maybe crack the lid a bit with a spoon or something? smoke will still collect around the top and impart some flavor, obviously not ideal though.

That'll help, just make sure you have a way to monitor the temp near the meat so you can make any adjustments

Not really, it's split about 50/50 foil / no foil in the cooker.

Thanks for the appearance scores, slam dunk pro. Are you a certified bbq judge, a competitor, or a layman? Any suggestions? This was a kcbs event if that changes anything.

He he. Cured pork country style ribs using buckboard bacon cure, a commercial product. Smoked over apple until 150 internal, then cut into half inch thick one inch squares and fried them up to brown/crisp. They were a smashing success for a dollar each on a toothpick.

Competitive BBQ gets a little complicated but I'll try and hit the highlights.

There are 6 large competitive BBQ sanctioning bodies in the US
KCBS -Kansas City BBQ Society
PWNBBQA - Pacific North West BBQ Association
FBA - Florida BBQ Association
MABA - Mid Atlantic BBQ Association
NEBS- New England BBQ Society
ICBA - International Competitive BBQ Association

MIM - which holds Memphis in May is a different animal, it's a whole hog competition - incidentally MIM is now a wholly owned subsidiary of KCBS.


KCBS, FBA, MABA and NEBS use a similar system - each cook turns in 6 samples of 4 meats - chicken, ribs, pork shoulder, and beef brisket. Judges are set up in tables of 6 and each judge rates 6 samples of each meat. They don't judge each entry against the others, they evaluated each sample on it's own and give it a numerical score. The scores are totaled and the winner is chosen. ICBA and PWNBBQA are a little different you still have 6 samples and six judges, but the judges pick the best in their group.The winner from each table submits an additional sample to another panel of judges who then samples all the 2nd tier samples and they declare a winner from that pool.

MIM uses both a 2 tire blind judging system similar to ICBA as well as an on site judging system.

I have a Weber Genesis Silver-B with 3 flame bars and I use it to smoke when I'm too lazy to fire up the WSM. The Genesis works very well and is pretty easy to keep at ~225F at the grate. Instead of smoke pouches, I just get lazy and toss a fist-sized chunk of wood on top of the "flame tent" inverted V thing over the active burner which produces maybe 45 minutes of smoke. I don't soak the chunk of wood before, just toss it on dry.

Makes pretty good ribs.

JasonInDallas, you cook ribs over propane but you consider foiling ribs cheating? If you're gonna be a "purist," you can't pick and choose.

Foiling ribs is not comparable to boiling them. When you foil ribs (or pork butt, or brisket) they braise in the juices that they extrude, or what you add to the pan. The pork flavor doesn't leech out into the liquid like it does when you boil them. And that liquid can turn around and be used to thin out your BBQ sauce/glaze, where water just gets poured down the drain.

BBQ includes pretty much all slow-smoked meat. Differences in techniques, cooking temperature, or use of foil/pans can merely be chalked up to regional or personal preferences. Like mentioned earlier in the thread, foiling brisket is so ubiquitous as to be known as the "texas crutch" - Texans are pretty haughty about their brisket...

For another example, see beef barbacoa or pork pibil, which is smoked within a banana leaf. How could that be too different from using aluminum foil?

Great thread! I've posted these elsewhere on 2p2, but can't resist. Looking forward to some BBQ advice from those with more experience.

After watching too many food shows on TV, I was anxious to be able to BBQ. My husband went to work building a smoker.

Smoker Version 1: The box is the same in all versions. It's a cafeteria milk dispenser that my husband converted into a smoke box. Version 1 was heated by a cast iron wood stove we had around. It worked great, but heat was very very difficult to control:



Brisket and smoked corn from version 1: Brisket wasn't smoked long enough to get as tender as it should have.









Smoker Version 2: He converted to a propane heater to which he added a wood box over the flame. Temp held perfect at 230. Unfortunately, there was no shut off or anything on the propane, so it wasn't exactly the safest set up.

We're now on version 3, with a new propane barrel grill with added safety features. He's still tweaking, so I'll post pictures when it's done.



Pork Butt from Version 2: This came out awesome, fall apart tender. A little crusty. We didn't do anything to it. It probably should have been mopped.





We threw some beef ribs on with dry rub on Friday. They were a revelation. I had no idea I could like ribs that much.

I have a brisket in the freezer. Any suggestions? How many hours in the smoker? Foil or no foil? Mop? I'd really like to improve on the first effort.

Oh, he also did a cold smoke on some white cheddar and pepper jack by attaching a small grill.

I used this recipe last time I made brisket and it turned out pretty good. I have an electric bradley smoker but the recipe will work the same on any smoker as long as you can keep the temp consistent.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/sho...isket-Pachanga

Here is a pic of my finished brisket it took 16 hrs:

Yes, I am a CBJ and a competitor.

Chicken
The chicken was huge in that box, maybe trim them down a bit. The sauce looks gloppy - thin it a bit before glazing.

Ribs
They look like they were just tossed in the box. In general boxes score better with the top of the ribs is exposed vs the sides. Definitely do spares next time. Also put more than 6 ribs in the box. Even out the garnish so it doesn't look like it was just tossed in the box.
Here's a rib box that we got 9-9-9-9-8-8 on this past weekend.


Pork
The chunks look good but the slices are really sloppy - uneven sauce, again the garnish looks just tossed in the bottom of the box. I really don't like the heel of the money muscle on top, clean up the ragged and hanging pieces on the edges of the slices.

Brisket
Overall the layout of this box is good, try to center it a little better in the box. Try to stack the slices more evenly. Wipe off the crumbly bits of the bark on the sides of the slices.

What were your appearance scores?

Thanks, and your brisket looks great!

Just bought a Weber Smokey Mountain. Does any one have any advice on accessories to go with it suck as rib racks, thermometers etc that are "must haves"?

Also recommendations on wood, fuel (type, brand etc) to go with it would be appreciated and any tips for the first couple of times i give it a whirl. Thanks

The only accessory I use is a thermometer, like here:

http://www.kck.com/old_smokey/bbq_termometer_gauge.html

so you know what the temp of the smoker is obv (I dont use a meat thermo, because I can just tell when things are done, but you may want to look into one);

drilled a hole in the lid and screwed it on, you really do not need much else, the rib rack I find dont really make too much more space for you. I always use kingsford as it gives me the most consistent temp, and alwys match your food up with your wood, pork/chicken = fruit wood, hickory = beef etc, there are a bunch of good charts out there that will tell you optimal food/wood combos

The maverick et-73 is a good thermometer and not very expensive. It is nice to have for large chunks of meat like pork butts and briskets.

The wireless device will let you know when the meat is ready or if the temperatures are too low or high.

For fuel, I use Royal Oak briquettes and have no complaints. For smoke wood, I use maple for pork and beef and apple for chicken. Chicken absorbs smoke really easily and is easy to oversmoke.

The new Weber Smokey Mtns should have a thermometer. Mine does and I bought it a year ago. I use a rib rack every now and then. Other than that you don't need many accessories. The first couple times you use it I recommend keeping a log with how much charcoal you use, how open you kept the vents, and what the temps were so if you ever get serious, you can replicate temperatures and keep them constant.

After a year I am finally to the point where I feel I can set it and forget it and not worry about it getting too hot or too cold.

For general ease of use get a 14" unglazed terra cotta planter base, double wrap it in HD foil, and put it in your water pan. This functions as a heat sink that is more efficient than water because it just radiates heat instead of converting water into steam.

Cleanup is also a snap, just grab the top foil after it cools, and toss.

Thanks for the tips on presentation SDP. We did a putting green of parsley with a romaine base, I thought it looked pretty slick.

CH 689889
RI 677868
PK 889978
BR 988788

Christmas bump

I just put 6 monster briskets and 2 pork butts in the cooker for holiday goodies for some friends and family.

My dad got a Snow's brisket in the mail yesterday as a Christmas gift from one of his clients. It may have been the best thing I've ever eaten, no exaggeration. You can get mail orders on Snow's website, I would highly recommend it.

http://www.snowsbbq.com/

Too dry. Longer does not equal better. You had the heat too high or your meat wasn't fatty enough for a super long 16 hour smoke.

Wait, I know this is super old... but this thing is seriously your smoker? WTF that is monstrous! Do you run a BBQ restaurant or what?

That's half of it - there is another cooker just out of frame on the right.

If that's only half of it, I bet he wonders even more if you own a BBQ joint or not. Guess we'll never know!

This thread is awesome. I enjoy looking at all these pics. Could look at bbq pics all day long if I got paid to do so.

Sorry, I was swamped earlier. No I don't own a BBQ joint, but I do some contract cooking / catering and I have a competition BBQ team.