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Sticks-n-chicks

Sticks-n-chicks

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I have smoked using a WSM for a while and attended several comps over the year and decided to compete at some of the local contests the remainder of this year (Cross Points BBQ - Shawnee, KS, Shawnee Great Grillers - Shawnee, KS and Cooking on the KAW Desoto. I have a mentor team (my neighbor and great guy). I purchased a smoker DPP60 which I pick up on Friday.

Now the part where I could use your help.

I will be doing 4 practice cooks for family and friends to get my timings down and refine my rubs and marinades and practice boxes. The first 2 during normal hours and the last 2 during contest hours with turn in times

I wanted to pose some questions.
• What do you suggest for a supply list, I have come across several but they are somewhat dated.

• What are your Must Haves?

• What are your thoughts on injecting the meats?

• Thoughts on picking out meat?

• Whole Chicken or just Thighs?

• I would like to find some teams that are going to be at these events that I can lean on (I don’t want to wear off my buddies ear)

• Seasoning the grille, the consensus seems to be heavy coat inside with vegi oil or conola oil and smoke it up at a high temp 400-450 for 4-5 hours, any other suggestions?

• I would like to find a group of people for Feedback on Boxes

• Anything that I might not be thinking about….

Thank you for your help and suggestions.
 
When you do a practice run, write down every detail and keep track of what you use. We have a list that i use for us that is crazy long. I also make a list of what we do not need, and that helps too.

Must haves is too many things to type, "at 14 words a minute" lol

Injecting is up to your recipe.

Quality meat only.

Breast meat and thighs for us. May the best meat be boxed.

We will not be at any of those contests.

Season smoker by the builders instructions. We use lard and smoke, just for jitts and shiggles.

There are plenty of pics on this site.

Practice all you can, or take a class. Good luck!
 
Practice cooks, take what you think you need out to your set up. If you have to run inside to get something, it's likely a must have to you - add that to your list. If you thought you needed something, then didn't use it, determine if you will need it for a comp or not.
 
Sticks-n-chicks said:
I wanted to pose some questions.
• What do you suggest for a supply list, I have come across several but they are somewhat dated.
I don't really have one but I know there are several floating around here and on the internet that pretty much cover it all.
• What are your Must Haves?
The one thing that I have to make sure to never forget again is Foil.
• What are your thoughts on injecting the meats?
That is pretty much up to you, teams do well both ways.
• Thoughts on picking out meat?
I get mine from Sam's.
• Whole Chicken or just Thighs?
Just thighs for us
• I would like to find some teams that are going to be at these events that I can lean on (I don’t want to wear off my buddies ear)
Sorry but I can't help you there.
• Seasoning the grille, the consensus seems to be heavy coat inside with vegi oil or conola oil and smoke it up at a high temp 400-450 for 4-5 hours, any other suggestions?
I think you got it.
• I would like to find a group of people for Feedback on Boxes
Post them here we love to give feedback.

• Anything that I might not be thinking about….

Thank you for your help and suggestions.
Click to expand...


Sounds like you are already better organized than I was before my first contest. Just remember the most important thing of all is to have fun.
 
I'll agree with writing down everything you touch in your competition dry run in the backyard! Also, we found that at first we wanted to bring everything possible, and as time went on we streamlined more and more -- "making do" got to be more attractive than loading and unloading. Your supply list is going to be different than anyone else's simply because your cook methods may require different tools and products, your camp setup is different, etc.

We get our meat from Costco and a local supermarket chain. Make life easy for now, go with thighs and score well and consistently with them before you branch out.

Welcome to the dark side!
 
Below is my competition checklist. I developed it using the Smokin' Guns checklist as a starting point. It's designed to cover both the "I have it" (H column) and "I've loaded it" (L column) aspects that I found missing from other checklists. This allows me to use it for both shopping/locating and for packing/loading.

My Checklist

I hope this helps,
John
 
My responses are mixed in below...

Sticks-n-chicks said:

I will be doing 4 practice cooks for family and friends to get my timings down and refine my rubs and marinades and practice boxes. The first 2 during normal hours and the last 2 during contest hours with turn in times

As he guys have suggested, write down what you are missing, but also keep track of what you don't use. Do this for your first few comps, too. I think everyone brings more than they need at first.

I wanted to pose some questions.
• What do you suggest for a supply list, I have come across several but they are somewhat dated.

Start with one of these...

http://www.smokingunsbbq.com/checklist.cfm

and then modify it to suit your needs.

• What are your Must Haves?

Wow... Too many things come to mind. Tables (I use a camp kitchen from Cabela's and two 6 foot folding tables), bus tubs (need three for the wash station per KCBS rules unless you have a sink or other alternative), good knives, disposable cutting boards, coolers, chairs, canopy or two or three. Foil, plastic wrap, zipper bags, etc.in bulk form Sam's or Costco.

• What are your thoughts on injecting the meats?

You'll have to work that out on your own :-D It depends on you cooking style, rubs, etc. I inject the big meats all of the time, whether i am cooking at home or for comps.

• Thoughts on picking out meat?

See if you can figure out where others in your area buy neat. Sam's, Costco, Restaurant Depot, GFS are all fairly common choices.

• Whole Chicken or just Thighs?

Again, up to you. The biggest arguement against a whole chicken for me is presentation. After that there is the fact that judges get different parts of the chicken and one part may be great but the next may suck.

• I would like to find some teams that are going to be at these events that I can lean on (I don’t want to wear off my buddies ear)

Check out the Roll Calls here to see which Brethren teams will be there.

• Seasoning the grille, the consensus seems to be heavy coat inside with vegi oil or conola oil and smoke it up at a high temp 400-450 for 4-5 hours, any other suggestions?

Nope. Sounds right to me.

• I would like to find a group of people for Feedback on Boxes

Lots of guys post their boxes here for feedback. We're a pretty good mix of experienced cooks and CBJs. Sometimes we can be brutally honest, however :-D

• Anything that I might not be thinking about….

How are you going to get all of your stuff to the comp site? What is your budget for competitions? have you visited a comp and hung out with a team to see what they go through?

Thank you for your help and suggestions.

You're Welcome :-D
Click to expand...
 
Oh yeah... Most tables are designed for sitting, not standing while working. Either get an adjustable height table or use PVC pipe pieces to bring a table up o counter height (36") to make prep work easier.

Also, here is a picture of our setup.

Shannon2008001.jpg


The camp kitchen is at the rear and is our wash station. The table next to it is for laying out dishes to dry, the coffee pot in the morning, etc. My prep table is in the trailer since I want it convenient to the cooker which is on the ramp of the trailer.
 
The PVC pipe legs are an excellent suggestion!! Your back will thank you after the weekend.

As far as some of the "must haves" you will likely be inspected to see if you have the following:

3 container wash station
Fire extinguisher
Ash bucket

At least they check for these things at the contests I have been to

Jim
 
Lost a PM

Someone was nice enough to PM from this thread about some help they could provide, I lost the PM please resend your contact information.
 
I like the idea of doing a practice run, for all meats at the house, start out, yeah, sounds like crazy work, but, load everything that you think you may need into your truck/trailer. Set up a site in your back/front yard, and then run a full out competition practice run. If you need to go inside for something after you are all set up and unloaded.....put it on the gotta have.....
 
Sticks,

We are newbies also, 3 comps so far, but you've found a great place for good tips and advice! I've added my input below for what it's worth

I will be doing 4 practice cooks for family and friends to get my timings down and refine my rubs and marinades and practice boxes. The first 2 during normal hours and the last 2 during contest hours with turn in times

I wanted to pose some questions.
• What do you suggest for a supply list, I have come across several but they are somewhat dated.
Here's a few threads with some competition checklists in them.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=13511

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9022

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9095

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8794

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=13421

• What are your Must Haves?
PVC table leg extenders, bungees or tiedowns for your shelter,LOTS of latex or nitrile gloves, a good cooler with towells or newspaper to rest your larger cuts in and hold temps,SHARP knives, there are lots of them.
Also, have some kind of written list of your schedule to ensure you take the right steps at the right time and don't forget anything.

• What are your thoughts on injecting the meats? IMHO, you should taste injected and non-injected meets side by side and decide which you like better. For comps, we inject our butts and briskets
• Thoughts on picking out meat?
We get our ribs, butts and briskets at SAMS usually. Briskets are almost always USDA choice grade
• Whole Chicken or just Thighs?
Can't help you with that one, except to say, in general, thighs do best. Personally we are trying something different. It's not going that great but most folks who have tried our chicken have been encouraging.
• I would like to find some teams that are going to be at these events that I can lean on (I don’t want to wear off my buddies ear)

• Seasoning the grille, the consensus seems to be heavy coat inside with vegi oil or conola oil and smoke it up at a high temp 400-450 for 4-5 hours, any other suggestions?

• I would like to find a group of people for Feedback on Boxes Lots of people post them right here

• Anything that I might not be thinking about….

Thank you for your help and suggestions.[/quote]
Most of all, practice as often as you can so that it comes easy when you're at the comp. Ours get easier with each one.
Mostly, HAVE FUN! It's a competition, but if you don't enjoy and try to have a good time, it really isn't worth it. We've found most folks at comps are more than happy to help if you get in the weeds at all.

Welcome to the group, and good luck!:grin:
 
Coolers, take extra coolers. We didn't have enough cooler space at our first comp. Now I'm embarassed to tell you how many coolers we use at our site, but you can do the math.

1 - 150 qt cooler to hold all the meat and garnish
2 - 50/60 qt coolers to hold drinks, snack food, sauces, injections, etc
1 - 54 qt to use to hold water for the water heater
2 - 32 qt coolers to use as warmers
1 - 40 qt cooler to keep the turn in boxes in after we put them together late Friday night (keeps them clean and dry being by themselves - no worries)

So 4 of them are empty during travels - well, maybe have towels or something in
 
For us PVC pipes are a must for the tables. I would never do another comp with out them. Saves your back.
 
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