Ribs and Chicken class at Mason-Dixon BBQ Services, in Greencastle PA (lots of photos)

[Mosca]

There will be 9 or 10 posts in a row, because of the photo limit, but also to tell the story. Please be patient.

This was my first ever class, and I have to say it was a stone cold BLAST. Eric and his crew have their act TOGETHER.

Tents are set up behind the store, and there are BGEs, pellet smokers, offsets, cabinets, etc, and a big chicken cooker. Everyone gets a seat, and a set of tools including a temp gauge, knife, towel, aluminum pan, gloves, etc.





The day started promptly at 7AM with some announcements and rules (common sense stuff: no politics, clean up after yourself, be nice, and the like), and everyone was put to work making breakfast:

Biscuits stuffed with blueberry filling



Sausage gravy, egg, cheese, and mushroom pizzas:




Egg, ham, and cheese tortilla fold overs:


Breakfast was freakin’ GREAT.

[Jerod Broussard]

Dude, that is intense!!!

[Mosca]

Because, ya know, breakfastes are my thing… breakfast is served! (I don’t know what that red stuff is, someone must have snuck it on my plate.)

[Mosca]

After everyone was fed, Eric gave the lowdown on ribs: full spares, baby backs, cutting St Louis and Kansas City styles (St Louis has the ends trimmed, that’s all), how to use the tips, and such. After the presentation, we all had a rack of each at our stations, and Eric and his crew came around and made sure we were following instructions.

[Mosca]

CaptainMike STEbbq Yeah, that was a light bulb moment for me, too!

[CaptainMike]

STEbbq the fellow puts a nitrile glove around the rub shaker so he can grab it any time with raw meat greasy hands (gloved or not) without contaminating the container. Easy peasy and you aren't constantly fiddling with swapping gloves just to shake a little rub.

[radiodome21]

That’s incredible.

[Mosca]

With the ribs resting, we fired up the cookers. I chose BGE, obviously, but every cooker was getting used.

[Mosca]

While the cookers were coming up to temp, Roger Martin from Penn Avenue Meats gave the presentation on chicken: how to cut, how to spatchcock, how to season under the skin and where to access it, how to truss, remove the keel… and man, this was fun. I’m almost 70, and Roger has been cutting meat longer than I’ve been alive. What a great guy. You can tell just by the photos.

[BKYDBBQ]

Roger definitely knows his stuff. You should see how effortlessly he de-bones a pork butt.

[Baltimorelger]

During our class, he basically butchered a whole chicken in 5 seconds without looking. He was incredible.

[Mosca]

Baltimorelger Yeah, that was pretty impressive!

[Mosca]

I have to stop and make dinner. More in a little bit.

[CaptainMike]

Holy smokes, literally! What a fantastic time you must have had! I would love to do something like this. Can't wait for the next updates...

[Mosca]

Ribs on!

[Mosca]

We then got into seasoning the chickens, including on the skin vs under the skin, trimming the fat, crispy skin vs rubbery skin vs bite-through skin, etc. Marvin is a lifetime restauranteur, and also a KCBS certified judge; he knew how to show and tell both.



And the chicken goes on the big ol’ chicken cooking thing!

[Mosca]

There was some downtime… not really. It’s lunch time! And we go to work!

[Mosca]

More lunch…



And check those ribs….

[Mosca]

And we pause to dine.



Pig shots:


Awesome beans.


Some kind of amazing potato bacon thing.


This had banana and pineapple and other stuff in it, like a bread pudding thing.

[Mosca]

Here we stop and play with the ribs. (Or maybe that was before lunch, I get addled. Whatever.) The class method is wrapping with Parkay, honey, apple juice, etc. (Spoiler: different, not necessarily better. But nevertheless excellent.)

[Sid P]

Every time I see a rerun with Johnny Trigg I say I’m going to try his Parkay/honey method, but I’ve yet to do it.

[Mosca]

The chicken is up!

This chicken is off the charts excellent. This… this is what I’m here for. The smell. Heaven.