Improving My Technique

[Lord_Byron]

Well, I'm finally taking the plunge. I've signed up for a BBQ class the two days before Memorial Day weekend. I was searching around for a place to go, and it turns out, that the BBQ Diva is doing one right here in Rochester prior to the Rib Fest. I'm excited to take things to the next level.

http://divaq.ca/classes" target="_blank

[hammb]

Dude that sounds awesome! I've always wanted to get into a competition sometime. A class like that would be an awesome learning experience first, I'm sure.

Are you still cooking on the wsm?

[Lord_Byron]

Yes, still using the WSM. Spent last season getting pretty good at temperature control using the vents.

I've smoked a lot of different meats and been pretty successful all-in-all. The family loves the pulled pork, but I'm still trying to find a signature cut/recipe that's all mine.

[hammb]

Hey man, just wondering how the class went? Would love to hear an update/trip report!

[Lord_Byron]

It was a good class with about 20 people. Most were competition BBQers -- I think there was only one other backyard guy there.

There was so much, I'll give you some things from memory and when I check my notes later, I'll see what I missed. We weren't allowed to take pictures or video since it was a "full disclosure" class. She showed us everything she does in competition.

The class was completely geared to competition BBQ and we mimicked a "real-time" session, starting on Thursday at 4:00 and finishing on Friday at about 4:00.

The biggest things for her were good bark and good color.

We started with brisket and she pulled out two briskets. One Wagyu beef, and the other Prime. She trimmed the crap out of them and ended up with two rectangular flats and two points. Ended up with about 1/4 of the total meat. The main learning for me was trimming or propping the flat so that it sat level on the smoker. This allows the fats/juices to not run off.

Then she trimmed four pork buts by cutting out all the meat except for that by the bone, the top muscle, and the "money muscle". I asked how she would trim for home, and she said she'd only cut out the hard fat. This is different than what I do. I trim the whole fat cap off the butt.

She injected the hell out of both the meats using a prepared injection mix. For the pork she mixed it with pineapple juice. I'll get the link for who makes the injections. There are some sort of enzymes in the brisket injection.

She used a Traeger pellet smoker, so her times and temperatures were different than WSM, but she gave the adjustments. Not anything new here for me. The woods were hickory for flavor and cherry for color.

They put the meat on at about 10:00 pm at about 180 degrees and checked at 3:00 to see if it was drying out. If it was, then they sprayed with apple juice to keep moist.

Things really got interesting at 6:00 on Friday morning when we started wrapping the meats and doing the chicken and ribs, but a lot of it was competition stuff.

I'll post more when I get home and can read my notes. There was a lot of stuff added to the foiled meat, and I want to remember which was which. The biggest shock to me was that she squirted squeeze Parkay all over everything.