my menu for first comp

well guys, got the excel 20, gonna put her to use in my first competition. Ive been a chef all my life, so im pretty good at nailing cooking times for turn in. its a kcbs competition, and we are going for it all.
Chicken - doing thighs.. marinated in italian dressing overnight, early start, prob 6am in a hot smoker, 275-300... Finished with some honey and raspberry vinegarette, prob a lil melted butter in there. turn in @ 12:00
Ribs - St louis style cut, light mustard slather, even lighter rub, almost no salt, the usual suspects, brown sugar, turbinado, onion powder, garlic powder, chili, paprika. 3-2-1 method. turn in @ 12:30
Pork - Shoulder - butt, bone in. Will inject with apple juice, lil rub from ribs, melted butter(unsalted)...rubbed, Sat for 4 hrs in cooler, go onto cooker for a 12-14 hour cook time, will pull and foil at 165, shoot for internal temp of 190, pull from grill and ftc in a cambro food holder, pre heated. turn in times 1:00 pm, shooting for a 11am finish so it can rest in the cambro for at least an hour and a half.
Brisket, oh the brisket, the one piece of meat that scares me, we've decided to run it two ways, and make the final call...first will be high heat method, done indirect in a weber one touch 22.5..325 for 4-5 hrs, foiled with onion, garlic, dr pepper after internal hit of 170
second will be done on the excel, pulled when 170, foiled and done when fork tender, held in the cambro with everything else.

Let me know what you think gentleman, any and all will be considered, even used, oh yeah, like i said, this is my first comp, and my team name, "excelerator" guess what im cooking most of it on!!!

SmokinXray,

Jump right in! We've been competing now for a couple of years using the same basic methods that you described above. Just observations that have been working for us this year...We've been taking our wrapped butts to 198*F before resting in cooler (cambro), bone slides right out, pulls nice and easy. Brisket same temps as butts before resting has been working well for us. One thing we got caught on last year with our chicken in brining and/or marinating is that you want to watch to make sure the layer of fat under the skin renders out, otherwise rubbery skin. In our testing (sometimes testing in the heat of battle), we found that the wet marinade and/or brine would add nice flavor deep into the meat of the thigh, but would also make the skin tougher/chewier. We've been very fortunate this year with our chicken, and have been 'quick' cooking the thighs. About an hour and a half on an indirect grill...a combination of cooking for doneness and color, then resting in a half-pan of sauce/juice to steam the skin even further.

If you haven't already discovered, there are as many methods out there as there are cooks...these are what have been working for us this year. Be sure to let us know how the contest goes for you! Remember...We Like Pictures!

Here are a couple of pictures from turn-ins we've scored well with this year (This contest we finished 4th out of 40 overall)...

2nd Place KCBS Contest Chicken:


7th Place KCBS Ribs:


8th Place KCBS Brisket:


13th Place KCBS Pork (our only non-top 10 finish this year):


Here's another KCBS contest we did this year...

2nd Place Chicken (didn't trim it as neatly as we did in the above picture):


4th Place Ribs:


6th Place Pork:


9th Place Brisket:


These may not be the prettiest by some standards, but in KCBS Taste and Texture/Tenderness are weighted higher than Appearance.

Again, be sure to let us know how you do in the contest!

BTW...Thanks for the Mojo Rub order! Since you're a member on this forum, I'll be shooting a little back to your PayPal account...an email will be coming your way with details.

I like the idea for the chicken, guess ill marinate it overnight, start up a kettle indirect, turn ins @ 12pm, so ill put em on at 930ish, and shoot for a done time of 1130. As for the brisket, any help would be appreciated!!

smokinxray wrote:I like the idea for the chicken, guess ill marinate it overnight, start up a kettle indirect, turn ins @ 12pm, so ill put em on at 930ish, and shoot for a done time of 1130. As for the brisket, any help would be appreciated!!

The hotter, faster method has definately been working for us this year on chicken.

Brisket, though still not our strongest category, has been very consistant this year. Our basic method is this:

1) Inject and/or marinate, Lea & Perrin's bath with heavy rub application and plastic wrap as soon after meat inspections as possible.
2) Smoke (mostly hickory with some apple and/or cherry) at 230*F until internal temp hits 165*F. Then remove from smoker, separate the point from the flat (we do whole packer cuts).
3) Wrap the 'flat' end in foil with a little beef broth added to foil packet; return to smoker until internal temp hits 198*F.
4) Remove from smoker and rest in cooler (cambro) until ready to slice for turn-ins. I like to have it off the smoker for at least an hour to rest.
5) Meanwhile, I chunk the 'point' end of the brisket into 3/4" to 1" squares; place in a disposable aluminum pan with sauce and put back in smoker to continue cooking in the sauce. This is a very basic way to make 'Burnt Ends' which I like to include in the turn-in box for the judges. Just forget about these until it's time to put into the entry box.

That's the Cliff Notes version of what we do to brisket. I'd be happy to share more if you like, just let me know.

bandit crew, Big thanks from new york, id love to hear any and all you have to share. Im all ears!!! im gonna do 2 briskets, one high heat, one smoked, will follow your suggestions for the technique, i like em. like i say, a bad q'ing is better than a good day working!!!

smokinxray wrote:like i say, a bad q'ing is better than a good day working!!!

Couldn't have said it better myself!

I've never tried a quick cook brisket, though I do have friends who have been somewhat successful with them. Be sure to let us know which works out better for you.

Are you cooking the whole packer, or just doing the flats? I've always cooked whole packers (with fat cap trimmed to about 1/4"), but am told that cooking only the flats will go a lot faster, so watch your temps.

im gonna shoot for the whole packer, my butchers pretty good, he supplies most of the island. With that said, ill see which comes out better, was gonna do a trial run in a couple days of a high temp flat, just to give it a whirl, otherwise ill just pack out the excel ribs on top, than pork, with the brisket on the bottom

Excellent! Be sure to take pics! We like food/cooking porn on this site!

Here are a couple more pics I found from this year's contests...

5th Place Pork...


2nd Place Ribs...


If you're on MySpace, here's a link to a July 4th brisket & butt's cook I did at home; has trimming pictures included:
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=89691181&albumId=2195023