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How Much Hickory is Too Much? - Funny

Teamfour

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We competed in a wing and rib comp yesterday. The team cooking next to us was using a big charcoal grill with the fire built at one end.

During the comp, they used two of the LARGE bags of hickory chunks (plus kept adding MATCHLIGHT charcoal during the cook. Two hours into the cook (at 250 F) he asked me why his ribs looked burned.:wacko: I suggested he foil and stop adding hickory (he was smoking us out).

I also cautioned him to not keep the ribs in foil too long since the meat would be falling off the bone. He said there was no way the meat would fall off the bone because that only happens when you boil ribs.:crazy:

In the end he was DQd for raw chicken. He says he knew it was done because it was dark in color plus he fed 100 friends and they all said it was delicious.:wacko:

He claims the judging was rigged.
 
I'm sure the guy thinks he has the best BBQ in the world. I've also found if you are feeding a large group of friends free BBQ, they will love whatever you serve them even if its burnt on the outside, raw on the inside , and covered in the cheapest sauce you can buy.

Hopefully he enjoyed the experience!

How did you fare? And photos?

Chris
 
Maybe I wouldn't come in last if I ever try a competition. Can't imagine smoking with matchlight.
 
I don't do competitions and have no desire to, but I know some guys who do. I don't recall any of them saying they cooked for 100 friends while at a competition. Most times they are too focused on cooking for the judges. I guess it could happen though.
 
I Don't do comps, but it sounds like the team you're referring to don't have a clue what they're doing. They asked for advice, you gave it to them and if they aren't willing to listen....well then, it's their loss. My 2 cents.
 
We cooked across from a team a couple of years ago who were using Three ECBs that had white smoke pouring from them the whole time. I watched them for a while and they were chopping up 2x4s and tossing them into the ECBs! I'm pretty sure they ended up DAL.
 
We cooked across from a team a couple of years ago...they were chopping up 2x4s and tossing them into the ECBs! I'm pretty sure they ended up DAL.

C'mon Ron, don't act like you've never been in a pinch, and haven't used scrap from a fence build. Pressure treated wood gives my meat a distinctive tang:icon_blush:!

Matt
 
We cooked across from a team a couple of years ago who were using Three ECBs that had white smoke pouring from them the whole time. I watched them for a while and they were chopping up 2x4s and tossing them into the ECBs! I'm pretty sure they ended up DAL.

You promised you'd never tell anyone!

To the OP, at least you tried to help them. If they don't listen...
 
At least you didn't tell him to use something besides matchlight! I've been told off after being asked what I like and what I wouldn't use for my bbq and dared to speak ill of matchlight!:heh:
 
To the OP, at least you tried to help them. If they don't listen...

He asked me several other questions, but once I knew he wasn't listening to advice, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want him to turn around and blame me for his crappy turn-ins.
 
We cooked across from a team a couple of years ago who were using Three ECBs that had white smoke pouring from them the whole time. I watched them for a while and they were chopping up 2x4s and tossing them into the ECBs! I'm pretty sure they ended up DAL.

Why is white smoke bad? I'm newbie this year. I was smoking a pork shoulder yesterday and had lots of white smoke. I thought it was a good thing. BTW, the pork tasted good.
 
The thick white smoke will give the food a much stronger, bitter or acrid taste. Good smoke (thin blue smoke you can hardly see) is generally agreed to be the goal.
 
Being down wind from someone who runs 14 hours of bad smoke is just a bad day, all the way around. Been there, done that, it sucks. And you wonder, how can they think it is going to work out in the end.
 
I usually don't worry about white smoke when I am cooking burgers or something on the grill. I just throw a ton of chips on the lump charcoal and let it smoke. That doesn't have enough time to make an acrid taste on the meat does it? I like the way my burgers taste usually as long as they aren't overcooked, which I tend to do from time to time sadly. :cry:
 
Sorry, but don't blame the hickory, it's the cook. Matchlight, really! I use kiln dried hickory EXCLUSIVELY in my RF offset stickburner and don't have issues with too much smoke, even on long cooks. Maybe I just can't appreciate the challenges of cooking on a charcoal cooker that uses wood chunks for smoke or maybe I just pay attention to managing my fires, paying attention to the product and checking temps like most folks. If you run a hot clean fire and use quality wood it is not hard to get good results.
 
Being down wind from someone who runs 14 hours of bad smoke is just a bad day, all the way around. Been there, done that, it sucks. And you wonder, how can they think it is going to work out in the end.

They dont. They make ribs 2 times, both times they were drunk off their ***es, and the 2nd time some drunken doofus had the idea *Hey, we should compete*. Funnier still are those guys who then enter an MBN competition. Last two times I competed in MBN, each time there was 1 new team competing only in ribs who had 4 (yes, count 'em, 4) racks of ribs to cook... Yeah, that'll get 'em the first blind turn-in... Oooops, need 3 more for for the on-site judges, and then hope to hades you did well enough to make finals, so they're going to come see you again with 4 more judges... Yeah, 4 racks will do all that for you. It was fairly funny.
 
Well, what causes white smoke? I was using a mix of lump and regular, Kingsford in a snake pattern with a couple of hickory chunks dispersed in the first half of the circle. The hickory chunks are Weber brand.
 
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