoker.
We also offer some really sweet upgrades, such as the stainless steel work shelves, insulated firebox, and trim package (aluminum wheels and stainless stack), which make it easy to deck out a rig that’s right for you.
Click here for more stories, videos, and photos of "Big Black", the customized TS250 tank smoker.