CandySueQ. I mix equal parts of celery powder with salt. I use 1/4 teaspoon per pound and let meat absorb it for 12 hours minimum. I've practiced puting it on at 4pm. Cook time 4am. I've seen and read where people put fab to meat. Wash aaccess of and the chemical reaction makes a deep smoke ring. When all it is is a chemical reaction to surface. Only issue is if you don't use it properly it can cause sickness. Hence celery powder. A natural nitrate. Does same thing but impossible for someone to get sick. Research came from Bill West's book BBQ Blueprint.
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CandySueQ yea it does. When I seen meathead and Dr blonders video on salt and how meat absorbs it, I was hooked. Everyone has their own methods. Why I use low sodium beef broth at mid cook injection. Anything else makes it to salty. I will try dry rubbing for 12 hours and cook one at home. If it helps with one last step it will help. Right now it takes about an hour or so to get my (2) 55 gallon gateway drums fired and stabilized and getting my (2) thermoworks smoke thermometers with air probes hooked up.Comment
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smokinfatties thank you so much. I'm mostly competing in Colorado. I've grown to like butcher paper only in the sense that I can never get bark to reset. I've tried venting for 20 min before wrapping it back up. I've tried leaving it vented for entire 2 hour wait in cooler. I've even tried putting it back on my pellet cooker at default temp of 150 after 2 hour rest. A technique I just can't seem to get.Comment
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1/4 teaspoon sounds lite to me for salt if you are using Kosher on Brisket IMHO, I use 1/2 tsp per meatheads dry brine recipe.Comment
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Powersmoke_80. I use sea salt ground down. 1 of my 2 layers of rub after 12 hours of brine has a smoked sea salt in it. Right now its a commercial rub so I can't take it out. Just have to adjust what I can put in it. Y my measurements are what they are.Comment
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In general, I haven't seen the need to inject SRG Wagyu brisket, but I am intrigued by the idea of just injecting the flat. I'm a huge lover of fatty/moist/juicy, so anything to keep with that is good by me. I have a 14 pounder thawing out now, and may try it. PS All my cooking is for family & friends, so can't help on the competition aspect.
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CandySueQ smokinfatties Powersmoke_80.. My deepest thank you for all the great words of wisdom. My nerves are a lot calmer, being my first comp this weekend, after all the comments. Best of luck to all of you.Comment
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smokinfatties hey bud. Not as good as I wanted, but overall learned a lot. 24 out of 40. There was 3 of us that where new and I finished ahead of the others. I went pretty bold on compart durac pork and snake river brisket. I cooked everything as long as I could. 207 on both but needed more time. Tenderness where 8 across the board. Guys told me nothing wrong to cook meats I know and build from there. 50 points separated 24 spots. I finished with a 637. 14th ribs, 17th chicken, 23 rd pork 25th brisket. It's a start. Build from there.Comment
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smokinfatties learned I could prep meat at home. Which I will do next time and cryovac everything. Had a lot of opsticles that Friday. Didn't have right fire extinguishers. Had to stop prep. We forgot gas cans for generators. Had to stop prep. Make dinner. Stop prep. Dealt with a little rain. Stop prep. Finally done prep at 10pm. Woke at 2:30 to fire pit. Had condensation build up in my drums even with intakes and exhaust vents closed. My lump was actually sizzling. Had to wait an hour and a half to get it right. Gave it my all and even forgot to inject chicken. Cooked 3 pork butts in drum. Next time just 2. Forgot to take drip pan put at wrap stage. Could have helped with pit temp. Peoples choice should have gone on bottom rack closer to fire. Learning to carve money muscle and definitely need to crank heat up for bigger cuts. Thinking round 350 for couple hours until wrap and lower to 300. Just got to keep cooking. It will get better. 2nd time I cooked all 4 meats simultaneously. Going to order some DVD classes. Just what I can afford right now. Got an ebook from Barbecue coach. Just diving in more of technical and flavor stuff right now. Previous research to get ready was smokers, meat thermometers, spreadsheets on cooking times, some rubs. I'll get there. Just need to keep plugging away. Thanks for checking up bud. Much respect.Comment
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BarBQ22 sounds like you had fun! Its always an experience.
DEFINITELY trim your meat at home. Make sure not to season or brine obviously but as you found out, so many things can happen dduring a comp to set you sideways that advance prep is key, especially when it comes to trimming. Like I said, 207-210 seems to be the sweet spot for brisket esp. when cooking hot and fast. I also don't recommend doing PC and competing, you want to focus all your time on competing.
The little fire extinguisher issues etc will work themselves out, that's just learning curve stuff.
On the west coast at least, a lot of teams are winning with smithfield pork, that should save you some dough compared to duroc. SRF is worth the money as prime grade briskets are really hard to win with if most others are cooking SRF gold.
The last thing I would say is try not to change too many things too quickly, unless you take a class from someone that REALLY knows what they're doing. Flavor profiles etc can be kinda hard to nail down but once you start chasing a bunch of different variables it's hard enough to try to manage the judging variable, let alone all the other things you change.
Let me know if you have any questions! I am by no means a GC all the time or anything but we usually finish in the top 20-30.
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kmhfive smokinfatties Thank you much! Yea it was a punch in the stomach. Pueblo is my backyard comp. Practically my whole family lives there. Friends came down from c/ springs. We had 20 or so supporters that got to eat leftovers. It was a freaking rush. I won't lie about that. Few guys from RMBBA came and patted me on the shoulder and told me not to give up. Which I won't by all means, but meant a lot that they were there. My wife and I watched Top Gun a couple nights later and there was a part after Goose died. Viper told Jester " Keep sending him up!". My wife said "Keep fireing those pits babe!" Corney yes. Put a smile on my face. I exclusively use BPS and Simply Marvelous west coast offense. Trying to figure all those rubs is still a daugnting task but its a ton of fun. I mean to interact with spectators at the event and everything it offered was 2nd to none. Will use smithfield. I've actually cooked a lot of good pork in my GMG. Open Nature Ribs is a Durac breed that came out amazing in a couple practice cooks. I can get that at my local grocery store. The one thing that stands out most is guys telling me... "Cook what you know and cook for a 12" x 12" box only. Maybe a couple extra pieces, but you ain't feeding an army like your used to. Not uncommon for 20-30 people coming over for Bronco Games on Sundays. Thank you for all the wonderful words of encouragement and can't wait for the day I can post a G.C. on amazing ribs.Comment
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You will get there! Keep us posted as you go.Comment
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