BBQ Restaurant Consultant

I was looking through some old papers today and came across some notes I had taken in 2002 while talking to a restaurant consultant from Texas who claimed to have been in the bbq business for the past 10-years.

As I recall it, the gentleman and his wife opened a 30-seat restaurant in a portable building in a town of 7,000 people. He explained that he had an electric smoker that used wood chips for smoke generation/flavor, a couple of steam tables and a soda fountain. The business was basically a two person operation with a drive-thru window and consisted largely of carry-out orders from working families on their way home from work in a larger community nearby.

He said that the bbq restaurant generated gross revenues of $100,000+ per year and a 70% profit margin. I am guessing that he owned the land previously or at least wasn’t paying much rent for the land, although he did not clarify that point.

As a part of his services, he would offer bbq consulting in starting a restaurant for anyone willing to enter into a consulting agreement with him in return for $25,000. The $25,000 purchased three weeks of on-site start-up consulting and 12-months of telephone consultation.

I did not take him up on the offer, but I often wished I lived a little closer to Texas so that I could visit his restaurant and check it out. It sounds like a barbecuer’s “dream” situation.

The cynic in me though, wonders if this story is true or not. Funny thing…I wasn’t willing to risk $25,000 to find out.

“Green Up” The Competition Scene…

I was talking with someone about competition barbecue the other day.  The person I was talking too took a particular interest in what kind of containers were used for the turn ins.  I told her they were Styrofoam…she cringed!  Then she asked me if that was the standard at comps across the country.  I told her, from what I have seen, that her suspicion was correct.

She asked me a number of questions that I didn’t have an answer for…but after talking with her for a while, I began to see a new mission for me.  That being to convince bbq sanctioning bodies to “Go Green” at their competitions…I know…a long shot, but I think it is worth pursuing if for nothing else then to educate people on what they use and how it affects everything around us.

I will be having this Green Expert on my radio show in a few weeks to let her speak on the subject.  I hope you will follow my developments on this and if you have any suggestions please let me know!

BUILDING A FIRE USING THE MINION METHOD IN AN OFFSET SMOKER

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Sometime back in 1999 or thereabouts Jim Minion was participating in a regional barbeque championship in the Pacific Northwest. His cooker of choice was a Weber Smokey Mountain.

However, following the manufacturer’s instructions on building a fire in this otherwise wonderful smoker proved useless as the fire would quickly shoot up to well over 325 degrees. What to do, what to do?

 Jim Minion, a fleet manager for an auto sales company, tried something different - he spread a layer of lighted briquettes over a pile of unlit briquettes and he found that he could maintain a steady fire for as long as 22 hours in his Weber Smokey Mountain. He took a first and a second in two categories that day and the Minion Method was born.

About that same time I was having incredible difficulty holding a steady temp for any decent length of time in my Hondo offset. I came across a description of the Minion Method on the Internet and decided to give it a try. I filled the firebox with Kingsford briquettes as recommended, lit a Weber chimney filled with briquettes, dumped them on top and for the very first time I held a rock steady 220 for four hours, but then the fire choked itself out from all the ash produced by the briquettes. But heck, that was a whole lot better than before.

My wife’s uncle, one of the most fun individuals I have every had the pleasure of knowing (he was one of those people who, from the moment they walk into the room you know you are about to have a great time), and a true lover of ‘que was visiting and he wanted me to fire up the barbeque. As an incentive he brought me a bag of lump charcoal. Not wanting to insult a guest, I fired up my Hondo using the Minion Method with the ump charcoal.

I fully expected a disaster as everything I read about the Minion Method said to use briquettes. Instead I was stunned - I quickly got the fire settled down to 220 and it stayed there - and held - and held - and 8 hours later the temp was still reading 220! By then I was done and removed the meat from the smoker

but it was another two hours before the temp dropped.

A convert was born! 

That was several years ago and I’ve learned a lot since then. Most important is that not all lump charcoals are the same. Some will only hold a steady fire for about 4 hours. The average lump will give you about 6 hours. The best lumps will hold 220 for 10 hours or more. Other things that will affect the burn time are outdoor weather conditions, the make/model of smoker you have, and the temp at which you are cooking. I have also learned that once you learn the individual quirks of your smoker you can “dial in” any temp you want by making small adjustments to the chimney damper and/or the air intake control.

For the longest, steadiest burn times I recommend you get the best quality hardwood lump charcoal you can find. Briquettes will work, however they produce so much ash that the fire chokes itself out within about 4 hours. High quality hardwood lump charcoal burns hotter produces very little ash resulting in a much longer burn time.

If you don’t use a charcoal basket, you need to find a way to keep the charcoal away from the air intake. Here is a good way; 

Fill the firebox with charcoal all the way to the lip of the opening between the firebox and the cooking chamber then hollow out ever so slightly — about an inch or so — just enough to make the pile slightly concave — a small area in the middle by pushing the charcoal up around the sides a little. 

Fill a Weber chimney with charcoal and light it. When it is going real good (all coals glowing) then pour it all on top of the charcoal in the firebox, keeping it centered as much as possible.

Close the lids but leave all the vents (air intake and chimney) wide open. When the temp reaches 275 - 300 degrees, begin closing the air intake. Close the air intake half way then check the temp in 15 minutes. If it is too high, close the intake half way again and check in 15 minutes. If still too high, close the air intake all the way. Check again in 15 minutes. If the temp is still too high and ALL VISIBLE SMOKE DISAPPEARS, begin closing the chimney — you guessed it - half way. Check again in 15 minutes, etc. At some point the temp will stabilize — check the vents and remember where they were as that will be your starting point next time — in other words, after the initial temp has reached 275-300, then you can close the vents down to your starting point rather than repeating the entire procedure again. The fire will slowly burn down through the pile of charcoal providing a nice, long, steady burn.

So, all of us backyard pitmasters owe Jim Minion a huge thumbs up for daring to try something different and making top notch barbeque a breeze.

Til next time, keep on cookin’!

Big Dan

Barbecue Surprises

A few years ago while competing in a barbecue event in Arcadia, Florida the unthinkable happened while preparing our chicken turn-in box.  We prepared fantastic turn-in samples and were sure we had a good chance to win, but after placing the samples in the box and closing it I discovered that our box had been damaged.

I froze for a few seconds and wasn’t sure what to do next. Should I turn in the sample anyway and take a chance that the box would be disqualified? Should I throw in the towel for the chicken category and start preparing for the rib turn-in?

It was only a few minutes before turn-in time and I decided to take the box to the turn-in table. Once there I approached the official at the table and showed her the damaged box. I asked if the damaged box would be a problem, assuming it would, and she agreed. She gave me an ultimatum. Turn-in the box and be disqualified or put the chicken samples into a new box within the next two minutes and turn it in before the cut-off time.

She handed me a new box. I didn’t have any of the usual tools we use to prepare our boxes, but I transferred the chicken into the new box and turned it in.

The new box was not well prepared and was not nearly as “put together” as the original. The chicken wasn’t perfectly straight. We use a very sticky barbecue sauce for chicken and transferring it left a lot of smudges and smears on the sides of the box. The sauce wasn’t evenly distributed on the individual pieces of chicken any longer either. I figured it was at best a 10^th place chicken entry.

Later on at the awards ceremony we were pleasantly surprised with a 5^th place finish in the chicken category. I was convinced more than ever that if we finished 5^th with a mediocre box, we were a shoe-in to win with the original box, but we were thrilled with 5^th considering the circumstances we had to overcome. The entire episode might have been avoidable if we’d only looked at the boxes earlier in the day.

We’ve learned many lessons about barbecue competitions. Anything can and will happen when you least expect it. At another event, a strong gust of wind blew the canopy completely off the cooking site of our neighboring competitor just as he was preparing to slice his ribs for turn-in. It didn’t faze him. He went right along slicing the ribs and ended up with a top three finish in the rib category.

The moral of this story? Never give up. Keep on trucking full steam ahead. In the end, the outcome just might surprise you.

What Appeared to be Becoming Fiction, is Now Reality

For over a year I have been talking about it, and almost 9 month’s ago, they were filmed, and now they are a reality. As of today, Grilling With HomeBBQ.com and Backyard BBQ with HomeBBQ.com are officially available for sale, and shipment.

At the begining of January, I sent out a notice to all of my loyal customers letting them know they could purchase the DVD’s, pre-release at a substancial discount. Many purchased them, the unfortunate thing was, they were not ready until now. I deeply apologize to those who have been waiting patiently for these, this is something I am brand new to, and had no idea what obstacles I was about to face. I have lots of boxes outside my front door right now waiting for USPS to pick up, and they are finally on their way to you.

The DVDs are initially being made available through CreateSpace.com’s on Demand program, and are now also available through Amazon.com, the product ASIN’s at Amazon are as follows;
Grilling With HomeBBQ.com - B001DKY3H2
Backyard Barbecue with HomeBBQ.com - B001DL1DKG

You can purchase them directly through CreateSpace.com here;
Grilling with HomeBBQ.com - http://www.createspace.com/252519
Backyard BBQ with HomeBBQ.com - http://www.createspace.com/252518 

In about 3 to 4 weeks, they will also be available through Amazon’s Unbox. This is an exiting time for us, and hope you thouroughly enjoy these DVDs.

Honey for barbecue

Like many barbecuers, I mix a little honey into almost all the store bought bbq sauce I use.  Eating locally grown honey provides some excellent health benefits such as immunity to certain types of local allergies. Buying local honey is usually better than the commercially grown honey available in the big grocery stores.

We’re lucky that we know our honey suppliers personally. I encourage anyone that eats honey to get to know the producers and only buy from reputable and verifiable sources. I avoid imported honey or non-local honey because you just never know about the environment the honey was raised in.  The local environment the bees live in definitely affects the quality of the honey produced.

Our honey comes from a rural farm in Coffee County, Tennessee. The hives are situated next to fields of clover hay and near a spring fed stream with crystal-clear water. The picture of my brother-in-law, nephew and his friend working with one of the hives that produce our honey.

Local honey costs more than the imported stuff, but it’s worth every penny.

Is My Barbecue Ready Yet? – Cooking Beef Brisket

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By Kevin Bevington
Now that we have our rub, the right equipment, and we are able to control a consistent temperature, we are ready to attempt the toughest meat to cook, Beef Brisket. Lets first discuss how to select the meat you are about to cook. Beef Brisket can typically be sold in 3 different size cuts.

First, is the whole packer cut, this whole cut includes the 2 very distinctly different muscles that make up the entire cut, you have the flat which would be considered the flat long piece of meat, the point, which includes the nose end, and the meat layer underneath the flat, which is separated by a layer of fat which is also known as a deckle layer. The whole packer cut is the most desirable cut to cook in your smoker, the main reason being, the tremendous amount of fat that can be left on this cut to give it plenty of moisture to draw from while cooking.

The next cut would be just the flat cut. The flat is exactly that, if you buy this piece of meat, it will likely be closely trimmed, and that makes it more of a challenge to cook in your smoker, without drying it out.

Ok, now lets discuss the grade of meat you will need to choose, I will only touch on this briefly, because this subject could easily be an article of its own. The 3 beef grades we will discuss here are as follows;

Select - This grade is a leaner animal, and with beef brisket you need marbled fat to help get this fibrous cut tender, without falling apart, and being dry. This is not the grade to choose.
Choice - There is actually more than 1 level of choice, however, as a whole, choice has more marbled fat, and would be the one to pick, based on availability. You can cook a choice brisket until it is tender, without it falling apart, and without it being dry.
Prime - This grade has the highest level of marbled fat, and as a result, if cooked properly can produce a brisket of extreme quality. However, it can be very difficult to find.
Based on what is available to you, you need to select your brisket based on marbling (a web like appearance) of fat, and size. I would normally choose a heavier whole packer brisket, my favorite size somewhere between 14 and 16lbs. I would not cook one under 10lbs.

Now that we have our meat selected, you will want to marinate this piece of meat, either using a dry rub, or a combination of a marinade and a dry rub. You can also inject this piece of meat, however because it is so fibrous you will have to be very careful injecting, the majority of your injection could end up everywhere, instead of inside the brisket. If you do decide to inject, I would inject in the same direction as the grain.

Once you have placed your desired rub, and or marinade on your brisket, let this piece of meat marinate for at least 6 to 8 hours. I prefer to give it 10 to 12 hours marinate time.

Here is my recommended method for cooking this piece of meat. Your cooking temperature should be between 225 to 250 degrees F. Place the brisket in your smoker, fat side down, and cook until it the bark reaches the desired color. The internal temp at this point should be between 150 - 170 degrees F. Double wrap in aluminum foil, and put it back into your smoker, and continue to cook until tender in the thickest part of the flat. Using your instant read thermometer, the internal temp should be between 190 - 196 degrees F, and your thermometer should slide easily in and out of the meat. Then remove from your smoker, and let rest in a warmed environment, for a minimum of 1 hour. Then remove the brisket from the foil and slice against the grain, to a thickness of 3/8 of an inch. Serve immediately with your favorite bbq sauce.

Make it your own…

 I was told by my brother in law, Glenn, that at least one time I would want to try to make barbecue my very own…from start to finish.  I asked him what he was talking about…he explained.

He told me that I take the time to select and buy the cut of meat I am looking to cook, I trim it and do all the other prep stuff…fire up the cooker and then start the cooking process…which is a long investment of time.

He went on to say that you do all of this, take it off the cooker, hold it while you prepare other items for sides and then put some store bought bbq sauce on your barbecue right before you eat it…He didn’t understand why I would do that.

Well, to be honest, I never had given it a thought…there were rubs already made for me to use…the same thing in regards to sauces.  I figured I was just saving some time in certain areas.  But he explained that if I would just take the time to learn how to make a rub and a sauce THEN the barbecue would truly be MY OWN!  No one else’s mixes or recipes would be in my bbq hence it would be MINE from start to finish.

Just some bbq for thought for you folks who are just getting in to the art.  Don’t get me wrong, I use rubs that aren’t mine more then I use my own…but 9-10 times I make my own sauce.  I love it…my guests like it…and it just seems to compliment my barbecue.

Another Year Gone By

Well Folks, today is my birthday, so I figured it would be a good time for a post. But it’s also a good time to wish my twin brother Happy Birthday. I will bet many who know me never knew I had a twin brother, but I do.

So here goes, Happy Birthday Keith, I hope we both have many more!

Just like the title says, it’s another year gone by and as a famous phrase from one of my favorite movies says “they go by in a blink”.

It has been a very interesting year, some good times, and some not so good times. But you have to take the bad with the good, and make the best out of it. My brother and I are 48 years young today (I couldn’t find a picture made with 48 candles).

I have been working hard on getting 2 DVDs released, and am just about finally going to get there (for those that have purchased the pre-release, I am expecting to have yours to ship to you within a couple of weeks, and they will include everything I promised).

The DVD’s are; Backyard Barbecue with HomeBBQ.com and Grilling with HomeBBQ.com.

For those that have not purchased the pre-release they will be initially for sale through Amazon and CreateSpace.com. I hope to have them in volume to be selling them myself, and in normal distribution channels in the not so distant future. One thing I did find out, is this is not an easy thing to do, and definately not an inexpensive project to undertake.

I want to thank Rennie Knopf of Elite Video & Recording, and FK & Cindy Whited, it would not have been possible to get these done without them.

They were filmed in December of last year, at the beautiful home of FK & Cindy Whited, and we initially projected a release in February of this year. This was extremely aggressive as we found out, and have been plugging through set-back, after set-back. This appears to be behind us now, and we will finally get them released.

We will also be exploring some digital distribution options as well, and will keep you updated here on that as well.

Until next time!

Getting back in the swing of things?

I’m glad to have the blog type of format back on my site, some may remember a few years back when I actually had a blog…

I would like to talk about somethig that has effected us a great deal this year, in the amount of competitions we would normally do, and that is the price of fuel, diesel specifically.

During the summer months we would normally do a minimum of 3 to 4 contests outside of Florida (Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama), during July and August, and this year it will be zero. At $0.60+ cents a mile to tow that trailer, who can afford that? I sure can’t.This has to be at least starting to hurt some contests, especially the ones that don’t have alot of teams real close to them.

But the fuel cost is effecting everything you buy right now. Just about everything moves on a truck, and the cost of diesel is driving, and will continue to drive freight prices through the roof.

But back to barbecue for a moment.. All the bbq competitors need to be concerned with some of the contests just going away, without teams, they can’t have an event, or at least not like they intended. BBQ contests for the most part (at least here in Florida), are good money generators for the charities they benefit. So what is the answer (besides our government, actually doing something about what would appear to be a super inflated price, driven by greed and speculation)?

For the competitors, it’s more prize money evenly spread accross the field, and giving more teams the opportunity to at least break even. But, this then puts alot of pressure on the organizers to increase those prize funds, to make their contests attractive to teams that travel. So, from the organizers stand point, they need more corporate sponsorship, and I’m not talking about Mom’s Garden shop down the street.

It’s about time Corporate America recognize that many charities benefit from what we do, and direct some of the marketing dollars they spend elsewhere into the competition bbq arena. Many contests would give them the same exposure they already get with those dollars, and they would also be able to benefit from the fact those dollars are used to generate income for charities.

Obviously, I would rather be at a competition right now, instead of complaining about why I can’t be at a competition. If your an organizer, and your reading this, think outside the box and take a stab at that big corporation as a sponsor. If your event is next year, you have about 4 to 5 months before those companies finalize those marketing dollars for 2009.

If your one of those large companies I’m talking about, then also think outside the box. Look at BBQ Contests as a viable way to spend those marketing dollars, and also creatively benefit your tax deductions, and then go that contest and eat some GOOD barbecue! And if your the Government reading this, then please, fix this rediculous problem!

Until next time!

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