Barbecue, no sauce

[Ghery]

How about letting people put sauce on it if they want to and leaving it plain if that's their preference? I'm not judgmental when it comes to eating meat but put an ice cube in good bourbon or scotch and I get all kinds of annoyed.

You'd be perfectly happy around our place these days. The refrigerator with the ice cube maker died the end of last month and Sears won't be here to fix it until next Wednesday. We're still waiting for one of the parts. No ice cube maker = no ice cubes to dilute good bourbon.

 

[flyingron]

Some barbecue needs sauce because it has no flavor otherwise I do not consider that great barbecue.

I don't even consider it acceptable barbecue. If you want to eat stuff with no taste, you might as well be eating tofu.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Sauces I keep in my fridge: My own recipe (but I ran out and need to make another batch), Stubb's Original, and Sweet Baby Ray's. Some of the KC brands (Gate's, Joe's, and Hayward's) will rotate in and out. Also, Blues Hog and Tennessee Red make the cut. Sometimes I'll get some of that east coast vinegar or mustard sauce - I like those, too.

I have been trying to get rid of what Sweet Baby Ray's I have left - I'm kind of sick of it. Too sweet.

I like a sauce that's got a bit of heat - Gates is pretty good but I haven't seen it around here. Still trying to figure out what my new sauce will be.

I'll happily eat good BBQ without sauce, or with just a little, but I also use BBQ sauce where others would use ketchup. Burgers, brats, french fries, etc all go well with a good BBQ sauce.

 

[Matthew]

I have been trying to get rid of what Sweet Baby Ray's I have left - I'm kind of sick of it. Too sweet.

I like a sauce that's got a bit of heat - Gates is pretty good but I haven't seen it around here. Still trying to figure out what my new sauce will be.

I'll happily eat good BBQ without sauce, or with just a little, but I also use BBQ sauce where others would use ketchup. Burgers, brats, french fries, etc all go well with a good BBQ sauce.

These guys ship (and I drive past it twice a day):

https://www.thekansascitybbqstore.com/collections/sauces-seasonings

 

[denverpilot]

I like A1, but not on steaks. Actually, it is pretty good on cottage cheese.

Yep. That is good. With black pepper.

A1 also makes a decent salad dressing in a pinch. Just have to watch how much of it.

 

[BrianNC]

I like A1, but not on steaks. Actually, it is pretty good on cottage cheese.

Yep. That is good. With black pepper.

A1 also makes a decent salad dressing in a pinch. Just have to watch how much of it.

I don't eat it on steak but I like it on hamburgers. When I eat at Five Guys I always get A1 since they offer it.

 

[Matthew]

This was BBQ weekend for me. We do 2 contests a year, we just finished the bigger of the two. 27th overall out of 185 teams, with an 8th place ribbon in brisket. The burnt ends were outstanding.

The park is a pretty nice venue:


Friday nights are party nights - if you are going to cook all night, you might as well have fun. Teams have private parties, but they always spill out into the aisles.

edit: earlier in the day, before the parties, our phones all alarmed. Thousands of cell phones went off all at the same time. I wondered if some weather alert was being sent out because of the cloud cover and mist we were having. Turns out it was an Amber Alert.


Our party tore through lot of food, quickly.


Some of the teams have more interesting names than others.


The contest always has band for the weekend, and they are always good. These guys were really good, and a whole lot of fun.


These guys were behind us. Their night shift crew was much more quiet this year than last.


913 BBQ is a young couple, husband and wife. When they show up, they generally win. But not this time.

 

[Matthew]

Not sure what to say:



Bloody knife and nearly empty liquor bottle. Another successful party.


Re-light the fire, get the briskets and butts going around 12:30a - 1am and try to get a couple hours of sleep. It's a combination kitchen, dining room, and bedroom.


The next morning (today), light rain, and a team 2 doors down from us was looking really...impressive. For their Fri night party, they had a gas grill and a couple tables. OK, so they maybe had hamburgers and hot dogs, who knows. Then they went home. They finally showed up again at 8am this morning with a small Weber bullet smoker. They entered chicken and ribs, and got zeros for brisket and butts (did not enter) and finished 3rd from the bottom. I am sure they will not be allowed back. There is a waiting list for this contest and a team that takes it seriously will be given their spot.

Edit: KCBS contests have the 4 main categories: beef brisket, pork butt, chicken, and pork ribs. You get a ribbon down to 10 place in each category, and those 4 are totaled up for an overall score. If you enter, you are expected to compete in all 4 categories and will get zeros in whatever category you skip. Many contests have ancillary categories. This contest has sausage, "beefsteak", and misc. Ancillary categories are always optional. We do all of them, it's extra work, but can be fun. For "beefsteak" we cooked a beef tenderloin, and for misc we did lamb chops.


Our neighbors were trying to figure out how they were going to fit this ribeye into the sample box. (edit: They got 14th place, out of the 85 teams that competed in the "beefsteak" category. We got 33rd with our beef tenderloin. We smoked it, then cut some really nice filets and seared them. I haven't gotten the breakdown on the score details, but out of the 6 judges, we got perfect scores from 2 of them.)


Pork butts have a muscle section called the "money muscle", it's generally cut into medallions and entered along with the rest of the pork that's been pulled. This is some of the MM of off the 4 butts we cooked. These are the "eaters", the pieces we entered look a lot better.


And it's always fun to get a ribbon. (and no, that is not a giant ribbon, that's just what it looks like when I hold it at arms length and take a picture.)

edit: we turned in a combination of slices and burnt ends. The burnt ends were really, really good. 2 of our 6 judges gave us perfect scores. We were pretty happy.

 

[gkainz]

congrats! At times that sounds like fun, but other times it sounds like more work than I want to try.

 

[Matthew]

congrats! At times that sounds like fun, but other times it sounds like more work than I want to try.

Yeah, there are days...

Us old guys are trying to get a new group of younger guys to take over so we can show up, sit down, eat, drink, and go home.

We were really fortunate with the break in the wx. A week prior there were heat advisories and we were really worried, seriously, about that. But a front moved through and we got temps in the upper 70's for Fri and low 60's overnight. Not sure about Sat, the sun came out and it warmed up pretty good. By Sat mid-day we are so beat that any additional heat stress really takes a toll. One year we had 104 on Fri and 106 on Sat. That was the year I set out a white nylon cutting board to dry in the sun. It was hanging off the edge of a table a couple inches and drooped about 45 deg from the heat. That was a bad weekend.

 

[Sac Arrow]

That looks too much like work.

 

[Rykymus]

I have yet to find a BBQ place that I like better than what comes out of my own smoker. But I'm really picky. I want the meat and the flavor from the cooking process to be center stage, not a bunch of spices and sauce. My rubs are just a dusting, and I apply them while the smoker is warming up. The only thing I sauce are ribs, and even then only a very light brushing about 30 minutes before pulling them. Combine the meat with my wife's coleslaw and Ukrainian apple pie.....nothing better.

Man, I cannot wait to move out of this little rental into our new house. Smoker has been in storage since October!

 

[Matthew]

That looks too much like work.

There are teams that do this every weekend or two once the season starts. You don't have to travel very far around here to find contests, you just need to find the $$$.

 

[gkainz]

I've thought it looks too much like work, too. However, I have a couple acquaintances who swear they are Pit Masters!!! because of their Traeger smokers ... sorry, too much like microwave cooking for me. I like playing with fire. And when I get tired of playing with fire, I light the propane smoker. Ok, so I guess Traeger is maybe the next step in the decline of Pit Master skills...

 

[Matthew]

I've thought it looks too much like work, too. However, I have a couple acquaintances who swear they are Pit Masters!!! because of their Traeger smokers ... sorry, too much like microwave cooking for me. I like playing with fire. And when I get tired of playing with fire, I light the propane smoker. Ok, so I guess Traeger is maybe the next step in the decline of Pit Master skills...

You probably sill use a whiz-wheel, don't you?

Traegers are not an uncommon sight at contests, they are legal to use. I'd like to get one myself at home, but as long as my Weber bullet isn't rusted through I will keep using that one.

The biggest problem that Traegers have is they "don't travel well". They are great for your patio, but to load, transport, unload, cook, load, transport, and unload again at every contest... they are pretty fragile. Their legs aren't sturdy enough to take that kind of abuse very often. They are also pretty thin gauge steel, and that's a problem when the weather turns bad. Again, OK for your patio because you'll just decide to cook another day if there's a pouring rain, but at a contest you have to deal with the elements. The other thing is the Traeger will need electrical power, either from a generator or a hook-up of some sort. That's not as big a deal as you think. At a contest, if you use supplied power it will get turned off if there's a t-storm but someone nearby will probably have a generator they'll let you plug into.

What's also common are for heavy duty smokers to have a pellet auger and controller, same as a Traeger, but much more physically substantial.

I'm pretty satisfied with the ABS Judge our team uses (one of the guys owns it). Load it with 40-60 lb of charcoal, a log or three of fruit-wood of your preference, and let her go all night.

http://www.americanbarbecuesystems.com/abs/Judge.html

edit:

Oh, yeah, these guys:
https://www.gatewaydrumsmokers.com/

are getting more and more popular, too. They cook hot and fast, so no more 13 hr butts. I think people are saying they can cut that down to 5-6 hrs. For $800 they are the latest thing. I've seen teams with 4-5 of them lined up.

 

[gkainz]

You probably sill use a whiz-wheel, don't you?

Sextant and stars

Traegers are not an uncommon sight at contests, they are legal to use. I'd like to get one myself at home, but as long as my Weber bullet isn't rusted through I will keep using that one.

The biggest problem that Traegers have is they "don't travel well". They are great for your patio, but to load, transport, unload, cook, load, transport, and unload again at every contest... they are pretty fragile. Their legs aren't sturdy enough to take that kind of abuse very often. They are also pretty thin gauge steel, and that's a problem when the weather turns bad. Again, OK for your patio because you'll just decide to cook another day if there's a pouring rain, but at a contest you have to deal with the elements. The other thing is the Traeger will need electrical power, either from a generator or a hook-up of some sort. That's not as big a deal as you think. At a contest, if you use supplied power it will get turned off if there's a t-storm but someone nearby will probably have a generator they'll let you plug into.

What's also common are for heavy duty smokers to have a pellet auger and controller, same as a Traeger, but much more physically substantial.

I'm pretty satisfied with the ABS Judge our team uses (one of the guys owns it). Load it with 40-60 lb of charcoal, a log or three of fruit-wood of your preference, and let her go all night.

http://www.americanbarbecuesystems.com/abs/Judge.html

edit:

Oh, yeah, these guys:
https://www.gatewaydrumsmokers.com/

are getting more and more popular, too. They cook hot and fast, so no more 13 hr butts. I think people are saying they can cut that down to 5-6 hrs. For $800 they are the latest thing. I've seen teams with 4-5 of them lined up.

Like!!!!

I use pretty simple Brinkmann offset for wood-fired, and a Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain upright for propane. The Brinkmann wouldn't travel well as it's too heavy to load and unload easily and too small for any kind of trailer mount. The GOSM is really basic and too thin to withstand any weather, altho I've done some successful smokes here in the winter subfreezing or even subzero temps by wrapping it in a welding blanket.

 

[Matthew]

Sextant and stars



Like!!!!

I use pretty simple Brinkmann offset for wood-fired, and a Great Outdoors Smokey Mountain upright for propane. The Brinkmann wouldn't travel well as it's too heavy to load and unload easily and too small for any kind of trailer mount. The GOSM is really basic and too thin to withstand any weather, altho I've done some successful smokes here in the winter subfreezing or even subzero temps by wrapping it in a welding blanket.

Your Brinkman looks exactly like what we used to use prior to the ABS. I still have a scar from where that Brinkman got dropped on my foot when we were loading it on a flatbed trailer. One of the corners on the front leg caught the side of my foot and tore a hole through my shoe. We supplemented the Brinkman with 3-4 Weber WSMs. The Webers are still a staple at all BBQ contests, there will be teams with 6-8 of those.
https://www.weber.com/US/en/grills/charcoal-grills/smokey-mountain-cooker-series/

I have the 18" at home, but would like the 22". I saw they now have a 14", but I don't know if you'd even be able to do a single package of hotdogs on that.

Setting up a cardboard box for a windbreak or adding blankets gets the job done.

Figure that a team is like buying into an airplane partnership - pitch together to get a nice smoker, and everyone gets to use it whenever they want. If you don't have the means to transport it yourself, show up at your buddy's place with beer and use it there and take the BBQ home.

Now I'm hungry again.

I have a "go" bag that I tossed into the closet when I got home Saturday. My wife threw it outside to air out because it was stinking up her clothes. I put it back last night when I went to bed. This morning I found it tossed outside again.

 

[Matthew]

Apparently it's a "thing" for animal huggers to protest at BBQ contests (this happened a week ago):
http://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/activists-clash-with-bbq-enthusiasts-in-martinez/1245668142

Hasn't reached this part of the country yet.

The funniest, in a WTF way, thing I remember was this contest we just did. I can't even remember how long ago it was, maybe close to 20 years (I've been doing this a long time). There was a pen in the middle of the park, surrounded by tents and smokers. Inside that pen was a cow and calf. We could hear them making noise all night long, keeping us awake. I'm not sure who thought that was a good idea, but they only did it once.

 

[jaymark6655]

BBQ should stand on its own without sauce. It should be up to the individual if they should add sauce and how much. Ribs are usually cooked with a mop sauce and I like pulled pork damp. I just cook with a rub and put the sauce on the side, the smoke taste is what makes it BBQ not the sauce.

 

[Sac Arrow]

^consensus statement, choir, preaching to, 'like' uh, what he said