Competition BBQ Secrets

Archive for August, 2007

Got the book and it was just what I was looking for,, you mention a rub for ribs that is commercially available that you use what is the name of the rub?

Dear Bill,

I have a vertical water smoker. Does your book cover this type of Smoker.

Sincerely,

Pat

Dear, I bought your book about a year ago but never recieved any news letters. The other day I was reading the book again and saw were I should have been getting letters so I signed up again. As a side note, last year we entered The Coweta up in Smoke Cook off  first ever, and followed your guidelines for brisket as I  had cooked much brisket and came in fifth. plan on using more information from your book this year.

hey Bill, i have a question. we did some angus brisket this last weekend. we produce a wood bbq and i followed the instructions in book.everything worked fine except we never got the meat up to past 140. we calibrated the bbq therm so it was right on and we cooked at 225-250 for long time. we started saturday at 3pm smoked 4 hrs fat up just as book says. then placed in pan and added sauce. basted every hour. one other thing is we had to add more sauce every few hours becouse it would render away- is this common? anyway we cooked meat till 1am and never were above 140. meat never got real tender but tried a piece at 1am and was very tasty and not tough but not “fork tender” anyway we added some wood and went to bed. next morning we removed and ate for lunch…again it was very tasty but never got meat up to temp or realy tender. what did we do wrong? you can see our bbq on www.heatinnovations.com web site. thanks  Ryan

Bill,

I have competed for several years.  I have done well over all.
I do have a few questions.
1.  In a KCBS sanctioned event I have always used the lettuce as my garnish.  I noticed you used lettuce as well as some parsley in your book..is that ok to use both in combination?

For my pork butt I am going to thinly slice as well as do some hunks what is your opinion of that?

I also cook the thighs and then at the end put them over the weber to help crisp up the skin.  I have enjoyed your book and will tweek what I do from some of your thoughts.
Best of luck.

Marie

Thank you very much, Bill.  I’ve downloaded the book and it opens fine.

Incidently, I have your bbq-book Competition Secrets.  Love it.  Use it often.  I have a good gas smoker and use it as often as I can.
What I haven’t found in my exploration is just a simple rule-of-thumb for smoking “stuff.”  I know in “the old days,” everyone smoked everything in the backyards for survival.  So if I have fish, oysters – nothing else comes to mind at the moment – but just “stuff” I want to smoke, is there a generic smoke at 180 or 200 or 225 for 20 minutes or 3 hours rule-of-thumb for non-sophisticated smokers out there?
Thanks again for your smoking tips.  And best of luck to you in your competitions!
Don

Bill.
 
I have been smoking and barbequing for quite some time now.  I really like what your book says about the pork ribs and chicken.  This has been great information and I am applying many of your suggestions and techniques with outstanding results.  This book is a great, straight-talking, source of information for people of all levels of skill.
 
My only complaint is that I ordered the bound copy and the pics were in black and white and not in color.  In some cases such as when you are demonstrating cutting the pork ribs to St. Louis Style I believe that black and white is a great medium and I see better detail.  Would it be possible to get some color copies, specifically of the food, sent to me?  I can then insert them into to book as appropriate.  I know that if I had downloaded the PDF I probably wouldn’t have this problem, I’m just asking for a little help. 
 
  I appreciate all your hard work and in advance thank you for your response.  Thanks again, – Dan

Bill

Just smoked some ribs, they we’re the best I’ve made, tender, juice, and full of flavor. The more I use the book, the better I get. 

Bret

What are the best rubs for the meats that you cook in the cometition,I here so much about not adding anything with salt in it and all the rubs that I see has salt as the main item in them.

I would like to get some Ole Ray`s apple /cinnamon sauce but can`t seem to find it in our stores where do you get this product? Thanks, Don