What do coffee and barbecue have in common?  For most people not much more than coffee waking them up to start a day of cooking, or keeping them up all night to keep the fire going.

For
me, I like to use coffee in my bbq.  Not just sauce, but ground coffee
for rubs, sweetened coffee for pork injections, and we’re going to try
non-sweetened coffee for brisket injections.  I saw some rub recipes
that used it, and what I found was that, in a rub, it gives kind of an
earthy flavor, but doesn’t really taste like coffee….  And when you
cook it long or hot, the caffeine is pretty much cooked out by the time
you eat it… Though that might be lead to a good name for brisket…
Jolt Brisket… But actually, I like Red Eye Brisket better!

For
pork, I mix a couple of things together, including liquid cane sugar
and coffee, and some other stuff including some of the rub I use.  I
inject the boston butt that’s to be sacrificed, then put the rub on it
after it sits a minute or two.  Then I put it in the fridge and let it
sit overnight.  I’m getting better at injecting; I used to do it AFTER
the rub, which just caused a mess… though nothing says barbecue is
for neatniks!

I also have found I like darker roasts… and, of
course, non-flavored coffee.  I like to play with seemingly
nontraditional ingredients…  I also find I like using cocoa (not
chocolate), and I’ve played around with powdered horseradish, but that
didn’t seem to keep it’s pungency.  I’m thinking of trying a
coffee/horseradish barbecue sauce, though. 

My wife and I have talked about converting our old gas grill into a coffee roaster… Someone posted on the Barbecue Bible board about
using a rotisserie set up with a coffee drum to roast at home… it may
be our next thing to do.  I think it would be a great gift item