First comp couple questions

N

n-2-que

Guest
Welp a week til our first competition at westmont ill, red white and bbq, i got the packet today. so just finishing up the trailer this weekend. but i have a couple questions.

1. turn in time i believe said noon is when they start and every half hr after. so question is what meat goes in what order every half hour? trying to figure out some timing.

2. propane is not usable, but from the bretherns i now use a turkey fryer to start my charcoal chimneys is this a ok thing todo?

3. we never sauce our brisket at home. just rub and smoke it. we always feel that sauce on brisket is someones own option. for comps is it normal for no sauce on brisket?

4. last but not least our pulled pork seems to be somewhat lacking still for us its the toughest todo. we did a 10 hr almost 11 hr cook on a pork butt and didnt come apart as easy as we would hoped. is this just a need more time thing? guess for comp i will just cook it forever :p and pray for the best.
 
Chicken,ribs,pork,brisket.

Yes it's ok to use the turkey fryer to start your chimney and or heat water.

I don't use sauce for brisket, but do use the juice from the brisket.

I cook butts to 195-200 then rest in cooler for at least an hour. The bone should slide right out.

Good luck.
 
n-2-que said:
Welp a week til our first competition at westmont ill, red white and bbq, i got the packet today. so just finishing up the trailer this weekend. but i have a couple questions.

1. turn in time i believe said noon is when they start and every half hr after. so question is what meat goes in what order every half hour? trying to figure out some timing.

2. propane is not usable, but from the bretherns i now use a turkey fryer to start my charcoal chimneys is this a ok thing todo?

3. we never sauce our brisket at home. just rub and smoke it. we always feel that sauce on brisket is someones own option. for comps is it normal for no sauce on brisket?


4. last but not least our pulled pork seems to be somewhat lacking still for us its the toughest todo. we did a 10 hr almost 11 hr cook on a pork butt and didnt come apart as easy as we would hoped. is this just a need more time thing? guess for comp i will just cook it forever :p and pray for the best.
Click to expand...


Usually, chicken, ribs, pork, brisket

Turkey fryer is fine to start your chimney... you're just lighting charcoal, not cooking with it.

You'll see sauce and no sauce on brisket... I'd recommend going with a light amount of sauce. One of the biggest problems is having your meat look dry... sauce helps prevent that. It's going to sit for a while, so if you can keep it looking moist, you're ahead of the game. I've never heard someone complain that the food was sauced, but I have heard people say they wanted sauce on food without it. Give the judges what they want, not what you want.

cook the pork until the bone moves pretty easily... cook to 200 or so if you need to, but if you cook too long, it could dry out. Don't time it... check temps and feel.

Good luck in your first comp!
 
There will be a cooks meeting. If you are not clear on what needs to be done, ASK ASK ASK!! The Reps are very helpfull and will answer your questions.

For turn in times, there is a ten minute window. Five minutes before and five minutes after.

On my first comp, time was an issue. It simply just ran out because I tried to time things. Next time around, I plan to start cooking a lot earlier than what I did before. I will pull the brisket and butt off and cooler around 8am.

Propane is allowed to light the coal providing there is no meat on the cooker.

As for sauce, some like to sauce a lot and others not so much. As I judge I have scored both equally.
 
I was told by a fellow competitor that he butterflies his pork, so it cooks in about half the time.

I haven't personally tried this in a competition, but I have tried it at home.
I didn't notice any difference in quality, but there was more bark.
It took a little longer than half the time.

I have also been told sliced pork does better than pulled.
 
What everyone said is good advice. On your pork, let the thermometer be your guide. I let my pork go to about 195 and let it rest for about 30 min. prior to pulling. It should gain an additional 5+ degrees and the bone will pull out.

We do very lightly sauce our brisket for the before mentioned fact that it keeps it from drying out.

As far as pulled or sliced being better, I have won with both. If my pork is just right for slicing without falling apart I will add some slices to the box. I prefer to give them a little of both.

Fill the box. Make every turn in a generous helping without crowding the box.

Good luck Brother!!

Spice
 
thanks everyone for all your input... not sure if we are doing pulled pork this weekend but 4 racks of ribs and like 3 briskets are on the menu "sofar" usually the neighbors on both sides and across the street run out and get chicken and ribs also, every weekend is a surprise what ill be cooking :p

hehehe side note if anyone else going to red , white, and bbq in westmont me and the wife will be the ones sporting spicewine tshirts and just look for the big green box cant miss the smoker :p
 
You mean the Big Green one with the bent handle???:oops:

Rasseled with the freight guy this morning and I think we will be sending you another $ 50.00 very soon. I basicly told him that if he wanted to continue shipping Spicewine Cookers that he had better Pony Up!! He knows how many we have on order which helps.

Spice
 
most pics posted here dont look like the brisket has been sauced. are you just saucing on 1 side? or just saucing the "top"
 
We did our first competition last month, and one thing I learned is to start trimming meat etc. as soon as you get set up.

We got to the site early Friday morning, got set up, and relaxed (we hadn't done enough to be tired yet). We relaxed all day Friday, watching others set-up, watching others trim meat (should have been our first clue) etc.

well arround 7:00 it started to quiet down and OTHER TEAMS started taking naps.... Not us we still had to trim / inject / rub.
To make a long story short we worked all night, and were dog tired the next day.
 
yea i will be trimming and rubbing the pork and brisket maybe a hour or so from time i am putting on, ribs and chicken i rub and put right on pretty much.

glad you got everything worked out Jay.

just got my diamond plate cut up had two sheets of 12inch by 24 , had them cut into 4-12x12inch pieces gonna mount them on the floor of the trailer for xtra sturdy under the wheels, and will have the elctric and lighting installed also this weekend. down to the wire on getting everything done.

also Jay, i haveta say you make one hellified smoker, we love cooking on it and the neighbors love the outcome.
 
Captain Caveman said:
We did our first competition last month, and one thing I learned is to start trimming meat etc. as soon as you get set up.

We got to the site early Friday morning, got set up, and relaxed (we hadn't done enough to be tired yet). We relaxed all day Friday, watching others set-up, watching others trim meat (should have been our first clue) etc.

well arround 7:00 it started to quiet down and OTHER TEAMS started taking naps.... Not us we still had to trim / inject / rub.
To make a long story short we worked all night, and were dog tired the next day.
Click to expand...

You can trim before you arrive at the contest. Do it Thursday night. Just can't season, inject, or marinade.
 
Plowboy said:
You can trim before you arrive at the contest. Do it Thursday night. Just can't season, inject, or marinade.
Click to expand...
That's what we plan to do next time. Also a double check on chicken feathers.
 
Butterfly butt??

Captain Caveman said:
I was told by a fellow competitor that he butterflies his pork, so it cooks in about half the time.

I haven't personally tried this in a competition, but I have tried it at home.
I didn't notice any difference in quality, but there was more bark.
It took a little longer than half the time.

I have also been told sliced pork does better than pulled.
Click to expand...

I'm confused, KCBS rules state: PORK: Pork is defined as Boston Butt, Picnic and/or Whole Shoulder, weighing a minimum of five (5) pounds. Pork shall be cooked (bone in or bone out) and SHALL NOT BE PARTED.

So, does this mean butterflied??
 
actually if the meat is pre-injected from the manufacturer you can use it. KCBS rule part 8. As for the pork parting, i believe that means you cannot cut up you butts or shoulders to smaller piece in order to somehow affect the cooking process.
 
n-2-que said:
3. we never sauce our brisket at home. just rub and smoke it. we always feel that sauce on brisket is someones own option. for comps is it normal for no sauce on brisket?

4. last but not least our pulled pork seems to be somewhat lacking still for us its the toughest todo. we did a 10 hr almost 11 hr cook on a pork butt and didnt come apart as easy as we would hoped. is this just a need more time thing? guess for comp i will just cook it forever :p and pray for the best.
Click to expand...

3. It's your call, but as the guys have pointed out, you don't want the meat to look dry. You can make a glaze with a little sauce and the drippings from the brisket and use that on the slices to make them shine.

4. Butts really benefit from a rest in a dry, warm cooler, so give yourself plenty of time on the butts. If they are done early, wrap them in some beach towels or newspaper and cooler them until you are ready to pull or slice.

As far as timing, I hope you've done at least one full practice (maybe this weekend?) to get everything down. Buy a small white board and work backwards from turn in for each meat, starting at the beginning on the turn-in window and going back to whatever your first step will be for that meat. Don't forget to add time at the earliest part of the time line to get the fire going in the Spicewine and get the cooker up to temp. Have a clock that is visible to everyone on the team and make sure that is is synchronized to the competition official clock.
 
thanks everyone for the input.

@Ron_L we been doing every weekend practice since we got the spicewine, got our times down for everything but the pork shoulders. this is where we lack, most people have the probs with brisket, and that came like second nature to me, wish we had more time on pork shoulder but will do our darndest from the knowledge we have. but i gaurantee our second comp we will have the shoulder down. we have our cook times on everything else down to knowing when things go on and off.
 
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