Best for: Big cookouts, game day, and feeding a crowd on the cheap — one chub, thick slices, no fuss.
Somewhere along the way, barbecue folks started calling a whole smoked bologna chub the “Oklahoma prime rib,” and once you’ve sliced into one you’ll understand the joke — and that it’s only half a joke. Bologna starts out fully cooked, so the smoker’s job here isn’t doneness; it’s transformation. A mustard slather and a heavy coat of rub turn into bark in the low smoke, the diamond scoring opens up and renders at the edges, and a late brush of glaze lacquers the whole mahogany log. Slice it thick for sandwiches with pickles and onion, and a five-dollar chub eats like the centerpiece of the cookout.
Grill: Indirect smoke, low heat (225–250°F). Equipment: Smoker or kettle grill set up for smoking, sharp knife. Course: Appetizer.
Ingredients
Rest: 15 minutes. Total: 3 hours 30 minutes.
- 1 whole bologna chub (3–5 pounds), casing peeled off
- 1/4 cup yellow mustard
- 1/3 cup BBQ dry rub
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (for the optional glaze)
- 1 tablespoon apple juice or cider (for the optional glaze)
- Soft buns, sliced pickles, and sliced onion, for serving
Directions
Peel and score the chub. Peel the casing off the chub. Score the surface in a diamond pattern about 1/4 inch deep, all over — the cuts open into diamonds as the chub smokes and give the rub and glaze something to hold onto.
Slather and coat generously. Slather the chub all over with the mustard, then coat it generously with the rub and the brown sugar, pressing the seasoning into the cuts. Let the chub stand at room temperature while the smoker heats.
Smoke to set the bark. Set up the smoker or grill for indirect smoke at 225–250°F. Set the chub on the grate and smoke for 2 hours, until the surface has set into a deep, dry bark.
Glaze it, if you like. If you want the glazed finish, stir the BBQ sauce with the apple juice and brush it over the chub now. Skip the glaze entirely if you prefer the bark dry — both ways are right.
Smoke until mahogany. Smoke about 1 hour more, until the chub is mahogany all over and heated through to about 140°F in the center. Bologna starts out fully cooked, so you are cooking for color, bark, and rendered edges — not for safety.
Rest, then slice thick. Rest the chub for 15 minutes, then slice it thick — a good 1/2 inch — and serve on buns with pickles and onion, or lay the slices out on a board and let folks build their own.
Grilling tip: Leftover slices crisp up beautifully in a hot skillet the next morning. Or cube the leftovers, toss them in sauce, and smoke them a little longer — instant bologna burnt ends.
