S
sigmasmokers
Guest
I have been pondering last weekends cookout and had some questions. We smoked little chicken thighs for about 2 hours, put in alumunim pan with sauce for 1 hour, and back on to set sauce for about 30 to 45 minutes. I thought was some of the best chicken we turned in and got 40th. I have decided I can't get crispy skin on thighs so we went with soft skin and this skin was so soft, when you bit into the thigh it would bite through like there was no skin at all. We also used St. Louis spares for the 1st time(bad time to experiment). I know the 3-2-1 "guideline" for spares and was wondering if that goes for St. Louis trimmed spares also. We thought our problem was getting the ribs too tender which I assume comes from the amount of time wrapped in foil. With this amount of time it seems that there are only about 3 or 4 ribs per rack that we can turn in right in the middle of the rack. Out towards the edges we were getting shiners or the bone was coming out the bottom. We have only done well in ribs one time and we got 3rd place last spring. When I look at the ribs we were getting ready to turn in, I told my partner that I was going to throw them away and not turn them in. There were shiners all over the racks but we must have salvaged 6 ribs for turn in and got 3rd. I think that I am too afraid of getting them fall off the bone tender and I am not getting them tender enough. I should have learned last year that the judges would rather have too tender than tough. Any input from you competative cooks on these cooking times I posted would be appreciated. Our next competition is in about a month and I need to practice.
Steve
Steve