Technology discussion re: pellet fed vs. manual labor

[tommykendall]

Phil
If a level playing field is really the name of the game, then why not go to you can't use your pit, you to use someone elses. Draw your pit out of a hat and let see if your a pit master.

I like that idea

[chad]

While exchanging pits would be interesting: to truly be a purist how about digging a hole in the ground, lining it with rocks, burning down whole logs to a coal bed and cooking the meat on sticks stuck in the ground or on lattice made of green wood or other variations of "true" barbecue, barbeque, barbacoa, etc.

[drbbq]

OK, let's make it a real test. None of those new fangled things that control the fire. I think you call them air vents. Matter of fact, let's outlaw the cheater boxes we call cookers.
You want to claim purity? Dig a hole in the ground and let's cook.

Like Minion said, guys want progress to stop where they happen to be standing.

Oh yeah, no more of that high tech fuel called charcoal either.

[chad]

Florida echo mod! :D

[tommykendall]

how about digging a hole in the ground, lining it with rocks, burning down whole logs to a coal bed and cooking the meat on sticks stuck in the ground or on lattice made of green wood or other variations

Ok Chad - you do that in the woods behind Mary's place in June. I'll stick with the BYC and/or the new MOAB. :D

[BBQchef33]

Originally Posted by jminion

Phil
If a level playing field is really the name of the game, then why not go to you can't use your pit, you have to use someone elses. Draw your pit out of a hat and let see if your a pit master.

That would be cool... and I'd be up for it anytime..... Like i said, its to see what your made of and fire managment is such an integral part of BBQ that you should be judged on those abilities. The elimination of a variable is one thing, but eliminating that variable gives the judges an inaccurate reflection of the cooks ability. No matter how great a chef your are, if you cannot manage a pit, you cannot produce good bbq and that should be taken into consideration when handing someone the title of Grand Champion. We are talking the world of competition, not backyard cooking, or family gatherings or catering. But controling a pit to produce a product in a targeted 2 hour window.

What skill does it take to work something thats set and forget? Heres and interesting scenario. Take someone who has be poopin pellets for the last 10 years, never cooked in a steel offset cooker(or stick burner of some type) and stick them in front of a Lang or Backyard Chef and see what they produce in a mock 24 hour contest. But take someone who has been burning sticks all those years and stick them in front of a pellet pit. He will set the thermostat and then go to the bar for 8 hours. The stick burning cook has proven abilities, that have now been taken out of the equation and and at the touch of a button, the result was a pit of constant temps. Chances are his product will be about the same as if he was on his own pit. But how do you think a long time pellet pooper will fend in front of a pit filled with lump, logs and a damper.... and no thermostat. He's gotta work that pit on his own.. Do you think his product will be as good as it was in his pellet cooker.. a.k.a oven.

Originally Posted by jminion

Kcbs rule are simply as long as your fuel supply is charcoal or wood your legal, that includes pellets.
Jim

We arent questioning KCBS rules. We all live by them. And we all know its the cook, not the cooker. My issue is NOT with the pellets at all.. its with the thermostat and fan. If someone wants to cook with a gravity fed pellet cooker with no fan and thermostat where he has to tend the pit.. I'd be ok with that... This is just discussion on the differing opinions of the two techniques.. But i'll still be going to the state ch in March with my BYC and a couple WSM.

[racer_81]

Did someone say the magic MOAB word?

:-)

[jminion]

Phil
The BBQ Guru must drive you nuts.

There is the no garnish, it's a meat contest group.
There is it's fire tending group.

My feelings are is it's about producing the best BBQ with in the rules and if you can use a pellet cooker to that it's fine with me. If winning was as simple as using a pellet cooker there would be even more of them out there. I don't really care if a team was to use gas or electricity cause it is about the product. As a Rep or a judge I have promised to do my job within the rules and as I cook it is my job to put together the best techniques to make it happen. I choose the cookers I use because they work for me. This last season I cooked on cermanics, WSMs.a Klose and FE100, I enjoyed cooking on the pellet cooker as much as any of the others.

The same thing when it comes for garnish when you see how some teams use it, they would be better off choosing not to.

[chad]

If no fans, no electicity, no thermostats -- guess that means no Nu-Temps, Mavericks, Pyrex, etc. thermometers either.

Damn, being a purist in BBQ is almost as hard as being a purist in animal rights, vegans, etc. :D

This is all a RULES thing. If you don't like one associations allowable equipment find one you do like. This whole thread spun off a comment I made about a Fast Eddy cooker spitting some pellets out. It wasn't intended to get a discourse on how much anyone hates "whatever".

Cook the way you like. Remember too that this is the Competition Forum and the discussion is often not about what we personally like to do or cook with - it's about the results that go to the judge.

Lighten up guys - nobody is trying to make you cook with pellets, wafers, gas, etc. If you want to use paper logs and Kraft sauce on your BBQ lamb - go for it!

[spicewine]

The same thing when it comes for garnish when you see how some teams use it, they would be better off choosing not to.

I've seen some that could win in the Salad Bar Category

[Aebs]

Originally Posted by DFLittle

While exchanging pits would be interesting: to truly be a purist how about digging a hole in the ground, lining it with rocks, burning down whole logs to a coal bed and cooking the meat on sticks stuck in the ground or on lattice made of green wood or other variations of "true" barbecue, barbeque, barbacoa, etc.

I've done this with 70-80 lb whole pigs a few times. Wrapped the beast in foil and burlap, lowered into the whole Friday night on a sheet of expanded steel with chains, buried it, and pulled it back out Saturday afternoon. Real good, real tender, real easy. Talk about your unmonitored cooking.

[jt]

lowered into the whole Friday night

as opposed to a partial Friday night

[jt]

LOL

Yours is going out as soon as I can get to FedX

[Jorge]

Originally Posted by DFLittle

Lighten up guys - nobody is trying to make you cook with pellets, wafers, gas, etc. If you want to use paper logs and Kraft sauce on your BBQ lamb - go for it!

Ignore him and keep going. I've got plenty of beer and popcorn

[Heath]

I can see the future,

INTRODUCING Your latest contestants in.... "IRON PIT CHEF"

Each contestant will have a variety of pits and/or cooking methods and meats provided and will have to produce better Q' than his competition. The one who wins the most times aver the next 5 days will be titled "IRON CHEF PIT MASTER"

music, music, dancing girls....