The Barbecue Pit - spicessmokensong's Blog - Bakersfield.com

The Clovis Red Hot & Real State BBQ Championship (OMG, I can't believe we did this)

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:21:06 PDT

Ten hours packing, a thousand dollars in expense, and two long days at a contest site that never sleeps.

Literally.

What were we getting into?

It was the Clovis Red Hot & Real State Barbecue Championship.

You can't forget anything. It's not just bringing smokers and wood; it's utensils, cookware and kitchenware, every spice and condiment you will need. You need three wash basins: wash, rinse, and sanitizer. Bleach! Don't forget the bleach. You'll need it for your cookware sanitizing solution as required by health codes.

The Fire Department is also a force to be reckoned with. Required is a working fire extinguisher with a purchase receipt less than one year old or an FD-approved inspection tag.

As anyone who has moved knows, packing always takes three or four times longer than expected. Six smokers and 200 pounds of charcoal later, the back of our 17-foot U-Haul looked like this:

All that? Just to compete in a barbecue contest?

It's a BIG job. But the fun and the camaraderie is worth it all.

We pulled into the contest site around noon on Friday, the day before the judging, and were directed to our assigned spot. You need a good four-hour time cushion to set up shop, after which to have a little time to finally relax, unwind, stroll around the site, and begin to socialize.

As you can see, there's a little more to this than shlepping along your Weber kettle and a bag of Kingsford. There's six -- count 'em -- six smokers and a dozen bags of charcoal and smoking wood.

Ain't that a site?

And we're a small outfit. There are teams who literally drive their rigs to the contest. Look at the top left area of the picture below.

The first rite of passage, your first certification of legitimacy, is the meat inspection. A contest official visits each team's site and inspects the meat, ensuring that each team is using the proper cuts, ensuring that it is stored at a proper and safe temperature, and that nobody is using pre-marinated meat.

It's all to ensure fairness, that each team is starting from scratch and not entering with an unfair advantage. With a gracious nod, the officials gave us to go-ahead.

Evening came, the sun went down, but the serious business was just beginning.

When the site's electricity suppliers had finally overcome their technical difficulties, the work lights and lanterns came on and each team began preparing their first meats.

After the necessary trimming was done and our secret rubs applied, the meats went back into the ice chests and we relaxes and socialized a little more.

But even as the night grew old, and 10pm came and went, the site wasn't laying itself down to sleep. It was just getting started.

At approximately 1:00 am, my first meat, pork shoulder, hit the grill. Turn-in time for the pork shoulder entries was 1:00 pm, and pork shoulder takes a long time to smoke. Twelve hours in this case.

At 3:00 am, brisket was next. As you can see, at hours when most people are asleep, a barbecue contest site is a very active place.

We catnapped what little we could, but by 5:00 am, the pork ribs had to go on. With turn-in at 12:30 pm, that allowed seven hours of smoking.

I watched my temperatures, monitoring the smoker temperatures and the internal temperatures of the meat. Everything was going perfectly -- temps exactly where they should be, and cooking times tuned to perfection.

And then trouble. It was time to start up a chimney-full to start my chicken, and my wood wouldn't light.

It just wouldn't burn! It was as if some joker has secretly switched in a bad of lava rock disguised to look like wood. Another wad of newspaper stuffed under the chimney starter burns to ashes, and nothing. Still no ignition.

We were in a windy location to begin with, and I couldn't get a fire going to save my life. Cooking temperatures began to drop. Meat began falling behind schedule.

We tried to play catch-up the best we could, but we couldn't produce anywhere near the product that we were used to smoking up at home.

Ever still, the excitement was not lost. As the turn-in time for the first meat, chicken,drew near at noon, we began to feel real pressure for the first time. You are allowed a five-minute window before and after the scheduled turn-in time to submit your entry.

One minute late, and your entry is disqualified. These rules are strictly enforced, as my neighbor team found out when they turned in their pork ribs a little bit too late.

From that point on, each turn-in time is a half hour apart, and you feel the intensity. You barely have time to choose the best piece of meat, ensure that it is done, slice it, dress your presentation tray with garnish, and put on the finishing appearance touches before turn-in time arrives.

When all was said and done, we finished 31st place out of 42. We aren't among the winners pictured above. Considering the unexpected fire-lighting troubles that knocked our timing way off, I was satisfied with the results.

But never have I been so tired in my life. Driving home, the last 20 miles were spent in a freak time warp -- it seemed to take four whole hours to travel those last 20 miles. I never knew until then what sleep deprivation can do to a guy's perception of time.

But once you do a contest -- and survive -- competition becomes part of your blood.

We're entered in another contest less than two weeks from today. Watch this blog for further information.

Barbecuing Bodacious Brisket

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:46:52 PDT

Texas-style barbecued brisket. Reputed by some to be among the most challenging meats in barbecue, it turns out delicious and cuts tender as chocolate cake when perfectly cooked.

Do it wrong, cook it too fast, and the result is an inedible tough lump that might be useful as a base for a microphone stand but little else.

Brisket can't be rushed. Expect to spend at least 70 minutes per pound slow-smoking at barely over 200 degrees Fahrenheit, ever so gently easing up the temperature toward the end.

The succulent results are worth the wait and effort.

As with other barbecue, the secret to great taste is the rub. Paprika, white, red and black pepper, granulated onion, sugar, lemon pepper, and anything else that you feel like experimenting with.

Include a generous amount of moisture by way of an acidified water solution (vinegar, Vitamin C), pierce with a meat tenderizer if you wish, wrap it in plastic or otherwise keep the brisket and rub moist, and allow to marinate for at least several hours.

Unwrap and place on grill. Above is the rubbed and marinated brisket.

Among the readily available woods for smoking, I prefer hickory for brisket due to its more potent smoke flavor. Add hickory lumps to your hardwood charcoal fire and smoke.

Smoke at 200-210 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 70-75 minutes per pound, or until internal temperature taken with a meat thermometer is 190 degrees. Toward the end , slowly boost the cooking temperature to 240 degrees. A seven or eight pound brisket should require approximately ten hours. Keep moist using a mop sauce or spray bottle of apple juice and vinegar (see Outrageous Ribs).

Toward the last hour, I wrap in aluminum foil with a final dose of moisture. When the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees in the thickest portion of the meat, it is done.

At first glance, the brisket looks a bit like a meteorite, but that is the expected result. The taste and tenderness of the meat belies its stark appearance.

Below is the sliced brisket. Notice the internal color and the smoke ring (the discoloration around the edges).

That's how it's supposed to look -- competition brisket. Slice and finely chop for use in sandwiches, or eat as is or with gravy.

Dig in!

Secrets to Outrageous Baby Back Ribs

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:49:53 PDT

One of the four standard meat categories in competitions sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society is Pork Ribs. We'll walk through a sample run of competition pork ribs, and the tools and techniques that make them happen.

Evening before cooking: apply the rub and marinate.

Rubs are blended seasonings that can be store-bought preparations or recipes tailor-made by the chef. They typically consist of paprika, white pepper, black pepper, powdered or granulated onion, sugar, lemon pepper, and other ingredients that chefs are free to experiment with. Try a little hickory smoked salt, brown sugar, or even garam masala.

This is my custom rub:

If the baby back ribs have silverskin, a shiny skin on the concave side, it can be removed by prying one end up with a spoon handle, gripping the loosened end with a paper towel, and peeling it off.

Apply the rub, less or more depending on your taste, to both sides of the ribs. Work the rub into the surface of the ribs. I prefer a moderate coat of rub -- too heavy a coat may prevent the delicious wood smoke from penetrating and flavoring the pork.

Now, here's a little secret. I almost hate to let this secret go, but it is very effective without being messy.

It works best with a vacuum food sealer like the ones sold at Costco, Sam's Club, or Linens & Things. Otherwise, use polyethylene food wrap.

Prepare a spray bottle with a few fluid ounces of acidic water solution and a small amount of salt. Vinegar is popular as a source of acidity because of its ease of use, but I prefer better-tasting edible acids. Here's a secret: try dissolving one or two Vitamin C tablets.

Spray the seasoned ribs gently but thoroughly on both sides until thoroughly dampened. Place ribs in a vacuum seal bag cut to length or wrap in plastic wrap. If using a vacuum sealer, seal now. This creates a marinating environment that moistens the pork, tenderizes it, and helps the rub flavor distribute and penetrate into the meat.

I like this method because it is easily done on site at a contest with little mess.

Place in refrigerator (or ice chest, at a competition) overnight.

Day of cooking:

Smoke for approximately six hours at 250 degrees average. I like to begin smoking at about 230 degrees and slowly push it up to about 275 in the last hour. Among smoking woods that are easily found in stores, mesquite is good. See Barbecue Basics 1 for information on woods and smokers.

During the long cooking process, you will need a way to keep the ribs from drying out.

A popular and easy method is, again, a spray bottle preparation, typically made from apple juice and vinegar (about four parts apple juice to one part vinegar). Feel free to experiment with other liquid flavorings.

Another method, one that allows for more recipe creativity, is a mop sauce. A mop sauce is a strongly flavored liquid, flavored with ingredients like white, red, and black pepper, vinegar or other acidity, onion and/or shallots, garlic. Mop sauces get their name from the way that they are usually applied -- barbecue stores sell absorbent brushes that really do look like miniature janitor's mops.

In the last 45 minutes or so of cooking, when the ribs start to become quite flexible and appear juicy, I like to wrap them in aluminum foil. Add a couple ounces of lemon juice on to a spread-out boat of aluminum foil, place the ribs in it, and -- if you wish -- apply barbecue sauce, honey, glaze, or a blend of each. Close the foil wrapping over the ribs and finish cooking.

The ribs are done when they are extremely flexible. They will have that ideal fall-off-the-bone tenderness.

Unwrap, and if you wish, apply more barbecue sauce and glaze. A sugar component helps create that delicious glassy look:

There you have it -- contest-grade pork ribs.

There were, of course, a few secrets that I had to keep. If I told you, I'd have to kill you, and it's hard to do competition barbecue from prison.

But, worry not -- this is more than enough information to really impress your friends.

It's Official - We're Competing in the Clovis Red Hot & Real State BBQ Championship

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:44:46 PDT

If you've been smelling smoke lately, it might just be little ol' me firing up the barbecue pits and warming up for the upcoming State Barbecue Champeenship in Clovis, this September.

Working two jobs (by choice, not necessity), rehearsing for my singing performances on the Kern County Fair's main mall stage, and fulfilling my new life as a track star running 5K and cross country races, has taken me out of the loop these days, so I regret letting this blog go neglected of late. But that's about to change.

I'm going to muscle in some time from my hellaciously busy life to share this year's barbecue adventures. We're hitting the barbecue circuit, competing in KCBS sanctioned championships alongside the great masters seen on TV.

If you frequently watch Food Network, you may have seen these contests -- fields dotted with canopies, RVs and smokers, each contributing to the layer of appetite-teasing haze forming over the grounds. One of the granddaddies of barbecue championships is the Jack Daniels Invitational, affectionately known by barbecue competitors as The Jack. To be invited to the Jack, you must win a state championship or other major contest. The upcoming Clovis competition is a state championship.

I kid you not; entering a sanctioned barbecue championship is no small undertaking. It's not a matter of bringing a Wal-Mart flat grill and a bag of Kingsford for an afternoon cookout.

It's a task of bringing several smokers and grills, well over a hundred dollars' worth of meat, another hundred pounds or more of charcoal and wood, and a hundred pounds more of other equipment and supplies. It's camping out and cat-napping through the night, tending to meats that can take upwards of 15 hours to cook -- and finishing right on time, turning your perfectly presented product in to the judges not more than five minutes early or late.

And paying a none-too-small entry fee, sometimes $300 or even more, per contest.

In other words, you gotta love it.

And love it, people do. As the above picture of ClovisFest's 2006 competition shows, these can be major events.

Contests do come in different sizes and leagues, so to speak. There are "backyard divisions" that typically consist of chicken and ribs, while leaving out the most time-consuming meats such as brisket, pork shoulder, or whole hog. Backyard competitions are judged less stringently and are where many new cooks begin to compete.

But we are entering the major league. There is no whole hog contest (almost always optional) at Clovis this year, but the other KCBS meat categories -- chicken, ribs, pork shoulder and brisket -- are standard. Appearance and presentation are judged along with taste and tenderness, and the results from six judges are combined to yield your overall score.

The scrumptiousness of your food isn't the only thing that you have to master to a "T" to win at big league barbecue. The other "T" is Timing -- your food has to be finished cooking and prepared in a presentation box within five minutes of a scheduled turn-in time. That means that you need to know, and be able to skillfully adjust, the cooking times of each meat as well. Finish too early, and you are not allowed to turn it in yet. Turn it in a second too late, and your entry is disqualified.

So, what draws people to such large undertakings under such demanding condtions at such considerable expense?

Some are in it for the prize money, which can be substantial. Some own barbecue-related food businesses and use awards as advertising points. Most all just love to cook, and perfect the arts and secrets of out-of-this-world barbecue.

The biggest perk, though, may be the community of it all. Barbecue competitors tend to be fantastic people, folks who love each other and love any opportunity to bring smiles to faces and happiness to hearts.

The rivalries between top teams can run deep. But the friendships and togetherness always run deeper.

Barbecue Basics 1

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:10:45 PDT

First, we'll look at the basics: barbecues, fuel for the fire, and some basic techniques. Since true barbecue involves slow smoking at a low temperature, we'll examine the right tools for the job.

Smokers and grills come in all shapes and sizes, each best suited for a particular purpose. The same can be said of the fuel for the fire; there are several different fuels for a barbecue fire -- each, again, with its unique advantages.

Probably the most popular workhorse for the barbecue aficionado is the offset barrel smoker (shown below). Its off-set firebox (the smaller barrel hanging down and below from one end) provides a very indirect heat that is ideal for barbecue's low-and-slow cooking.

These are a little more difficult to find in stores than the typical burger- and steak-oriented flat grill, but Lowe's sells barrel-shaped grills with an optional firebox attachment that converts the unit into a true offset smoker.

Another widely used device is the water smoker or bullet smoker. Also available at Lowe's, it has one major benefit: it holds a large bowl of liquid inside that fills the cooking chamber with a flavorful steam that keeps moisture levels high -- requiring less effort to prevent the meat from drying out. Excellent for brisket, it's good for other meats as well; some barbecue teams rely solely on bullet smokers.

And -- for a little surprise -- don't belittle the basic Weber kettle simply because they are sold in K-Mart. The simple but effective smoker is used by competitive teams as well. It's strongly recommended that you buy one of the big ones, however; on small Weber kettles, it's difficult to keep the meat far enough away from the fire for even heating.

Beyond this, the realm of potential barbecue equipment is endless. A 55-gallon drum can easily be made into a smoker; these have been used in competition as well.

Next, you'll need fuel for the fire. Gas is off limits if you're going to get serious; it's forbidden in KCBS sanctioned competition.

Most familiar, no doubt, is the ordinary charcoal briquette. These will cook a meal, but you will likely want to incorporate other fuels as well. Hardwood charcoal, or lump charcoal, isn't pre-formed into briquettes, and has important advantages: It ignites more easily, making it easy to keep the fire going steady simply by gradually adding lumps, and it leaves much less residual ash than ordinary briquettes to accumulate in the bottom of the firebox.

While wood chips are often soaked in water and added to a charcoal fire to produce smoke, I prefer wood chunks. Baseball- and golf ball-sized hickory and mesquite chunks produce a steady stream of smoke for longer periods, and themselves contribute to the fire, producing useful heat as well as smoke. Some barbecuers rely solely on uncharred wood; I prefer a combination of wood chunks and hardwood charcoal. Another fuel used by some serious barbecuers is wood pellets (not shown).

Shown below are mesquite wood chunks that I'm about to add to the firebox as soon as I close the lid on the ribs.

To get the fire going, the chimney starter is a widely used essential. Since no lighter fluid is necessary, there is no risk of inadvertently cooking a lighter fluid flavor into the meat. Set fire to two full sheets of newspaper wadded into balls and inserted into the lower compartment, and the chimney starter takes it from there.

Moreover, chimney starters make it easy to pre-light charcoal and add it to a fire that is already burning. Since true barbecue requires hours rather than minutes, you'll need ways to keep the fire going -- and jump-starting a fire that has grown too weak. Shown below: chimney starter with hardwood charcoal.

Finally, you'll likely want to know just how warm it is on the cooking surface. Grill thermometers (shown below) make this information readily available, but you'll still need to make some mental adjustments.

The consideration that you'll need to make, if you want accurate knowledge of the temperature at the grill surface, is that gauges only read the temperature at the location of the gauge. The first few times that you'll cook, you may want to place an oven thermometer directly on the grill surface, and familiarize yourself with the difference between grill surface temps and the temps at the grill thermometer. In my case, I subtract about 35 degrees from the larger gauge's reading. The temperature at the cooking surface above is 215 degrees.

Accurate temperatures are important if you want to avoid cooking too fast or too slowly. Ideal temps depend on the meat in question, but barbecuing generally is done in the 200-250 degree range. Knowing the temperature accurately is vital if you have a timetable to meet -- whether it's dinner at six, or brisket turn-in to the judges at 3:30. If timing is less critical, you can relax a bit, and remove the meat when it is finished, whenever that may be.

This post covered the hardware and fuel: the next will cover food and seasoning basics.

Real Barbecue (You mean there's such a thing as fake barbecue?)

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:37:28 PST

Waaaalll...

When many people conversationally mention barbecue, they speak of cooking hamburgers, hot dogs, or a rib-eye steak over a hot charcoal fire. Light up the Kingsford, let it burn to a light ash coat, then grill the steak for eight or ten minutes on each side.

There's nothing wrong with this; indeed, it's as delicious as it is unhealthy. ;-)

But technically, it's not real barbecue. It's grilling.

Real barbecue is long, slow, indirect smoking over a wood fire. Seven well-tended hours can turn a tough rack of ribs into a tender, fall-off-the-bone delicacy. It can turn brisket, the toughest cut of beef, into juicy, lean, flavorful perfection that cuts as easily as chocolate cake.

Here, we will discuss the ins and outs of true barbecue: basic equipment, rubs, mop sauces, brines, marinades, preparation and cooking techniques. Imagine -- tender ribs without parboiling. (Indeed, parboiling is verboten in sanctioned competition barbecue.)

(Fear not; grilling is also welcome subject matter. Got a great technique for New York Steak? Bring it on! :-)

Barbecue: serious business with delicious dividends.

The weather's going to warm up soon. Stay tuned!

About the photo: The October ClovisFest 2006 barbecue competition in Clovis, CA.