For the love of "Q"...

I haven't gotten to fire up the pit so far this year. Between rain, work, and other things, I just don't have time right now. But the BBQ sauce and BBQ rub sales have picked up again.

I have to make a half gallon of BBQ sauce (that is sold for Monday) for a man that runs a catering business this weekend. Word of mouth has helped a lot.

The BBQ rub has had great field test results and the sauce is gaining word of mouth as well. Everything is homemade right now. Whenever I can find time and a co-packer, I may be able to bring them to market for the public.

I'm also working on a vinegar sauce because you can't find any around here and I'm sure it would sell in this market.

We'll see...

The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.

Big Daddy

It's been awhile...

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted to this blog.

I've done some experimenting with the pit this summer. Heating the pit with charcoal then switching to wood for cooking. Heating the pit with lump charcoal then switching to wood for cooking or heating the pit then cook with charcoal and wood.

Which of these methods works better? Well they all do...up to a point.

Lump charcoal and wood creates less ash to deal with in the fire box, but...you can have temperature spikes when more fuel is added. The trick is to get your pit temperature were you want it, then go with a smaller fire during cooking.

A pure wood fire in the pit box will work but you have to have plenty of air flow to burn clean, unless you burn the wood first into coals, then add it to the firebox, this is something I have not done yet.

I do not have any fancy gadget's or gizmo's or guru's on my pit. I'm totally old school pit master, fire tender style of barbecue cooking. It's done when it's done.

I've tried different charcoals (from what can be found here in Nashville) and found a few that work well. I'll name and talk about these later in a different post.

It's 'bout time to ice down some brews and watch some football.

The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.

Big Daddy

Test Cook...

The weather has been the holdup for getting the jacks welded on the trailer and also, the hold up for me, on beginning any kind of test cook.



I'm really wanting to get started on that part of the game. Until I find out how this pit is going to cook and the time involved in cooking, I'm just dead in the water right now.

It's said, a good pit master can cook on anything. That I can do, but I don't want to go into any competition with out knowing my pit or without any game plan.

So... I may just run test cooks this year and bring Hillbilly Rib Runners into full competition mode next year. Right now I have my sauce and rub recipes ready.

I'm getting there, slowly but surely.



Cooking is like therapy, it keeps me from doing dishes...
Big Daddy

KCBS...

Julie and myself went to the judging class today in Dickson and we are now official KCBS Judges. This class helped us out tremendously as to learning a vast wealth of knowledge taught by Bobbie & Lee McWright of Music City Pig Pals.

Lee was very helpful and a great man to listen to and his presentation on the facts was very good. We can now do competitions or apply to be a judge at competitions.

This is only one stepping stone on our path, but a well placed one to say the least.

We are now in the game and our quest for winning begins...


Cooking is like therapy, it keeps me from doing dishes...
Big Daddy

Pass the Q please...

Ribs, are probably the most misunderstood meat when it comes to cooking competition. You could have cooked ribs for years and be fall off the bone consistent every time.

But that will not cut it in KCBS. KCBS teaches their judges that ribs are to pull clean off the bone at the point of where you bit into it. Not, fall off the bone, which many home cooks have done for years and years.



By doing this, you have to reinvent yourself in the art of cooking ribs. It's hard to do but you'll get the hang of it with plenty of practice. I have already done a few test runs and people tell me, they like the fall off the bone better.

So as a cook, you want to go back into old habits that work and make people happy. This is the dividing line between home cooks and competition cooks.

Competition cooks are home cooks that have advanced on to the next level of cooking. They have figured out what the judges are looking for, what will work and what won't work. Timing is everything in competition.

Home cooks can make mistakes and get away with it. Competition cooks can't. No mistakes can be made. Competition cooking is like bowling. Once you've turned that box in you have released the ball. If it strikes, that's good, it counts for you. But if you gutter it, it still counts, only against you and you don't get that second roll to try and spare that frame up.

Cooking is like any other sport. You compete against other people yes, but just like bowling, you compete against yourself. No one can beat you, except you. No one beats me in bowling, I beat myself. They may have had a better game than I did but they didn't beat me, I beat myself. I didn't adapt my game to the lane conditions so I beat myself.

Cooking is the same way. If I don't adapt to competition standard (lane condition) and my turn in box (ball) hits the gutter every time I'm going to beat myself hands down

To shoot a perfect score (300) in bowling, everything and I mean everything has to fall into place. I've only done it once and came close to it (299) twice more. That would have been a Grand Championship and two Overall Championships.

When we start doing test cooks this spring, smoke will fill the air with that sweet aroma of barbecue. We will be taking notes, drinking a few cold beverages and we will be enjoying life.

Look out world, here we come.


Cooking is like therapy, it keeps me from doing dishes...
Big Daddy


Big Daddy was a fire tender for Peg Leg Porkers. B.D. is now pit master and founder of Hillbilly Rib Runners Competition Bar-B-Que Team based out of Hendersonville, Tennessee

A Team is born...

This will be the readings of my team and our adventures into the world of KCBS and competition barbecue.