Charismatic Posner Knows His ‘Q’

Barbeque enthusiast Ryan Posner grew up in Marietta, graduated from Walton High School, then marched and played trumpet in the University of Georgia Redcoat Band. These days, however, he entertains for crowds, staying up into the wee hours perfecting his grills, while sporting an imposing cowboy hat and driving an ice blue classic Lincoln.

He mused, “My passion for entertaining friends and family with barbeque came from watching old “Dallas” television episodes where the Ewing family hosted their annual barbeques.”

Mouthwatering results come from Ryan’s perfectly controlled temperatures.

At UGA, he developed skills supporting various departments and campus organizations, including UGA Hillel, with technology infrastructure and websites which led him down a career path of implementing and project managing accounting, marketing, and human resources systems. Currently employed at S Phase in project management, he oversees technical project initiatives that support peer-to-peer medical education programs for health care providers in hematology and oncology. His spare time is spent mastering his BBQ skills and attending services regularly at Ahavath Achim synagogue.

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Posner got interested in BBQ after he and wife, Ana, moved into their Grant Park home in 2016 and acquired his late father’s old charcoal kettle grill. Previously, his platform was a gas grill. Posner elaborated, “The flavor profile that developed in my food from the charcoal was a game changer. I started researching more into this charcoal gateway to learn more about cooking ‘low and slow’ with the primary ingredient of smoking wood.”

Posner’s 1978 Lincoln Continental with the J.R. Ewing license plate is often parked outside Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

For Ryan, it’s not all about beef. He also prepares meat and vegetarian Brunswick stew. If not barbequing, he’s baking Neapolitan and Detroit-style pizzas, or homemade pasta and casserole dishes. In addition to brisket, he smokes chicken, salmon, and his annual Thanksgiving turkey. For vegetarian friends, he does Portobello mushrooms marinated in butter, oil and spices.

Sense Ryan’s enthusiasm in a discussion with the AJT:

AJT: Why do you stay up all night?
Posner: For brisket, I stay up to maintain a slow cook to ensure guests get a tender product. The slow process is essential in melting down the collagen for tenderness. There is an adrenaline rollercoaster during an all-night cook with a mix of tranquility, from not being bothered by the normal daytime distractions, to fear of accidentally starting an uncontrollable fire. I use a FireBoard smart thermometer probe system which alerts my phone on the temperatures. The alerts are helpful in assuring a consistent and safe cook.

AJT: What equipment do you have?
Posner: My dad’s kettle grill rusted, and it literally had no legs to stand on. I started exploring ceramic cookers, pellet grills and traditional offset smokers, then settled on the latter by Yoder Smokers to get a better absorption of smoked wood flavor. I also expanded with a Gozney Dome pizza oven which can also be used to smoke foods.

AJT: From start to finish, how many hours?
Posner: A 12-pound brisket takes 16 hours; 12 hours to cook (one hour per pound); two hours to prep the smoker, trim and season the brisket; and two hours for the brisket to rest before it is served.

AJT: What are your sauces?
Posner: I try to prepare food well enough so no one will even think of saucing it. If some extra flavor is desired, Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q sauce.

AJT: Embellish your involvement at AA. Your Mendel family tree has important roots there.
Posner: I returned to Judaism and joined AA after a touching ceremony from my nephew’s bar mitzvah at Temple Sinai last February. I have been going to Saturday services regularly. Ana, who is not Jewish, has been welcomed with open arms. We enjoy gatherings with our new extended family of AA congregants. We also hosted brotherhood events at home where I baked pizzas.

Posner’s grill and equipment of choice complements important firewood.

Ryan’s Tips

* Good things come to those who wait, don’t rush the process. Avoid having impatient and hungry guests by planning your cooks ahead. Plan to have your smoked food ready 2-4 hours in advance of serving them where they are resting wrapped in foil or butcher paper in an insulated container.
* Have a good instant thermometer temperature probe to gauge the process of your cooks as well as ensure the temperature for meats, such as poultry, have reached the safe consumption level of 165 degrees.
* For beef, develop a good outer crust or “bark.” Try not to spritz meat until the bark is set, typically after 2 hours.
* Only use smoking woods sourced from nut or fruit trees. Burning wood from trees with high levels of sap such as pine won’t taste good and may make people ill.
* To avoid a consistent stream of white smoke, have well-seasoned and dried out smoking wood.
* The smoked wood flavor stops absorbing around the internal temp of 140 degrees so don’t wrap meat before then.

Steps for BBQ Success

* Plan your BBQ.
* Source quality wood.
* Trim the fat but not so much that there isn’t enough to render through the meat during the cook. Look to trim down to a quarter inch.
* Don’t under- or over-season your food.
* “If you’re looking, you ain’t cooking”: Retain the heat inside of your smoker by only opening it when necessary.
* Keep your food from drying by keeping a water pan in your smoker and spritzing your food.
* Maintain a consistent cooking temperature and ensure the fire doesn’t burn out. For a brisket, I run my cooking temperature around 235 degrees while trying to avoid swings greater or less than 10 degrees.
* Maintain a clean fire because white smoke ain’t no joke. You want a blue or almost translucent smoke to ensure your food doesn’t inherit a bitter smoke flavor.
* When the internal temperature has reached 145 degrees, wrap the meat in either butcher paper or aluminum foil.
* Wrap the meat when it reaches ~205 degrees and let it rest in an insulated cooler for 2-4 hours.