Ok, don't get too impressed, it was a local event with 7 teams entered. But most of them knew how to cook barbecue pretty well and had done local competitions before.
Meats: Brisket, Ribs, Chicken. Here's the twist: Meat Inspection in Store Wrappings @ 6:30 am...Brisket turn-in 10.5 hours later at 5 pm. So, it's Hotter & Faster Cook day!
Had to repair the trailer first. (I hadn't even removed the smokers from it since I was rear ended about a month ago.)
Before:
After:
All packed up about 11:15 pm. Then up bright and early at 5 am, heading down to the Civic Center Seawall for the cookoff. I wanted to have the pits lit and hot, and all my tables and supplies ready to start trimming brisket at 6:30 sharp. On the way up, I got to enjoy this, the light from the Sun bending around the earth, illuminating Lake Charles and warming my soul up for the great fun God had in store for me today!
Here's our trailer, all parked at the Civic Center Seawall. Yep, I only brought 4 smokers to the party.
Got to trimming, and the Sun was keeping me company from the beginning. The Sun had crept over the horizon in this pic, and judging by my very nice sunburn (which the kids all commented upon at length when I arrived home), was with us throughout the day.
With the short cook time, I decided to separate the point and flat, and we cooked 2 briskets. I trimmed the flats pretty square, and put the large cuts and panned them, along with some of the supple fat, to make some pans for au jus creation, which, as we all know, is the very best additive to a winning brisket box.
Next, Chicken! My Barbecue Apprentice, Sam, studied up on competition chicken technique in the past couple of weeks, and he did great! Here's the finished products:
I really enjoyed the Chicken. It had 2 rubs, and a blend of 2 sauces, with some added spices on it. There was plenty of flavor on the rubs. It was cooked to done-ness well. The spec was to start with a whole chicken and include white and dark in the box. We had heavily trimmed and skin-worked thighs in the back, and wing arms and shoulders, and a partial breast sliced in the front. I liked it! (We used Simply Marvelous Cherry, and Big Poppa Smokers Desert Gold. Then glazed with Strained Blues Hog and Swamp Boys, spiked with Ancho and Chipolte from Penzeys. It was great!)
Next, Baby Back Ribs! I have not cooked them much. I've done about 50 racks of St. Louis to every Baby Back. So, my bbq teammates Sam and Colin did Baby Back Practice last week, clocking time to done, rub and glaze work, and practicing slicing from the top when the ribs are all glazed up. That practice really helped today! Here are the trimmed, oiled and rubbed racks. Heavy layer of Memphis Dust with a little tweak. About an hour in, we put on a topping of SM Cherry. In the stickburner, 250ish, burning Pear wood.
Fast forward about 3.5 hours, with a glaze done about 30 minutes ago, and here they are:
Meet Leo. He's the fella I rented the warehouse where #BBQFiretruck is stored. He's a family friend from before I was born. And a fun guy!
My nephew James came and helped us pick the tastier/tenderier rack for the box. It helped!
The Rib Box!
Meats: Brisket, Ribs, Chicken. Here's the twist: Meat Inspection in Store Wrappings @ 6:30 am...Brisket turn-in 10.5 hours later at 5 pm. So, it's Hotter & Faster Cook day!
Had to repair the trailer first. (I hadn't even removed the smokers from it since I was rear ended about a month ago.)
Before:
After:
All packed up about 11:15 pm. Then up bright and early at 5 am, heading down to the Civic Center Seawall for the cookoff. I wanted to have the pits lit and hot, and all my tables and supplies ready to start trimming brisket at 6:30 sharp. On the way up, I got to enjoy this, the light from the Sun bending around the earth, illuminating Lake Charles and warming my soul up for the great fun God had in store for me today!
Here's our trailer, all parked at the Civic Center Seawall. Yep, I only brought 4 smokers to the party.
Got to trimming, and the Sun was keeping me company from the beginning. The Sun had crept over the horizon in this pic, and judging by my very nice sunburn (which the kids all commented upon at length when I arrived home), was with us throughout the day.
With the short cook time, I decided to separate the point and flat, and we cooked 2 briskets. I trimmed the flats pretty square, and put the large cuts and panned them, along with some of the supple fat, to make some pans for au jus creation, which, as we all know, is the very best additive to a winning brisket box.
Next, Chicken! My Barbecue Apprentice, Sam, studied up on competition chicken technique in the past couple of weeks, and he did great! Here's the finished products:
I really enjoyed the Chicken. It had 2 rubs, and a blend of 2 sauces, with some added spices on it. There was plenty of flavor on the rubs. It was cooked to done-ness well. The spec was to start with a whole chicken and include white and dark in the box. We had heavily trimmed and skin-worked thighs in the back, and wing arms and shoulders, and a partial breast sliced in the front. I liked it! (We used Simply Marvelous Cherry, and Big Poppa Smokers Desert Gold. Then glazed with Strained Blues Hog and Swamp Boys, spiked with Ancho and Chipolte from Penzeys. It was great!)
Next, Baby Back Ribs! I have not cooked them much. I've done about 50 racks of St. Louis to every Baby Back. So, my bbq teammates Sam and Colin did Baby Back Practice last week, clocking time to done, rub and glaze work, and practicing slicing from the top when the ribs are all glazed up. That practice really helped today! Here are the trimmed, oiled and rubbed racks. Heavy layer of Memphis Dust with a little tweak. About an hour in, we put on a topping of SM Cherry. In the stickburner, 250ish, burning Pear wood.
Fast forward about 3.5 hours, with a glaze done about 30 minutes ago, and here they are:
Meet Leo. He's the fella I rented the warehouse where #BBQFiretruck is stored. He's a family friend from before I was born. And a fun guy!
My nephew James came and helped us pick the tastier/tenderier rack for the box. It helped!
The Rib Box!
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