Competition BBQ Secrets

Archive for July, 2009

Hi
 
Best wishes on continuing success..
 
Question from a rank amateur ( not a BBQer just a yankee griller)… about your sample time line here :
 
ARE THE RIBS COLD OR AT ROOM TEMPERATURE WHEN THEY ARE AT THE TURNIN POINT?
 
#1 – Ribs on your chart … Is this the actual timing?
 
#2 – During a 6 hour term Ribs ON ( 6:30am) until TURNIN ( 12:30 pm)
 
#3 – IF  Rest until ready at 11:30am – presume off heat and NOT foiled so do they not become cold or drop to a marginal temperature during this time until turn in at 12:30 pm an hour later?
 
Thank you

Hi Bill,
I am a North Carolina girl that was raised in Virginia and grew up on NC BBQ.  I have lived in Texas for the past 18 years and one of the things I have missed the most is our pork BBQ.  Do you have a Tried and true recipe for Eastern Carolina pork BBQ made with vinegar and red pepper and I do not know what else.  I would dearly love to find a good recipe so I could have this delicious pork again.
 
Thanking you in advance for your help.
Ann

Hi Bill, I purchased your book and love it and have made some wonderful food.(you chicken glaze is also marvelous on salmon. was the hit of the party). I have a traeger with the digital thermometer and have difficulties keeping the temp in the 225-230 range. if i set it on 180 it doesn’t go high enough and if i move to the next setting(unmarked on mine) it gets to hot 250-275. any suggestions on how you regulate would be greatly appreciated.

Keep up the good work and thanks again for the wonderful advice and articles.

Tim

Hi Bill,

I was wondering if you could offer some advice. I have only been smoking for ~1 year and having trouble with pork roast. I smoke it at 225F and bring it up to an internal meat temperature of 180F, but it never gets very tender. I end up having to cut the meat into slices, as it does not fall apart. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help and the great newsletter information

Korey

Bill,

Thanks for the information.

Starting out as a novice, I have benefited greatly from your book. When I prepare pork spare ribs for family and friends based on your method, they turn out great and are gone in no time. This is equally true for brisket.

As a side note, I built a smoker from two large terracotta clay pots with the bottom pot lined with refractory cement. It has two grill levels, an 18″ grill near the top of the bottom pot and a 14″ grill mounted 9 inches above the 18″ grill. It looks like a strange Kamado set up with the second pot inverted and sitting on the bottom pot – but it works great. I use a high temperature rope seal (typically used on the door of wood stoves) to make an air tight seal between the pots. It is glued down with high temperature silicone glue. The temperature control is great and a load of natural charcoal lasts for hours. Maybe I should send pictures sometime.

Regards – Ray

Bill:

We own a BBQ restaurant in Darien, GA. We have entered and won several competitions in our area. This past weekend we participated in a BBQ competition in Live Oak, FL. This was our first pro competition. Obviously there is a huge difference in restaurant cooking and competition cooking. We know we have good BBQ. What we wanna know is what do the judges want? What are their criteria? Do the judges have something against a true wood smoked “bark”? We are now hooked on the competition side of the BBQ world, and need to know how to move further.

I see you are in Savannah…will y’all be at the Jekyll Island BBQ competition? If you guys are traveling south on 95 be sure to stop in and check us out!

Thank you in advance for your help.
Lisa

Good Afternoon Bill,

I recently purchased your book and I am enjoying the information beyond belief. It did however raise a question about the new FEC100 you purchased.

You mention you cut off the smoke at a certain point and use heat only to finish a few items (namely chicken). Is there a way of doing this with a pellet smoker, I thought the pellets create the smoke and the heat .. If you could explain that to me I would appreciate it. We use gas to slow cook at our restaurant and would like to switch to pellets so if I want to enter competitions here in the Northwest I will have the correct equipment to compete with.

Again thanks for all the new information you have given to me, I look forward to using a lot of your tips.

Regards,
Terry

Congrats again Bill. We wanted to get up to Greenwood but had a conflict.
Where did you get the prep tables? I’ve been looking for a table just like yours.
I know you are working on the chicken.
In the backyard division, is gas allowed at most competitions?
I joined the SC BBQ ASSOC.
CHEERS
DAN

Dear Bill,

I would like to personally take the opportunity to invite you to come and compete in the 1st annual Pig’n in the Grove Cook-off on Labor Day weekend. We are located in College Grove, TN in Williamson County just south of Nashville, Tn.

This is a sanctioned KCBS event and also a State Championship event. We have chosen a modest entry fee, compared to others events. Our entry fee is $150.00 and there are no extra fees for water or electric. The monies raised from this event will be going to the College Grove Recreation Assn. a non-profit organization that oversees the youth baseball, softball and basketball program in the community.

Below you will find the link to our entry form:
www.collegegroverec.org/index_files/BBQ%20Entry%20Form%201.pdf

Please feel free to contact me anytime if you have any questions.

We hope to see you and your team at our competition.

Thank you,
Joe

Hi Bill,

Congrats on another win..

You made a statement in your email that your new book is the same..except for pictures, etc.. … yet your old book was talking about cooking in theory with a Lang…right? and nothing about Fast Eddy and pellets is in there? . didn’t anything thing change with the Fast Eddy?

Just curious as too how much different that has made for you… Personally i dont care for Pellet cookers.. for various reasons… know I do have …have good friends on the dark side also..so not a slam. by now you should be the poster child for Cookshack and FE and making them pay to be in your BBQ book!

Just like to know what the difference was in this year for you… why this year is a break out?…30% cooker, 20% technique, 10% flavor profiles you adjusted- or 30% a cooking class you took?
and 10% Luck? LOL

Thanks,
Jeff