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

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!

As everybody knows, we swear by the Weber Kettle.  So, when we see something out there that may make it better we want to try it.  Ever skeptical in things that can make a perfect rig better we felt obligated to put it to the test.  If you started out like most of us you’ve done your time standing by the kettle feeding it a few briquettes every hour to run for long periods of time.  According to the claims on the website the Smokenator 1000 can run for 6 hours if ran per the instructions.

The design of the unit is quite simple and in fact, we’ve tried to mimmick it in round about ways by using foil pans or foil to block the direct heat from the charcoal.  This unit is simplicity at its finest and can be installed and removed very easily.  The one thing that excited me most was the water pan because we are currently in discussions about adding water in our competition rig.  I’d ran water in the past on my WSM and I don’t the specific reason why I quit doing so.  Now I’m pretty sure I’ll be running water during pre-season practices on our big cooker to see if it benefits the moisture and texture of the ribs as I feel it did with the Smokenator.

As you can see below, theres not much to it.  The picture is self explanatory with maybe an exception about  the little rod that comes with the kit.  Don’t lose it.  It’s a stir stick for the coals that I misplaced somewhere during the cook only for it to magically appear immediately upon completion of the run.  Good thing I’ve got a stick or two of welding rod in the garage.

As previously mentioned what caught my eye was the claims of a 6 hour cook time on one load of kingsford.  The first time I ran it I didn’t quite get 6 hours out of it, perhaps it was because it was just under 60 degrees out and raining through the entire cook.  Hey, why try these things out when it’s beautiful outside?  We’re a competition team, we like to know how things run in mediocre conditions.  However, I did get 4.5 hours out of it which is darn good!  Further tests had gotten me to the 6 hour mark they had claimed on the website.  Pretty impressive!

Installation is easy if your grates are in good shape, if they’re well used like ours you’ll need to take the charcoal grate out and get the concaved shape out of it.  Don’t just flip it over so it’s convex, the smokenator needs that bottom grate to be flat.  I simply took mine out, laid in on the ground and stepped on it.  There are a couple of tabs that rest against one of the bars on the grate and if it’s not flat it will not fit properly.  This is no discredit to the smokenator, just a helpful tip.

I had decided to cook my umpteenmillionth rack of ribs this year as the test.  I used the 3-2-1 method as usual and a variation of my competition recipe.  I decided not to sauce the ribs after I removed them from the foil so I could truly tell if the meat was any more moist than usual.  We’ve never run any type of additional moisture with our ribs in contests.  And even in my bullet I put sand in the water pan instead of water when practicing new rib recipes.  As you can see below at the very end of the cook the ribs were still moist and if you look closely, you’ll see there’s no water in the water pan at this point.  Which brings up a quick topic for discussion.  You will need to keep an eye on the water pan if you’re really looking to add moisture.  The water will boil and evaporate quickly.  Maybe next time I’ll put some apple juice in the pan instead…

The ribs turned out to be very moist with a great smoke flavor. 

Overall, I would recommend this unit if you are a Weber kettle owner.  It would be a perfect addition to those of you that own kettles and have never slow cooked on them.  I look forward to using it to cook a brisket or other large cut of meat.  If you’re into smoking turkeys take a look at their website, they’ve got a great looking method for doing so.  I definitely look forward to trying it this Thanksgiving. Perhaps it will bring me back to my roots a bit (without having to babysit the kettle so much). 

There is a ton of of additional information and photos at www.smokenator.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

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!

Pulled chicken is one of the most delicious smoked meats you’re going to get your taste buds on. It’s also one of the healthiest. It is far superior to grilling chicken. It requires more patience as it takes on average 3-4 hours to do, not counting prep time. The end product is the most juicy, succulent, and tasty chicken you will ever eat. It is well worth the wait. Today, I am going to demonstrate just how easy it is to make pulled chicken from a whole chicken (using techniques bestowed upon me by the Chicken King of the Midwest, pitmaster Matt Frampton, a fellow author on this site.

The first thing you need to do is butterfly the chicken. For this, go to Matt’s Post entitled “how to butterfly a chicken.” You will be doing yourself a disservice not to start here:

http://www.bbqrevolution.com/how-to-butterfly-a-chicken/

 Rig: The Weber Silver One Touch Kettle Grill.

Ingredients:

-1 whole chicken

-1 cup apple juice

-4 tbsp salted butter

-Spray bottle

-Your favorite chicken rub

First, you’ll need to set the kettle grill to operate in smoke mode. To do this, use charcoal separates to hold charcoal one a small portion of 1 side of the grill. Add a small bed of coals ant then add a few chunks of your favorite wood on top (apple and/or hickory are good choices). Use a charcoal starter to get a few coals lit and place them un top off the unlit coals. Now we’re smoking!

use a charcoal separater, add only a few chuncks of smoke wood

Note: chicken can be smoked at a wide range of temperatures (225 to 350). For this cook, I will cook around 250-275.

Step 1: Butterfly the chicken.

Step 2. Melt the 4 tbsp of butter and combine with the 1 cup of apple juice. This will be our injection. Pump the bird full if this injection. Just get the needle under the skin, you will see the bird swell up as the skin holds in the inject.

Step 3: Add your rub to the chicken. Season both sides of chicken. For this cook, I am using garlic salt and McCormick’s Smoke house pepper seasoning. Cover the skin in the rub.

Kettle is set up, birds are seasoned, let's BBQ!

Step 4: Add your bird to the smoker. Do not place any part of the bird directly over the coals. If you do, you are not going to smoke your chicken, you’re going to be grilling it.

Step 5. Every hour into the cook spray the bird with apple juice. This will help retain moisture as well as add some sweetener to flavor.

spray with apple juice every hour for moisture and for a natural sweetener

Step 6. Once the bird is cooked to 175 (in the breast area), remove the bird and let it rest for 15 minutes. You can also take the temp in the drum/leg area, where the meat is also thick.

step 7. Carefully remove the skin. Use can use a knife and cut out the skin.  Try to keep the skin in as few pieces as possibe. This chunks of skin will become your “dirty rags” in step 9.

Step 8. Grab the legs and pull off the body. Repeat on the wings. Pull the meat off the chicken bones  into bite size chucks. You can separate the dark meat (leg area) and white meat (breast area) if desired. The picture in step 9 shows the dark meat on the left and white on the right.

step 9.  Time to use the dirty rag technique. Remember the skin that you seasoned at the beginning of the cook and subsequently removed in step 7?  That’s your “dirty rag.” Our chicken expert Matt coined this soon to be buzz word on the BBQ circuit. Take the skin you removed, mix it and the chicken together repeatedly . You will see that the chicken meat now looks freckled with the seasoning from the skin. Continue this until you have ragged all the meat. Make sure to remove the rags(skin) from the pulled chicken.

Mix the pulled chicken with the rags and you will be left with seasoned pulled chicken!

Step 10: Enjoy the feast!!! 

Keep reading if you want to see how it’s done.  For you long time BBQ chefs………..there’s some pretty pictures to look at.

This is the most basic method.  Alternatives are listed at the bottom.

Here’s what you need:

•  Weber Kettle with hinged cooking grate
• Weber Charcoal rails
• Rib Rack
• Thermometer
• Kingsford Charcoal
• Smoke wood of choice – Chunk or chips
• Chimney Starter
• Meat of choice
• Beverage of choice

Notes: 

• I suggest ribs for your first cook because they only take 6 hours. 
• I’ll be illustrating the 3-2-1 method of rib cooking.  This means 3 hours of cooking in a rib rack – 2 hours of cooking wrapped and stacked in foil – 1 hour out of the foil and back in the rib rack.
• I recommend Kingsford charcoal.  You can change it up later if you’d like but the consistent burn of Kingsford will help you learn to slow cook on your kettle.
• You don’t have to have a hinged cooking grate but it makes it easier to add coal and wood.  BUT, you can sneak these items through the openings in the standard grate, just not big chunks of wood.

How to start the Rig: 

• Install one charcoal rail so the charcoal will be confined to a space a bit smaller than the hinged opening in the cooking grate.  There are two in the box so store the other one for later.
• Start 14 briquettes in the chimney starter – not 18, not 10.  14!  I used 24 for this cook (knew it had a 4 in it)  I had to wait an hour for the temp to come down in the rig
• Wait until the coals are white with ash and dump into kettle behind charcoal rail
• Insert cooking grate and cover with lid.
• Open lid vent 100%
• Insert thermometer in one hole of the lid vent
• Adjust dampeners on bottom of kettle to 1/8” open for a one touch model and 1/4” open for the older model having the 3 separate vents.

Notes:  After you’ve set the vents leave the lid on and monitor the temperature.  You want to the temperature to be between 225-250 degrees.  It may take 10-15 minutes for the temperature to come up.  If it the temp comes up too high, limit the airflow coming through the bottom vents by closing them just a bit.  If the temp is not high enough, increase the airflow coming through the bottom vents by opening them up just a bit.  A slight increase or decrease in airflow will make a big difference so make small adjustments and be PATIENT.

Here’s how I rigged my thermometer into the kettle.  High tech!

How to cook:

• Place meat(s) on  grate as far away from the coals as possible.  Using a rib rack is best for cooking ribs on a kettle.
• Add 3-4 unlit briquetts and a small handful of wood chips or a chunk of smoke wood on top of the coals.  I used hickory for this run.
• Keep the lid on  the kettle when cooking – if your lookin’ it’s not cookin’
• At this point the temperature will drop due to the cold meat on the smoker.  This is OK!  Don’t panic.  Just wait, it’ll come back.

Notes:  As you can see below I put the ribs in the rib rack meat side away from the heat.  Is this the right way?  This is how I’ve always done it and it seems to work out just fine.   Try to keep space between your racks of ribs as much as possible to allow the heat and smoke to surround them while cooking. 

How to cook:  Continued

• 30 minutes into the cook open the lid and look at the coals.  More than likely there will only be about half the amount of coal you started with.
• At this point I usually add 4-6 briquettes and stack them on top of each other.
• Add another chunk of wood as well.
• Check on the charcoal every 30-40 minutes until you are comfortable with how long the charcoal will last.  Add charcoal when it gets low.  I like to keep the coal in a pile and you can actually stack the coals so that only a couple are in direct contact with the hot coals. 

Notes:  Add just enough wood to get a light smoke coming out of the top vent of the kettle.  An overpowering smoke flavor is not a good thing.  You are trying to acheive a balance of meat, seasonings, and smoke.

The length of time the charcoal will last is dependent on the weather.  When it’s cold out it won’t last as long.  You just need to pay attention until you’re comfortable with the process.

Here’s how they looked after an hour:

How to cook:  Continued

• Continue this process for 3 hours then wrap the ribs in foil. 
• You can rotate the ribs in the rib rack during the 3 hours if you’d like.  I do to avoid overcooking the ribs closest to the heat source.  If you decide to, rotate them when you’re adding coal or wood.  Avoid opening kettle as much as possible.  When you open the lid on a kettle you’ve just lost all your heat.

Notes:  I put them meat side down in the foil.  Why?  The moisture that condenses in the foil will come to rest in the bottom of the foil keeping the meet saturated w/ moisture.

How to cook:  Continued

• The foil will trap the moisture of the ribs and give them a good steaming.  This will make for a more tender rib.
• After 2 hours pull the ribs out of the foil sauce both sides with your favorite sauce and put them back in the rib rack. 

Notes:  I did not sauce my ribs this time because I was experimenting with 3 different rubs and wanted to taste the meat/rub combination without introducing a sauce.  In the picture above you can see the juice from the ribs on the cookie sheet. 

How to cook:  Continued

• Maintain the cooking temp for another hour.  Pull ribs and let cool for a bit before cutting.  10-20 minutes of resting loosely covered in foil will let the ribs set up a bit and make them easier to cut.  Cut the ribs between the bones and serve.

Here’s the finished product!

Comments: 

It will take approximately 6 hours at 225 to get the ribs done.  When done, the rack of ribs will bend really easily when held at the mid point of the rack.  If they just about break in half they’re the way most people like them. 

Patience is key to good Q.  When you tell people what time your eating give a range not an exact time.  Sometimes things don’t get done on time and if you are bound by a schedule, you’re patience is gone. 

These ribs turned out pretty darn good.  As far as texture goes, they could have used some more time in the foil perhaps.  All in all a good cook and a great time doing it.  It’s been a long time since I was brought back to my “roots” of BBQ.  My neighbors loved them as did my kids. 

If you want to read about these “roots” of mine, take a look at the “All in the family” post.

Alternative Cooking Methods: 

This is the fun part.  You can do the following and I recommend all of them.

1. Cook as stated but spray ribs with apple juice, add butter, re-season or whatever else you can think to add when wrapping in foil.  Now this is MY opinion….don’t put beer in here.  I enjoy a good beer and make my own but have ruined some good meat by adding beer to it.  Beer is for Brats or Sausage…..Framps has a post on some dang good beer sausage!
2. Cook for 4 hours before wrapping.  Add your favorite sauce and cook wrapped for 1.5 to 2 hrs.  It’s easy to get them to fall of the bone this way.  You always here people say “they were so good they were falling off the bone”. Keep an eye on them.  When you see more than 1/4″ of rib sticking out past the meat along the edge of the rack you’re at the cusp of them literally falling off the bone.  The extra moisture from the sauce trapped in the foil will really work wonders.  Let them rest before cutting!
3. Heck, don’t wrap them at all.  Spray with apple juice to keep the moisture on them.  Sauce during the last 45 minutes. 
4. Don’t sauce them at all.  A good dry rub is all you need sometimes. 
5. In a hurry?  Don’t try this one for your first rib cook.  Run the rig up to 275.  Put ribs in rack for an hour.  Add more wood than usual for a short blast of smoke.  Wrap ribs in foil w/ several squirts of apple juice for 3 hours.  Unwrap and cook for another half hour w/ sauce.  These suckers wont have that dark color but they’ll be falling apart