I QUE

10 in a Row

2011-08-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

I’ll spare you the excuses regarding the abandoned blog. Instead I’ll pick up with the last Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Draw back in Sept 2010:

http://www.kcbs.us/news.php?id=276

My team IQUE had an automatic bid based on our win at the Jack the previous fall. The 2010 Jack would also be our 9^th straight year competing at the contest. And we were quite aware of the following rule in the fairly complex Jack Daniels qualifying criteria:

After a team has competed at “The Jack” nine times, the tenth year they win a qualifying competition, they will be invited without going through any draws.”

So we had a year to win any qualifying Grand Championship and we would become the first team to ever be invited to the Jack 10 years in a row. While winning a Grand Championship is never easy – in fact it gets harder every year – the task seemed at least quite do-able. We usually cook 10-12 contests a year and have probably averaged 2-3 Grand Championships each year. We were fresh off of winning New England BBQ Society team of the year and felt good about our cooking program. No stress, no worry, let’s go get that Grand now!

First up was Harvard, MA Sept 2010:

Chicken (2), Our absolute bread and butter category for at least the last two years

Ribs (19) rib issues were on the horizon

Pork (7), Brisket (3)

Reserve Grand Champion. Close. Oh how nice it would have been to knock out the qualifier in the first attempt

Oinktoberfest, Clarence NY Sept 2010

Chicken (16), Ribs (5), Pork (14) and Brisket (1, with a big score), Reserve Grand. Yes close again.

Both the Oink and Harvard were good cooks. In both cases another team just cooked better than us that day.

Jack Daniels 2010 (76 teams)

Heck a Grand here would be a great way to get qualified for next season. ::grin::

Chicken (20), Ribs (55), Pork (18), Brisket (9), Overall (17)

Ribs, OUCH. But deserved. Guess we’ll have to wait until 2011 to qualify.

2011

I was coming off of teaching two cooking classes in the NEBS and Mid Atlantic regions. My plan for 2011 was to try out some new entries and mix it up a bit hoping to standout. And why not? I had a whole season in front of me to qualify for the Jack. Turned out I got my butt whooped regularly by teams that had taken my class.

Lexington MA April (27 teams)

Chicken (4), Ribs (6), Pork (14), Brisket (9), Overall (7)

A variety of new ideas tried. Pork becoming an issue

Middletown, Delaware May (47 teams)

Chicken (3), Ribs (12), Pork (19), Brisket (20), Overall (8)

Chicken rock solid, Pork still a problem, Brisket undercooked. Self-imposed mediocrity.

Rochester, NY May (83 teams)

Chicken (3), Ribs (31), Pork (28), Brisket (11), Overall (10)

I’m sensing a trend, my Pork sucks.

Cape Cod June (33 teams)

Chicken (22), Ribs (6), Pork (18), Brisket (5), Overall (10)

Even my reliable chicken was not present at this one. These first four contests were all won by teams that took my class. I mention that only that it made me question my approach. Maybe I should use my old recipes? I would mark this contest as the point where the pressure started. Shit, I am running out of time and need to win a contest. Stick with it or change up the program?

Old Orchard Beach June (17 teams)
Chicken (3), Ribs (5), Pork (6), Brisket (2), Overall (2)

Missed GRAND by 1 pt!

Lake Placid July (26 teams)

I took a much needed break but my team-mate John Delpha who has been bit hard by the Comp BBQ bug competed:

Chicken (10), Ribs (11), Pork (3), Brisket (11), Overall (10)

Well maybe John knows something about Pork. I would have liked nothing more than to see John win our qualifier.

A note on Pork

We have a risky Pork presentation that basically entails filling the box with huge slices of pork. Risky because judges looking for pulled pork often ding this turn in. Other times it can be quite impressive. We have had hot runs with this presentation including 2^nd place at the Jack in 2009. We decided to take this approach out of the archives and give it a shot.

Troy NY July (32 teams)

Chicken (2), Ribs (18), Pork (9), Brisket (20), Overall (7)

Chicken returns, Optimistic about Pork but undercooked the Brisket. I was really struggling to pull four decent categories together. The problem category is starting to be something different every week.

Harpoon July (40 teams)

ROCK BOTTOM. Possibly the worst showing I have had at a KCBS contest ever.

Chicken (26), Ribs (29), Pork (21), Brisket (8), Overall (20)

Fryeburg, Maine July (38 teams)

Meanwhile John was back in Maine

Chicken (9), Ribs (9), Pork (4), Brisket (8), Overall (3)

STRONG effort... close

Status

The plan from here was to cook safe tried and true recipes, stay cool and cook as many contests as possible. The large slice Pork experiment was over. The next weekend John went to Saratoga and I went to Brockport. It was unclear if either would be qualifiers but we needed to cook. At this point I had a cooler in my car with ice and meat in it pretty much non-stop for over a month. Thankfully my family was incredibly supportive and I actually had this in my fortune cookie:

Saratoga NY July (16 teams)

Chicken (5), Ribs (12), Pork (8), Brisket (2), Overall (7)

John thought ribs were the best thing he cooked.

Brockport NY July (25 teams)

Chicken (17), Ribs (5), Pork (3), Brisket (4), Overall (4)

How cruel. A solid cook, pork finally returns but the bread and butter chicken does not score today. Pretty much sums up how the year has been going. Good news is I stumbled upon a nice Pork technique here. I am a bit more optimistic, stick with it, change nothing.

Manorsville, NY August (42 Teams)

Chicken (2), Ribs (22), Pork (5), Brisket (1), Overall (1)

Boom! There it is - 10 years in a row The BBQ Gods still tried to derail me by dinging my excellent ribs but the brisket was just too good and we won our Grand. Break out the Single Barrel we are going back to Lynchburg!

Eliot ME August (40 teams)

I’ll cook one more, why not?

Chicken (31), Ribs (1), Pork (5), Brisket (8), Overall (5)

There it is again. A different weekend and a different category gives me trouble. My plan is to take a month or so off to recharge and then start practicing for the Jack. I'm dropping out of the Sams Club tournament... it just doesn't feel like its our year.

Hudson Valley, NY August

John is cooking this one, good luck!

IQUE CLASS

2010-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Get Competition Smart

The IQUE Competition BBQ Class
2009 World Champion
2010 NEBS Team of the Year
2009, 2010 NEBS Chicken Team of the Year
2009, 2010 Mass State Champion
2010 NY State Champion

We will follow the exact timeline of a real KCBS contest. No additional categories or activities, 100% focus on the KCBS 4. Will show both insulated cooker and offset cooker methods.

Location: Milford MA
Start Date: Oct 9th 5pm
End Date: Oct 10th 2pm

Limited to 15 seats
Please email Chris: hart2001@yahoo.com for more details

IQUE at the James Beard House

2010-07-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

The folks at the James Beard House have invited IQUE to cook a barbecue dinner on September 11th. Some folks raise an eyebrow or grimace when I tell them I have an event in NYC on 9/11. I look at it in a completely different way. I think of it as a great honor to be able to stand in NYC on that day and represent the greatest American cuisine - Barbecue. Here is what the menu looks like:

Pork Shoulder - Johnny Cakes, Bacon Jam, IQUE Dry Rub

Burnt Ends - Pickled Onions, Pit Sauce, Texas Toast

Island Creek Oysters - Barbecue Mignonette

World Champion Barbecue Ribs - Pecan Smoke, Agave Nectar

Hog Jowls - Collard Greens, McBride Family Maple Syrup, Pot Likker Jus

Roc City

2010-05-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Off to Rochester NY for the Roc City Rib Fest.

A very well run contest at one of the nicest venues on the East Coast

Competition Chicken

2010-04-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

If you follow the various Competition BBQ forums you'll see a lot of discussion about the chicken category as it seems to be a sore spot for many teams. Since appearance is an important factor you see teams heavily processing chicken thighs to create extremely uniform, perfect rectangle pieces, that do look great in the box. Tippy Canoe BBQ has a very nice example here. However, some comment that this type of preparation looks artificial and really doesn't look like chicken.

The appearance score in KCBS is supposed to be judged on the appearance of the meat only (not the garnish). The few times I've judged I gave 9's in appearance to those entries that looked REALLY appetizing. It's a roll of the dice though. Some judges may tend to give a 9 in appearance because the box looks uniform, neat and tidy... others may give a 9 because the meat just looks really tasty.

Could the uniform chicken rectangles actually be a bit synthentic looking and not as appetizing as the imperfect pieces with features like bits of caramelized fat around the edges? Also, could the process of removing lots of fat in order to create the perfect rectangle actually be detrimental to the more heavily weighted judging criteria - Taste? I ran a practice cook this weekend where I tried to answer these questions.

I started out with some Wicked Good Charcoal and apple wood in a Big Green Egg in dire need of a good cleaning.

Each bag of WGC usually has at least one mammoth piece of lump.

The Naked Whiz claims it takes 4 pieces of newspaper to start WGC in a chimney. While WGC is definitely not the easiest charcoal to light, I usually get it started with only one sheet, it helps quite a bit to sit the chimney inside the BGE with plenty of open space underneath and the vent to the BGE wide open.

I used Plowboys Yardbird rub and Blues Hog Tennessee Red (and drank a few Harpoons)

Prep entailed taking the chicken out of the packaging

Apply bbq dry rub

And that's it. No trimming, scraping or molding the chicken at all.

A bit of sauce applied at the end of the cook and we had some very tasty, very nice looking chicken that I believe could score 9's in taste, tenderness AND appearance with very little fuss, and it looked like real chicken.

Little Rock

2010-03-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we are off to compete in the USA BBQ Championship in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have a pretty good prize pool at this one.

We are flying in and it is always a challenge to pull together all the meats and equipment required to have a good chance at winning the event. Luckily there are some really nice folks on the BBQ Circuit, Matt from Jacked Up is hauling some gear down for us, and Candy from BBQ'rs Delight is loaning us her Jambo Pit.

Briskets were sent down with Matt frozen in a Cambro. Ribs and Chicken I am buying now and will check on my flight Thursday in an insulated cooler bag. I still need to figure out where I am going to source Pork Butts for the contest. Good news is I found some fantastic, well marbled spares today.

BBQ Karma

2010-03-05T10:30:00.001-08:00

2009 was quite a ride. The year started off with picking up our new pit, teaching a class and attending a class. Taking delivery on a brand new Jambo pit was a thrill and a definite highlight of the year.

As we got into the meat of the season our contest results were uneven. We were getting some good calls in Ribs and Chicken but really having some serious issues with Pork and Brisket. I think there was more to our struggles than just getting used to a new pit.

After the NEBS major, Harpoon, our BBQ Karma seemed to shift for the better. For starters I switched our Pork recipe back to a method we used back in 2004 and it seemed to make a big difference getting important Pork calls in Maine, Massachusetts and Lynchburg that led to Grand Championships. I think the other change was learning how to relax a bit and let the chips fall where they may. During the early part of the season I REALLY wanted to win an event and get myself back the Jack for the 8th year. I think it was a bit like a baseball player trying too hard to hit that game winning home run. I fussed too much, often adding last minute adjustments that were not needed and ultimately sabotaging some of my cooking. I was not trusting my recipes.

After getting whooped again by I Smell Smoke at Harpoon I came to terms that I was going to miss the Jack in 2009. I think most of our team was OK with that. They saw me get shut out of BBQ calls at the Jack for the past 3 years. My wife Jenny thought I was a glutton for punishment wanting to head back to Lynchburg. The Team just wanted to cook the Royal.

I did decide to go cook the last New England Jack qualifier up in Maine at the last minute in August. While it may not have been completely true, I convinced myself I didn't care if I won the event. I showed up late, relaxed and tried to cook like I do at home. And that's when the luck started to hit. I tried to replicate things at Massachusetts, showed up late, trusted our recipes and it paid off again. We scored consistently across the 4 categories and brought home our first Mass State Championship.

I was determined to keep the same vibe at the Jack. In 2002, our first year at the Jack, we actually came fairly close to winning the damn contest. We took 5th Chicken, 4th Ribs and 10th Pork.... and bombed Brisket for 10th overall. It wouldn't be the last time we bombed Brisket at the Jack and while we had some nice calls in individual categories over the years we were never able to replicate our first year results... until 2009.

(Clear evidence of a bombed brisket at the Jack a few years ago)

(One of my Jack highlights, cooking the event with my son Ethan)

(A confident team pre-awards at the Jack 2002)

I'm fairly superstitious so I took it as huge sign of good luck and BBQ Karma when I saw this right as I drove over the Tennessee state line on my trip down to the 2009 Jack:

I saw the #8 everywhere... the most important sighting was when Carolyn Wells dropped off my entry boxes numbered "8". Again we were one of the last teams to arrive, it was just my team-mate John Delpha and my brother Jamie. We enjoyed the local product in moderation and focused on the cook. I visited Ms Mary Bobos for the 1st time for a serious feed and my table had a great laugh when our hostess corrected me on the approriate time for competition teams to put meats on the smoker.

We were lucky again to have all of our meats come out great and to hit the right tables to edge out Myron Mixon for the win. Its an incredible honor and my wife still catches me looking at the Grand Champ trophy that sits on our mantel.

Uh Chris, so what happened at the Royal? Well we got completely shut out. Not a single call.

(The team getting it's ass kicked at the Royal)

The excuses are as follows... the Invitational had what seemed to me the toughest field in the history of Competition BBQ. Go watch the BBQ Pitmasters American Royal episode and Myron will tell you the 500 team Open is a damn crapshoot. The last reason is I don't think I ever fully recovered from a lengthy visit to the Jamaican National Teams site and the bar well stocked with Appleton Estate Special Reserve Rum.

(Ya mon at the Royal)

Time to move onto 2010. One of my favorite contests is this weekend, the Snowshoe Grilling Challenge followed by big KCBS contests in Little Rock, Salisbury and Rochester. Hope to see you on the BBQ Trail in 2010

Momofuku Cooking at Home

2010-02-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been slow smoking meats using only salt as a seasoning. This approach has provided nice versatility in including the meats in pretty much any style of cooking. Since Christmas though the inspiration has been David Chang's bold, refined, pork fueled take on Asian/American cooking detailed in his Momofuku cookbook.

First up were Pork Shoulders I used for a Bo Ssam feast with the IQue team a few weeks ago. Slices of pork shoulder garnished with Kimchi, ginger scallion scallion sauce, and freshly harvested Cape Cod oysters wrapped in butter lettuce. I could eat this 7 days a week.

Next up, The Kimchi stew starts with some salted and smoked 1/2 chickens. The backs were used to make a stock.

David Chang's Cabbage Kimchi

Some garnish chopped with my incredibly sharp and incredibly cheap Kiwi Brand knife.

Stock fortified with soy sauce, bacon, baby bok choy and smoked chicken

There are very few dishes that are not improved with the inclusion of a soft cooked egg.

2010 I-Que Schedule

2010-01-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a couple of new posts. One is a recipe for smoked chicken kim-chee soup. The other is a long overdue recap of the Jack Daniels contest. For now, here is the I-Que schedule for 2010

March 6th, Snowshoe Grilling Challenge
March 20th, Smoke On The Water USA BBQ Championship Little Rock, AR
March 27th, Grillin on the Bay Brooklyn NY
April 16th, Salisbury MD
May 30th, Roc City Ribfest
June 6th, Peters Pond
June 26th, Boston Hills, NY
July 4th, Lake Placid
July 10th, Wildwood NJ
July 24th, Harpoon
Sept 11th, Norwalk CT
Sept 18th, Harvard MA
Oct 16th, Dover DE
Oct 23rd, Jack Daniels World Championship

Procrastination

2009-12-28T12:35:00.001-08:00

Procrastination gets a bad rap sometimes. You see in this case I promised a review of my pastrami method some weeks ago. As it turns out, had I been prompt I would of missed the valuable comparison point that landed on my doorstep Christmas eve - namely a pound of sliced pastrami shipped from the NYC pastrami mecca - Katz Deli (Thanks Andy).

The Katz meat was supremely tender, juicy, with wonderful smoke and spice notes. Above all it tasted beefy.

I've eaten a few times previously at Katz, but more often at Schwartz' in Montreal where I found the smoked meat every bit as good as Katz maybe a bit bolder and peppery.

So, my at home version attempts to mimic these pastrami/smoked meat standards.

Here is my method.

1) Buy a commercial corned beef brisket point cut. Not the flat and definitely not top round. I stock up on these after St. Patricks day and freeze them.

2) Soak in cold water for 24 hours. Change out the water a couple of times. These cuts are built for being boiled where a lot of the salt is extracted into the boiled liquid. This is great when making New England boiled dinner but not for smoking. If you dont give the commercial corned beef a good soak you'll find the finished product to be too salty when smoking.

3. Rub with mustard, fresh course grind of mixed peppercorns and whole coriander seeds. I also apply a light dusting of mild chile powder for color.

4. Smoke at 250* with fruit wood until 180* internal temp.

Some pictures:

The tenderness and flavor were great, in fact I thought world class... until I tasted the Katz sample. A couple things I think Katz does differently; first is they smoke at a low temp, almost a cold smoke possibly. You can see the crust on the Katz version is almost black. Don't be afraid to put a good smoke on your pastrami. Second, the meat is steamed to finish which really delivers the tenderness and moistness you are looking for.

So it looks like eliminating procrastination is not in consideration for the New Year resolution. Losing 30 pounds on the other hand...

Oh and the Anchor Christmas 2008 vs 2009? Both were great, as expected the 2008 was smoother and less spicy. The 2008 produced a wonderful dense aromatic head for an Ale that spent a year in my fridge.

Football, chili, pastrami

2009-12-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

Oh and sampling Anchor XMAS 2008 vs 2009. I'll post back tomorrow with Pastrami method and results.

BBQ Pitmasters

2009-12-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

Set your DVR. The new BBQ Pitmaster show premieres on TLC Thursday night. The Diva Q blog has a great interview with the series producer, John Markus.

NYC

2009-11-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

I love everything about NY except for their baseball team. Actually about all we did was eat on this trip. It went something like this:

Martinis at smith and wollensky
3 dozen oysters and gruner veltliner at grand central station
Momofuku: hamachi, pork buns, apple Kim chee with jowl bacon, pig head
Bagels with belly lox
Double shack burgers
Moist brisket and jalepeno sausage at hill country
Meatball sliders, mushroom risotto, lamb shank, panna cotta at little owl

Good eats!

-- Post From My iPhone

My Jack Daniels BBQ Poster Collection

2009-11-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

2000: Did not compete

2001: Before my time

2002: 4th Ribs, 5th Chicken, 10th Pork, 10th Overall

2003: Shut out

2004: 3rd Chicken

2005: 2nd Place Pork, 3rd Place Chefs Choice

2006: 1st Place Chefs Choice, 1st Jack Grilling

2007: Shut Out

2008: 1st Chefs Choice, 10th Dessert

2009: 2nd Pork, 8th Chicken, 2nd Dessert, Grand Champ

BBQ Guru

2009-11-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

Spent some time this past weekend cooking some briskets on my Large Big Green Egg. And had a chance to try out a new toy, the BBQ Guru Nano Q. An electronic air draft controller that monitors the internal temp of your BBQ pit and and puts just the right amount of air on your fire so the pit stays at the set temp.

I'm a big fan of products that do one thing really well. Its a rare product - the iPhone comes to mind - that does many things well. I've had cell phones that had tons of features and functions but didn't do their main job very well - i.e. making phone calls. More is not necessarily better and obviously the BBQ Guru product designers followed the K.I.S.S. principle with this edition of draft controllers.

I filled my BGE up with Wicked Good Lump Charcoal. Plugged in the Nano-Q, lit the fire and let it go. The Nano-Q defaults to 225* but the user can bump it up or down by 5 degrees with the two buttons on the front of the device. The optional operating method is to get the pit just how you like it using the pit thermometer, and then press both buttons which captures the pit temp and the Guru will keep it there nice and steady as long as your fuel holds up.

I cooked a couple of briskets which took about 12 hours. I decided to just let the pit go and see how long the Guru could keep the Egg going on one load of charcoal. The Egg was fired up at 3pm on Saturday. I finally unplugged the Guru at 9pm on Sunday - about 30 hours later. In addition to rock solid 225* the entire way, the Guru also seemed to do a great job at conserving fuel. There is still some lump charcoal left in the Egg.

I Que wins the Jack

2009-10-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

I'll get a post together but for now...

http://www.jackdanielsbarbecuemedia.com/default.aspx#

The Jack

2009-10-22T12:40:00.001-07:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Harpoon Helps

2009-10-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Great event, great cause. The 3rd annual Harpoon Helps Pre-Thanksgiving Beer-B-Que.

PASSED APPETIZERS

Burnt Ends on Texas Toast
Pulled Pork Canapés
Jalapeno Poppers
New England BBQ Championship Poon Dogs!!!
World Famous Coconut Shrimp
Harpoon Cider Butternut Squash Bisque

DINNER

Harpoon Ale Brined Turkey – Barbecue Dry Rub, Apple Smoke
Southern Cornbread and Fatty Sausage Stuffing
Garlic Smashed Maine Potatoes
Collard Greens with Smoked Slab Bacon, Maple Syrup
Smoked Pumpkin and Root Vegetable Gratin
Grandma Wolff's Cole Slaw
Cranberry Relish

DESSERT

Apple Bread Pudding with a Harpoon Cider Sauce

Unpacked, cleaned, organized, re-packed, cooked chicken, cooked ribs.

2009-10-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Harvard MA

2009-09-22T06:53:00.001-07:00

My team won the Mass State BBQ Championship this past weekend. The good news is our best categories were those we struggled with all season - Pork and Brisket. This win could have landed us an invite to the Jack Daniels Invitational for both 2010 and 2011. 2009 Mass State should be an automatic for 2010. 2010 would then be our 9th year competing at "The Jack". Jack Daniels has a rule that teams that have been invited to the Jack 9 times get an automatic invite for their 10th year.

Beautiful weather all weekend with the exception of the low 30's temp overnight.

Keg kicked

A hawk flew by our site

From Eat Local VT

2009-09-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

John Delpha talks Porchetta

Jack Daniels Luck

2009-09-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last year my team was lucky. We were drawn for the Jack Daniels contests, I think a 2/5 chance.

This year, somehow, we were even luckier. Like luckier than getting drawn for the Jack out of Missouri or TX.

After the Harpoon event we found ourselves with a great new cooker but not a Grand Championship in the 2009 season. We felt that we had been cooking pretty good. Maybe we were just missing a little luck? Anyways, we had pretty much resigned ourselves to missing The Jack this season. And then, at the last moment, Jamie and I decided to head up to Maine and cook the Jack automatic state championship contest. Some would say that I was going all along but just hadn't admitted it to myself yet.

We showed up late and found most all of the teams up in Maine had gorged on lobster, la fin du monde and whiskey the night before. Come 11pm seemed most everyone was "napping". It was a cool, beautiful Maine night and we cooked some good barbecue.

At the Awards the next day I Smell Smoke took 1st Ribs, 1st Brisket, 2nd Chicken. That wins pretty much any contest you can think of. I-Que had a 1st Chicken, no call Ribs, 3rd Pork, no call Brisket. A shot at Reserve. Turns out, the only chance we had at Grand Champion was for I Smell Smoke to really BOMB Pork. I'm sure most people reading this blog know how well I Smell Smoke does in Pork every weekend of the summer. So what are the odds of us winning Grand there? 100-1 at least I would say. Really lucky.

Good luck to all the teams in the draw tomorrow, I hope you get lucky and your bung is pulled.

Charcoal Basket

2009-08-23T16:03:00.001-07:00

The basket holds about 25 lbs of lump with a few splits of hickory and oak mixed in. Takes a good hour or so for the fire to burn clean, but once it did the cooker went close to 7 hours on one basket at 250.

-- Post From My iPhone

Jambo Mod

2009-08-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid if Jamie Geer sees this post he may drive up to Massachusetts and take my pit away. I saw that he built a pellet hopper add-on for Candy Weavers pit. So I'm thinking my mod can't be as bad as burning pellets in a Jambo pit.

The worlds best charcoal manufacturer operates up in New England - Wicked Good Charcoal - I love the stuff, especially their lump charcoal product. So we built a charcoal basket for the Jambo and plan to give burning some WGC lump a try. I'm hoping to get 4-6 hours of unattended cooking out of a full basket of charcoal. We shall see and I'll report back.

Cooking Lean and Mean

2009-08-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

We have been cooking contests this season fitting all of our supplies and gear into the Jambo pit and my Jeep. Its pretty streamlined and works well. I do get jealous of teams with bigger setups, especially if the weather is foul. However, two guys can break down our camp in about 45 minutes and that's the real benefit. The Team next to us this weekend at the Maine State BBQ Championship, Meat at Slims, had a real nice lean and mean setup... here it is:

Wok's Cooking

2009-07-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Mike from Giggling Pigs built me this awesome Wok. Super thick gauge steel and horseshoes as handles. Pulled it out last night and cooked up a batch of chicken fried rice in about 8 minutes. This sucker gets HOT. I was happy to use some fresh thai basil and chile peppers from the garden. Unfortunately our heirloom tomatoes are all decimated by blight.

Harpoon!

2009-07-27T06:56:00.001-07:00

The circus tent

Cooks Dinner

Cheesey Fry Station

Entertainment abounds on Main Street at Harpoon

POON DOG!

Now that is a S'more Cooker

Prepping out 1st place chicken

NEBS Team of the Year Awards

Front step forage

2009-07-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

Loud boom against an open window... Pheasant is served.

-- Post From My iPhone

22 lb-r

2009-07-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Beach forage

2009-07-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Shellfish foraged from north eastham bay-side beach

Sauté of littlenecks and scallops with roe

-- Post From My iPhone

Vacation

2009-07-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Cape Cod for a weeks vacation. Not even bringing a grill, I plan on eating fried seafood from roadside clamshacks exclusively. When I come off of the Cape I'm signed up to cook the Troy NY and Windsor VT BBQ contests... until then....

Well, I lied...

2009-06-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

... and pretty much everyone knew it. My last blog post that claimed I was looking forward to taking this weekend off from BBQ were met with virtual raised eyebrows and comments like, 'uh-huh, Riiiight'.

I'm cooking four pork butts on the Jambo right now. So far this season I've been pretty happy with chicken and ribs but have not yet figured out the big meats on the Jambo pit. So I figured I better spend some time on a pork competition style practice run.

Good luck to the NEBS teams cooking in Boston Hills.

Ribbing

2009-06-24T09:33:00.000-07:00

ribbing - the act of harassing someone playfully or maliciously (especially by ridicule)

With a team of 7 guys, there is often a good amount of 'ribbing' that goes on during contests. And it was just announced that one of our team members - Andy Husbands - will be on the next season of Hells Kitchen starting in July. We can't wait to give Andy a really hard time as he gets abused on the show. Good luck Andy!

Link here

Other recent ribbing events included the NH State Championship over the weekend where we took 1st place in ribs. And then Battle of the Bones at Jakes in Waltham on Monday night where I Smell Smoke swept the awards. Basically this all entailed cooking in the rain for three straight days. I'm really looking forward to taking this weekend off from BBQ.

Butts, ribs, jowls

2009-06-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Brisket, Pork

2009-06-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

I'm cooking for the BBQ Bourbon dinner @ 647 monday night. Brisket is resting and just fired two pork butts for an overnight cook.

-- Post From My iPhone

Defunct Blog

2009-06-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

Clearly I'm breaking the golden rule of blogging which is 'one must post frequent updates'.

If I can't overcome my laziness I may have to close up shop here. Some random thoughts:

A few teams that took my BBQ Cooking Class at the Harpoon Brewery have been doing really well on the circuit so far this year. I hope the strong showings among the class members continues. I can't take the credit but I hope they learned a few valuable tricks in the class
The Roc Rib Fest has one of the best locations of any contest I have attended. I'll be back at that contest for sure
The BBQ/Bourbon Dinner I'm guest chefing for at Tremont 647 is sold out
I cooked ribs twice at the Roc City Rib Fest. Once for the Rib Cookoff, once for the KCBS contest. I did lousy in the Rib Cookoff. For KCBS I changed one thing, cooked 'em more... the result? 1st place
I'm starting to get the hang of the Jambo Pit. Chicken, Ribs and Pork are all very good. I have not been able to cook brisket as well as I did on the Backwoods Smoker yet. Sounds like a practice project for this weekend is in order
2009 NEBS Team of the Year competition is shaping up to be a battle with a lot of teams in play
Tremont 647 was reviewed by the Globe. It hasnt been reviewed since I was the General Manager there many moons ago
Next stop on the competition circuit is Merrimack NH.

Rochester NY

2009-05-23T08:39:00.001-07:00

Cook site right on the beach of lake ontario. Should be a great weekend for cooking BBQ.

-- Post From My iPhone

BBQ and Bourbon Dinner at Tremont 647

2009-05-16T05:14:00.000-07:00

I'm guest chefing a dinner a Tremont 647 featuring BBQ AND Bourbon... can't really go wrong with that... Here is the menu:

BBQ & Bourbon Dinner Menu
June 15th, 2009, 6:00pm

Passed Appetizers
Burnt Ends on texas toast
Pork Ribs, “memphis style”
Hushpuppies with maple butter

First Course
Kentucky Style Grilled Lamb Sirloin
fava bean puree

Second Course
Early Summer Succotash
wilted Nesenkeag greens, cornbread croutons

Family Style Dinner
Barbecue Pork Sampler
Shoulder, Loin, Belly, Lexington #1 Dip

Whole Smoke-Roasted Striped Bass
minted hominy salad

Family Style Sides
Bourbon Baked Beans, Andy's Mac n’ Cheese, Collard Greens, Onion Rings

Dessert
Peanut Butter Pie
Bourbon brittle

2009-05-01T20:34:00.001-07:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Smokehouse

2009-05-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Stameys

2009-05-01T12:24:00.001-07:00

Sliced with hushpuppies

-- Post From My iPhone

On the road

2009-05-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

I'm on a BBQ research and develoment trip with stops in NC and VA. On my first stop I followed a pied piper around the laguardia airport

-- Post From My iPhone

Maryland, Crab, Hickory

2009-04-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

My team-mate Kenny Goodman and I cooked the KCBS contest in Salisbury MD this past weekend which had 92 teams competing and close to $20k in prize money. I cooked this event in its first year and if my hazy memory is correct there were 18 teams. Amazing growth in this 'sport'.

We were pretty happy with our food but obviously still need to figure out the Jambo pit. The pit cooked great... no problem keeping a nice clean fire... but it does cook different from the Backwoods Smokers we are used to so I guess we'll have a bit of a learning curve. So no trophies but I did bring home some awesome fresh crabmeat that was loaded with nubs of roe. Wonderfully fresh and really didnt need any seasoning at all. We used some of this crab in our chefs choice entry, which was a riff on our winning Jack Daniels chefs choice entry back in October.

Got home, cleaned the pit and stacked what must of been 1.5 cords of green hickory with some oak and cherry mixed in. Joe Regan who has done some tree work on our property hooked us up. I'm hoping this wood dries enough to use by the end of the summer.

Ready, set, Cook!

2009-04-16T04:54:00.000-07:00

First big contest of the year in Salisbury MD this weekend. No real time to write much about it, I still have a lot of packing to do and an 8 hour car ride. Suffice to say, I can't wait to get out there and cook. Hope to post some updates over the weekend.

Easter... Salisbury Practice

2009-04-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

We have a crowd coming over for Easter. I'm planning on cooking and prepping most of the meal - except for the meats- on Saturday so its just a re-warm job on Easter. I'm pretty tired of the same old dishes for the Holidays. I've been threatening to cook Peking Duck and Dumplings for Thanksgiving for the last couple of years... maybe it will happen this Fall. Easter is going to feature some Indian flavors. I do have some plain eaters and kids on the guest list, so I need work in some standard fare as well... here is what the menu looks like:

Grilled Leg of Lamb with Tandoori Dry Rub

Biryani Rice

Minted Eggplant

Sliced Melon

Riata

Onion Chutney

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Buttered Green Beans

Roasted Carrots

Duck Fat Steak Fries

I hope to also practice some competition barbecue on Saturday. I have the Salisbury, MD contest coming up which is looking to have around 100 teams competing. When I cooked this event in its first year, there were 18 competition teams... this sport has experienced amazing growth. The goal for the practice session is to get down my timing on the new Jambo pit. Also, the last few times I've cooked ribs on the Jambo they have come out a bit dry... so I hope to figure that out.

IQue Class

2009-04-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

After a very chilly start the sun finally rose over the beer tanks at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston and warmed up the twenty students on hand for the IQue cooking class.

Personally I had a great time. But preparing for the class was a lot of work. My career as a BBQ teacher may be very short. We packed an entire contest timeline, including prep done at home in advance of a contest, into 8 hours. So, it was challenging to keep multiple tracks - cooking, meat prep, presentation - often all going at the same time and keeping the class on schedule. Also, in addition to the KCBS Four, we demo'd one of our winning Chefs Choice entries.

By the way, Harpoon has a tasty new beer that goes great with BBQ... UFO White.

Cooking Class

2009-04-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

If you think getting ready for a bbq competition is a lot of work... try a bbq cooking class!

I'm conducting a class this weekend at Harpoon's Boston Brewery, basically in the courtyard area shown in the picture below. Its a one-day demo from 8-5. The logistics will be interesting as I'm planning to do briskets and butt presentations around 3pm so I'll need to fire those in advance of the class starting. Finishing up the course syllabus is the priority today. A bunch of competition Cooks, Fresh Beer, BBQ, hopefully some spring sun, at Harpoon... should be a great day.

Spring Cleaning, Snowshoe, Trophies

2009-03-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday was spent on yard work, planting some flowers, re-organizing the Jambo condo (the garage), and cleaned up the Big Green Egg. The Egg, as you can see from the photos below, really needed it! At the end of the beautiful spring day, in typical New England fashion, it snowed.

Saturday was productive as well. We cooked one of our favorite events, the Snowshoe. There was a bunch of new teams competing in addition to some traveling teams from the NYC area. We did well breaking our grilling drought with a Reserve Grand Champion call, missed GC by .5 points! I'm not sure we did anything differently, maybe we just had a lucky day.

Gary and Michelle Taft have done an excellent job growing this event and featuring some nice fundraisers for the local community. This year they kicked it up another notch by adding custom snowshoe trophies. This adds so much to an event. Any contest organizers that happen to read this blog - customize your trophies! Those bowling trophies don't cut it. I'd bet that the snowshoe trophies didn't cost THAT much more than the standard bowling trophy, it just took a contest organizer to invest a bit more time and creativity into the event. It adds so much to the event in my opinion, it goes a long way for the competition teams and I'm sure adds some interest for the visiting public when they see a nice set of custom trophies on display. Harpoon, GuitarBeQue are other examples of great custom trophies at Northeast contests. In lieu of more prize money a custom trophy is a great way to get teams to want to cook your event.

Competition Grilling Contests

2009-03-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

In 2002 my team won the NEBS Team of the Year largely due to putting up big scores in grilling contests. Our 'bread and butter' was fresh made hollandaise sauce preferably with lobster meat, served over perfectly grilled beef tenderloin, swordfish, shrimp or even more lobster. We scored well with the dish even at big events like Jack Daniels and Memphis in May. At some point this recipe stoppped hitting in the money. The judges tastes changed or we just weren't cooking as well. In any case, its been a couple of years since we've won grilling contest on the NEBS circuit. We have some good cooks on our team and have a few big Chefs Choice wins recently but can't seem to figure out the full NEBS grilling program any more.

I think the major difference between a grilling contest and a KCBS contest is the grilling is wide open. KCBS pork ribs are judged strictly as barbecue. Lamb though, at a NEBS grilling contest, could be chops, ribs, shank, asian, caribbean or bbq style. There is no real standard. What are the judges looking for? Apparantly the I-Que team does not know. For instance, at the well organized BBQ Bailout event a few weekends ago our new Jambo Pit operated flawlessly, we put out some good entries leaning heavily towards KCBS type style and did pretty poorly. We'll try again this weekend at the Snowshoe.

Update

2009-03-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've read that the golden rule of Blogging is consistent updates. And I was on a roll for a while there. Last couple of weeks I just haven't been cooking. My mind has actually been on music lately, I flew down to Hampton VA last week to see my favorite band, Phish, play a reunion concert. The contest season will hit full swing over the next couple of months and I hope to keep the blog more regularly updated, starting with the Snowshoe Grilling Contest next weekend.

First Contest of the Year... and the Jambo

2009-02-22T05:10:00.001-08:00

Next weekend I'm cooking in the "BBQ Bailout" contest. My plan yesterday was to cook a practice session in order to be ready for the competition. But practicing for an informal, practice competition? That seemed like overkill... plus the couch looked comfortable, I had a six of nugget nectar and Godfather I & II on the DVR.

I've had a few future Jambo owners and enthusiasts email me asking for more pictures of the new Pit and its inner workings. I'll take a bunch of pics at the Bailout this coming weekend, in the meantime here are a few more (note that the Jambo is garaged and my Jeep sits in the driveway, especially if there is an ice storm)...

Maine Shrimp Stew

2009-02-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

This was a good one.

One of my favorite winter ingredients is maine shrimp.

Rendering bacon, making a broth with the shells, cooked great northerns:

Lightly sauteed the shrimp and green onion in the bacon fat.

Shrimp broth thickened with butter, olive oil and parmigiano:

Garnish with garlic croutons:

Local BBQ Joints

2009-02-17T08:41:00.000-08:00

I cook so much barbecue at home, I rarely venture out to local BBQ joints. One Boston area spot that I think is doing a great job is Soulfire. Owner Wyeth Lynch is experimenting with new approaches to re-heating and holding meats... which I think is one of the most important parts of consistently delivering great BBQ in a restaurant setting. Also, he is putting out some of the best fried chicken in the city.

Just saw a picture over on Pigtrip of some ribs at United BBQ in RI. Those there looks like some great ribs out of a restaurant. Looking forward to Gary's review....

http://www.pigtrip.net/

Weekend Update

2009-02-16T06:24:00.000-08:00

Saturday we stayed in and cooked. Two dishes:

Chilean Sea Bass
ginger glaze, roasted cipollini's, shitake mache salad

Beef Ribeye Roast
baked stuffed shrimp, asparagus, fingerlings, hollandaise

Also cooked some barbecue on Sunday for a party. A kurobuta pork butt and 14lb. packer brisket cooked with oak and apple on the new Jambo pit.

Cooking

2009-02-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

I haven't done much cooking lately. I did fire up the Jambo for the Superbowl and cooked a few racks of ribs and some wings. More recently we made some homemade meatballs and sauce... and last night I prepared some fresh Maine rock shrimp. One of my favorite ingredients when in season.... if you pick these up don't toss the shells... they make an excellent broth to use with risotto or as a pasta sauce. The dish here is the rock shrimp with orzo, feta, olives, lemon and shrimp broth. I barely cooked the shrimp and left them almost raw in the center.

BBQ Mania

2009-02-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

I put up a couple of BBQ packages for an auction to benefit the Hopkinton Education Foundation.

http://www.hopkinton.k12.ma.us/HEF/doc/Auction%2009%20Web.pdf

One package has me cooking some barbecue for a private party of 12. Another invites two people to join us for the Harvard, MA contest for the 'ultimate' BBQ experience. The auction was off the hook... a lot of interested parties bidding... Package #1 went for $2,000 which was the highest grossing item of the entire auction and Package #2 went for $900. There is a lot of enthusiasm and interest about real barbecue up in the Northeast these days.

First fire

2009-01-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

The smoke was clear and blue. Had the pit up to 300* in about 30 minutes or so.

New Jambo Pit

2009-01-26T07:42:00.000-08:00

I was a bit worried about the color choice. Many of Jamie's clients go for something more showy like candy apple red or corvette yellow. I'm really happy with the way the midnight blue came out... the blue really shines in the sunlight but the pit looks more black when the sun goes down. Jamie and Big Mike are true artists and professionals... I couldn't be happier with the way this came out and can't wait to get cooking!

More on the Jambo Pit Road Trip

2009-01-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

After a few stops in CT we headed onto Hagerstown MD. And dined at Schmankerl Stube a very nice authentic Bavarian restaurant. Food-wise there were some hits and misses. The Beer was very fresh (got to love a place that serves 5 Liter glasses of beer) and the Pork Shank was just awesome... super tender with nice cracklins which we dipped in house made mustards... it was almost the size of a picnic shoulder!

The next morning at 5am we found a local Amish market, but unfortunately the stand that sold fresh churned butter (the main thing we wanted) was not yet open...

Along 81 in Virginia we found a great hot dog joint Skeeters... great chili dogs and I liked "the works" which had onion, mustard, cheese sauce, chili and slaw. I enjoyed three of these (or was it four?)

After taking delivery on our new Jambo Pit in Knoxville TN (I'll add a separate post on that) we headed east across North Carolina and stopped in Lexington and ate at Lexington #1 and the Barbecue Center. I love the simplicity of NC style BBQ... basically pork, salt, vinegar and oak/hickory. The pork was better at #1 which had a wonderful smoky flavor where the BBQ Center was a bit blander. BBQ Center may have had the better hushpuppy. We ordered an extra pound of pork and a couple orders of hushpuppies to go and ate that for breakfast in the car ride home.

On the road

2009-01-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

We were not on the road to TN for more than a couple hours and already hit a couple of excellent food stops. I had pastrami, liver pate, and spicy mustard on bialy bread at Reins Deli in Ct. We also picked up 10lbs of hot dogs at Martin Rosols.

Competition BBQ Class

2009-01-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching a Competition BBQ Class in April. Send me an email if you are interested in attending...

Get Competition Smart

The IQue BBQ Cooking Class

One Day Demo 8am - 5pm Sunday April 5th

Harpoon Brewery Boston

Limited to 20 students

Class will follow the complete IQue contest timeline. Every detail we be demo'd and reviewed in a condensed format.

Review class agenda and goals
Review of all ingredients

Rubs, sauces, bastes, brines, marinades.. including a demo of IQue's home-made dry rub

Winning flavor profiles
Meat prep
Fire control... guru, wood and charcoal choices
Cooking process for brisket, pork, ribs and chicken
Demo of Jack Daniels winning Chefs Choice Entry
Selecting meat for presentation
Presentation... multiple approaches for each KCBS category

One example of the condensed format is: a couple of briskets will be prepped and put on a cooker a few hours before the class starts. This will allow us in the class to demonstrate prepping briskets, getting briskets on the smoker... and then immediately skipping ahead to a later stage of the cooking process with the briskets put on earlier... (if that doesn't make sense, call or email me.)

Please send email for pricing information

There are not many things better than a good ale, a plate of fried clams and a bottle of hot sauce

2009-01-18T14:14:00.001-08:00

In a couple of blog entries last fall I mentioned planning for some culinary exploits in honor of Jenny and I turning 40 this month. After changing our minds at least a dozen times the plan we ended up with was to eat our way through Boston. There were many candidates but the feast centered on the following spots:

Neptune Oyster

o ya

Drink

Last night at Neptune we noshed on the aforementioned clams, as well as some West Coast and Island Creek oysters. I love oysters and West Coast varieties like Kumamoto and Hog Island have always been my favorite. I think these local Island Creeks are my new favorite... amazingly fresh, juicy and briny... you can get em at Whole Foods for .99 each.

Late night we drank craft made cocktails at the bar Drink in Fort Point. It was mobbed but we scored a couple of stools... very cool speakeasy prohibition era styled spot. There is no drink menu, the bartenders ask what you like... we ended up drinking Fernet Flips and Mint Juleps.

o ya was outstanding. We sat in the corner at the bar and had a 15 course meal along with a good bit of sparkling sake. It was mortgage payment like expensive, but also almost like a psychedelic experience without the drugs. A great, great time.

KUMAMOTO OYSTER watermelon pearls, cucumber mignonette
SALMON TATAKI torched tomato, smoked salt, onion aioli
HAMACHI TARTARE ginger verjus sauce, spiced chile oil
WARM EEL thai basil, kabayaki, fresh Kyoto sansho
HOMEMADE LA RATTE POTATO CHIP perigord black truffle
FRIED KUMAMOTO OYSTER yuzu kosho aioli, squid ink bubbles
SALMON o ya mayonette, wasabi tobiko, shiso
WILD BLUEFIN TUNA TARTARE warm mayonaisse, black river ossetrea caviar
HAMACHI viet mignonette, thai basil, shallot
SUZUKI JAPANESE SEA BASS cucumber vinaigrette, avocado, cilantro
WILD BLUEFIN TUNA TATAKI smoky pickled onion, truffle oil
CHILLED MAINE LOBSTER SALAD avocado, creamy yuzu dressing, peppercress, cucumber gelee
GRILLED SASHIMI OF CHANTERELLE & SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS rosemary garlic oil, sesame froth, homemade soy
SEARED WAGYU PETIT STRIP LOIN 2 oz., tiny smoked potato, grilled onion, fresh wasabi
FOIE GRAS balsamic chocolate kabayaki, raisin cocoa pulp, sip of aged sake

Christmas in January

2009-01-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

Jamie Geer has finished the new IQUE Jambo Pit, it only needs to be sent off the painter. Jamie has agreed to drive it 1/2 way up from Dallas and I am meeting him in Knoxville TN on 1/24. The plan is to take our time driving down and hit up some good road food joints. I've got to figure out how to update my blog from an iPhone. Here is a picture of a recent pit Jamie built... the IQUE pit should be very similar...

Tea Sandwiches and Shoulder Clod

2009-01-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

My wife had a baby shower today and asked me to prepare tea sandwiches.

Too offset things I'm also cooking something a bit more manly - Beef Shoulder Clod.

Diet time

2009-01-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

We haven't left the house for what seems like a week and have been on a strict 20,ooo calories a day diet. Good times. On NYE the cassoulet didn't come out as well I hoped, I drank too much wine and over-cooked the beans. Some NYE appetizers included Island Creek Oysters with grapefruit/patron granita and tuna, mango, avocado, sweet potato (from the Transformer BBQ playbook):

NYE Cooking

2008-12-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!!!

I hope all you competition BBQ cooks out there win lots of plastic pig trophies in 2009.

I am cooking for my family tomorrow and will be featuring Cassoulet. I have the duck confit legs (I made a week or so ago) and some garlic pork sausage. I also have some lamb shanks braising in the oven right now as well two stocks on the stovetop - one a dark chicken and the other a clear vegetable. I'm going to serve 4 or 5 courses in addition to the Cassoulet... I have some great Oysters from Island Creek and a small, but prime, piece of tuna loin in addition to some other goodies. I'm going to try to to keep the servings small so we don't get stuffed and pass out early!

For recipe guidance I have been using Michael Schlows cookbook... which I have really enjoyed.

Cheers!

Indoor Cooking

2008-12-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

The Big Green Egg is encrusted in a foot of snow. Trying to put out some good eats out of my semi-functional electric stove. Cooked some steak fries brushed with duck fat, and just put a pot of short ribs in the oven which I'll re-heat for Christmas dinner....

No Cooking Today

2008-12-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

I guess I'll just have to sit on the couch and drink egg nog all day.

Duck Confit

2008-12-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

There is nothing particularly difficult about making duck confit. It does take some planning and a bit of time though. Basically all you need is salt, duck legs and duck fat. Large quantities of duck fat in particular can be hard to find. Your butcher should be able to order it for you.

I used Thomas Keller's Green Salt recipe which is 1/2 cup kosher salt, 2 bay leaves, 2T thyme, 1/2 cup parsley, 1t black peppercorns all buzzed in a spice grinder. 1 tablespoon of this cure went on each duck leg for 24 hours. I then rinsed and dried the legs, and warmed the duck fat to 190* on the stovetop. Legs and a few heads of garlic were added to the oil and into a 200* oven for about 5 hours. I used a polder probe thermometer in order to monitor my lame kitchen oven... I kept it set at 212* in order to maintain a true 200* in the oven. I now have about 2 dozen duck legs preserved under fat... I'm thinking potato and duck pizza first and then cassoulet for NYE.

A case of ducks legs, sack of potatoes, 10lbs duck fat, pack of beef franks, sauerkraut and two green apples

2008-12-12T06:52:00.001-08:00

This was the bounty I hunted/gathered yesterday.

Duck and duck fat are for the weekend confit project. Tonight's dinner may feature taters fried in duck fat.

Last night was a casserole of saurkraut, franks, apples and potatoes. The meal matched perfectly with a Harpoon and the cold rainy weather.

Cassoulet

2008-12-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

Final cooking project of the year is looking to be a Cassoulet to be served on New Years Eve. First step will be worked on this week which will be to make some duck confit. I also plan on incorporating some home-made garlic pork sausage and smoked lamb shanks. Stay tuned.

Tailgating

2008-12-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

The game and weather sucked in Foxborough yesterday... but the tailgate was a good time... our take on Philly Cheese Steaks... I don't think they usually use Shriacca in Philly....

Deconstructed Turkey

2008-11-30T07:09:00.001-08:00

I had Thanksgiving dinner over at my Brother Jamie's house and he did a great job smoking a Turkey on his WSM. But, not cooking a Turkey on Thanksgiving left me feeling a bit empty inside so I went to the market and bought a discounted 14lb hen. The way I like to smoke a Turkey is to separate the back, leg quarters and breast. Back is used for stock, leg quarters smoked low and slow to 180* internal, and the breast cooked to 155* internal. I think these are the ideal internal temps for these bird parts which is impossible to acheive if the bird is whole. Breast and leg quarters bathed in a simple brine overnight. For the stock I roasted the back and wing tips to get a dark color and flavor... I even used some of the last herbs from our herb garden... Pics:

An approach to Thanksgiving Turkey

2008-11-26T04:44:00.000-08:00

From team-mate John Delpha

The Turkey is presently sitting in a brine of cider vinegar, salt, sugar, apples, onions, sage, peppercorns and bay leaves. Tomorrow evening I will strap it to the roof of my car and drive 220 miles at roughly 70mph to Essex, Vt attempting to air dry the skin as much as possible. Thursday morning I will inject that thing with a combo of turkey stock, butter and salt. Then I will rub butter, herbs and garlic under and over the skin. I will put it in a 375 degree con oven for 45 minutes then turn it down to 300 degrees until a get 138 degree reading on the breast and 148 degree reading on the thigh. I'm hoping for sheer turkey glass crispness on the skin...

Results Thursday evening...

"Pork Chops"

2008-11-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

Cleaning out the freezer this weekend, I found a Kurabota pork shoulder. Being sick of BBQ flavors I decided to make "Pork Chops". I hate your typical overly lean, flavorless, supermarket pork loin chops. There is tons of flavor in a pork butt, here is how I turn a butt into 'pork chops'...

A simple dry rub of salt, black pepper, red pepper, and granulated garlic
I cook on the Big Green Egg at 275* for 8 hrs or until internal temp is in the 190's with a couple chunks of apple wood
The cooking cook be done in a home oven on a roasting pan and rack (without the apple wood of course)
I let the finished pork butt cool to room temp and then into the fridge overnight
Slice the cold pork shoulder into 1" thick slices
Make a pan gravy:
Roux (2T Butter, 2T Flour) + 1/2Cup chicken broth, 1/2Cup apple cider, a couple springs of thyme, s&p to taste, simmer to thicken
Gentle warm the slices in the pan gravy and serve

Hens, Finished

2008-11-17T16:01:00.001-08:00

Well things didnt turn out as well as I hoped. I simply cooked the guinea hen 'ballotine' too long. Internal temps were in the 160's, this meat was very lean and I should of pulled in the 150's. The flavor was great but the meat was dry. Ah well, part of becoming a better Cook is making mistakes.

Hens, Day 1

2008-11-16T05:52:00.000-08:00

I processed the hens yesterday. The meat and flavor seems like a cross between a turkey and a duck. Today I'll pound the breast into cutlets, fill with the forcemeat, roll and probably wrap em up in bacon. I may be too lazy to fire up the Big Green Egg so I may cook on the stove. I'll use the Guinea Hen stock - which came out nice and gelatinous - for a finishing sauce and when making some risotto. I also have some golden beets and trumpet mushrooms on hand. I think I'll need to stop at the wine shop today for a nice bottle of Pinot Noir.

Guinea Hens

2008-11-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine gave me three Guinea Hens he recently slaughtered so it looks like a weekend cooking project is in order. Guinea Hen meat can be tough so I'm thinking about the following method:

Bone all the meat
Make a stock with the roasted carcass bones
Grind the dark meat into a porchetta style sausage meat (garlic, fennel, rosemary)
Pound the breast meat into a thin cutlet, and roll up with the forcemeat
Wrap in the skin, truss and slow roast on the Big Green Egg
Make a gravy with the stock

I'll report back over the weekend with the results

Chicken, Not BBQ

2008-11-07T04:40:00.000-08:00

John Delpha sourced some fantastic naturally raised hens for the Jack Daniels contest. After processing for the contest a few of the breasts went into the freezer. Pulled em out last night and the ingredients included salt, black pepper, red pepper, olive oil, butter, lemon and tabasco. Served with garlicky fries and a salad. Man, there is such an amazing difference between this chicken and the stuff in the supermarket.

Hitting the BBQ Wall

2008-10-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

To the handful of folks who read this blog, apologies for the lack of updates. Between work, family, the American Royal, Jack Daniels, and Harpoon Helps I've been flat out... and burnt out.

Also, right around the corner I'll be going on a roadtrip to pickup my new Jambo Pit.

It was an honor and a great time participating in the Jack Daniels event. Congrats to New Englander's Lunchmeat and I Smell Smoke on their great showings. Team IQUE consisted of Dave, Jamie, John Delpha and Myself. We felt we gave ourselves a good opportunity to compete in the BBQ categories with one of our best cooks of the year. 20th overall ain't bad, so no regrets there. And, I think I have finally turned the corner on chicken with a new recipe (yeah, we'll see about that) so there is no plans to cook practice chicken all winter this off-season... (my family just sighed in relief).

It rained like hell all day on Friday to the point we needed to move our camp. We moved into the International area of the contest where us Bostonians with the weird accents fit right in.

The highlight of Jack was we took 1st place in Cooks Choice. In our 7 years at the Jack we have a 3rd and two 1sts in Cooks Choice. John masterminded this years entry which we dubbed a "Hunters Brunch" featuring Pork Cheeks and Quail Eggs.

The Royal

2008-10-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the American Royal in KC. Andy, Jamie, Kenny, Dave and Heather Chittum made up the I-QUE squad, we had a blast and had some good results. A 15th place Rib ribbon in the Invitational event (30th Overall out of 90 teams)... in the Open we hit an 8th place Chicken ribbon and 8th overall (!) out of 475 teams.

Its a pretty brutal challenge spending 4 days in a parking lot and cooking two KCBS competitions back to back. First day ribs and brisket were real good . The pork had great flavor but I had sourced a natural farm raised pork I had never cooked before. The butcher had taken a slightly different bias on the boston butt portion of the shoulder and as a result I had a hard time with presentation. Chicken deservedly bombed (82nd). Dave and I conferenced Saturday night and worked out a completely different chicken recipe for the Open. We were pretty proud of the big turn around in that category. Andy did very well with the side dishes and we came in 5th Overall in the side categories.

I feel pretty tuned up for Jack Daniels and can't wait to get down there for another cook. Congrats to I Smell Smoke for the Chicken call and Transformer for Ribs.

Two Briskets, One Egg

2008-09-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

I know there are a variety of two level cooking rigs out there for the Egg, but I don't have one. I wanted to cook a couple briskets (~14lbs each) for a party and the Large BGE is my only cooker right now, so I decided to stack em. Bottom brisket went flat down and top brisket went flat up so I could get a good crust. I flipped them a couple times during the cook.

I was worried about the large mass of meat where the fat caps laid together sitting in a danger zone temp for too long. So I made sure to let the briskets come to room temp before putting on the cooker. Also, I started things at 300* and after a few hours when I had the meats at about 140* I turned down to 225* and went to bed. Came out real good!

Looks like its Absinthe, Currywurst and Carp for Dinner Tonight

2008-09-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

From the 100 Things You Should Eat Before You Die list that is circulating around the food blogosphere...

81/100 ain't bad. But I've really got to fix the tasting at a three-Michelin-star and I don't think Horse will ever be on my 'Had' list

1. Venison - Yes

2. Nettle tea - Yes

3. Huevos rancheros - Yes

4. Steak tartare - Yes

5. Crocodile - Yes

6. Black pudding - Yes

7. Cheese fondue - Yes

8. Carp

9. Borscht - Yes

10. Baba ghanoush - Yes

11. Calamari - Yes

12. Pho - Yes

13. PB&J sandwich - Yes

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart - Yes

16. Epoisses- Yes

17. Black truffle - Yes

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - Yes

19. Steamed pork buns - Yes

20. Pistachio ice cream - Yes

21. Heirloom tomatoes - Yes

22. Fresh wild berries - Yes

23. Foie gras - Yes

24. Rice and beans - Yes

25. Brawn, or head cheese - Yes

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - Yes

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters - Yes

29. Baklava - Yes

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas - Yes

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - Yes

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut - Yes

35. Root beer float - Yes

36. Cognac with a fat cigar - Yes

37. Clotted cream tea - Yes

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O - Yes

39. Gumbo - Yes

40. Oxtail - Yes

41. Curried goat - Yes

42. Whole insects - Yes

43. Phaal - Yes

44. Goat's milk - Yes

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/€80/$120 or more - Yes

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala - Yes

48. Eel - Yes

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - Yes

50. Sea urchin - Yes

51. Prickly pear - Yes

52. Umeboshi - Yes

53. Abalone - Yes

54. Paneer - Yes

55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal - Yes

56. Spaetzle - Yes

57. Dirty gin martini - Yes

58. Beer above 8% ABV - Yes

59. Poutine - Yes

60. Carob chips - Yes

61. S'mores - Yes

62. Sweetbreads - Yes

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs' legs - Yes

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Yes

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain - Yes

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette - Yes

71. Gazpacho- Yes

72. Caviar and blini- Yes

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie- Yes

78. Snail- Yes

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini- Yes

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict- Yes

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant

85. Kobe beef- Yes

86. Hare- Yes

87. Goulash- Yes

88. Flowers- Yes

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate- Yes

91. Spam- Yes

92. Soft shell crab- Yes

93. Rose harissa - Yes

94. Catfish- Yes

95. Mole poblano- Yes

96. Bagel and lox- Yes

97. Lobster Thermidor- Yes

98. Polenta- Yes

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee- Yes

100. Snake- Yes

Brisket Hunting

2008-09-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well those of us with off-beat hobbies often find ourselves doing things that are, well, slightly sad and pathetic.

The movie 'Best in Show' comes to mind.

My obsessive-compulsive activity is brisket hunting.

Instead of spending a Saturday afternoon playing golf, or relaxing on my lunchbreak at work I'm out stalking my favorite markets (the locations of which I cannot reveal) for the perfect brisket.

Not all briskets are created equal. The main characteristics I'm looking for are even, thick briskets with a good fat cap. A lot of briskets are thick on one side and then thin on the other, which in my opinion are almost worthless when it comes to competition bbq. There are a few other things I look for, but I'll get into that in detail in my upcoming competition bbq cooking class. ;-)

I have three more events to cook this year, American Royal Invitational, American Royal Open, and the Jack Daniels Invitational. So I've been on the hunt for six perfect briskets for those events. I found two really good ones recently (yeah, Restaurant Depot is one of the stops on my hunting trail).

Harvard, MA

2008-09-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Mass State Championship this weekend in Harvard, MA! The venue reminds me a lot of the old Pig N Pepper contest in Westford, MA that ran for about a decade starting in the early 90's.

At the Pig N Pepper the cooks would often hi-jack the merry-go-round in the middle of the night...
hmmmm.

Lucky # 7

2008-09-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was a big day. For the 7th year in a row we were selected to cook in the Jack Daniels Invitational BBQ. "The Jack" is the one of the most prestigious and certainly the most difficult contest to get into out on the competition bbq trail.

The Jack invites only the teams that have won a Grand Championship in each state. Problem is some states have a bunch of state championships. I think Missouri has about 40 state championship contests. So what Jack Daniels does is have a draw for each state by putting a numbered whiskey bung into a big whiskey barrel and pulling out the numbers of the lucky teams.

Full rules here.

Full results here.

In past years we have won contests like Merrimack, NH or Windsor, VT where these were the only contests in that state so we had an "automatic". This year though I Smell Smoke!!! swept the automatic New England contests (MA, VT, NH) and as a result 'draw day' was a bit more dramatic for the IQUE team.

We won two qualifying contests in NY: New Paltz and Troy. There were three other NY contests though: Buffalo (won by Lunchmeat), Sayville (won by BBQ-Brethren) and Lake Placid (won by Jacks Down Home). So we had a 2 in 5 chance of getting drawn. The Jack also randomizes the order of the state draws so we were hoping that PA went first because Lunchmeat won a PA contest. If Lunchmeat was drawn in PA they would not be part of the NY draw. Turns out NY was up before PA so we were really lucky and got drawn for what we hope is Lucky #7.

The team had pretty much thought we were not going to the Jack so all of our travel arrangements and time off has been focused on the American Royal. Looks like it might be only myself and my brother Jamie cooking this time. If so, we'll skip the extra categories like Chefs Choice. Here is a pic of a lobster pot pie preparation we turned in for Chefs Choice a few years ago and earned a 3rd place jug. As always our goal for the 2008 Jack is to get a call to the stage.

Congrats and good luck to all the teams going to the Jack.

New Cooking Geer

2008-08-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well since my recent post about Pit Envy a couple of weeks ago I have been on a mission to get a new pit. As I mentioned, as much as I love the Backwoods Smokers, the idea of getting back to cooking with logs on an offset style cooker was very appealing to me.

So a few things fell into place... One was we won the New Paltz contest and took in a bit of prize money. I also was able to sell my two Backwoods Fatboys and my CargoPro 5x8 trailer in short order. My teammates were completely behind the idea, especially after my barage of 'pit porn' pictures I have been sending them on a daily basis.

So, I put a call into Jamie Geer at Jambo Pits and put a down-payment on a trailer pit. Jamie has been great to work with so far. It looks like he will finish my new pit in December so I'm starting to plan a road trip to TX. Haven't finalized colors or options but its going to be similar to this cooker.

Garden Cooking

2008-08-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

The garden is starting to look pretty good. Basil/herbs look outstanding... tomatoes just OK. I think we have had too much rain for a good tomato harvest this year. Sunday night did some cooking straight out of the garden on the egg... Made some pesto, grilled some zucchini, picked some cherry tomatoes and grilled off a nice piece of swordfish. Was a very nice meal out on our deck with a bottle of wine or two...

Pit Envy

2008-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

Over the past 10 years I've owned quite a few different smokers and grills... Langs, Backwoods, Webers, Big Green Eggs. I've currently whittled things down to 1 BGE and 2 Backwoods Fatboys. Pretty optimal equipment for what I need. The BGE is renowned for it's versatility handling everything from pizza, to high temp steak searing, to slow and low. Ideal for cooking at home for my family. And the Backwoods are perfect when I need extra capacity cooking a contest or for a crowd of friends. Both are well insulated so I can use them 365 days a year in New England.

Practical right?

Well I'm itching for a new toy. I guess you could call it Pit Envy. I've had my eye on stick burners from both Horizon and Meadow Creek. I do like to play with fire. My charcoal cookers are so 'set it and it and forget it' I no longer have an excuse to hang out in the yard and tend to the cooker. And of course since the stick burner needs tending every hour I'll need to be equipped with a comfortable recliner and a cooler of cold beer.

So amongst all of the smokers I covet two stand out today. One is from the largest producer of charcoal grills - Weber. The other is more of an artisan producer - Pits by Jambo. Guess which one I can afford?

What both Manufacturers have recently announced is new availability. WSM groupies have been clamoring for a larger version of this cooker for years. There are also rumors of 26" charcoal grill as well. The new 22" WSM should be available by the end of the year and hopefully I'll see one under my Christmas Tree.

Jamie Geer of Pits by Jambo has built beautiful, custom, off-set trailer smokers for some of the top teams in the country including Smoking Triggers and Cool Smoke. Recently after a 3 year hiatus Jamie announced he is building pits again. I haven't figured out how to fund a purchase of one of these beauties yet, but I'm working on it!

Celebratory Dining

2008-08-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Jenny and I are turning 40 in a few months. ::gasp::

We of course are using this event as an excuse to spend a lot of money on a good time.

New Orleans JazzFest has been discussed. I'm partial to investing in a once in a lifetime dining experience. Alinea in Chicago has been on my radar as well as Per Se in Manhattan.

One of my favorite bloggers, Beef Aficionado, just posted a most excellent and thorough review of Per Se here. It certainly peaks my interest and also someday I hope to be able to incorporate the word salubriousness into one of my posts. Now I just have to convice my wife that an other-worldly meal at Per Se is worth dropping a grand on!

Troy, Harpoon

2008-07-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

OK, back to blogging. I've been busy with vacation and cooking a couple of contests. Troy, NY was a great first year contest right on the Hudson. We had a great time cooking next to our friends Lakeside Smokers. The results were good, we cooked some killer ribs and took Grand Champion. There were some nice payouts that will fund this crazy hobby for a bit longer.

Troy Article

Harpoon was a great time as always. We had a our full team, a double site, and had a great weekend vending. Competition? Well lets just say the judges and I disagreed. I was very pleased with our entries. One take-away thought I had was so many teams are cooking in a similar fashion its getting harder to standout. I think I saw a Backwoods Smoker and a bottle of Blues Hog sauce at almost every contest site at Harpoon. ;-)

I have couple ideas of how to shake things up that I'm going to try in August, stay tuned.

Next up, New Paltz!

Chicken Entry, Lamb Entry, Ethan rocking the cheesy fries....

Grilled Beef

2008-07-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

Nothing says summer like a good grilled steak. These ribeyes got a dusting of of Tom Douglas' Steak Rub.

Used some Wicked Good Charcoal to get my Big Green Egg to a molten hot temp. My family ate like a pack of hungry wild dogs:

An excellent summer cocktail

2008-06-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

From what I remember it was:

And a splash of:

The Good and the Bad

2008-06-27T09:54:00.001-07:00

Lets start with the bad. And the bad is my teams inconsistency over the past year or so out on the competition bbq trail. We just can't seem to put together solid efforts in all four categories on any kind of regular basis. Chicken has often been a problem, but when we put in a good showing on that front it seems inevitably we bomb Pork or Ribs. I'm sure not cooking quite as many contests as we used to has something to do with it. In Merrimack, NH this past weekend we trialed a new chicken recipe that we were happy with and came in 3rd. 1st place Brisket too. Ribs were OK and Pork (often a bread and butter category) was overcooked and bombed. We came in 3rd place overall which is nothing to sneeze at but I'm definitely frustrated and am looking to improve at the Troy, NY and Harpoon contests in July. The focus is consistency!

Now the good is a load of hard-shell lobsters I picked up recently. I cooked, picked all the meat and cyrovac'd for lobster rolls later in the summer. All the shells were used for a stock.... the plan is lobster and mushroom risotto for dinner tonite. :)

Vending and Gardening

2008-06-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jenny, a few projects are looking good. First was some new vending signage for the team. This was rolled out at the Harpoon Summerfest at the Boston Brewery
this past weekend and we'll be using it all season including the New England BBQ Championship up in Windsor VT next month....

Also, A bunch of heirloom tomatoes got planted and the herb garden has already bolted. Looks like some mojitos are in order, we gotta do something with all that mint!

Harvested some oregano that will be dried and used to make fresh tomato sauces later in the summer.

Grilled up some tasty Pearl hot dogs last night for dinner!

Grip and Rip

2008-05-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Fixing a Competition BBQ recipe can be a lot like working on your golf swing. With golf, there is a lot you can think about... chin up, bend knees, adjust grip, point right elbow at right hip etc. Problem is you can end up feeling like a pretzel up on the tee box. Sometime you're just better off keeping it simple... grip and rip.

Same deal with competition bbq... its easy to add things to your recipe... a new injection, a finishing rub, a glaze, wrap in foil... wrap in foil with a second marinade. As with a golf swing your competition recipe can get off track with too many adjustments.

So when I got thinking about how to improve my pork recipe, instead of thinking about what to add, I thought about what to remove. Here are the results of this weekend cook session where I focused on stripping everything away except for just a couple of ingredients. Was pretty tasty and I thought competition worthy.

Mothers Day

2008-05-12T15:35:00.001-07:00

I made a vidallia onion and morel gravy enriched and thickened with some butter/reggiano. Roasted some yellow beets and a beautiful piece of chilean sea bass. The gravy went on some potato gnocchi and applied a healthy drizzle of white truffle oil to the finished bass. Matched up with a Cambria Pinot Noir. It was cool to feature an ingredient I picked out of my front yard.

Morels!

2008-05-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

After striking out on a couple of foraging hikes recently, look what Jenny finds growing on our front door step this AM! A bunch of gray morels. I'm going to work them into a potato gnocci and chilean sea bass preparation for Mothers Day dinner... I'll post back with the results.

Smoked Chicken Enchiladas

2008-05-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

What to do with all the left-over chicken from competition practice sessions? My family is close to boycotting chicken, so I have to hide it in creative preparations. For Cinco de Mayo I prepared some enchiladas where I roasted tomatoes, garlic, vidalia onions, and then pureed the roasted vegetables with a healthy dose of chipotle en adobo. Pan fried the tortillas, dipped in the enchilada sauce and rolled with pulled smoked chicken, refried beans and some jack cheese. Good eats but it killed my diet.

Competition Chicken

2008-04-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Chicken seems to be a wild card category for many teams. Very hit or miss which tells me a lot of it tastes the same. I just cooked a batch on my Egg and it was really good. Better than what I cooked down in Salisbury this past weekend. Sometimes cooking casually in the backyard yields better results than all the nit-picking that I do at a big contest, I have to remember that!