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Barbecue Tricks

BBQ Tips and Tricks

Archives for December 2012

December 31, 2012 Competitions

Top Ways To Cheat at Your Next BBQ Competition

Brisket Smoke Ring

Brisket Smoke Ring

The sanctioned BBQ world is serious business.  Maybe too serious if you’ve ever seen BBQ Pit Masters on TV.  There are pages of detailed rules that are never really reviewed prior to competitions by judges or by cookers.  Some rules are regional by nature.  Like, meat categories (whole hog is hard to find outside the South). Others – like the rule for only using charcoal or gas as a heat source – is somewhat common.  I’ve even seen rules against team members drinking to excess.

If you are looking to get the upper hand and bend the rules a bit here are a few ways that competition cooks quietly get an edge.

First, start with better meat.    You can use meat that the tournament provides or bring in your own grain fed premium grade organic – more tasty – better meat.    There may or may not be fine print on “only using what the sponsor provides” but the rule is rarely enforced or even checked.  It’s more likely your meat cooler will only be checked for food safety reasons (like maintaining a cold enough temperature).   I’ve seen teams bring in top of the line Wagyu beef brisket.  It’s pricey.  But if it indeed tastes better it’s a real edge.  Some winning cookers have been known to bring in secret recipe pre-brined chicken.

Next, use electricity to help your cooking efficiency and consistency    Many big organizations (like KCBS and MIM)  forbid heat sources other than wood or charcoal.  Still it’s within guidelines to get a little electric help.  So gadgets have been designed to make charcoal (use hardwood lump for best flavor)  more reliable and consistent in temperature.    Look into retrofitting your smoker with an electric blower with a thermostat to stoke your fire up or down to the ideal temperature while you play Angry Birds in the RV.   Most common are the BBQ Guru and the Stoker.

Two Pork Butts with Money Muscle circled.  Note fat stripes.

Two Pork Butts with Money Muscle circled. Note fat stripes.

Get the most bark for your buck.  Judges like bark, that savory sweet charred crust found on great BBQ meats.    Trim your pork so you have the most and best tasting.   The “money muscle is a tucked away tube of succulence on the Boston Butt that many cooks are trying to really take advantage of for it’s tender texture and flavor.  It’s almost entirely surrounded by other parts of the butt so if you want to combine the great meat of the money muscle and the magic of great tasting bark you’ll have to trim out the money muscle before cooking.  In some competitions it’s against the rules to cook large meats in parts so you may want to simply keep it a small portion still attached to the mother ship.

Cheat the smoke ring.   It is absolutely expected for brisket and pork to have a nice smoke ring when turned in to judges.  This is formed by a chemical reaction to the smoke over low and slow temp. and time.    Some say if you put COLD meat on the smoker from the start it will enhance the ring.  We say don’t leave it to chance.    Cheat the ring by adding some curing salt to your rub like Morton’s Tender Quick.  It’s strong stuff so some cookers will coat the meat for a few hours and rinse it off before adding the tasty – bark creating rub.

detach money muscle

Semi-detaching the Money Muscle

Microwave friendly.  As stated above… cooking with fuel other than wood or coal could be against the rules so why would you need a microwave?   Well, judges like to bite into a warm piece of meat.   They also judge on smell and warm meat will always be more fragrant than cold meat.    A fifteen second zap in the box is sometimes the perfect bump to setting your entry a part.   Against the rules?  Is 15 seconds really cooking? You decide. Just silence the “beeping” and don’t let Bubba’s team see you doing it.

These rarely policed barbecue tricks may or may not be truly cheating the BBQ Rules.   Read the fine print of your rules and let your conscience be your guide.  The one rule you can not and should not bend is “marking” a box.  This is where a team has a mole in the judging tent clued in on a special trait or “mark” on a turn in box.  Don’t try.   It won’t work due to rotating judges and will probably get you disqualified or marked down in appearance points.   Instead, use care to really “present” your meat in the box.   Follow the guidance in the rules on garnish and ask around about traditional layout.   Appearance is almost always a big part of your score and it’s surprising how many cooks just plop it in the box.   Pull pork (never chop) and lay out pieces in an orderly presentation.

 

 

December 28, 2012 Featured

Backwoods Competitor and Cooker Tricks

barbecue guruBackyard BBQ enthusiasts can learn a few tricks from competition cookers when it comes to hardware like top notch smokers and gadgets like the BBQ Guru and The Stoker to trick them out.

These days you’ll see a lot of hard core competitive cookers using a specially made smoker called the Backwoods Competitor from a company called Backwoods Smokers.  The takeaway here is you can get very consistent results with a well built air tight smoker.  If you use only charcoal or cook in KCBS or MIM sanctioned events or groups that only allow using wood or charcoal this model could be for you. The cooking is done with efficient use of charcoal.

The smoker features heavy duty latches and is built for competition. At 350 pounds it’s ready mount on a small trailer and with over 3000 square inches of cook space it can accommodate most all levels of competition other than whole hogs.

competition backwoods smokerCompetition cook Seth Watari says “We loaded up with hardwood lump at four in the morning and at eleven am and still had about half the charcoal left.”   That’s a perfect time frame for a low slow cook for home or competition.

Many teams will take this type of smoker to the next level with a remote controlled blower add on.  The most popular brands being the BBQ Guru and The Stoker can be purchased in kits ranging from 200 to 500 dollars. The main heat source is charcoal and the use of an electric blower and remote control still falls within competition guidelines.

“The BBQ Guru…also has a meat probe and it has an alarm so when you hit your target temperature it will regulate the inside of the oven to hold it there. I’m a fan.” says cooker Mark Lamb from the Carolina Moon cook team.

Jack Waiboer from Carolina Pitmasters likes The Stoker’s remote control capabilities, “We can actually run multiple cookers off an iPhone or a laptop computer.”

When you get your system down and timing just right it’s hard to beat the solid construction and hi-tech consistency the Backwoods Smoker with a BBQ Guru or Stoker can offer cook teams and the dependable quality even a backyard BBQ enthusiast will appreciate.

December 27, 2012 Featured

BBQ Cook Teams – GrateTV

bbq sampleOur weekly BBQ and Grill Show – GrateTV took a trip around the competition grounds to talk to some cookers over the last few months… here’s a year end visit to a few of our friends.  Don’t miss Jack Waiboer (http://carolinapitmasters.com) doing meat shots about halfway into the video.

As always please subscribe to our many feeds and check back weekly for more BBQ.

December 22, 2012 Featured

Special Sauce For Burgers – McDonalds Recipe Cracked

mcdonald's sauce ingredients

Mixing the Special Sauce

 

Everybody can recite the recipe of McDonald’s Flagship burger the Big Mac.

“TwoAllBeefPattiesSpecialSauceLettuceCheesePicklesOnionsOnASesameSeedBun.”

But what about that “special sauce” recipe?

McDonalds Special sauce recipe

Even more special on a home made hamburger.

I don’t have any connections at the golden arches… but I did eat a BigMac today and then I  jumped on the internet to find the closest knock off I could find.

There are a bunch of options but this one seemed the closest.  After mixing up

a dozen different BBQ sauces this week this sauce stands out as something… well special.   It was a real treat on a homemade burger.

But after 12.50 in ingredients maybe I should have just gone to McDonalds.   Still, give this McDonalds Special Sauce Recipe Knockoff a try.

It rocks.

Print
Special Sauce For Burgers – McDonalds Recipe Cracked

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute

Total Time: 6 minutes

Yield: Under one Cup

Serving Size: 1 or 2 Tablespoons

Special Sauce For Burgers – McDonalds Recipe Cracked

This Micky D's Knockoff nails the taste of the real thing.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 Cup Real Mayo
  • 1/4 Cup Miracle Whip
  • 3 Tablespoons Creamy French salad dressing
  • 1/2 Tablespoon Sweet Pickle Relish
  • 1 and 1/2 Tablespoon Dill Pickle Relish
  • 1 Teaspoon Whit Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Dried Minced Onion
  • 1 Teaspoon Distilled White Vinegar
  • 1 Teaspoon Ketchup
  • 1 Dash of Salt

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a plastic microwave safe bowl and mix
  2. Microwave for 30 seconds
  3. Mix again
  4. Refrigerate until serving
3.1
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December 21, 2012 Featured

Chinese BBQ Sauce

sweet chinese barbecue sauceThere’s something exotic about a good Hoisin Sauce. It’s hard to tell what ingredients make it so unique. The soybeans? Garlic? Plums? It’s the Chinese ketchup and it’s the starting point to making our U.S. knock-off of a Chinese BBQ Sauce.

The fresh ingredients make this sauce really zippy.   I mean if you put fresh garlic, Hoisin, and fresh ginger in my Elmer’s Glue I would probably eat it… but in this blend of fresh sweet and tangy ingredients it’ll make you want to eat it like soup. But save some for everybody.

This Chinese BBQ Sauce Recipe is especially good on chicken and nice and sticky for spare ribs. Another good thing is it wont have to simmer long… ginger and garlicshould be ready in five/ten minute.

Serve this sauce with fresh green onion garnish.

 

Print
Chinese BBQ Sauce

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: One cup

Serving Size: 2 to 3 Tablespoons

Chinese BBQ Sauce

This American version of a Chinese BBQ Sauce has a freshness you can't get in bottled brands that comes from the sherry, fresh ginger, and garlic. Perfect to give an average backyard cook out a bit of an international flair. For a dynamic dipping sauce add one and a half tablespoons of smooth peanut butter.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 Cup hoisin sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons dry sherry
  • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger
  • 5 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 3 small cloves of minced garlic (pressed in garlic press)
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • One finely minced green onion

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients except oil and simmer for five minutes.
  2. Add sesame oil at end.
  3. Stir and serve.
3.1
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December 20, 2012 Featured

Kansas City BBQ Sauce Recipe

BBQ Sauce kansas CitySome folks consider Kansas City the epicenter of American BBQ.  Fans of South Carolina Mustard sauce, Carolina Vinegar Sauce, and Texas Sauce  would surely beg to differ. KC has a good argument.  Kansas City BBQ Sauce is one of the most popular off the shelf sauces in grocery stores and the Kansas City Barbecue Society is the largest and most influential sanctioning organizations in existence.

Mainstream America loves a super sweet smokey thick sauce and that’s exactly what Kansas City, Mo specializes in.  The style of sauce has been commercialized under the brand KC Masterpiece.   A man child psychologist named Rich Davis developed the recipe in 1977 originally with only five ingredients.  Since then it has been purchased by Kingsford and has become one of the top selling barbecue sauces in the Nation.

Our version of Kansas City sauce has that same deep rich tomato undertone with a sweet smokey finish.  It’s the perfect sauce for both chicken and pork as it literally defines the phrase “sticks to your ribs.”

 

Print
Kansas City BBQ Sauce Recipe

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 3 cups

Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons

Kansas City BBQ Sauce Recipe

This thick tomatoey sweet and thick sauce is a mainstream American favorite for ribs, sliced pork, and chicken. Serve extra on the side.

Ingredients

  • 1 fifteen oz. can crushed tomato
  • 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Add the butter to a small non reactive saucepan and melt. Add vinegar and remaining ingredients and stir until blended. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Clean the stove.
3.1
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December 19, 2012 Featured

Danny’s Glaze For Pork and Ribs

Danny Gaulden's GlazeI first heard of Danny Gaulden’s Glaze when shooting a GrateTV episode on Twice Smoked Ham with Jack Waiboer.  He used this glaze on other occasions too and said it was the best around.  After looking for the best glaze recipe to share Gaulden’s name kept coming up.   It’s interesting to note that I found several variations on this same recipe!

So I went to the source… http://dannysbbq.com where Gaulden actually has a 2003 update on his original 1999 version (the original had a beer option in stead of the vinegar).  Jack Waiboer suggests a bit of Southern Comfort in lieu of some vinegar.   Meathead at Amazing Ribs suggests “amping” it up with some hot sauce.

The basic 4 parts brown sugar, 1 part mustard, and 1 part cider vinegar seems just right to me.  Gaulden suggests using it on ribs IMMEDIATELY after pulling them off the grill.  Check out his site and give his recipes a try.

Print
Danny’s Glaze For Pork and Ribs

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Just over one cup

Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons

Danny’s Glaze For Pork and Ribs

This is the go-to glaze for many a pitmaster originated by Danny Gaulden at Dannysbbq.com

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1/4 Cup Yellow Mustard
  • 1/4 Cup Cider Vinegar

Instructions

  1. Mix together ingredients cool. Then simmer. Baste ribs immediately after pulling of the grill.

Notes

Perfect for pork like a ham glaze and ribs and also good on beef.

3.1
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December 19, 2012 Featured

Smoked Turkey Tips and Tricks Video

smoked turkey

Use caution around the heat.

We know preparing the holiday meal can be a daunting task especially when there are a lot of unfamiliar mouths to feed in the house. Well, here’s our BBQ Tricks guide to smoking a mid sized to large bird this was about an 17 pound turkey.

We’re using a standard Brinkmann gourmet bullet type charcoal smoker with a large chimney of charcoal briquettes and also  watersoaked hickory chunks to add smoke. A weber smokey mtn. cooker or any indirect heat would be similar – hardwood lump charcoal may burn a little hotter so that may  speed things a bit if you use that.

Get the charcoal ready by firing up a chimney and waiting until the top coals are burning with some white ash.  We’ll have another video here to show you how to do that. Waiting til the coals are  white lets you make sure most any impurities are burned out of the charcoal and won’t give the bird an off taste.

While the coals are heating up you can unwrap your bird.  Typically large birds like this from the grocery store are already sold as “enhanced” with a brining solution already.  It will be labeled on the packaging as enhanced. So really you do not need to brine unless you really want to. And you can.  Over brining can actually make the meat kinda mushy,,. So just be aware of that.

turkey after smoking

Final Temperature shoud be 160 to 170 degrees

All you need to do is give the bird a good rinse and pat dry with paper towels… remove the weird parts of it popes nose at the end , pull out the neck and organs that are stuffed inside and  trim off any other excess skin you think is gonna detract from the final look of your turkey. Make sure you remove all the plastic packaging that’s inside too.

Season the bird generously inside and lightly out with your favorite dry rub seasoning. It could be anything. Then you may opt to inject the bird with some melted butter and Cajun seasoning.  It’s nice.

The one tip we have is to inject from the INSIDE of the Cavity to keep the outside pristine.  Or just do what we did here…. Loosen the skin of the turkey all around the breasts and as deep into the legs as you possibly can and massage some spice rub under the skin and into the meatiest part of the bird.  Or as we like to call it  getting to poultry third base here. It gets it nice and seasoned.

Next, it’s about time to load the smoker  with the charcoal and top with some wood chunks like hickory to produce smoke. Place the bird over the water pan to prevent drips and block the direct heat of the fire just a little bit.   Smoker should be 225 degrees  – this smoker simply reads ideal – which is fine. Close the lid, leave untouched for two to  three hours  and  reloading with more charcoal after that if you need.  Reload  wood chunks through that little side door each hour.  You don’t want to open the lid if you don’t have to. That just adds 15 to 25 minutes every time you open the lid.  By adding wood chunks to the side door you also get a little glimpse of the skin thru the side  door to make sure you’re not over doing it.

After about three or three and half hours check the temperature of the bird using a meat thermometer – you’re shooting for minimum  160 to 170 degrees in the breast.  Usually we’d hit deepest part of thigh but it’s kinda hard to get to in this smoker

Use gloves to carefully remove the bird and be careful of hot liquid in the carcass… drain that out if you can.  Let the bird rest for at least fifteen minutes before carving.

This turkey took just about four hours and fifteen minutes with opening the lid simply once after three hours.

Our biggest tip… always give yourself an extra couple of hours leeway just in case. Because it’s easier to keep that bird warm and rest it a little bit longer than to rush the whole cooking process.    It’s really that simple

If you need more turkey tips it’s all at the website – www.barbecuetricks.com.

December 18, 2012 Recipes

Coffee Mop Sauce Recipe – Texas Style

Coffee Mop Sauce

Coffee Mop Sauce

When barbecuing big slabs of beef like Brisket or Tri-Tip the Texans know a secret trick.   Slather on the sauce early and often throughout the low and slow cooking process to layer on Texas sized flavor.

In fact, the unique sauce they use inherited a new name and BBQ classification.  The thin sauce is called a “Mop” because it’s typically too thin to hold on to a regular basting brush and requires a “mop” type floppy cotton yarn brush to soak up the liquid and baste over the beat.  It’s a sloppy process.

History has it that President Johnson’s barbecue master Walter Jetton (yep. he had a BBQ master) made the mop famous in his 1960’s era book.

When used in Texas sized PITS sometimes a real household mop is re-purposed for this task to handle the huge quantity.   More likely you’ll want to use sa normal sized brisket and a commercially available “drawer sized” bbq mop like the one shown (or this Sauce Mop and Bucket Set from Amazon).

 

Use this peppery coffee mop sauce liberally on large cuts of beef to layer on flavor and keep the moisture in the meat.  Over time the mop will facilitate a rustic sweet bark on the surface of the meat.

Print
Coffee Mop Sauce Recipe – Texas Style

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 2 cups sauce

Coffee Mop Sauce Recipe – Texas Style

Try this peppery slick sauce or "mop" with your next brisket. Douse meat often during low and slow cooking process.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Dark/Strong Coffee
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup Catsup
  • 1 full tablespoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

  1. Mix ingredients in large pot or sauce pan with enough room to place mop without overflow.
  2. Simmer lightly for 20 minutes. Sauce "(mop) should be used thin to baste meat. Allow to thicken for a spicy "sop" to serve plate side.
3.1
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December 18, 2012 GrateTV

Ham How To – GrateTV

This week our GrateTV BBQ and Grill Show podcast takes a look at the Holiday twice smoked ham.   This is the perfect Christmas meal for the BBQ enthusiast.    It looks incredible.  It’s a killer presentation and it’s not all that hard to prepare.   Jack Waiboer gives you the step by step HERE.

For us it’s the best way to do Christmas Ham.  Take a look and come back for more every week.

smoked ham

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Hey Y'all... Thanks for stopping by. I'm Bill West. I blog about BBQ and occasionally country music. When it comes to BBQ I try to find solid time saving tips and tricks to make the grilling life a bit easier. It's life hacking for the backyard cooker. Read More…

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