Three porks
Full Fledged Farker
Hi Everybody,
We are a new team out of Central Illinois and was hoping for some critiques. Our team name is Three Porks and a Smoker. None of us has ever competed in BBQ comps but we've been backyard grilling for years. After saying that it really doesn't matter .......I've recently realized.) We are planning to do three or four per year and our first will be in Hazelwood, MO this April (Kick-Off Cook-Off). This will be our first ever competition and were looking forward to the challenge.
We decided to do some practicing today despite the 20 degree temps and 15 mph wind. We cooked pork shoulder, chicken thighs and spare ribs.
Could you all please look throught our processes and let us know if were on the right track? That would be most helpful.
Pork Shoulder:
The night before :trimmed fat off around the money muscle and injected the whole butt. This am: applied light coat of mustard, rubbed heavily with rub, placed on smoker at 275 F. Foiled in marinade at 165 and cooked till about 197 (probe went through like butter). Let the steam vent for 20 minutes then put in a cooler for 1 hr to rest. The whole process was about 8 hours. After the resting period, I cut off the money muscle and cut this into 6 pieces. I ran out of MM for the pics so I had to make due for today. The meat around the bone I pulled and chunked out pieces with burned ends. I tossed these pieces in some sauce and lightly applied more rub. I present this all on a bed of parsley. I only had one money muscle to pull from and the pre-cooked weight of the butt was only 6 lbs. In retrospect I will cook a larger butt next time in hopes to get a longer money muscle. In the picture, I got 4 great pieces and the other 2 sucked. The meat was very tender and tasty. For competitions I guess I'll cook 3 shoulders for greater availability of pieces.
Chicken Thighs:
De-boned, skinned, rubbed under the skin and over the skin, re-applied the skin, braised in parkay for 1 hr then smoked till 175 F. Smoker was at 230 F. Once at 175 F, grilled 30 minutes to crisp up the skin. Once grilled, applied sauce while spraying mop to smooth out sauce. These got a little dark so next time I guess we have to pay more attention.
Spare Ribs:
I wanted to try the 3-2-1 method but it was wayyyyyy over cooked. Please tell me what I did wrong. Smoked at 250-260 f, smoked unfoiled for 3 hours, then wrapped in foil bone up in parkay, b. sugar, honey, sauce and mop. Cooked in the foil for 2 hours. After two hours I took the ribs out of the foil and allowed the ribs to vent for 20 minutes. To finish I placed back on the smoker at 225f unfoiled and applied more sauce. After a total of 6 hours these bad boys were falling off the bone. Maybe next time 2-1-1 would suffice. I didn't take any pics due to embarrassment. Should I decrease time or decrease temps? What the best for comps?
For those that read all the way through......thank you and I look forward to your advice.
For those that have judged would you please critique the appearance of these boxes?
And Thanks to Paul at Thepickledpig for some great information!! You should write a book!
Oh yeah and brisket were going to tackle next weekend.
Thanks again! Looking forward to some responses.
We are a new team out of Central Illinois and was hoping for some critiques. Our team name is Three Porks and a Smoker. None of us has ever competed in BBQ comps but we've been backyard grilling for years. After saying that it really doesn't matter .......I've recently realized.) We are planning to do three or four per year and our first will be in Hazelwood, MO this April (Kick-Off Cook-Off). This will be our first ever competition and were looking forward to the challenge.
We decided to do some practicing today despite the 20 degree temps and 15 mph wind. We cooked pork shoulder, chicken thighs and spare ribs.
Could you all please look throught our processes and let us know if were on the right track? That would be most helpful.
Pork Shoulder:
The night before :trimmed fat off around the money muscle and injected the whole butt. This am: applied light coat of mustard, rubbed heavily with rub, placed on smoker at 275 F. Foiled in marinade at 165 and cooked till about 197 (probe went through like butter). Let the steam vent for 20 minutes then put in a cooler for 1 hr to rest. The whole process was about 8 hours. After the resting period, I cut off the money muscle and cut this into 6 pieces. I ran out of MM for the pics so I had to make due for today. The meat around the bone I pulled and chunked out pieces with burned ends. I tossed these pieces in some sauce and lightly applied more rub. I present this all on a bed of parsley. I only had one money muscle to pull from and the pre-cooked weight of the butt was only 6 lbs. In retrospect I will cook a larger butt next time in hopes to get a longer money muscle. In the picture, I got 4 great pieces and the other 2 sucked. The meat was very tender and tasty. For competitions I guess I'll cook 3 shoulders for greater availability of pieces.
Chicken Thighs:
De-boned, skinned, rubbed under the skin and over the skin, re-applied the skin, braised in parkay for 1 hr then smoked till 175 F. Smoker was at 230 F. Once at 175 F, grilled 30 minutes to crisp up the skin. Once grilled, applied sauce while spraying mop to smooth out sauce. These got a little dark so next time I guess we have to pay more attention.
Spare Ribs:
I wanted to try the 3-2-1 method but it was wayyyyyy over cooked. Please tell me what I did wrong. Smoked at 250-260 f, smoked unfoiled for 3 hours, then wrapped in foil bone up in parkay, b. sugar, honey, sauce and mop. Cooked in the foil for 2 hours. After two hours I took the ribs out of the foil and allowed the ribs to vent for 20 minutes. To finish I placed back on the smoker at 225f unfoiled and applied more sauce. After a total of 6 hours these bad boys were falling off the bone. Maybe next time 2-1-1 would suffice. I didn't take any pics due to embarrassment. Should I decrease time or decrease temps? What the best for comps?
For those that read all the way through......thank you and I look forward to your advice.
For those that have judged would you please critique the appearance of these boxes?
And Thanks to Paul at Thepickledpig for some great information!! You should write a book!
Oh yeah and brisket were going to tackle next weekend.
Thanks again! Looking forward to some responses.
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