I’ve been in the market for a pellet cooker from the moment I experienced the ease of use and quality of product turned out through Ryan’s own custom built ‘Timber Turd Burner’. While his is certainly unique and has some killer attributes you won’t find in any cooker on the face of this planet, I knew right then that I had to have one of my own. So, I embarked on a research project for which unit to choose.

I looked at several, RecTec, Country Smokers, Blazin’, Fast Eddy’s, Yoder, Traeger and Green Mountain. Before the search even began, I knew that my budget was going to have to be balanced with the quality, since the budget was limited. This said, there were a few features I wasn’t willing to sacrifice, regardless of the budget.

Those features are:

• Digital Temperature Control
• Cooking space (wanted over 500sq “)
• A larger capacity hopper
• Excellent customer service track record

It didn’t take me long to zero in on a few makers and models and ultimately, I chose Green Mountain Grill’s Jim Bowie model. Not only did they have the features and functionality I was looking for, after spreading the word to my BBQ friends (all across the U.S.), I quickly discovered how incredible the customer service was and always had been at GMG. Some very trusted sources told me that they go above and beyond and now that I’ve been working with them for a few months, I couldn’t agree more. Incredible people, incredible product.

Here are the features listed right off www.greenmountaingrill.com and what sold me:

The Jim Bowie model comes with a digital control, a meat probe, a peaked lid for stand-up chicken/ large fowl/ rib racks, a convenience tray with utensil hooks and hard rubber tires. Also included is Sense-Mate, a thermal sensor which constantly monitors the ambient temperature. When it gets cold outside, it kicks the grill into Turbo mode so you don’t have to wait long for the grill to heat up! You’ll also get a venturi-style firebox for cyclone combustion, front casters, a positive pressure hopper fan to prevent burn-back, a dome thermometer and “fan only” mode with automatic grill shut-off to blow ash out of the firebox after you finish grilling. The stainless steel grate measures 37.5” X 16” (600 sq. in.) and the inside clearance is 13.5”. It weighs 183 pounds.

A few features I hadn’t thought of as requirements became so after I read the details:

• Meat probe
• Side / convenience tray
• Automatic grill shut-off
• Remote option!

Here’s a snapshot on how it works, right from the website:

When I contacted GMG about getting a cooker, I was quickly referred to a local retailer, Frank Stoysich Meat’s, in Omaha, NE @ 5170 Q Street – who happens to also make the best sausage in town! Everyone I worked with through the process was responsive, informative, helpful and most importantly attentive and prompt. I can’t provide a single instance of poor service to date.

I headed down to the store after knowing it was in stock and they loaded it up for me and I was on my way!

Got it home and unloaded it and of course had to fire it up!

A few things about firing it up that are important:

• You need to press one of the arrow buttons to initiate the startup sequence.
• Once this happens, the display will cycle through a series of numbers, 0 – 3. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING DURING THIS TIME!
• Once that has completed, the default target temperature will engage and the current temp will show. In my case the default target was 150.
• Using the arrows, set it to the desired temp and let it run!

On a 50 degree day, I set the temp to 225 and it was there within 10 minutes. It held there, within 5 degrees (and in most cases within 3) until I shut it off 3 hours later.

There is a blinking light that will tell you when the temperature is stable. GMG doesn’t recommend putting any food on the cooker until this light starts blinking. From my tests, it appears that once the temp has settled in for about 5 minutes straight, it starts to blink. In colder temps, it is harder to acheive this without a thermal blanket…but it still runs very well.

Here are some pics of the unit and features after getting it out of my truck and firing it up:

The main unit:

A side view which shows the hopper, digital readout and the food probe, which goes through a handy hole already in place:

The top view of the unit:

Here’s a view of the analog thermo, which you can see is right in tune with the digital thermo:

Operation of this cooker is ridiculously simple, as with most any pellet cooker with all these options. The key to it for me is, a thermostat with digital dial in. In the case of the GMG, you can set the temp to any setting between 150 and 500 degrees, in 5 degree increments. This means you can essentially dial in to exactly what you want and it will hold true as long as it’s set there. This is better than many indoor home ovens can boast!

You can cook jerky at 150 degrees, or you can sear and grill steaks or other items at near gas grill temps of 500 degrees. Of course, the bread and butter of a cooker like this is the ability to smoke and in those sweet spot smoke ranges, this cooker runs perfectly.

I cook chicken for our competition BBQ team and like to have a VERY consistent 275 degree cook over the course of time it takes to cook what I do for our turn ins. This thing doesn’t budge from what I need. I’ve run a full blown contest test on it 6 times, all went perfect. So far this year (as of Feb 11, 2013), we have had one contest and we took 3^rd in Chicken out of 25. The thing just plain cooks well and meat is incredibly moist coming off of it. The meat is almost unbelievably moist at first especially if you are used to normal charcoal and wood only cookers. The meat looks ‘wet’, but in a good way.

Here are some pics of food I’ve cooked on it so far

Sliced brisket flat (cooked this without the point and look how moist!)

Sliced homemade sausage:

Sauced and sliced pork loin

Sliced chicken breasts:

Chicken thighs:

A spread of food:

One last item I’ll mention as it’s more of a luxury than a must have, but BOY is it handy.

The cooker / controller comes with a remote option, which you can purchase separately. This was a must have for us at HGOGA, because we are gadget geeks. Call it nerd BBQ if you will. This remote will work on the opposite side of my two story house, when the cooker is out back, with no issue at all. It says it’ll work up to 100’ away and I think it’s more than this. Works like a champ from far distances.

I purchased this unit as an add on and it was simple. A few screws to take out and then just swapped out the main controller. The good part about this is: Now if I get in a pinch with a faulty controller (hope not, but it is electronic after all), I now have a backup unit in a pinch for a contest away from home.

Here were the parts that came with the remote option:

All in all, I can’t speak much more highly of this cooker or GMG. It does exactly what they say it does, which is cooks at low and high temps and everywhere in between and holds a consistent temp. The digital thermostat makes operation unbelievably simple and the construction is much better than some of the competition (i.e. Traeger). The product it turns out tastes amazing, holds incredible moisture and has great color. This is coming from a die hard, highly competitive BBQ cook here.

Those who know Hot Grill on Grill Action know we love to have fun, but also love to compete at the highest level. We are entrusting GMG with our contest chicken this year and are already discussing purchasing more cookers from them for brisket and perhaps beyond.

In the end, we’d recommend it. Great value and a darn good price. Pile that on top of unbelieveable customer service and well…..you simply cannot go wrong.

If you have any questions at all about running this cooker, please reach out to us. We’d be happy to answer your questions. info@bbqrevolution.com

 - Matt Frampton | Hot Grill on Grill Action BBQ Team & BBQ Revolution

There is a lot to be said for those folks out there that have their own recipes, particularly those that have enough recipes to open a top notch restaurant.  How did they get to the point where they had their perfect recipe?  I’m no master chef but it is easy enough to realize that first and foremost, one must document the makings of their perfect dish, rub, cocktail or dessert.

Now this seems like it may be a boring read, quite frankly if you are content with using someone else’s recipe, always, this may not be for you.  However, for those yearning to develop the most succulent recipe ever, continue reading.  I’m not going to give you any recipes.  I’m going to remind you of the most elementary aspects of doing anything perfectly.

Documentation is essential for recipe development.  It is essential to document the recipe, the process of preparing the dish, the cooking process and any improvements made to it.  If you have an existing recipe that you are trying to perfect it is important to document it “as-is.”  Once this is done you can start modifying the recipe and document the “improvements” you made to it.  Or so you hope.  If a modification is made that didn’t end up being an improvement, you have documented that the recipe was not improved by the change made.   Without this documentation there is a good chance you could make the same mistake again sometime in the future.  Particularly if you work on your recipes endlessly like our team does.

In our time as competition BBQ cooks we have documented every aspect of the process at some point in time.  We’ve got equipment checklists, competition schedules, tracking spreadsheets and any other type of documentation one could dream of.  The most important documents we have are the recipes to our secret sauces and rubs.  For instance, one of our teammates has been working on his perfect BBQ sauce recipe for just over 5 years now.  Personally, I’ve been working on the perfect rib rub for almost a year and a half.  How do I fine tune my rib rub recipe?  Every contest, a rack or two gets the secret rub used on it and it is compared to what we are currently successful with.  Each time a modification or two is identified and documented for the next rib cook.

When I decided to finally refine my rib rub recipe it was a bit difficult to know where to start.  As a team we’ve used countless recipes from various cookbooks and websites.  It is easy to think that an award winning recipe is going to be a great start to building your recipe.  There are many “award winning recipes” available on the web and most all of them would be a good starting point.  When I began this quest I spent about 4 or 5 hours reviewing what we had done in the past and to no reward.  I then decided to start from square one after seeing that the recipes I had previously run were all relatively the same, all yielding the same results which were not much to write home about.  The funny thing, however, is that I could have easily posted on our blog: “Award Winning Rib Rub” because one of them had pulled a second place finish in a local contest.  The sad truth; this recipe failed to perform for the remainder of the season.  After accepting the fact that the rubs we had used in the past weren’t worth starting with I pulled out every BBQ cookbook I had and started reading.  I narrowed my search down to three recipes that I thought sounded good.  From this point I simply compared the recipes and took bits and pieces from each to develop my starting point.  From this very moment, I was documenting.  I documented my starting point.  Once documented and the seasonings were combined I began making modifications.  Each time I modified, I documented.  Also, you only want to modify one aspect of a recipe at a time.  If you make multiple modifications you may have a hard time knowing which ingredient caused the improvement or error.

Even if you are using a “canned” off the shelf seasoning and rub as your foundation, it is still critical to document what you are using and the quantity used.  There are still times where we use “canned” ingredients as our stepping off point.  This is perfectly acceptable and beneficial since the consistency of the store brands is typically exceptional.  For example, you know Lawry’s seasoning salt is going to taste the same each time you buy it.

With regards to seasonings the following should be documented.

• Specific brand of the seasoning i.e. Tone’s, Penzey’s, G&H Sugar, etc.
• Whether the ingredients are granulated or powdered.
• If using Cayenne  Pepper; it is offered in various levels of heat or spiciness as indicated by the Scoville Units on the label.  If your brand doesn’t have this shown, just continue using the same brand. 
• If using brown sugar, is it light brown or dark brown.
• Anything and everything you can document to reign supreme. 

An equally important aspect of the perfect recipe is documentation of the actual cook itself.  This document is obviously different than a recipe, but without it the consistency in how well the dish is cooked could be sacrificed.  There aren’t as many factors that impact recipes when cooking indoors but as soon as you step outside, the temperature, wind, humidity and even the sun can impact the outcome of your dream dish.  As most of you can recall, there is nothing worse than being excited about cooking your favorite dish for guests only to be disappointed with it.  In these situations, there are so many other activities happening in preparation for the guests arrival that it almost certain something  will be overlooked during the cooking process.  Without documentation your perfect recipe will never happen. 

Things to consider for documentation of the cooking process:

• The outside temperature and humidity
• The type of charcoal you are using and how much.
• How long it takes your cooker to get up to temperature.
• If you will need to add more charcoal during the cook, when do you need to add it?
• If you wrap your food in foil or move it towards or away from the heat source; how long into the cook do you do so?

Now that we’ve covered the ingredients and cooking process documentation, you must document your thoughts on how the recipe tasted and how well it cooked.   If you think it tasted too salty, make a note to reduce the salt.  If you thought it could use some more heat, write it down for next time.  Perhaps there wasn’t enough smoke taste, or the finished product was tough or overcooked.  If you don’t document your findings you may never refine your recipe.

Unless you want to eat the same dish over and over for weeks on end, perfecting a recipe can easily take a year.  If you have the mind of a genius perhaps you wouldn’t have to document anything.  If you are like most people, a jotted down note about something will easily help you remember something that you did a year or two ago.

Written by Ryan Amys – BBQ Revolution, LLC – Rib Cook, Hot Grill on Grill Action BBQ Team

Well another contest season has passed and though it was successful, it did not fall in line with what we had envisioned.  In the world of competition BBQ being disappointed with a contest or an entire season is admirable; this is what drives a team or an individual to excellence. 

What never ceases to amaze us is the amount of teams out there who are so wrapped up in their desire to win that when they lose are so disappointed they lose sight of why they are there to begin with.  Worse yet, there are folks out there that get unruly when they don’t do well; they blame the judges, the contest representatives, the town, or any other thing they can think of.  We think this is as pointless as a BBQ judge that’s in it for the “free meal”.   Years ago, I can remember sitting through the awards ceremony at one of our local contests listening to some jackwagon crying about the judging being “rigged” and using profanity every time their team didn’t get called.  When we asked him to quit speaking like this in front of our children it started an argument and this fine example of a sportsman wanted to fight.  Thankfully, the situation was quickly de-fused and the ceremony re-convened.  Yes, this goof ball was so disruptive that the ceremony actually stopped.  Rumor has it he’s still off in mamby pamby land pouting about it. 

I feel we started off like most teams do.  I can remember how easy it was showing up with two Weber WSM’s, a Weber Kettle, an 8’ x 8’ Quickshade canopy and two coolers one for meat and one for beer.  We used to say; “our drinking team isn’t any good at this competition BBQ thing”.  In all honesty, this could arguably be the best way to look at it if you are just starting out.  Our goal was to cook and serve our friends great food, have a few refreshments, turn in some meat and see what happens.  “If we win we win” was our mentality and we reminisce about those days frequently.   What transitioned us away from this was a single call in one category.  That one victory snatched our nonchalant outlook and turned us into competitors.  However, the one thing we held on to was the fact that however we finish, we are in it for the fun. 

 Without a doubt, competition BBQ judging is considered to be very subjective by many and Hot Grill on Grill Action had used this as an excuse a few times until we realized that certain teams in our region were always finishing in the top 5.  Is this a common trend amongst the other regions in the country?  Absolutely.  If you are one of those that thinks the contest is “rigged” I highly recommend you become a certified judge and provide this service for at least 1 contest to see how things work in the judges area.  Pay close attention to the coordination of efforts that take place to create the “double blind” judging that the KCBS and other sanctioning bodies provide.  More importantly, pay attention to what you are eating and learn from it.  Network and learn about your fellow judges and try to put yourself at a table with judges that have been doing it a while.   After taking the time to learn about judging and what the judges want to see in a turn in box, you need to accept the fact that there are teams out there that are consistently doing well at every contest. 

The number of contests some of these teams compete in will blow your mind.  For Example Munchin’ Hogs at the Hilton, the 2011 Team of the Year, Competed in 29 contests in 2011 and received Grand Champion honors at 7 of them.  Win ratio not good enough for you?  Their worst finish on the remaining 28 contests was 18^th place which must have been due to some sort of fluke.  If you took this 18^th place finish out of the mix they finished in the top 9 in 28 contests in 2011!  29 weekends dedicated to Competition BBQ.  Take a look at the teams on the KCBS site, 3 Eyz BBQ, Pig Skin BBQ, Lucky’s Q, Little Pig Town and Big T’Z Q Cru to name a few.  All of which are exemplary teams that dedicate countless hours and the majority of their weekends to the sport.  “Rigged” some folks may say…These teams are proof that practice make perfect.

2012 Contest Results for Hot Grill on Grill Action

We competed in only 8 contests this year and received the following category honors:

Four 2^nd place category finishes.

Two 4^th place category finishes.

Two 6^th place category finishes.

Two 9^th place category finishes.

These finishes landed us:

28^th out of 77 – “Winter Q” – Great Bend, KS

23^rd out of 36 – “BBQ in the Bluffs” – Council Bluffs, IA

23^rd out of 48 – alley Jun14^th place out of 47 teams – “Keepers of the Fire” – Mayetta, KS.

9^th place out of 30 teams – “Red White & Q” – Bellevue, NE (State Championship)

14^th place out of 40 teams – “The Original NE State Championship“  – LaPlatte, NE

10^th place out of 36 teams – “Ribs, Rods, Rock & Roll” – Vermillion, SD (State Championship)

102^nd out of 525 teams – “the American Royal Open” – Kansas City, KS

One of our biggest highlights of the year was earning a 9^th place finish and 2^nd place finish out of 525 teams at the American Royal Open.  The second place finish was actually a three way tie for 1^st that when broken moved us into second place.  The most exciting part of this ordeal wasn’t walking up to the stage to get the award, it wasn’t the high fives from teams as you passed them on the way up, it wasn’t the words of enthusiasm or the cheering.  As fantastic and unforgettable as all these things are, it was the excitement amongst our team and being able to report back to our wives and children that we are true competitors in this crazy world of BBQ.  On top of all of this, we got to sit there, amongst our peers, and find out if we won Grand Champion because we truly had a chance to take the whole event.  Picture it; Imagine the excitement of sitting through the Pork, Brisket and Overall Standing announcements; our peers rooting us on, murmurs of folks whispering “these guys could win it”.   The champagne corks were about to fly and wouldn’t you know it, we were 34 points shy of winning Grand Champion.  So, we didn’t win, but you better believe we celebrated.  It took over a week for the constant feeling of joy to pass and it rushes right back every time I think about it.  To hear Hot Grill on Grill Action called twice in front of all those folks was amazing.

I started off by saying that the 2012 season didn’t meet our vision.  Let me explain.  2011 was a special year for Hot Grill on Grill Action.  We had competed very strongly and had managed to pull off a State Championship win at Bellevue’s “Red White & Q.”  This automatically placed us into the American Royal Invitational and entered us into the drawing for the state of Nebraska for “The Jack”, which is the Jack Daniels World Invitational held in Lynchburg, TN.  Having come off or a year like this it is hard to settle for anything less.

In 2011, out of 9,924 teams, Hot Grill on Grill Action earned the following rankings:

273^rd Overall

237^th in Chicken

366^th in Ribs

376^th in Pork

277^th in Brisket

The Team of the Year standings for 2012 are not currently available on the KCBS site, but as soon as they are we will post an update as to where Hot Grill on Grill Action measured up.  I’m willing to bet we end up finishing better off than we did in 2011 even though we didn’t make it to any “Big Shows”  If not, there’s always 2013. 

The Biggest Highlight for 2012…

The true highlight of 2012 was meeting the kind of folks willing to give up their time to coordinate and judge the contests.  The efforts of the team at “Winter Q” for putting on the first Midwest contest of the year and coordinating inside locations to keep the teams warm.  “BBQ in the Bluffs” in Council Bluffs, IA for continuing to grow the contest and bring more teams in each year.  Our friends at the Valley Junction, IA contest for going out of their way and giving up Main St. to the contest each year.  The folks at “The Keepers of the Fire” contest in Mayetta, KS and their excellent hospitality and accommodations.  The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and their continued efforts to put on the “Red White & Q” contest after years of finding new locations due to flooding in the area, also to them for making it a fun event for the entire family.  The Greater Omaha BBQ Society who puts on our favorite local contest in LaPlatte each year and to their continual efforts to support Omaha BBQ.  The town of Vermillion, SD and Ribs Rods & Rock’n Roll for their persistence in getting teams to their contest every year and providing one heck of a good time.  The American Royal staff for putting on the largest most organized contest you could imagine.  These folks are the reason we can do what we love.  They are true ambassadors of the sport.  Last but not least, the competitors.  We sure know how to have fun don’t we!

Where there’s a pro there’s usually con, but I can’t seem to think of any. 

If you see us at a contest, come by and introduce yourself, we’d love to meet you.  Most importantly: Don’t forget why you started.

The Kansas City BBQ Society has a very informative website full of information.  Take a look here: www.kcbs.us/index.php for the KCBS home page.  For the overall Team of the Year rankings visit: www.kcbs.us/team-of-the-year.php.  To gain knowledge on how the points are calculated for the overall rankings visit: www.kcbs.us/rankings.php.  If you want to know what it’s going to take to go from “back yard” to professional competition visit: www.bbqrevolution.com and check out “The Book on Competition BBQ.”

Combining the outdoor fire with the convenience of the slow cooker is something I’ve been toying with this past year. This latest recipe combines the wonderful grilled taste of the delicious brat with the slow cooker’s ability to infuse beer flavor into both the brat and some peppers and onions! Grill, meat, beer…what more can a guy want! The recipe is perfect if you have a busy afternoon or are preparing for a tailgate or gameday party.

• Total prep time is 30min.
• Slow cook time is 6 hours.
• Total time is 6hrs 30min.

Here’s what you need for this simple, yet extremely tasty dinner!

• 10 pork or turkey brats
• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 large red pepper
• 2 beers of your choice (dark beers work well)
• 10 fresh made hoagie buns

Follow these directions:

• Prepare a grill for direct cooking at 400 degrees. I used my Weber Genesis Gas grill for this cook.
• Prepare a slow cooker and set it to low.
• Slice half of the onion, green and red peppers and put them in the slow cooker, like so:

• Next, slice the remaining onion and peppers and set them aside

• On your prepared direct grill, cook the sausages until they are brown on all sides, but don’t let them burst. You don’t need to cook them all the way through, just brown them and start the cooking process

• Once that is complete, add the sausages to the crockpot:

• Now add the remaining peppers and pour the two beers into the slow cooker, then cover and simmer for 6 hours

;

;

David at BBQDryRubs.com and author of Sausage Making for Beginners was kind enough to read and review our e-book, The Book on Competition BBQ. 

Here’s a snippet:

Should you buy the book? It depends on how much you value your time and money. If you are just starting out then this book will save you at least a year of trial and error. If you have your feet wet already then this book might be enough to finally put you in the money.

Personally I found the book to contain more information than I was able to soak up during a hands-on class in Texas a few years ago. That class cost me about $300, a traffic ticket and two days of my time. By comparison this book is a bargain!

Read the entire review here!

Buy the book here!

“Slap yo Mama, WOW” said the team next to us at the 2011 American Royal after indulging themselves in this BBQ Bean medly. The beans went on to finish in the top 10% and have been in our arsenal ever since. This recipe roots itself from my Great Aunt, who served these to many pleased patrons of her resturant. The recipe can be adapted easily to make the best BBQ beans you will ever have. This is a very simple recipe that will steal the show wherever you take them! Here we go!

Ingredient list:

- 1 large can Bush’s Chili Beans 111 oz (sams club)

- 1 large can Allen’s Baked beans 111 oz (sams club)

- 3 cans Butter Beans

- 2 cans dark red kidney beans

- 2 cans black beans

- Whatever other beans you want to add, Lima beans work great but were unavailable for this cook.

- 1 cup packed brown sugar

- 1 cup BBQ Sauce (sweet baby rays used here)

- 1/2 cup seasoning (Rufus Teague Hot used here)

- 2 lbs meat of your choice. We used leftover BBQ ribs from our competitions. Brisket, pulled pork also work fantastic. If you don’t have those, Hamburger works great.

- 1/4 cup minced onion.

The raw ingredients

Directions:

- Drain the Kidney beans, Butter Beans, and Black Beans and any other beans you add. Do NOT drain the Baked Beans or the Chili Beans.

- Add all the above ingrients into a large foil pan.

- Mix well

Beans, Sauce, Minced onion, and seasoning added

 

Mix Well

 

Mix in the money meat of your choice. We are using leftover ribs!

 

Everything is added, time to put on the smoker

 

Cooking instructions:

- Set smoker to 250 degrees.

- Add smoke wood to smoker. Hickory /Pecan/Oak/Apple all work well.

- Add beans to the smoker

- Cook for 3 hours, mixing the beans every 45 minutes to an hour.

- ENJOY!!

Smoke for 3 hours, mixing every 45-60 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently launced, in July, was a brand new monthly BBQ magazine named “StoryQue” by Lavern Gingerich, which is exclusively available from the iPad Newsstand.  It is very well written and has TONS of valuable BBQ digs, for the backyarder and the competitor.

For all you iPad owners out there – please go check this out! 

BBQ Revolution and Hot Grill on Grill Action are pleased to announce that we will be regular contributors to the content of the magazine, starting with this first issue!  We couldn’t be happier to bring you yet another inlet to the BBQ Revolution!

Recipes, tips, tricks, reviews and much more are all available in the mag.

Here is the official detail from the iTunes library:

Description:
In every segment of barbecue—whether backyarders, competitors, caterers, fund-raisers, whatever—there are stories to be told. Stories of genuine success in winning, raising funds, building a sustainable business, enjoying quality time with family and friends, etc. This magazine is dedicated to telling the best success stories in the world of barbecue. If barbecue is your passion, you will love the stories, tips, and recipes in StoryQue. Try it out for 30 days free.

And here is the direct link to get it today! http://goo.gl/xF4gM

Here are a few additional screenshots from the mag:

Contest Staff

There were several great attributes to this contest, but first and foremost the folks who took time out of their lives to allow us to compete deserve the most praise.  Everyone was more than hospitible and made the experience great from the moment we pulled in.  Throughout the duration of the contest, the staff and reps were there to help.  It was perfect!  Reps were consistently making efforts to ensure everyone had their needs met.  The services included ice delivery and trash removal.  Now I know this isn’t uncommon, but for some reason, some contests just don’t get it and when you’re used to it…..well, you just are.  It was as if we were competing in a contest that had been taking place for several years, not the mere two that this contest has been in operation.  Not only were the services available but the folks providing the services were nothing but pleasant.

Venue

The contest took place at the RV park of Prarie Band Casino outside of Mayetta, KS.  Upon arrival we were provided a pull through RV camp site with water, power, septic and even cable services.  The consisted of a concrete pad with a concrete picnic table pad adjacent to the camper pad.  The entire premisis was clean and well maintained.

The cooks meeting and award ceremony was held inside one of the Prarie Band Casino’s convention rooms.  Yes, inside an air conditioned convention room.  Now here’s something we’ve never experienced;  There were hors devours served at the cooks meeting.  Yep, delishi

We realize this may be a bit ‘taboo’ for some, but there are occasions where the convenience of smoking on a gas grill has its benefits and since we are here to teach you everything we know about smoking meats, we’d be remiss if we didn’t include a post about it for gas grill fanatics.

This post is for basic instruction on how to smoke, low and slow, on a Weber gas grill – specifically the Weber Genesis (but this would generally work on any gas grill in which you can control and monitor temperature).

The specific grill used for today’s instruction is pictured at the top of this post.  It is a 2010 model of the Weber Genesis with the copper finish.

The first thing to do is to get everything setup for a nice low and slow smoke, prior to firing up the grill.  We will be preparing this grill for indirect cooking by using the far left burner as the heat source and the far right side of the grill for the area where the meat will reside.

There are several to choose from, but you’ll want to get a smoke box similar to the one below and place it on the far left side, directly above the burner that will be running.  These smoke boxes run from $9 all the way up to $50 depending on how fancy you’d like to get.  This one was $9 at a local grocery store and works perfectly.  Google or Bing the keywords “gas grill smoker box” and you’ll see all sorts of choices.  Like so:

Inside this box, you’ll want to put some wood chips.  This particular box lets so little oxygen in that it doesn’t require you to ‘soak’ the wood chips.  If you fill this box about 3/4 full of chips, you will get smoke for about 3 hours.  They all run differently, so you’ll need to test it out to know how yours works for sure.  Some will require you soak the wood chips in water for an hour or more.  As with any cooker or cooking style, you need to practice and get the hands on experience of your own gear to ensure it runs just as you want it to.

Once you are all setup with the smoke box you are ready to fire up the grill.

Start by firing up ONLY the far left burner, on half power.  Ensure your wood box is directly above this burner and shut the lid.  Let the smoker run until you reach a temperature of 275 degrees, perfect for smoking chicken, ribs, brisket or pork on a gas grill.  It will take about 30 minutes to get up to this temperature, but it’s worth the wait.  It’s easier to come up to the temp, rather than over shoot it and need to come down. 

If you know you’ll need to run for more than 6 hours, ensure you have a full tank and a spare ready to go just in case.  A full tank should get you 10 hours or so, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

You can see the exact settings used here that got us to 275 in 30 minutes and stayed right there for a 2.5 hour cook for a whole 4.5lb chicken.  We’ve tested these exact settings on this setup on a 75 degree day and it ran for 4 hours at 275, without any adjustment to the dials.  Given these results, it can be expected you could run as long as the tank will last at this temperature, without an adjustment of the dials.

…and just the far left burner…

Now you are ready to cook using any of our, or your, meat smoking recipes – just as you wood on a WSM, Weber Kettle, custom rig or some other smoker.

A tip:  If you are comfortable with it, try smoking your meat selection in a foil pan configured like it it below.  Smoking meat can produce incredible juices and create a good mess if you aren’t careful.  Cooking the meat in this pan will consolidate all the juices to it, reducing the mess in the gas grill – AND – giving you some juices to work with later as a mop, in your sauce, as a dredge or any other way you’d like to use them to finish off your product.

Best of luck and as always – let us know if you have any questions!

Bye for now – BBQ Revolution

Overview:

Let’s talk Turkey. If you have a smoker, chances are friends and family will look to you around Thanksgiving, Christmas , or any turkey time. Fortunately, the below recipe will provide a way to have them begging you for another round of gobbler.

The equiptment: For this cook, we are going to use the trusty WSM 18″ smoker. For additional giggles, I’m going to break out the proQ expander for the WSM. Though it won’t be necessary, I just got it and want to give it a go.  This item will slip into the middle section of the WSM and add an additional cooking grate.  We will use kingsford charcoal, pecan wood chunks for smoke, a looftlighter (electric charcoal starter), and lastly a pitmaster IQ110 for temperature control.

Ingredients List:

- (1) 12-14 lb Turkey

-  2 tbsp Olive Oil

- Rufus Teague hot seasoning (or any turkey or chicken rub)

- Optional:  we’re testing an inject we’ve put together which is shown. Until this is available, you can use 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup apple juice. Sign up for our newsletter on our homepage and we will alert you when it’s ready.

- A disposable pan and injector will come in handy.

- a spray bottle filled with 2 cups apple juice

Bird Preparation

1.  Inject the turkey using a meat injector. The bird will puff up quite a bit (see picture below), that is what you want to happen. Inject the breasts legs, and wings. Pat dry with a paper towel any excess injection.

2. Cover the bird in a thin layer of olive oil. This will help hold our seasonings on the bird as well as achieve bite through skin.

3. Season the bird evenly using your rub.  We use a generous amount, but it’s up to you how much you want spice you want on it.

Cooking instructions:

1. Set your smoker to 325.  Add the bird breast up to your smoker.  Add your pecan chunks if you have not yet. Turkey shoud be placed on the highest shelf.

The ProQ wsm extender shown in this pic.

2. Spray the turkey with apple juice every 45 minutes. This will help create the tasty bark and infuse some flavor.

3. Smoke the turkey until the breast reads 160-165.  Cooking duration will vary depending on the size of the turkey. Generally, it’s  3.5 – 5  hours. Start checking the temperature every 30 to 45 minutes  beginning on hour 3.

4. When the breast reads 160-165, take the turkey off. Also take the temps of the legs, but they should be ready as well. Note: the bird will continue to cook, so begin carving within 30 minutes if you pulled at 160 and within 20 minutes if you pulled it at 165.

<——- after 3 hours

after 4.5 hours —->

Carving/Parting the bird:

It’s time to get your creation ready for the table. You’ve spent a lot of time creating this masterpiece, now it’s time for the finishing touches. There are many detailed instructions on the web, so we’ll provide the basics for those of you that have carved a bird before. If you haven’t, you may want to do a google/youtube search and watch a tutorial.

1. Cut the drumsticks away by slicing through the skin that holds the drums to the body. Grab the leg firmly and pull away from the body. The legs may separate by the pull alone. As you are pulling, you can see the anything that may be keeping the leg on. Cut through it and place the legs on the side.

2. Part the wings by grabbing the wings and pulling away. There is a joint that will be holding them together. Cut through the joint.  Set aside.

3. Remove the breasts. This is achieved by finding the sternum (bone) that separates the 2 breasts. Slice down the sternum. When you hit the ribcage, carefully follow your knife along the cage until the breast separates.

4. Now that you have parted your bird, it’s up to your preference how you serve it. Typically, we will pull the off the drums and wings and present pulled turkey. With the breast, we will make slices.

5. With the remains on the body, pick off the appealing meat and add it to the serving pile.

<——  The Departed (turkey)

Sliced breast  ———->

6. Take a bow, you are the turkey king of your party!