KCBS Practice Cook PRON heavy.

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ · May 5, 2011

Hello,

I completed a solo practice cook (without doing boxes) last weekend mainly for turn-in timing purposes which i managed to make but it was a ton of work. I thought i would posts some pics for feed back. My chicken was the first time i tried trimming bone in thighs and got carried away. My ribs were very slightly over-coooked but was ok by me. The pork should have been foiled a little earlier to have less dark bark and i included, unsauced, sauced with pan drippings and a really lame attempt at getting the Money Muscle. Brisket has been tasting ok but my trimming seems to be causing the outer edges to crumble when i slice by the time the center of the flat is ready, so maybe i need to square up the edges a little more and inject a little more carefully as that weird track mark surface in the middle of the flat. Well, with all that said here are the results....

boogiesnap · May 5, 2011

looks great!

J_Don · May 5, 2011

Wish I could get my Que to turn out looking that good. Nice job and thanks for the post and Pron. :thumb:

HOG WILD BBQ · May 5, 2011

looks damn good

meatinc · May 5, 2011

Looks nice! I think you are on track with the chicken and the ribs look great! You may want to cook two butts - pull one at the appropriate temp (for you) to slice the MM and the second one cook until appropriate for pulling. The brisket injection marks are really showing up and I see some yellowish liquid along the slice (nice camera work!) - maybe use a lighter liquid to mix in the injection or reduce one of the darker ingredients in the injection?

Good luck in your comp! I hope you made a list of all the gear you need and hammered down your time lines!

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ · May 5, 2011

Meatinc,

Thanks for the advice. I do plan to cook two butts, one for MM pulling from cooker approximately 180F-185F in the MM or so and one for pulling at higher internal temp. Yes, the brisket injection marks are bad on this one...i was experimenting and you are correct in that it was too thick. I'll definitely make a correction on my next practice run.
Any and all suggestions are welcome as i am still pretty new to competition.

Smokin' Gnome BBQ · May 5, 2011

looks great, Id hit that pork!

Full Draw BBQ · May 5, 2011

Looks great and I'm sure you will do really well in your contest!!! One small tip, on the ribs, make sure when you slice that you get a uniform piece. Looks like it's a little shaped with one end narrower than the other. Seems like when you put them in a box the shape is exagerated because of all the lines around them being squared out. If that makes sense.

Southern Home Boy · May 5, 2011

I think the pork looks really good. A little practice and your MM will be just fine. I've been doing two butts for exactly the reasons stated: One MM will almost always be better than the other.

A sharper knife may help the "shredding" issue you get when you slice your brisket. I know that helped me out a lot when I had that same problem. As for the discoloration, that's why I don't inject. But I know a lot of winners swear by it and who am I to argue with success?

I usually either de-bone my chicken thighs or I'll do rotisserie hens and turn in leg quarters. I think your color is good and your glazing looks spot on.

Based on the bite mark, I would agree that your ribs got a little overdone, but not too much. Sauced, they almost look like candy apples - a little too red for my taste, but that's just a personal thing. Still very good looking.

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ · May 5, 2011

Full Draw....My problem with getting the ribs cut correctly is that i have crap for ribs around here. The bones usually curl and twist so bad that i can rarely get 3-4 straight per rack. Think i'm gonna have to orders some online...any suggestions?

Southern...I have a granton edge victorinox but am still having trouble so i was thinking that the edges are too thin and over cooking. On the chicken, I was practicing deboned, sculpted thighs but i have been hearing judges complain about them not "looking like chicken" and some cooks wondering if the are losing effectiveness due to so many doing them.

Thanks to you both for the advice!!

Southern Home Boy · May 5, 2011

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ said:
Full Draw....My problem with getting the ribs cut correctly is that i have crap for ribs around here. The bones usually curl and twist so bad that i can rarely get 3-4 straight per rack. Think i'm gonna have to orders some online...any suggestions?

Southern...I have a granton edge victorinox but am still having trouble so i was thinking that the edges are too thin and over cooking. On the chicken, I was practicing deboned, sculpted thighs but i have been hearing judges complain about them not "looking like chicken" and some cooks wondering if the are losing effectiveness due to so many doing them.

Thanks to you both for the advice!!

I hear ya about the chicken thing. But, I did the boneless last comp and they were my second highest scorer. I've turned in what I thought to be far better quality bone-in and gotten much lower scores.

I know I may be inconsistent, but not THAT inconsistent.

mobow · May 5, 2011

Nothing wrong with the color of your pork. You already have good advice about the money muscle. Work on the chicken trimming. I don't know how some of the others get rid of the knubby bone sticking out. Still trying to fiqure that out myself. Brisket looks very good if you can get rid of the injection marks.

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ · May 5, 2011

Mobow,
Thanks. I tried doing the bone in thighs after seeing some while judging where every thigh was perfectly uniform and the bones were almost exactly the same width. It was impressive. I don't know if they sorted through 30 of em, trimmed em or what. They almost were the size of a chicken wing bone. Mine turned out that way because i was trying to get the cartilage off the end which didn't work out well as you can see.

Full Draw BBQ · May 5, 2011

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ said:
Full Draw....My problem with getting the ribs cut correctly is that i have crap for ribs around here. The bones usually curl and twist so bad that i can rarely get 3-4 straight per rack. Think i'm gonna have to orders some online...any suggestions?

Southern...I have a granton edge victorinox but am still having trouble so i was thinking that the edges are too thin and over cooking. On the chicken, I was practicing deboned, sculpted thighs but i have been hearing judges complain about them not "looking like chicken" and some cooks wondering if the are losing effectiveness due to so many doing them.

Thanks to you both for the advice!!

If you need or have to use ribs with curved bones, make the cuts straight and square, to hide that the actual bone is curved. If you need to use a couple of racks, that is ok too, just cut them evenly when you are making the spares into St. Louis cut. Then square the meat, and don't worry about the bone, as long as you have meat on both sides and they look evenly rectangular.

Bourbon Barrel BBQ · May 5, 2011

mobow said:
I don't know how some of the others get rid of the knubby bone sticking out. Still trying to fiqure that out myself.

Cut it off with some shears.

Meat Burner · May 6, 2011

A little overdone ribs will win you some money at a comp. Those looked perfect to me.

CBQ · May 6, 2011

Bourbon Barrel BBQ said:
Cut it off with some shears.

Yup. You can also cut through the bone by applying pressure with a large chef's knife until it snaps. Don't saw...unless you are looking for a reason to buy new knives.

Fatback Joe · May 6, 2011

Make sure you have a good plan on those boxes. If you have time, you may want to even build a box or two just to make sure what you picture in you mind will actually work in reality.

A good looking box, is harder than it seems to pull off, especially if you have not done it before.

Food looks good, good luck at the comp.

Carnivorous Endeavors BBQ · May 6, 2011

Thanks Joe. I have some refinement to achieve with my meat cuts so i'll work on that.
On the boxes... My fiancee has been practicing them and is doing really well with them. Her and I will likely make them on Thursday in a 9x9 box on wax paper like Paul, of the old Pickled Pig now BBQbug, does in one of his threads. We'll keep them refrigerated with a moist paper towel on them till Friday evening, then transfer them to the comp boxes and tidy them up or reconstruct them as needed and hold for Saturday turn-ins. No matter how it turns out i would like to thank all the Brethren who post such useful information and advice. I have learned a ton of information....almost too much at times...and really appreciate all the helpful advice.

Full Draw BBQ · May 6, 2011

I wish you the best of luck!!!!!! And I know you are going to have a blast. Can't wait to hear all about it!

KCBS Practice Cook PRON heavy.

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