Tag Archive: brisket

  1. What’s In The Box?

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    Image of Brad Pitt from the movie Se7en with the caption, "What's in the Box."By Bill Jones, MABA Board Member and KCBS Master Judge, Table Captain, & Life Member

    Last issue we talked about the National BBQ Conference and what a panel of some of the top cooks in America tried to help teams understand. Quite simply – you hurt yourself more by putting less-than-stellar product in your box then it would be to have it in there over concern a judge may be expecting to see a certain cut offered.

    In looking back over my time as a KCBS judge, I have seen some very, very, beautiful boxes. And many of them were NOT the same ole same ole muffin tin chicken or brisket with burnt ends.  Some went way off the BBQ standard. I do not know if the team just wanted to see what it would score and maybe it be the next Myron Mixon muffin tin chicken idea or maybe they were a new team and this is what they thought would score well.

    So keep in mind, I cannot say what my other judges scored the boxes/ideas below. I can only say it does not for me, and the majority of the judges, have to be the same ole boxes.

    Chicken – Breast meat slices, flats and/or drummettes – seeing more and more legs these days,  saw a whole chicken one time – two legs, two breasts, twp thighs, and two wings. Talk about a heavy and a tight box!  All have their own concerns. Breast meat can dry out quickly. Legs can have the skin pulled up in a lollipop look or left on the bone.  A recent box was thigh and leg still connected and had grill marks on the skin.  Taste and tenderness were BOTH excellent. My favorite box I ever saw was smoked drummies and flats. Drummettes and flats lined up like little soldiers in four rows. They had a great color to them and they just popped in the box.  At the same contest, a thigh was turned in with what I could best describe as thick gooey black roofing tar ¼” thick on it. No one looked forward to tasting that entry and it scored very poorly.

    Ribs – Over sauced as mentioned in the previous article is an issue for more and more judges. Ribs don’t have to be dry, just not 3/8” thick gloppy sauce.  We as judges keep seeing teams on Facebook or The BBQ Brethren commenting on “it’s not a greens contest” or in this case ”it’s not a sauce contest.”  But teams fail to follow that same advice and cut back on the sauce to let the meat shine.  One of my worst boxes I ever judged was NOT over sauced…just overcooked! Burnt in fact, so bad the bones were popping through the crusty, petrified, burnt meat. That was bad enough but the team looked to have at the last second thrown the bones in the box and ran, and then fell on their way to turn in.  The even funnier thing was there were only 5 bones in the box. As bad as those five were we all wondered how bad bone number six was that the team chose not to include it?

    Pork – LOVED a box I had once which had three meat selections in it with three different sauces applied. The NC chopped look had a NC vinegar based sauce on it. The money muscle was a Memphis flavor and the pulled meat was Kansas City flavored.  We normally, as routine, see the same flavor on all the meat in the box and that’s fine too. I just thought that team went above and beyond and their selections fit the meat itself. I rewarded them for that choice.

    Brisket – And this is the one I hear teams comment on more than anything else. “If we don’t put burnt ends in the box the judges are going to score us down.”  Yes I am sure there are a few poor judges who may be doing so. I cannot say as I, myself, have never done so. Nor have I ever heard a judge at a table I was judging or table captaining say so.  I myself want your best. Unfortunately this is the one category I seem to fill out more comments about one of the two included entrees the team hurt themselves by including. KCBS does not tell us how to score when the slice is a 9 – 9 for taste and tenderness and the burnt end is a 3 – 3. So we are left with averaging or choosing to weigh a bit higher that the excellent outweighed the poor, or visa versa.

    Know that sometimes your cook just did not go as planned and sometimes you have to turn in what you have and hope for the best.   Just don’t over think it. KISS comes to mind.

    Good luck to each of you and I hope this will be of some help.

    Bill Jones

     

  2. Que for the Troops Levittown, PA

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    by Mark Gibbs, MABA Board member and Pitmaster of Checkered Flag 500 BBQ

    Que for the Troops #Q4TT2016 is an annual BBQ festival and competition held at Falls Township Park in Levittown, PA each year to support the Philadelphia USO organization.  This year’s contest featured 67 teams (a new record high for Q4TT) from all over the region.  The weather was ordered by the Chamber of Commerce!  It was a beautiful weekend for smoke, music and fun indeed.  Matt Markey of Falls Township does a great job of setting up the competitors with the best amenities for each of the BBQ teams.  There is always ample power, water and a great breakfast on Saturday morning for all of the teams.

    The social scene was alive and well on Friday night.  The skies were clear and teams were taking advantage of the opportunity to visit and catch up with friends and fellow competitors.  The weekend started off with an Anything Butt Category and a Dessert Category on Friday evening.  JURASSIC PORK – PA took home the honors in the Anything Butt with a fried shrimp offering.   MABA’s own BBQ Bob Trudnak finished second in the category with this great platter of Surf and Turf Guru Style (pictured below).  Those shrimp must have been amazing if this was second place!  Our Bark is Better Than Your Bite took home the honors in the dessert category.  Congrats to everyone in those two categories!  We love BBQ, but we have some chefs in our region that can make your head spin with some gourmet dishes!

    image of surf and turf
    BBQ Bob Trudnak of BBQ Guru finished in second place with his surf and turf offering!

    Saturday brought another beautiful day to the park and the competitors had the smoke rolling.  A passerby remarked that the smell coming from the BBQ rigs was amazing.  He was not lying!  The awards ceremony was at 4pm and right on time.  The Q4TT team does not waste any time when it comes to awards.  The teams were crowded in around the stage and the awards began.  Top honors in the Chicken Category went to MABA’s own Smokin’ Foolz of New Cumberland, PA.  The big Rib trophy went home with Dead On Q of Fairless Hills, PA.  First in Pork was Eastern Beast BBQ of Valley Stream, NY (one of three top 5 calls!).  The Brisket trophy went home with yours’ truly, Checkered Flag 500 BBQ of Fawn Grove, PA.

    The Top 5 Overall were Checkered Flag 500 BBQ, Hawg Nation BBQ of Phoenixville, PA, Eastern Beast BBQ Team, Dante’s Inferno out of Newportville, PA and Smokestack Redemption from Phoenixville, PA.  Four of the top five finishers are Mid-Atlantic Barbeque Association members!  Way to represent MABA!

    Image of Grand Champion team
    Grand Champions Mark and Sharon Gibbs of Checkered Flag 500 BBQ!

    Congrats to everyone who had their names called and huge congratulations to the folks at Que for the Troops for another great competition.  Rumor has it that they are already making plans for 2017 and beyond!

    image of Reserve Grand Champs Hawg Nation!
    Reserve Grand Champs Hawg Nation BBQ!

    First Place Winners:
    Chicken – Smokin Foolz BBQ
    Ribs – Dead on Q
    Pork – Eastern Beast BBQ Team
    Brisket – Checkered Flag 500 BBQ

    Grand Champion – Checkered Flag 500 BBQ
    Reserve Grand Champion – Hawg Nation BBQ

    Check out the full competition results here.

  3. Hog Happenin’ – Lincolnton, NC

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    By Stephanie West, MABA Vice-President and “The Neck” Pitmaster for Team 270 Smokers

    As the 3rd event out of 7 in the Old North State Series, we ventured to Lincolnton, NC for Hog Happenin’ under the impression that the four-legged variety was the star of this small North Carolina town.  Indeed, there were hogs by the thousands…they’d taken over every street and byway, capturing the attention and awe of bystanders…but it was the wheeled variety that was being celebrated at this festival!  Biker nirvana, I’d say!

    Image from the festivalAnd did I mention it was HOT?  Lord, have mercy, it was hot and humid!!  97 in the shade, and we were oh so very thankful for that shade!  (It was so hot that we skipped our traditional “team meeting” shot and instead passed out popsicles to neighboring teams!)

    26 teams competed in Lincolnton, with most hailing from North Carolina.  And North Carolina prevailed!  MABA’s own Redneck Scientific crushed it, capturing their 3rd GC of the year with a 706.2400 – marking their entry into “The 700 Club”!!  Jerry and Roxanne swept 1st in Ribs with a 180, 1st in Brisket, 2nd in Pork, and 3rd in Chicken!!  RGC went to Checkered Pig with a 691.9200.  Team 270 Smokers took 1st in Chicken (their first 180 in Chicken), and Elite BBQ Smokers did the same in Pork.  Overall, it was a pretty large spread in team scores (from 560 to 706), with no “table of angels” or “table of death”.

    Cash and trophies were awarded to GC, RGC, and the top 3 in each category, framed certificates were given for 4th thru 6th.  Payouts to just the top 3 was a pretty controversial topic, and it’s something that you may want to think about if you’re considering this event on your schedule next year.  If you do go, enjoy the small town charm and all the biker bling you can imagine!

    Image of motorcycles parked

     

     

     

    First place winners:
    Chicken – 270 Smokers (with a perfect 180!)
    Ribs – Redneck Scientific (with a perfect 180!)
    Pork – Elite BBQ Smokers (with a perfect 180!)
    Brisket – Redneck Scientific

    Grand Champion – Redneck Scientific
    Reserve Grand Champion – Checkered Pig

    Check out the full competition results here.

  4. Pitmaster Tip of the Month

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    “Tender, then Tasty!”

    By Stephanie West, MABA Vice-President and “The Neck” Pitmaster for Team 270 Smokers

    A beautiful brisket box from 270 Smokers!
    A beautiful brisket box from 270 Smokers!

    For years, I couldn’t walk out of a BBQ store without a half dozen bottles of the latest rubs and sauces. No doubt, with just a tweak of this or that (or as we jokingly say “Blues Hog plus….”), we could surely hit on just the right flavor profile to win over those 6 judges! How easily I was distracted by “hope in a bottle!”

    The fact is, our time is better spent focusing on tenderness (even though it’s a mathematical contradiction with the KCBS scoring system). After 21 comps in 2015, our team is convinced that judges nationwide are much more consistent in their interpretation and scoring of “tenderness” than they are in “taste”. And they have a hard time getting beyond a lapse in “tenderness”, no matter how tasty your super special secret rub and sauce may be! Great sauce on tough meat seems like putting lipstick on a pig–a diversion that is usually fairly pointless!

    We spent the last six months dialing in how to consistently render a brisket so that slices from the flat drape over our finger and the burnt ends are soft as marshmallows while having no visible fat–not an easy feat–and for the most part, leaving the flavor profile alone (sticking with the flavor rule of “offend no one”). Now, even with variation in the raw meat (marbling, weight, and thickness) from brisket to brisket, we seem to consistently nail tenderness. The result? We’ve shifted our mean brisket score up by 4 points and reduced the spread from +/- 11 pts to +/- 6 pts, meaning, we’re more competitive and more predictable. The journey isn’t done, but we’re on the right path for more calls and more cash!

  5. From the Judges Table

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    What’s in the Box??

    Image of Brad Pitt from the movie Se7en with words, What's in the Box."By Bill Jones, MABA Board Member and KCBS Master Judge, Table Captain, & Life Member

    In the movie, Se7en, you already know what’s in the box, (Spoiler Alert) “her pretty head”. If in a KCBS clamshell for turn in, a totally different set of items and thankfully so. As a judge we anxiously await each and every box to see what’s inside.

    I recently attended the National BBQ Conference in Jacksonville FL. If you ever get a chance to attend one I highly recommend it. Some of the greats of BBQ come and share their passion from marketing sauces, to competing, to selling product, to running a catering business or restaurant. One of the several classes I took this year was titled “Inside the Minds of Competition Cooks and Judges”. Since my wife will sometime ask the same thing – “what were you thinking,” I figured I would attend and maybe see if they could tell me.

    The panel was made up of a few names you may be familiar with – Tuffy Stone, Myron Mixon, Jim Elser, Chris Lilly, Carolyn Wells, and Will Cleaver.

    What I wanted to share with you was a couple of the topics that came up in hopes this may help some of you with your turn-in boxes. If it does, checks can be sent to my home address.

    Sauce. The issue of over saucing meats and presenting sweet on meats was discussed heavily. Cherry flavored brisket is not the way to go. Chicken that is so thick and gooey one needs to take a knife and scrape off the excess before tasting to see even what kind of meat it is. Ribs like candy bars. Pork so sweet dentists are opening offices just for the judges to visit for a cleaning after contests. The entire panel pushed for teams to get back to BBQ. As Tuffy said – “a LITTLE heat and a LITTLE sweet go a long way in limited amounts.”

    Areas of the country. Those that travel know they need to sometimes adjust what they serve in the boxes. Knowing ahead of time what regions of the country look for in taste is crucial to scoring well. However, you must practice that and know what the changes do to your entries. Jim Elser commented on how he changes when he goes to Kansas versus Florida or Arizona. Hard to fault him with that when he has won 7 GCs already this year alone.

    But the best box commentary was this one…one team asked Myron a direct question regarding their burnt ends and they were not scoring well when they included them. After a few back and forth comments and questions with that team and Myron, it became clear that the team had turned in boxes WITHOUT burnt ends and had actually scored higher in those comps. But when they did turn in burnt ends their scores dropped. Now maybe you may see where this is going – that team sure did not. They continued to ask what did they need to do. Myron finally got their attention when he said. “G _ D _ n son, your burnt ends suck, stop putting them in the box”. The whole room erupted. We all know what needed to be done. But that team just did not see it the same way. The old definition of insanity comes to mind – doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

    As a KCBS Master Judge, I have seen all sorts of things. I have had boxes where I wish the team had only put one item in as that cut were 9s all day long. But they went the extra step and put something else in that just was not good. This past weekend I had two identical brisket entrees – slices and their rendition of burnt ends. Slices would have received 9 and 9 for taste and tenderness. Burnt ends…let’s just say one was a 2 as I had to spit it out (as did two other judges) and the other was a 3 as I was able to get it down. And somehow it stayed down. KCBS does not direct us how to adjust our scores in these cases. So it is left to the judges to mark as they see fit. Those two teams had no chance at Brisket with the scores I gave them, as did my table mates. Had they only given us slices, they might have won, or at least gotten a call.

    And yes, I am well aware of the preconception of judges who expect certain items in the boxes. I will admit there are such judges out there. I will apologize to each of you now for those few judges. In talking with the judges at my tables, I find the overwhelming majority are not those type of judges. So you maybe want to consider only putting your best in the box and letting the chips fall where they may. Because I believe a bad judge who is looking for certain items to be in the box, even if you put what he or she may want to see in the box, is going to kill you on score if it’s not good.

    Good luck to each of you and I hope this will be of some help.

  6. Smoke in the Valley, Greenlane, PA

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    By Megan Ferguson, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster of Finn’s Finest BBQ Team
    Screen Shot 2016-05-19 at 11.44.29 AMMud everywhere!

    Smoke in the Valley – Mud Fest

    There was no sugar coating it in Green Lane, PA this past weekend. There was cold, wet, sloshy, deep brown stuff everywhere. No, not poop…MUD! And it never went away.

    Let’s start with the smart teams. Ya know, those that pulled in Thursday before the rest of us got there and tore up the field. These guys pulled into the field, parked their rigs and unloaded, no problems! The rest of us learned quickly how lucky those smart Thursday arriving teams were. Thankfully, the Green Lane Fire Company volunteers had our backs and were ready with a tractor to pull all the teams with trailers in on Friday. Many of us didn’t even bother driving our trucks into the area. However, those that did might wish they hadn’t as we saw several of them being pulled out Saturday evening.
    Screen Shot 2016-05-19 at 11.44.12 AMDeep mud tracks!

    Nasty weather can be expected at a BBQ competition, but I don’t think anyone was really prepared for the amount of mud that the valley would produce. When I say we were up to our ears in mud, I’m really not that far off. If you didn’t bring a good pair of boots with you, you were in a bad spot for the entire weekend. Many times throughout the weekend, you would catch some of the kids swimming through the trenches or engaging in a good old fashioned mud ball fight. It certainly helped lighten the mood watching them parade around, covered head to foot in thick, brown, sloppy wet stuff. They were having the time of their lives.

    The mud didn’t stop anything. On Friday, meats got inspected as teams rolled in. The volunteers were very visible throughout the contest, riding around on four wheelers, delivering straw to each site to soak up as much of the wet stuff as possible, dropping off ice, and picking up trash. If anyone needed anything, they didn’t have to wait long for a volunteer to round the corner. There were a variety of food vendors, just in case you didn’t plan your dinner. Unfortunately, the huge Friday bonfire was postponed due to the pile being pretty much soaked.
    Screen Shot 2016-05-19 at 11.44.48 AMThe kiddos enjoying the mud!
    Screen Shot 2016-05-19 at 11.45.45 AMTractors were needed to pull trailers in and out of the competition

    Saturday morning, we were greeted with even more rain. But a hot breakfast including scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, French toast, and all the fixins’ was served in the firehouse. They even had pitchers of Bloody Mary’s ready at the firehouse bar. Well prepared indeed!

    Turn-ins went as planned and all teams made it to the table in all four categories without incident. The rain finally let up early afternoon and a few rays of sunshine started to beam through the clouds. Fire company volunteers went right to work pulling teams out of the valley as soon as they were ready. Awards were held in the pavilion at 4:45 with Shawn Tucker getting down to business on calling out the winners. Big shout out to Shawn and his team of volunteers for all of their hard work and efforts during this contest!
    Screen Shot 2016-05-19 at 11.45.20 AMFinn’s Finest BBQ takes GC in Green Lane!

    First Place Winners:
    Chicken – Lo’-N’Slo’ BBQ
    Ribs – Feeding Friendz
    Pork – Ribs Within
    Brisket – Smokin’ Foolz BBQ

    Grand Champion – Finn’s Finest BBQ
    Reserve Grand Champion – The BBQ Guru

    Check out the full competition results here.

  7. Jiggy With the Piggy, Kannapolis, North Carolina

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    by Jerry Stephenson, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster of Redneck Scientific
    jiggy5Jerry Stephenson from Redneck Scientific

    Stop number two on the Old North State Series brought everyone to Kannapolis, NC and the fourth annual Jiggy with the Piggy competition.

    Set in the middle of The North Carolina Research Campus, Jiggy is one of North Carolina’s best contests. Loading in and out is a breeze and there is plenty of space for large teams and their setups. The cooks area is a large, well-mowed field.

    Eddie Smith, his staff and the town of Kannapolis go above and beyond to take care of each and every team.

    The weather was cool on Friday night, but the Anything Butt dessert contest and People’s Choice wings got things heated up. After turn ins, the people of Kannapolis joined the teams and their families for an outdoor movie on the lawn. This annual event at Jiggy always pulls in a crowd. After the movie, fireworks lit the sky, as teams started to light their smokers and turn in for the night.
    jiggy3
    First place, Anything Butt for appearance
    jiggy4
    First place, Anything Butt for taste

    After a breezy, chilly start on Friday night, Saturday morphed into beautiful skies and 70-degree temperatures. The weather was perfect for the 77 KCBS BBQ teams that turned out.

    Saturday morning dawned crisp and clear with Cook’s Church led by Tommy Houston (Checkered Pig) and Kevin Gary (K&D Smokers). And if anyone is looking for a reason to attend Cook’s Church, the 2016 Jiggy’s GC and RGC attended. After the devotional, teams got a full pancake breakfast hosted by the Kannapolis YMCA.

    As thousands of people began funneling into the event just before noon, teams began their KCBS turn ins. After KCBS turn ins ended, the People’s Choice Pork event began and lastly the team awards.

    As anyone has ever been to Jiggy with the Piggy knows, Eddie Smith doesn’t mess around calling out team awards.

    In individual categories, Checkered Pig won chicken (with a Perfect 180 score), Lady of Q in ribs, and Prime in pork and brisket.

    Overall, the Reserve Grand Champion went to The Smokehouse Mafia and Grand Champion went to Sauced! BBQ. Not only did Sauced! BBQ Team earn a GC, they did it with 702 points, and only two other top ten calls.

    Well done fellows and congrats to all who heard their name called!
    jiggy2Grand Champions, Scott and Jolene Adams from Sauced! BBQ Team
    jiggy1Andrew Rasmussen and David Williams of The Smokehouse Mafia take RGC!

    First place winners:
    Chicken – Checkered Pig (with a perfect 180!)
    Ribs – Lady of Q (with a perfect 180!)
    Pork – PRIME
    Brisket – PRIME (with a perfect 180!)

    Grand Champion – Sauced! BBQ Team
    Reserve Grand Champion – The Smokehouse Mafia

    Check out the full competition results here.