A barbecue adventure, the saga unfolds.

I've only dabbled in competition BBQ, but in the hopes of upping my game I've had my eye on a BBQ Bootcamp in PA for a couple of years. Never was able to get in. The classes sell out FAST. https://mdbbqservices.com/boot-camps/ They offer bootcamps for ribs & chicken, brisket, whole hog, and turkey/tailgate, but I had my eye on the brisket bootcamps.

I've been watching the website this year waiting for registration to open. As of two weeks ago, it hadn't. I checked today, and 9 of their 10 bootcamps for the year had sold out. Fortunately, the one that still had an opening was a brisket bootcamp. I'm in! Now I just have to wait a few months...
 
Welp...looks like my buddy and I will be doing a road-trip contest this summer. He got a wild hair and decided the Frisco, CO contest seemed like a good idea. But when I checked today they already have a waiting list for teams. So Plan B is Greeley, CO. Not a bad compromise, he has family there so we'll at least have a place for a hot shower.
 
GaryM said:
I've only dabbled in competition BBQ, but in the hopes of upping my game I've had my eye on a BBQ Bootcamp in PA for a couple of years. Never was able to get in. The classes sell out FAST. https://mdbbqservices.com/boot-camps/ They offer bootcamps for ribs & chicken, brisket, whole hog, and turkey/tailgate, but I had my eye on the brisket bootcamps.

I've been watching the website this year waiting for registration to open. As of two weeks ago, it hadn't. I checked today, and 9 of their 10 bootcamps for the year had sold out. Fortunately, the one that still had an opening was a brisket bootcamp. I'm in! Now I just have to wait a few months...
Click to expand...
Maybe make a road trip out to KC sometime...I know a guy.
 
GaryM said:
I've only dabbled in competition BBQ, but in the hopes of upping my game I've had my eye on a BBQ Bootcamp in PA for a couple of years. Never was able to get in. The classes sell out FAST. https://mdbbqservices.com/boot-camps/ They offer bootcamps for ribs & chicken, brisket, whole hog, and turkey/tailgate, but I had my eye on the brisket bootcamps.

I've been watching the website this year waiting for registration to open. As of two weeks ago, it hadn't. I checked today, and 9 of their 10 bootcamps for the year had sold out. Fortunately, the one that still had an opening was a brisket bootcamp. I'm in! Now I just have to wait a few months...
Click to expand...


These guys seem to do a pretty good job. I buy a lot of rub and other supplies at their store. They are the smaller of the 2 BBQ stores here in town, it's owned and operated by a guy with his own pretty serious team:

https://www.fergoliciousbbq.com/bbq-classes/
 
Ahh man, I'm kind of disappointed. I had planned on smoking some ribs today, but the rib selection as of this morning just didn't look very good. They had one nice rack of baby backs, and the rest were super fatty. And like one rack of spares.

I think on my 18" smoker I can get three racks of baby backs, three cut in half side by side on the upper and lower racks, or two racks of spares, probably cut in half side by side depending on the length.

I ended up going with tri tip and chicken, neither of which there is any advantage to smoking, and not enough to fire up the smoker for anyway. Maybe next weekend.
 
@Sac Arrow my experience using rib racks on my 18” Weber is that if you don’t cut them in half, the last couple ribs in each end will have to curl around the inside of the smoker to fit and will end up getting overdone.

A rib rack will let you set the slabs on edge. Depending on the size, I can get 3 slabs per rack (but again, the end ribs will either get overdone or, or trimmed off, or otherwise dealt with.)
 
6A966B78-9C1E-4E7A-B57D-1FD2B7519E6C.jpeg

Well this will be interesting. Stuffed chicken breast with asparagus. And tri tip of course. I almost pulled the plug on ribs for the smoker but the deal wasn’t very good and the OAT was colder than I want to deal with. I have concluded the smoker is a heat sink and that was one of my problems last time.
 
Matthew said:
That looks nice. What else is wrapped up inside the chicken?
Click to expand...

I guess we will find out. I didn't wrap them myself. They were premade but looked good (they aren't for me.) There is some dry rub on the outside, and maybe some cheesy something on the inside. I will report.

If it appears as if I don't take chicken seriously, well... I...

No I do take it seriously. I completely would devour that. It's just that a) someone else prefers chicken, and I prefer rare beef. I did bone in chicken rib for the last two or three weeks, so I had to change my game up somehow.
 
If anyone is looking for a wrap/stuff recipe, I made this not too long ago and it was fantastic. What's not to like about butterflied pork loin, wrapped in pastrami, wrapped in bacon and applewood smoked?!
upload_2022-2-27_14-27-50.png

Recipe.
 
Please, don't use grilling and bbq as synonymous terms.

I fairly recently got a Smokai which is a cold smoke generator. I've fitted it so I can run it on the Carolina (whole pig) cooker or my hybrid Kalamzoo Gourmet (gas or wood) grill. I just did a few pork shoulders with the zoo/smokai combination. Came out great.
 
Mahneuvers said:
If anyone is looking for a wrap/stuff recipe, I made this not too long ago and it was fantastic. What's not to like about butterflied pork loin, wrapped in pastrami, wrapped in bacon and applewood smoked?!
View attachment 104997

Recipe.
Click to expand...
Yum, that does look good. The only thing I'd try differently is to do more of a roulade than a slit&stuff.
 
193FEB32-3E2D-49C9-BB2A-2D63789734AA.jpeg 9F50C870-82B8-44CC-B611-9F10DB0A2CEA.jpeg Well here we go again. Nice day, good looking baby backs. This time I'm going for a shorter cooking time, more charcoal starting off, and more aggressive throttling. My goal is to have the coals last for five hours. At least four. I think I should be able to do that.
 
Good luck. We're all counting on you.

--

I almost bought pork butt on sale this weekend, then I remembered I still have a freezer-full to cook from the last time it was on sale.

I'll probably make a bunch of competition chicken one of these days, real soon now. A buddy and I are going to do a contest, just the two of us, in Colorado in June. The kid that we normally let do the chicken isn't coming along, so I'll come up with something that works for me and try out a few different ideas. More than anything else, contests are about timing. You need to make sure everything is ready to turn in at just the right time. I can handle the butts and briskets on my own, my buddy is sort of a rib whisperer, but neither of us (like most cooks) like messing with chicken.
 
Oh, yeah, @Sac Arrow , don't be shy about adding more rub. I know it's all to personal taste, but even this isn't too much:

DSCN3340.JPG

It all depends on the flavor profile you're trying to hit.
 
Matthew said:
Oh, yeah, @Sac Arrow , don't be shy about adding more rub. I know it's all to personal taste, but even this isn't too much:

View attachment 105711

It all depends on the flavor profile you're trying to hit.
Click to expand...

The Montreal Steak rub I was using is pretty overpowering in large amounts. I added it more for the salt and to give it a little kick. Flavor wise it's pretty good oven cooked.
 
Sac Arrow said:
The Montreal Steak rub I was using is pretty overpowering in large amounts. I added it more for the salt and to give it a little kick. Flavor wise it's pretty good oven cooked.
Click to expand...

I like Montreal Steak on beef, the pepper really complements beef (steak, burgers, even brisket). The large majority of pork rubs (butts, ribs) will have a lot of sugar, both white and brown, to keep a sweet base. There will be salt, pepper, paprika, and other seasonings, but the largest ingredient will probably be brown sugar at about a 2:1 ratio with white sugar.

That's probably more of a regional thing, too. KC bbq is just made "that way".

The general thought is that beef can take a lot of pepper, so most beef rubs and seasonings will have a large amount of black pepper. For contest briskets, I use two different rubs - one has a very good garlic flavor, and then will rub on top of that another one that has mostly black pepper. I use each at about 1/2 rate to keep from overdoing it. It's won money, so I don't mess with it.

https://www.amazon.com/John-Henrys-Mojave-Garlic-Pepper/dp/B006FFC7NW
https://www.oakridgebbq.com/product/black-ops-brisket-rub/

Something to consider - again, I'm not a bbq snob, so do what YOU like, and that's what it's all about!
 
Awesome! Come off the bone vs fall off the bone is exactly what you are looking for.
 
I even shared with the home girls at the pub!
8A8D6771-4C88-4C1D-BCDF-ACD072A2E385.jpeg
 
Heh! I do. But actually that was altruism. Those ladies really liked the ribs. Grandma Betty, in particular, is wasting away for not eating anything. She chowed down. I am really happy about that.
 
I finally found a Kansas City BBQ Society judge certification class that wasn't too far away. I spent most of today in RI, learning the rules and sampling/judging some excellent BBQ (and other samples intentionally made less than excellent). I came away a Certified BBQ Judge!

I like to give back to the POA community, so feel free to invite me to any BBQs you might hold, or drop off any leftovers if you happen to be in my neighborhood. :)
 
GaryM said:
I finally found a Kansas City BBQ Society judge certification class that wasn't too far away. I spent most of today in RI, learning the rules and sampling/judging some excellent BBQ (and other samples intentionally made less than excellent). I came away a Certified BBQ Judge!

I like to give back to the POA community, so feel free to invite me to any BBQs you might hold, or drop off any leftovers if you happen to be in my neighborhood. :)
Click to expand...
Sweet!

Where/when is the next contest in your area?

Even if it shows up as "full", go anyway. There's a pretty good chance you'll get picked to judge to fill in for a no-show. After 30 contests, you can get your Master CBJ, but you'll have to cook with a team at least once. If you're out this way (KC) every now and then, let me know. I can probably either find a contest to enter myself, or hook you up with someone.

I just finished judging #18. I haven't been judging long, but have been competing for about 35 years. So getting that Master for me is just a matter of checking off another 12 contests. I think I have 6-8(?) scheduled the rest of this year.

Edit: I have 5 more contests to judge this year, and then I'm competing in one more. I've already judged twice this year. So it looks like I might get my #30 the year after next.
 
Last edited:
Matthew said:
Sweet!

Where/when is the next contest in your area?

Even if it shows up as "full", go anyway. There's a pretty good chance you'll get picked to judge to fill in for a no-show. After 30 contests, you can get your Master CBJ, but you'll have to cook with a team at least once. If you're out this way (KC) every now and then, let me know. I can probably either find a contest to enter myself, or hook you up with someone.

I just finished judging #18. I haven't been judging long, but have been competing for about 35 years. So getting that Master for me is just a matter of checking off another 12 contests. I think I have 6-8(?) scheduled the rest of this year.

Edit: I have 5 more contests to judge this year, and then I'm competing in one more. I've already judged twice this year. So it looks like I might get my #30 the year after next.
Click to expand...

There are only two yearly contests in NJ; I'm out of town for the one in April, would have to decide between judging the one in October, or entering in the backyard division. So I doubt I'll be doing a lot of judging in the near future...but I'm glad I got to learn more about how the process works. I am signed up for one of the Brisket Boot Camps that Mason-Dixon BBQ runs; I'm looking forward to that later this summer.

I'll keep your offer in mind if I get out to the KC area. That would make for an amazing BBQ pilgrimage! Good luck on the Master CBJ journey--you'll get there in no time!
 
GaryM said:
There are only two yearly contests in NJ; I'm out of town for the one in April, would have to decide between judging the one in October, or entering in the backyard division. So I doubt I'll be doing a lot of judging in the near future...but I'm glad I got to learn more about how the process works. I am signed up for one of the Brisket Boot Camps that Mason-Dixon BBQ runs; I'm looking forward to that later this summer.

I'll keep your offer in mind if I get out to the KC area. That would make for an amazing BBQ pilgrimage! Good luck on the Master CBJ journey--you'll get there in no time!
Click to expand...

I looked at the list of teams that cooked at last weekend’s contest. One team, RGB BBQ, came in from Phillisburg, NJ. The grand champion, Last Call Heroes BBQ, is from Pierre, SD.

I haven’t seen the individual team results yet.

Good times!
 
I smoked a boneless leg of lamb yesterday. It's one of my favorite things to cook on the smoker. This six-pounder took just under 4 hours, over apple wood, with a rosemary and thyme-forward rub, then an hourly mop which included those, minced onions, apple cider and cider vinegar among other thing. I pulled the meat when the internal temp hit 138F, which yielded the perfect rare to medium-rare doneness. I put a splash of board sauce (olive oil, red wine vinegar, thyme, oregano, garlic) on the cutting board before carving. It was a big hit, and unlike beef, pork, and chicken, lamb prices haven't gone up in my area. So don't you all run to Costco and ruin that for me. :)

IMG_0228.jpg
 
That looks good. Here lamb is super pricey. The store did run a special on some shanks a few weeks ago however. My intention is to do spare ribs the next time I use the smoker.
 
The last time we did lamb it was chops. Did a reverse sear - got them medium rare on the smoker, then a high heat sear to add a little crust and color. We won money on that entry.

I did some spares a few weeks ago. I rarely get “after” pictures, hands are too messy.
 

Attachments

  • A50AF2B4-69AA-47AD-B6D8-FF8F9FB8224E.jpeg
    A50AF2B4-69AA-47AD-B6D8-FF8F9FB8224E.jpeg
    451.4 KB · Views: 23
Trial #3 - Baby back ribs again. The only difference is that I am not using water this time. I think the water sucks too much heat out and I can't get high enough temps. I just lit it a bit ago.
 
Sac Arrow said:
...not using water this time...
Click to expand...
If you're talking about a water pan between the heat source and meat, I'm not a fan. There's a flavor imparted by atomizing fat hitting the heat source which you don't get w/ water pan rigs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top