BBQ Competition Turn-In and Cooking Timeline

It’s that time of year when the BBQ circuit starts warming up and newbies begin thinking about entering a BBQ competition.  Well stop thinking about it and DO IT!

Possibly the biggest question mark BBQ comp newbs have is “How in the world do I organize my prep, cooking, and turn-in timelines?”

This is the Oakridge BBQ Comp Team Timeline as published by them in an effort to assist newbs as they get into the world of competition BBQ.  Your times can, and probably will, vary.  Remember to cook your cook, not theirs.  This is just a guide to help you out.

A few points to note from the timeline:

• Setup and prep start a full 8 hours before any meat hits the grates.
• Butts and Brisket go on and come off together.
• Plenty of time for rest and/or sleep through the night.  Some teams will start the butts/brisket much later and sleep less.

Overall it looks like a pretty smooth timeline until about 11am when you just may be working super hard until the last turn in.

Props to the folks at The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board for posting this.

Hope this helps some of you be a bit better prepared for your first comp.

How to Make BBQ Chicken Thighs in the Oven

Making BBQ chicken in the oven should be part of every cook’s bag of tricks.  Oh sure we grillers would rather fire up some lump and put some nice thighs on the grill, but sometimes things just don’t work out properly.  Here’s a method I’ve been using lately that’s not just easy, but delicious.

When making “BBQ” chicken you naturally think of thighs.  That’s great because dark meat has a higher moisture content than white meat so it’s much harder to dry out.  So thighs it is.

It doesn’t matter if your thighs are still slightly frozen or have ice crystals on them, you just don’t want them rock hard frozen.  That really won’t work.

Preheat the oven on its lowest setting, around 220*-250*.  Much like grilling a steak, you don’t want to start cooking with real cold chicken.  This will help bring the internal temperature of the chicken up slowly and lend itself to more even cooking.

While that’s working we need to get the chicken ready.  Begin by trimming the thighs with a pair of shears.  Remove any exposed fat, that strip along the side will still be there after cooking if you don’t trim it off, and clip off any hanging bits of skin, it’s unattractive and may burn.

To get that nice “bite through” skin you need to start with it dry.  Firmly pat and squeeze each piece of chicken dry with a paper towel.  Use as many towels as it takes, just make it dry.  Wet skin will not do what you want.  For best results, put in the fridge for a couple of hours uncovered to dry the skin.

Now this is important for the taste.  You want to layer flavors on the chicken.  Some people will start with a brine of salt, sugar and some spices and/or herbs.  I don’t brine, but only because I haven’t tried it.  I start with a seasoning rub at this point.  Something as simple as Lemon-Pepper salt will work.  Sprinkle your desired amount of seasoning on the chicken and spread around evenly.  Be sure to get the bottom.

Arrange the chicken on a broiler pan, not a cookie sheet.  You want to use the broiler pan because the drippings are able to escape the chicken.  If the thighs just sit in their own fat you’re going to have some nasty stuff.  You want the fat to baste the chicken, not soak the chicken.

I generally don’t watch the clock when cooking so I can’t give exact times.  I do it by feel, by what I think… OK, I guess a lot…

Put the thighs in the oven, skin side up, for about half an hour.  This really helps to bring the internal temperature up so you don’t get a done outside and an undercooked inside.  Don’t ever serve undercooked chicken.  Not only is it unhealthy, but it’s gross.

At the half hour mark just go ahead and bump the temp to 350* for 45 minutes to an hour.  Do NOT put your sauce on at this time.

At the hour mark you have two ways to go so I’ll start with the way I generally do it.  I turn the broiler on and move the rack down a spot from the middle.  I brush my sauce on both sides of the chicken being sure to make it thin and even, not thick and heavy.  I then return the pan to the oven with the skin side down.  I want to try to crisp the bottom some because it’s been sitting in some of the fat that didn’t drain down.

After a couple of minutes go ahead and flip the chicken, skin side up and return to the broiler.  Listen here, you MUST watch the chicken carefully.  Burned chicken is burned chicken, not good chicken, not BBQ chicken, not appetizing chicken.  Don’t burn the skin.  When it’s just crispy again pull it, let it sit for a few minutes and serve.

The other way to finish is bump the temp to make sure the skin is crispy, again watching it carefully so as not to burn it, then brush a pre-heated sauce, not a cold sauce, on just before serving.  It’s your choice.  I prefer one way, you may prefer the other or another.

I hope this helps some of you who are looking for an easy way to cook chicken thighs in the oven.  Of course the best way to cook thighs is over fire, but sometimes life steps in.

Great BBQ Recipes

Here’s a link to a great site for BBQ recipes.  He’s a friend from the “sticks of Virginia” so check out his site, The Wolfe Pit

Larry also has some of the best rubs this side of the Mississippi!  Best of all you don’t have to buy those small 6oz containers of it at the store.  You can buy the whole darned recipe and make it yourself whenever you want!  Not many Qer’s will do that!

Link to Rub recipes

Smoking a Pork Butt Using High Heat

I’m a big fan of the low-and-slow bbq method, but an opportunity presented itself to try a high heat pork butt.  I’ve read differing reviews from friends and thought I’d give it a run.  Here’s how my cook went.

I started with a full ring of Kingsford, not my favorite but it works and is consistent, one large chung of hickory, and about 2/3 of a chimney of lit coal on top.  I had no water in the pan of the Weber Smokey Mountain, and set all the vents wide open.  The weather outside was below 70* and clear with no wind and the WSM was positioned in full sun.

Some people have difficulty reaching high temps with a WSM so I waited until mine hit 300* before I started shutting the vents down.  I first closed one when I put the meat on the top rack, fat cap up.  Later, when the temp reached 370* I closed another vent, but had to re-open it later to keep the temp at 350*.  With all vents opened the WSM never went above 370*.

I didn’t keep track of time as I was in and out of the house all day, but it was about 5 hours when the butt was done.  I let it rest under foil for about an hour before pulling.

I found the bark to be nice and tasty, better than a long cook would be.  The meat was very moist and there was a nice smoke ring all around.

The downside is the connective tissue and fat didn’t render as much as it would have doing a low-and-slow cook.  I generally toss anything I think is unsavory, so I always have a nice little trashbag.  This time it was larger than normal.  Not a crazy amount of waste, just more.

Overall I’d give the cook a nice high rating.  If I have two or more butts to cook I’d still do them overnight, but for just a single I’ll cook it this way again.  It may not be perfect, but I think the extra waste is well worth the time savings for such a small amount.

Grilled Steak Over a Chimney Starter

Here’s how I grilled a Porterhouse steak over a chimney starter.  I saw Alton Brown do it with a Ribeye, so I figured what the heck, let’s see what happens.  Boy was it easy.

Start by lighting 1/4, or less, of a chimney.  Place cooking grate over chimney and let the coals become fully lit.  Clean and oil the grate then place your steak on the grate over the chimney.  Be careful!  It gets seriously hot over that chimney.

After about two minutes flip the steak.  Two minutes after that begin testing for doneness using the Poke Test as described below by Steven Raichlin.

I didn’t try to put crosshatch marks on the steak because I was concerned about over cooking due to the extreme heat.  However, you can see I got some beautiful grill marks anyway.

My steak came out a perfect medium-rare to medium on the edges.

What I learned using this method is much less coal is needed to cook the food.  I also wouldn’t cook a thick cut using this method as a thicker cut would require some indirect heat to finish without burning.  Overall I give it an A+ and I’ll definitely use the chimney to cook over again.

Steven Raichlin, the author of The Barbecue Bible, describes the Poke Test as this:

Test for doneness using the poke test: A rare steak will be soft, a medium-rare steak will be gently yielding, and a medium steak will be firm.

Please note there is no description of a Well Done steak.  I refer to a Well Done piece of meat as “Ruined”.

Porterhouse on a Chimney

How to Clean a Charcoal Grill

How to clean a charcoal grill is a common question asked by new Pit Master Wanna Be’s.  Here’s the quick and easy, down and dirty method for getting it right the first time.

Start by dumping your ash catcher before your next cook.  You’ll probably need the room especially if you use a processed briquette like Kingsford.

After the cook remove the thermometer, if equiped, by pulling it straight out and set aside.  Heck, take it in the house and wash it!  The excessive heat you’re about to generate could ruin the therm.

Next step is to add a fully lit chimney of coal to the grill ( you may need two if your grill is super nasty).  Be sure to spread all the coals around for a nice even burn.  Ensure all the vents are wide open and crack the lid.  It doesn’t take much, about 1/2″ is sufficient.

Now sit back and watch the smoke as your grill self cleans.  Oh yeah, it’s going to smoke like crazy and it’s going to get “hyper” hot with the cracked lid.

After about an hour go ahead and scrape the cooking grate.  If you have welding gloves you can even flip the grid over and brush the underside.

The next day, or many, many hours later, start removing the ashe in a safe manner and store them in a metal container.

Next use balled up household tin foil to scrape the inside of the grill including the lid.  The tin foil won’t damage the ceramic baked on coating of good grill like a Weber kettle, but it will remove the “grill candy”.

Dump the ash catcher again, wash the outside and you’re done.

Hope this helps.

The keys to a good grill cleaning are heat, time, and safety.