meat carryover

Meat Carryover Experiment

How Much Does Meat Carryover? It’s a fact that all meat will carry over a few degrees once you take it off the grill. I wanted to run a little BBQ experiment and see just how far does meat carryover…  For these experiments we used our trusty Thermoworks DOTs. First I gotta thanks Mark Williams from Swine Life BBQ for coming …

cooking a whole hog

Trimming A Whole Hog

Trimming/Butchering A Whole Hog step-by-step instructions on how to trim and butcher a whole hog before slow-smoking How to trim a whole hog before smoking. It is essential to trim to make sure that the meat is exposed and the smoke and rub can penetrate your BBQ. Taking the time to trim your hog will be the hardest step – …

spicy smoked ribs

Tips for Cooking BBQ Ribs

Cooking BBQ Ribs Secrets, Tips and Suggestions for Slow-Smoking BBQ Ribs BBQ Ribs Membranes… Always pull the membrane off of the slab of BBQ Ribs. The last thing you want is to take a bite of your rib and have a tough piece of membrane attached to the bone. The membrane prevents you from getting flavor on the back side …

St. Louis Style Ribs vs. Baby Back Ribs

St. Louis Style Ribs vs. Baby Back Ribs Choosing the perfect rib… There are generally 2 different styles of ribs… St. Louis Spares (or Spare Ribs) and Loin Backs (or baby back ribs) What RIB you cook in competition BBQ… In the MBN and Memphis in May competitions, you always use Loin-Back ribs – because it is simply what the judges expect. But in the Kansas …

smoke a holiday ham

How To Smoke A Holiday Ham

Smoke A Holiday Ham I love smoking holiday hams. Hams are one of the easiest things to smoke and incredibly delicious… when you do it the right way. When I was a kid growing up, we always had a baked ham or a ham bought from Honey Baked Hams… and I always thought those two hams were good. But they …

Find a butcher

Finding The Right BBQ Butcher

Finding The Right BBQ Butcher It’s really important to find a good bbq butcher you can depend on – especially for your backyard and competition bbq needs. When your smoking and grilling bbq, you want to use best meat so you’r finished product will be way better than average BBQ. When I’m cooking at home for practice or just for …

cook a whole hog

7 Tips For Cooking a Whole Hog

7 Tips For Cooking a Whole Hog There are several different methods for cooking a whole hog… smokers, pits, even La Caja boxes. Whatever you want to cook on is your decision… But here are a few little tips you can follow to just take your whole up to that next level.. 1 – Stay about 12″ away from your …

reheat brisket

Reheat Brisket

Reheat Brisket Brisket is some of the best BBQ you can cook. Good thing is that it’s easy to cook ahead of time (for my Texas-Style Brisket Recipe, click here >>) and then reheat brisket later – without drying it out. Once you have your brisket cooked and it has had a proper rest time. It’s time to package it. …

Barbecue, Grilling, And Judging Classes

If you’re looking for a list of barbecue or judging classes, Meathead over at AmazingRibs.com has put together a great one:  Barbecue, Grilling, And Judging Classes I agree completely with him. If you’re serious about winning at competition barbecue then you must take every opportunity to learn from the people doing it on a day to day basis. I consider …

Smokin on a Pellet Cooker

Over the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting with a new kind of smoker… well it’s not really new, but for a charcoal and wood man, it’s a little different. I’m talking about a pellet smoker. For those of you that don’t know, a pellet smoker is a cooker that runs off of compressed wood “pellets”. This type of grill …

What You Need to Know Before Buying a Smoker

Let’s talk about everything you need to know about upgrading your equipment more specifically purchasing a new smoker. Here’s some things to think about before pulling the trigger: What is the smoker going to be used for? Are you buying your first smoker, or is it time to upgrade to a larger cooker? You first need to identify what the …