Big Wayner’s BBQ Blog Review of our book can be found here along with all kinds of other interesting topics.  This is quickly becoming one of the best bbq blogs on the web…you should check it out!

-Thanks Wayne for doing this!-

Book Review: The Book on Competition Barbeque

In the days leading up to the 2011 Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue, I did a series of articles highlighting teams that competed there.  One of the teams that I had the pleasure of highlighting was Hot Grill on Grill Action (click here for the review).  Today I’m here to talk about their eBook: “The Book on Competition Barbeque”.

About the Book

The guys at Hot Grill on Grill Action tout the book as much more than just recipes, and I have to concur.  While the book does contain many recipes that they use in the award-winning BBQ, it is a summation of knowledge chock full of tips and pointers collected over the years.  The level of detail in this book can only be rivaled by competition BBQ classes that are offered by many competition teams throughout the country, and I would venture to say that there is more detail in this book than many of those classes.

This book is written for a wide range of audiences — from the backyard guy looking to enter his first competition to the seasoned pro looking to break through for his/her first grand championship.  No matter your experience level, you will have no problem finding relevant material for you.

Making the Meats Count

Approximately half of the book (73 out of 159 pages) is dedicated to preparation of meats in the four KCBS categories (chicken, ribs, pork, brisket).  Every facet of preparation is covered — from meat selection to meat prep to the cooking process.  They even go into great detail about meat boxing and presentation.  The main thing they stress, however, is the importance of taste, and this is reflected by dedication of an entire section to this.

If you’re a firm believer in that a picture is worth a thousand words, then you won’t be disappointed.  Each section is full of colorful photos clearly outlining crucial steps in the process.  The guys at Hot Grill on Grill Action took great steps to make sure their points are clearly communicated.

All You Want to Know

But the guys don’t limit their book to how they prep their entries.  They examine every element pertaining to a contest.  For example, they provide a general checklist of items to bring as well as a contest timeline of events.  Also included is a primer of various woods that could be used along with recommendations as to whether or not it should be used.  There’s much more in there, but I can’t give it all away here…

No matter how forthcoming a lot of teams are in classes, they always hold some info close to their chest that puts them over the top.  The guys at Hot Grill on Grill Action don’t do this; in fact, they are fully forthcoming in detailing what they believe gives them the competitive edge.

Because I have to Nitpick…

My job as a reviewer is to be as objective as possible when checking out a product.  As far as the content in the eBook goes, I could not find anything absolutely outrageous or objectionable.  The guys did a good job outlining the tips and tricks and plans that have been successful for their team.  In saying that, I do have some observations…

• Because this book is delivered in a PDF format, it would be super nice if the entries in the Table of Contents were clickable to go directly to their respective areas.
• Something that could be done as a benefit with purchasing the eBook would be access to a subscribers area that contains more in-depth info pertaining to the book.  A prime example would be videos for different methods of meat prep, for example.
• People may think the price point for the download — $39.99 — may be high.  However, if you are serious about competing, the price point is an outright bargain compared to the $500-750 one can spend on a competition BBQ class.

Conclusion

If you are looking to become a serious competitor on the BBQ circuit or to step your game up to the next level, I highly recommend purchasing this book.  The amount of information presented in there is well worth the price.

“The Book on Competition Barbeque” is available for purchase in PDF format for $39.99 at http://www.bbqrevolution.com.

• Book

1^st Annual Tri-Cities BBQ Contest – September 23, 2005

Here it is, the first BBQ contest.  Who would have guessed it would be the start of Hot Grill on Grill Action.  After digging up the pictures and looking at the date it’s hard to believe that what seemed like just yesterday was over 6 years ago.

My wife Tasha had helped me get set up that morning for what was a going to be a one day event.  She later returned for awards and to help clean up, but from raw meat to turn-ins it was all me.  The categories were ribs, chicken and Tri-Tip.  I felt pretty confident going into this event even though the Tri-Tip category was new to me.  I had spent several weeks getting my Tri-Tip right.  I had purchased several nice big Tri-Tip roasts from the local butcher and mixed up a few dry rub options and ate well for a few weekends in a row (I love Tri-Tip).  Getting the roasts done the way I wanted them was the real trick that I had to figure out.  There’s a fine line between just right and overdone and with such a small relatively lean piece of meat that window is pretty small.  I knew what I was going to use on my spare ribs and had my chicken process just where I wanted it.  Regardless, I practiced both a couple of times to make sure.

What I do remember is how stressed out I was to be going at this alone.  Why was this so stressful?  It’s supposed to be fun right?  Afterall, it was a georgeous 65 degree day and I was finally competing, something that I’d wanted to do for several years.  One can never be too prepared for a contest.

I had spent the whole night prior to the event loading up everything I thought I would need.  One of the things I find humorous about looking at these pictures is the lack of equipment and gear that I had.  It’s funny to think that this simple one day event had me stressed out so much.  I can recall pacing around in my garage and going through my totes numerous times making sure I wasn’t forgetting anything.  As most of us know, you’re going to forget something almost every time going into a contest.

After arrival on site it didn’t take long to figure out that this was clearly a first annual event.  Now don’t get me wrong, I was just as unprepared as the contest reps for this event but I had anticipated working with a group of reps that could provide a bit of guidance.  This certainly added to the stress levels especially since the only person present that knew what to do was the county health inspector which for whatever reason was brought in to assist.  Don’t get me wrong, food safety is surely important but this guy was a HUGE pain in the pork shoulder!

My set up was simple, two tables an 8’ x 8’ canopy an 18” WSM and a Weber Kettle.

I had prepared 12 boneless chicken thighs, 2 racks of ribs and 2 Tri-Tip Roasts.  The kettle and WSM both ran flawlessly.  I cooked the ribs on the WSM and had also started the Tri-Tip there to get a bit of smoke on it.  I had cooked the chicken on the kettle.  After the chicken was done I moved the Tri-Tip over to the kettle to get a sear on the outside.

Did I mention that the meat was provided?  Upon entering the contest I was excited to not have to pick up the meat from the store.  Unfortunately when I picked up my meat from the reps I was handed partially frozen chicken thighs, two racks of Baby Back ribs with one rack having broken bones in it and two really small Tri-Tip Roasts.  In an effort to thaw out my chicken I left it sitting out on the table in its package which sparked the interest of the health inspector.  This guy was comical.  I simply explained that they were being left out to thaw a bit before cooking them which he wasn’t having.  At this point I decided to request new chicken and figured I’d go for some new ribs as well hoping to get some that didn’t have any broken bones.  Having received neither I continued along my process of thawing the chicken which really chaffed the health inspector.  He began to pick on me by asking where my hot water was and threatened that if I didn’t have hot water in the next 30 minutes I was going to be asked to leave the contest.  I ignored this request after having taken a quick glance around to see if anyone else had hot water on site which only one team did.  Also, I had no way to heat water?  I surely wasn’t giving up my cooking space to heat water, I was there to compete.  When the inspector came back 30 minutes later to no hot water he was furious.  Just as I was going to point out the fact that I wasn’t the only one without hot water the neighboring team had overheard the previous conversations and had put a pot of water on his firebox for “us to share”.  Ahh, the camaraderie of BBQ cooks runs deep!  This had satisfied this point with the inspector but the chicken was still a problem.  I threw the chicken in the cooler to satisfy him until he left then took it back out and placed in my tote with my BBQ supplies.

After the Chicken and Rib categories were complete I thought I was going to “own” this little event.  Everything had gone as planned with these categories and were done to my liking.  Then came the Tri-Tip.  The roasts that they had provided were much smaller than those that I had practiced with.  I remember throwing one of them that was a bit bigger on 30 minutes earlier than the smaller of the two.  This attempt to get them done properly gained me nothing.  I should have put them both on at the same time in hopes that one would be done perfectly.  Both came out over cooked and I knew that this was not my day for Tri-Tip.  This just goes back to practice and in this case the lack thereof.  You can never practice too much for these things.

There were 11 teams consisting of competitors from the local casinos, the police, fire department and radio personalities.  Overall, I came in 7^th with the local DJ coming in first followed by one of the casino teams.  This was a great event and a memory that will last forever.  Most importantly to me, it was the birth of who we are and what we represent today.  Hot Grill on Grill Action!!

I was able to get my hands on something that I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time.  The Kettle Pizza attachment unit for the 22″ Weber Kettle Grill!  As you may know, pizza on the grill is one of my favorite things to cook and I’ve written a few articles about it here on BBQ Revolution.  Our family loves to eat pizza and I really don’t think there is any better way to eat it.

First and foremost, if you like pizza, and particularly, wood fired or grilled pizza, you need to do yourself a favor and pick one of these up ASAP.  After running just a few ‘tests’ on this unit, I am convinced I could put my product against the best pizza joints in Omaha and there are some good ones here.  The final product is simliar to what you’d get for $13 (cheese only) - $20 (a few topppings) for a 14″ pizza at a fine wood fired pizza joint, only it tastes just as good if not better and it’s a fraction of the cost, with as many toppings as you’d like – PLUS – you’ll love it even more because YOU cooked it and know exactly what is in it!

If you can’t tell, I love this thing and I decided ‘why wait’ to tell you what I think until the end of the review.  Read on and get all the details about how it comes packages, assembly, recipes and how to cook on it – but you may want to go order one first at www.kettlepizza.com so it’s on the way.  When you finish reading this, you’ll want one immediately.

I couldn’t wait for the Kettle Pizza to arrive and when my wife told me it was at the door step, the first thing I wanted to do was to come home and try it out.  However, for the sake of this review, I thought I’d take some time to explain how it came in the package and assembly so you know what to expect and can be ‘locked and loaded’ the minute yours comes to your door.

Here’s the box it arrived in.  I felt like Ralphie in the Christmas Story with the Red Rider BB gun opening it. 

The contents looked nice and professional and were in perfect shape and included instructions, a wooden pizza peel, a stoneware pizza pan, a pizza stone, the stainless steel ring, a thermo, handles for the stainless ring and the hardware and a nice wooden rolling pin.  I kind of thought the rolling pin would take a back seat to my expensive kitchen aid rolling pin, but it RULES.  It’s nice and long and works much better than the kitchen aid in terms of the dough sticking.

To assemble, you don’t need any tools.  Simply attach the 2 stand off bolts to the stainless steel ring with the wingnuts inside the ring, and the same for the handles, just like the pic below.  The kettle lid will be resting on the top bolt, along with the two handles and provide good support.  The bottom bolt and handles will rest on the base of the kettle and also provides good support.  The bottom wingnuts, inside the ring, will be the support for the kettle grate that will hold the pizza stone.

Once you’ve attached both bolts and the two handles, attach the kettle pizza thermo the same way, right below the nifty ‘HOT” sign on the front of the unit.  Here’s the finished assembly….easy peasy.  Took me about 3 minutes, including picture time.

Remember, the wingnut on the inside of the ring is going to support the kettle grate.  Turn all of them horizontal, like the pic below and then set the grate inside and place the entire unit on top of the kettle base, like the other pic below.  You are almost ready!

Here’s a recipe and some pics for what we do in our house.  The crust recipe is the same for all pizzas and we put our favorite toppings on it.  Be creative and do what you like.

For the dough, you’ll need the following ingredients per pizza:

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpopse flour
• 3/4 cup of hot water
• 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast

To make the dough:

• Put the hot water in a measuring cup, along with the sugar and yeast. 
• Mix with a spoon until it is all dissovled and let set for five minutes
• Put the flour in a large bowl and form a crater in the center
• Pour the hot water / sugar / yeast mixture into the crater and mix with a fork until all the flour and water is blended well
• Cover with a cloth and let set aside for about 5 hours, so the dough rises.

Here are a couple pics for the dough:

While that is resting, you can prep all the rest of your ingredients.  Here are just a few we used and the videos will show a few more.  Below you can see the cheese, ground chicken, pepperoni, sauce and green pepper.

Once the dough has rested for 5 or more hours, you’ll have to knead the dough so it is stretchy.  Using your fist, simply punch the dough down many times (over 25) and add flour along the way so it isn’t sticky.  It also makes it easier.

To roll out the dough, flour a large cutting board or smooth surface and use the wooden rolling pin that came with your unit, like so:

Next, take your pizza peel and cover it with corn meal so the dough will slide off easily when putting on the kettle and then transfer the dough to the peel and form your edge crust like so

Now you can top it with whatever you’d like!  Here is one of our pizzas pre-cook:

We’ll get to the setup and cook videos in just a minute, but first I wanted to point out a few things for prepping your kettle that I learned:

• Start with a fully lit chimney starter completely full of coal. 
• Place the lit coals at the back of the kettle, away from the opening.
• You must use real wood to get temps above 500.  I used a pecan / pear mix.
• You must make sure that the pizza stone is fully up to temp to avoid the dough sticking.  I use water drops to test if the stone is hot enough.  If water sizzles when you toss it on the stone and disappears quickly, you are all set.

Here you can see where I placed the coal and wood:

In this video, you can see all the steps I take to getting the kettle ready for a cook, which should tie everything together for you:

Finally, this next video will show you how amazing the Kettle Pizza is by demonstrating in a non-stop video, a full pizza being cooked in just over 4 minutes:

Here are a couple of our finished pizzas.  We had a New Year’s Eve party this year and churned out many of these and the entire thing was a hit!  From the cook itself (everyone had fun watching) to the eating (everyone LOVED the pizza).

The bottom line on this product:  BUY IT!  It works better than advertised and is the perfect home pizza making device.  Honestly, if I were to open a pizza restaurant, I’d love to have a way to run a whole bunch of these to turn out pizzas for the customers. 

It is amazing and worth every penny.

As always – let us know if you have any questions on how to run this unit @ info@bbqrevolution.com

Book

See the full PDF of the November/ December edition of ‘Drippings” magazine here and go to pages 10 and 11.  The Drippings Click Here

Hot Grill on Grill Action’s new book!

The Book on Competitive Barbeque

A Book Review by Sonny Ashford 

The Flabongo’s are hung on the tent rail with care so that any who venture close will know that Hot Grill on Grill Action are there and ready to compete.  It certainly distinguishes them from the other teams that are generating smoke in the early hours before a contest. I had the pleasure of meeting this vibrant group of young men at several of the contests in and around the Midwest.  Ryan Amys, Matt Frampton, Logan Hendrickson, and Chris Yelick comprise the team known as Hot Grill on Grill Action, and to their credit beyond authoring The Book on Competitive Barbeque, that I’m reviewing they represented Nebraska at the Jack Daniels Invitational this year.

The whole group has opened their tent flap to people that want to learn what goes on after the Friday night party comes to an end and now there is a book that shows what you need from “git to go” in a contest environment. This book is for everyone that wants to cook “Competition Quality” barbeque whether you’re in the backyard, a street bragging rights event or one of the 350+ events sanctioned by KCBS. It appears to all be there in one electronic source.

Yes, this is an e-book. I did a review of an e-cookbook in September that was packed with recipes from the Carolina’s but this e-book is much more than a cookbook, it is a how too book. Yes, there is an introduction with some strong opinions and opinions well worth listening too, such as: “Following this intro, you will NOT find the phrase “use your favorite rub or sauce.” There aren’t many resources that we find “useless”…..but those recipes that state this are, quite frankly, VERY useless.”

They point out that their opinion is not the end all of what you need to know about smoking barbeque but they assure you that want they have in this ebook is well founded from years of practice and information gathered over the years.

What I find very interesting is that right after the Introduction is the BBQ Competition Overview where they show the beginning to end of a contest.  They dig into “The POWER of Taste” as this is the “#1 most important aspect of competition BBQ, no question.” It goes so far as to list the weighting factors that are used in the KCBS Scoring Software with TASTE obviously carrying the highest value and this is put there to illustrate the effort that needs to be put into having a product with great taste.

From there it goes into all the things required for the Chicken category. Matt Frampton is the team Chicken Man and he gives not just words, but pictures so that even John Underwood can follow the directions. Nice color pictures that illustrate every facet from the type of chicken to buy to the whole preparation you go through. And yes, they give you a chicken rub recipe. This will take you through everything from on the tray to the final product and even how to build a box for the presentation. This is a super book for everyone!

Ryan Amys goes forward as the Rib Man. He is quick to tell you that there are people who believe that the longer you cook ribs the better they are and he says that is not true. He gives you the recipe for proven success.  Some of the ingredients are store bought, but his product is bone-sucking good.

Ryan enhances his trip through rib world with when to buy ribs and what to look for – like straight bones. He goes through the preparation and again the pictures are worth the words as you read through the color pictures.  It is very detailed and even gives you the cooking temperatures and the schedule and also the wrapping times.  Again there is great detail for the novice or the pro to address what they are doing and validate what is currently being done with what kind of success. Ryan, I could use a slab or two, no make that three of your ribs.

Great job!

Chris Yelick is the Man of Pork, and he’s about to release what Myron Mixon was the first to hear when Hot Grill on Grill Action appeared on BBQ PItmasters, secrets to their pork that made Warren Sapp say, “Cook on my team. You had a 300 lb man smiling inside.” Like the Chicken and Ribs sections there is nothing held back as the recipe and all the pictures are there to illustrate how they are winning the pork category time and time again.  Cooking temperatures, wrap times, it is all there including the turn-in box for you to see. You can’t go wrong with a guide like this. But you still have one more category to go and that is brisket.

Logan Hendrickson jumps all over the brisket and starts of with words like “unpredictable, tough, and capable of driving cookers crazy as they are all different.” In his very capable way Logan has made all, well most of the mistakes and gives you a path to a probable success when you follow his roadmap. He gives you all the stuff you need to start and then the “Miracle Mop”. Pictures are worth a thousand words and this is so true with brisket.  Learn all you can and Logan gives a box full with his words and pictures. Please note the electric knife in the pictures.

In closing up this review, the guys give you so much more to go over. Things that include:

• • General Equipment, lists and what to bring
• • KCBS Rules and Judging
• • Official general Rules
• • Official judging Guidelines
• • How to become a judge [Call Sonny]
• • Contest timeline
• • Cooks meetings
• • Woods, etc
• • Competitive Edge

There are several more, but suffice it to say that they have tried to give you everything you need in a contest, whether in your backyard or at the American Royal. I guess you have figured out I think this a good book and definitely one you can use time and again. 

Get your own copy at www.bbqrevolution.com, or you can write to BBQ Revolution – Hot Grill on Grill Action BBQ Team, 4350 S 154th Street, Omaha, NE 68137. 

You can also find out what a Flabongo is and how to make one for your own party, and it will settle some challenges.

Thank you for allowing me to review the book, it was worth every minute.

So, you love pizza – who doesn’t?  Well, I think if you follow the guts of this recipe and use your own favorite ingredients, you can make yourself a pizza that beats anything you can get at any chain, local or brick oven joint in your area.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1 whole chicken breast
• 1 package of pepperoni (we use turkey)
• 1 whole red bell pepper
• 1 whole tomato
• 1/4 red onion
• 1 whole ball of fresh mozzorella cheese
• some parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper to top your pizza when done if you want it

Directions:

Make your dough about 5 hours before you want to start cooking. 

Here’s how: 

• Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in a glass measuring cup.  Mix gently and let sit at least 5 minutes until yeast activates.
• In a large bowl, add all the flour and using a spoon, form a ‘bowl’ of flour to pour the yeast mixture into. 
• Once the yeast mixture is ready, pour it onto the flour and mix. 
• Cover with a towel and let rest on the counter for 5 hours or more until it rises into a large pile of dough. (note: you can rest this in the fridge overnight if you prefer.)
• After the 5 hours, begin kneading the dough with your hands, adding flour as needed so it doesn’t stick.
• I broke this mixture into 2 equal parts for two pizzas   

• Prep two ‘trays’ to begin forming your pizza crust.  I used these plastic plates and sprinkled corn meal and a little bit of flour on them so the dough doesn’t stick.  In the pick with my hand, you can get a idea for the size of the plate 

• At this point, it’s time to preheat your grill.  Preheat the grill so it’s about as hot as you can get it.  My gas grill hits about 550 degrees and I like it that way.  It needs to be plenty hot as the crust will go directly onto the grate.  If it isn’t pre-heated enough, the crust will ‘melt’ into the grill and won’t firm up properly.

• Then begin spreading the dough onto the trays so they are completely covered, like so: 

• Next, brush each crust with olive oil until completely covered.  This is critical so the crust doesn’t stick to the grate on the grill

• Now you are ready to start grilling your pizza crust!  It is a two step process.  You’ll first grill the side you just oiled up, then you’ll be topping that grilled side with all the goodies you want.  Once you have it all topped, you will grill the other side with the ingredients on it.  Technically, you could do this process hours before you’re ready to top the crust – so if you are planning a dinner party and want everyone to have their own crust, you could make up all the crust to just past this next step and then let everyone top their own pie and grill them up two at a time, or however many fit on your cooker

• You are going to need to oil the other side of this crust while it is cooking the previously oiled side.  When you toss the crust on, this will be your only chance to do so because it’ll be flipped back over onto the plate.  I prep my grill and bring everything out so it’s ready.  Notice the bowl of oil and brush waiting on the right hand side before I put the crust on.  Be prepared!  These things cook quickly!

• Open your grill and then very quickly in one smooth motion, flip the plate upside down onto the grill, carefully removing the plate so the crust doesn’t come off with it (it might stick..just be careful and take your time removing). 

•  Then oil the side that is up and close the lid. 

• While the crust is cooking, sprinkle some more corn meal onto your plates so the newly oiled side doesn’t stick when you return them to the plate.

• Cook the crust for 3 – 4 minutes – TOPS – just until the crust begins to lose it’s flexibility and is easily moved around on the grill with a spatula.  The sign to look for is that the top of the crust will begin bubbling.  That means it’s almost done.  Pry a spatually under there and look at the bottom until it is done like it shows in the pictures below.  When you get it to this point, carefully flip the crust again and return it to the plates like so:

• Now you are ready to top!  I used (1) ground chicken breast, which I ground up in a food processor so I know it’s fresh, then seasoned with italian seasoning and cooked in a skillet, turkey pepperoni, red bell pepper, sauteed red onion, chopped fresh roma tomatos, a marinara sauce I like and sliced fresh mozzerella cheese.  Here are some pics of the ingredients and prep.

•  Now you can top your crust with whatever you like!

• Now that you have a ‘grill ready’ pie – let’s go back to your grill and finish these up!  Again, it should still be as hot as you can get it – right around 550 degrees.  Carefully slide them off the plate and grill for another 4 – 7 minutes or until the bottom crust looks just like the top did when you took it off.  Another sign is that your pizza should be very stiff.  This way you know it will slice up and can be handled without flopping around.  The key is to get the crust extremely crispy on the top and bottom and using this method, it will be very chewy, moist and soft in the middle.  Keep the lid closed as much as you can for the 4 – 7 minutes so the ingredients on top cook up and the cheese melts completely.

•  After you feel like they are done, you are ready to eat!  Transfer them to a cutting board of some type and slice away and enjoy!  I think the rest of the post – the pics speak for themselves.

                                                                         Best of luck with your Pizza cooking!

The Jack Daniel’s World Championship in Lynchburg, TN – what an honor to be a part of it.  I think our entire team understood the prestige behind this event as much as we could before heading out, but I’m not sure we had any idea just how big and awesome this event actually is.  It was simply the coolest experience of our team’s history, hands down. 

We left Omaha on Wednesday, October 19^th – before the sun came up and we arrived in Lynchburg after the sun had gone down that evening.  The first two nights we stayed in a cabin on Tim’s Ford Lake, just outside of Lynchburg (thanks to Phat Jack’s for the recommendation) and it was an awesome place to stay.  The lake was huge, the cabin was clean and roomy.  Perfect for the team to rest up before the contest.

On Thursday, we toured the distillery.  Wow.  What an operation!  The history behind the place and how much that history is still leveraged in the current operation is simply astounding.  There are some new technological aspects to it, such as computer monitoring of the processes, but it is still quite manually intensive.  Very impressive and neat to see an entire town run off the success of one business.

The contest itself was incredible.  Everyone was so friendly.  91 total teams and we’re pretty sure we got to meet every single one of them and treat several of them to a flabongo.  The interaction between all the teams was like nothing we’ve seen before.  Everyone sharing stories about their season and travels into Lynchburg, sharing a beverage together and just general shooting the breeze was the theme.  The weather was great – in the high 60s during the days with no rain and chilly in the evenings.  Onsite Friday into Saturday, we stayed, like normal, at our campsite and slept in our lawn chairs with the canopy walls up and a small propane heater which was just enough to take the bite out.  In general, everything went as we planned, the cooker ran great and our food turned out like we intended, even though we wished for better results.  We finished 69^th out of the 91 teams, but it still didn’t take the wind out of us.  The experience was just too awesome.

We became friends with our next door neighbors, the Jack Daniel’s Champion:  Smokin Hoggz BBQ, from Massachusetts .  Pretty neat deal to be right next to them and we even sampled lots of their food.  Great stuff – as I’m sure every other team turned in.  What a great bunch of guys and a win well deserved.  We are proud that we were neighbors with them and have asked them to come to Omaha for a contest.  Turns out they have family in NE and IA – so we think it’ll happen.  Good article about the win and the event here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2011/10/24/does-massachusetts-really-have-the-nations-best-bbq-tennessee-says-yes/

The team Motley Q Crew was there and actually stayed next to us on the lake the first two nights.  They are some party animals and fit in well (and made themselves at home in our cabin into the wee hours!).  Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive Inns and Dives cooked with them and turned their cook spot into a zoo.  They actually had to buckle down the entire area and keep everyone out.

Nicole Davenport from T’aint the Sauce was there hanging out, who was right next to us on the BBQ Pitmaster’s show.  It was nice catching up with her and neat to see her and so many other teams just come to hang out, even if they weren’t cooking.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience and we hope to do it again next year.  While our finishing place could have been better – we feel that we represented the state and GOBS in high fashion and definitely did everything we could to spread the word about BBQ in our area. 

Here’s to a great 2011 season and best of luck to everyone in 2012!  We’d like to thank everyone at GOBS and all the other teams we’ve been lucky to spend time with and for all the support in our travels.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

Cheers!

Ryan, Matt, Logan and Chris

Hot Grill on Grill Action BBQ Team

Omaha, NE

www.bbqrevolution.com

• In this book, we are going to show you, step by step, everything we have learned over many years of competition, giving away every “secret” we have.  Though they are included, we share far more than recipe secrets in this book.  You’ll learn how to find and enter a contest, what equipment to bring, what recipes we often use and others you should try, what woods to use and enough information about them to make your own informed decisions, how the judging process works, the timeline of a contest, how to compete for little to no money, our strategies to gain a competitive edge, the power of taste and most importantly….how to have FUN! 

• We have learned from some of the best and have taken that knowledge, combined it with our own trial and error, read about every book, perused probably every post online regarding competition BBQ and created a system that we strongly feel is the best way to compete at the highest level, throw one hell of a party and keep costs to a minimum.

• One thing that’s for sure in the world of competitive BBQ is that the competition is fierce.  It’s friendly… but fierce.  Teams will spend countless hours and large quantities of cash perfecting their art in the quest to produce a winning product.  Every team has their ‘secrets’ and most keep them close to the vest.  While you’ll surely learn your own secrets and use some of ours that we’ve shared, we strongly believe there is one key element to producing at the highest level.  We call it Competitive Edge and provide a large amount of information around this.

• Last year’s competition season started no differently than any other.  Everyone on the team bought their ingredients to make their first rub of the year in hopes to create the perfect combination of spices.  As always, everyone bought a few “store bought” rubs to try as well.  We know, we know, some folks believe a true BBQ guy is supposed to make his own rub and not use store bought.  We’ve been buying and trying store bought rubs since we started and always will - especially pre-season.  You just never know what you might find.  We have discovered something incredible about rubs……………

• One of the most difficult things to do as a competition team is to absorb the cost.  A contest can cost you anywhere from $400 to $1000, depending on what is being turned in and how far you have to travel.  This can be quite a burden on you, your wallet and your family.  We have learned a few things along the way that have helped us “break even” for the most part each year – BEFORE – any winnings.  This has given us an opportunity to compete more and stress less. Here are a few things we do that help eliminate the costs for us……..

• How to build a Flabongo.

• Your first contest:  Start Here.  It is completely catered to the true beginner or first time competitor.  The focus of this section is going to be solely on the 4 main categories you’ll see at a KCBS or similar contest.  It directs you right to the areas of the book you need for your first contest, eliminating the details you’ll want later, making the book valuable many times over.  Simple step by step instructions.

 Please take a minute to meet the guys from Hot Grill on Grill Action here!

Enter the quanity desired and order the e-book PDF now!

This book is only available via download as an e-Book.  Once your order and payment are processed, you will receive an email with instructions for how to download the PDF.  If you don’t receive the email – please let us know @: sales@bbqrevolution.com

GOBS Sep-Oct Drippings

Product Review: IQ 110

Manufacturer: PitmasterIQ.com

Description:
Automatic Temperature for Charcoal Smokers (Weber Kettle, Weber Smokey Mountain models, Big Green Egg Smokers, Drum Smokers, etc.). 

Our team discovered the impact automatic temperature control can do for your turn ins when we added Rock’s Stoker BBQ controller to our main rig last year.  Additionally, it gave us a chance to actually get some rest instead of monitoring our rig temp, fuel level, etc. This led us to consider adding a second stoker fan and adaptor kit for our Weber bullets.  In our search we stumbled upon the IQ110.  We were intrigued by the design, and reached out to John Kennington, owner of PitmasterIQ.com, for more product information. A few weeks later, we were sent a demo model to conduct a review, so here we go. 

Installation:  
When the unit arrived, it consisted of 5 parts: the control unit, air adapter, hose, temperature probe, and an AC adaptor.  A couple of koozies also found their way into the fed ex box, which was much appreciated.  We found the instructions to be straight forward and easy to follow. Just looking at the pieces, it was pretty obvious how to use it and set it up, but we did due diligence and went through the steps in the instructions. For our review, we used the Weber 22” Smokey Mountain cooker. We were running some trial briskets, so we had two long cooks coming up, which would be a perfect time to put the IQ to the test. We installed the IQ110 in about 2 minutes, no problems.

Operation: 
Operating the IQ110 is simple, you turn the dial to the desired temperature and the IQ takes care of the rest. There’s a LED light that will be doing one of the following:

• Flashing green – your pit is10 degrees cooler that the set point
• Solid green- the pit is within 10 degrees of the set point (desired result).
• Solid red- pit is 10 degrees or more over the set point
• Flashing red- pit is 50 degrees or more over the set point, not good.
• Alternating red/green: This happened to us a few times, and was due to us taking the lid off to mop the brisket. This is the unit detecting the lip being open, and the LED returned to normal within a few minutes.  However, if it would have stayed alternating red/green, it could mean the probe has failed or the main unit has overheated.

As you can read above, it is easy to set up the unit and have a decent idea of where your temp is by observing the LED light. If you can’t figure out how to do that, you probably shouldn’t be around fire and need to stop reading now. For the rest, I digress to the results.

As side benefit:  Even though there isn’t a current temperature gauge on the IQ – you can turn the dial until it turn’s solid green and get a real good idea of where the temp sits currently.  Quickly turn it back to your desired temp though!  The IQ reacts very well! The fan will kick off within a couple seconds if you move it to a temp where it thinks it needs to stoke the fire! 

Cook:  
We filled the charcoal chamber up and used 1 charcoal starter full of lit coal to start the cook, in addition to hickory chunks. The LED flashed green and the fan kicked in.  In 35 minutes, it was at our set point of 240, and the LED was a steady green. Our brisket was added.  For the next 8 hours the unit rarely went away from the steady green, and if it did, it recovered quickly. In both cooks, we found the product to work near perfect during the first 8 hours. The only issue we had was when we began mopping our brisket, and we took the lid off every 40 minutes or so for 5 hours. We did have a couple of times of flashing red and red LED indicators, for about 15 minutes an episode. It is important to note that the Weber 22” is a great cooker, but has the flaw of extreme temperature rises when the lid is off. We had better luck in our second cook when we closed the bottom intake vent and top vent ½ way. The issue we faced was related to the smoker, not the IQ. For the 18” Smokey Mountain, we would not foresee this issue. Also, if we weren’t mopping so often, it wouldn’t have surfaced.  

Turning to accuracy, the IQ’s temperature dial is segmented in 25 degree intervals, with space to set in between (see pic below). So you if you want 240, you need to use your best judgment where that is. To test the accuracy, we used the built in thermometer on the Weber as well as a 3^rd thermometer placed in one of the top vent hole as our gauge. Both thermometers and the IQ ran at the same temp, which was great to find out. We were left with the impression that the IQ temperature probe is very accurate. 

Final Thoughts: 

The IQ110 did what it said it would do.  It does not have the features of some of the fancier controllers out there, such as digital readouts, food probes, etc. It also does not have the hefty price tag that comes along with those. It’s a no frills temp controller that is a great match for bullets, kettles, Big Green Eggs, Drum smokers, and similar types of smokers.  What we found with the IQ110 was an easy installation, easy to operate, and most importantly, a very accurate temperature control for long periods of time.  As a competition BBQ team, the last thing you want to do is battle rig temperatures all night long.  When we cook on our bullets, we find them to be accurate, but still get up every few hours to check the temperature during the night and usually make an adjustment to the vents during those times. With the IQ110, I would be comfortable sleeping through the night. Many backyard bbq folks and competition folks use aforementioned cookers. With the smaller price tag, the IQ110 isn’t going to break the bank and should provide some comfort before you close your eyes for some sleep during your cook.  Here is a pic of the brisket we turned out using the IQ110.

Ingredients list:

-          1 box of featherbones (usually sold in 10# boxes)
-          1 stick of salted butter
-          Rib rub/seasoning (your choice)
-          Your favorite BBQ sauce

Featherbones are also called riblets Rig: For this cook, I will use the Weber Kettle Grill. You’ll need to use the charcoal separator to covert the kettle into a smoker.

Step 1:   Trim off the excess fat on the feather bone.

Step 2: season the feather bones with your favorite rib rub.

Step 3: Place the featherbones on the smoker. It doesn’t matter which side is up or not. Make sure the featherbones are not directly above the heat source. Cook at 300 degrees for 1.5 hours.

Step 4: Remove the featherbones from the smoker and place on a large sheet of heavy duty foil. I you have a lot, you can stack them on top of each other. Melt 1 stick of butter and pour them over the featherbones. Also add some more seasoning on the ribs at this point. Wrap the bones in foil and place back on the smoker.

Step 5:  Cook in foil for 1.5 hours at 300 degrees.

Step 6: Remove the featherbones from smoker. Place the featherbones in a foil pan and add your bbq sauce to them. Cover the pan with foil and give it a good shake to distribute the bbq sauce.

Step 7: Place the covered foil pan back on the smoker. Cook in foil pan for ½ hour at 300 degrees.

Step 8: Remove from pan and enjoy your featherbones!