HomeBBQ.com Passes on the FBA TOTY Cup
January 6, 2009 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
Jan 3, 2009 Ormond Beach, FL - After originally being presented the FBA Team Of The Year Cup after the 2003 season, by the Sorry Boys, the FBA TOTY winner from 2002. HomeBBQ.com managed to hold on to the cup for 5 consecutive years.
On this night, the FBA TOTY Trophy was presented to Rob (RUB) Bagby of Swamp Boys BBQ. Rub had an outstanding season which included 8 Grand Champion wins. Congratulations goes out to Swamp Boys BBQ, and good luck for the 2009 Season.
The FBA TOTY Cup was donated by the Sorry Boys BBQ Team (Chip Faul and Gary Lehman).
More information can be found at - The Florida Barbecue Association
�
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.
Basic Brisket Rub
July 5, 2008 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
BASIC BBQ RUB
July 5, 2008 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
| HomeBBQ.com | |
|
Here is a basic bbq rub recipe to use on just about anything!
Basic BBQ Rub1/4 cup salt (non-iodized)
3 Tbs Brown Sugar 2 Tbs Black Pepper 1 Tbs. Garlic Salt 1 Tbs. Paprika 1 Tbs. Chili Powder 1 Tsp. Sugar 1 Tsp. Onion Powder 1 Tsp. ground Cumin 1 Tsp. Red Pepper (optional) |
|
PORK RUB
July 5, 2008 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
SMOKING THE SHOULDER
July 5, 2008 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
| HomeBBQ.com | |
|
Pork shoulder is really two cuts of meat, the butt portion or “boston butt” and the picnic. Typically the shoulder is used for pulled pork, and rightfully so, if cooked properly this meat will practically pull itself. If you have heard the term “low and slow” it definately applies here. This cut of meat loves time. Ok, lets get started!
Smoking The Shoulder
Description: Pork shoulder is really two cuts of meat, the butt portion or “boston butt” and the picnic.Typically the shoulder is used for pulled pork, and rightfully so, if cooked properly this meat will practically pull itself.
If you have heard the term “low and slow” it definately applies here. This cut of meat loves time. Ok, lets get started! If I buy a shoulder, I will try to get them to take as much of the skin off as possible, without removing the fat cap. Its very difficult to use a rub when there is alot of skin. I like to use my Florida Rub (listed under rub recipe’s). It does a great job on this cut of meat. 1. Thouroughly coat the shoulder with yellow mustard. This should make you a hit at any party. Cooking times will vary based on the type of smoker you are using. Make sure to read the manual. |
|
How the Internet Changed the BBQ Culture
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
The secrets to juicy and tender barbecue have been closely guarded for many, many years and the art of barbecue has been handed down from father to son and treated as family heirlooms. The rising popularity of the Internet during the past decade has changed the culture of barbecue forever.
In the southeastern region of the country, barbecue usually referred to whole hogs cooked slowly over a fire of coals. Families often had their own recipes for rubs and sauces to go along with their favorite woods for smoking. Gaining access to these secrets wasn’t always easy. Good barbecue recipes were a source of family pride.
When I moved to Dickson, TN from Missouri in 1992, I was invited to help out with a family barbecue. I arrived at about 6 p.m. on Friday evening to find a hog roasting on chicken wire stretched over a metal bed frame. The cooks took turns roasting various meats including ducks, rabbits, and chickens throughout most of the night. There was a lot of conversation, some beer drinking, and a lot of work tending the fire. Periodically they would dab a vinegar marinade mixture on the hog.
After relocating to Florida in 2001, I rediscovered barbecue again. While searching the Internet for grilling tips and a recipe for pulled pork, I found Barbecuen.com and TheBBQForum.com. These websites reopened my eyes and ears to barbecue. About this same time, Food Network started airing various programs featuring barbecue restaurants, festivals, and contests.
A couple of years later, I discovered HomeBBQ.com and met up with Kevin. After a sharing a few e-mails and a couple of cell phone conversations, I drove to Kevin’s to help him break in a brand new Lang reverse flow offset smoker. I attended KCBS events with Kevin and Clara in Brooksville and Lakeland, FL and a few FBA events including the big contest in Sebring, FL. I struck out on my own at the Okeechobee, FL contest and got my first category win at the FBA event in Arcadia, FL in the chicken category. I’ve been preparing my own style of barbecue ever since.
I’ve cooked in KCBS events in Florida, Tennessee, Michigan, and Indiana since those early contest days and I’ve have competed against some of the best teams in the country holding my own with consistent top five overall finishes and several category wins. I’ve started my own web blog about barbecue to help others get started in the hobby and started selling my own spice rub on my personal web site.
Before the Internet Age, my learning curve would have been much, much steeper. However, for those seeking how-to barbecue information these days, championship recipes and techniques are only a few mouse clicks away. For $240, you can order a Weber Smokey Mountain from Amazon.com and have it delivered to your door step. You can spend some time reading the articles and forums and watching videos at VirtualWeberBullet.com or YouTube.com and learn how to use it effectively. There are numerous discussion groups and Forums that will answer any questions you have about specific cuts of meat or specific recipes you want to try out.
HomeBBQ.com is just another example of the vast amount of information provided on the World Wide Web for those that seek it out. I’m honored to have been invited to contribute to the collection of articles and discussions on this site. If you have questions about barbecue or suggestions for future articles, please let me know.
BBQ Tips
June 29, 2008 by TheBBQGuy · Leave a Comment
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) PostsHow to keep BBQ hot if you’re not quite ready to eat it…use an ice chest/ice cooler. Put some hot water in an empty ice chest, close the lid and let it set for 3 or 4 minutes. Drain the hot water and you’ve got yourself a portable BBQ warmer. We’ve kept pork butts warm this way for 6 or 7 hours.
How to keep your hands clean when cooking BBQ…use powder free latex gloves. They come in packs of 100 at the local Sam’s Club and will keep your hands clean. You’ll maintain good sanitary practices too. Many bbq sanctioning bodies require the use of gloves when preparing contest entries.
How to keep your spouse interested in the BBQ hobby…get him/her involved in it with you. It’s a lot of fun. You meet nice people and it’s something you can do together.
How to keep your BBQ expenses in line with your budget…research all your purchases thoroughly. Make sure your purchase will do what you want it to do BEFORE you purchase it. For example, if you want to learn to cook whole hogs, you probably need to consider a big cooker or if you want to cook 10-15 racks spare ribs every weekend you’re going to need something bigger than a WSM.
How to continually improve your BBQ recipes…keep records of your cooking efforts including cook times, prepping techniques used and especially measurements for sauces or rubs and spices used. When you tweak the recipe for taste, only change one thing at a time–change the cook time, change the rub, change the sauce, but try to avoid completely changing everything all at once. Small changes to your technique and recipes will help you focus on the effects better and you’ll be able to fine tune the product quality more efficiently.
Is My Barbecue Ready Yet? - Part 2
June 22, 2008 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
By Kevin Bevington
Ok, we made our rub. Now that we have our barbecue tasting good, we want to make sure we are cooking it properly. BBQ that is cooked properly will actually stand out better than BBQ that may actually have better tasting seasoning and sauce. This is where a lot of new barbecue competition teams miss the boat, and especially those in the backyard trying to cook bbq for their friends and family.
Let’s start with the tools you will need to bring you closer to your tender barbecue goal. First, let’s talk about your cooker, or bbq smoker. Let’s face it, you can cook barbecue on anything, bullet style smoker, offset fire box smoker, ceramic smoker, electric smoker, pellet grill, charcoal grill, and even a gas grill. The most important aspect to cooking barbecue on any of these pieces of equipment is temperature control. You need to be able to maintain a consistent temperature, on whatever you are cooking, this means controlling fuel, and especially air flow. The more air you have flowing through your bbq cooker, the hotter it will be. If you slow down this air draw, you can then control your temperature.
In order to know what temperature you’re cooking your bbq at, you need a thermometer inside your cooker. The cheapest means of doing this is an oven thermometer, place this at the same level your meat is cooking at. An oven thermometer does not adjust quickly to the surrounding temperature, so a quick look will give you a fairly accurate reading of what the temperature is. A better means of checking temperature inside your barbecue cooker is by using an electronic probe thermometer inserted into the pit, at the cooking grate level. By using this means, you can keep an eye on your cooking temperature without opening the cooker to check it. However, you need to make sure that what you’re using to do this is made to be accurate at temperatures above 180 degrees F. Many probe thermometers begin to lose their accuracy pretty dramatically above this temperature. Most cookers come with a thermometer built into the door or lid. You can certainly use this, but keep this in mind, you will need to make sure it’s calibrated, and that is located close to where your meat is, in your bbq cooker.
The next tool in your arsenal, and arguably the most important one, is an instant read thermometer. The simple dial instant read that you can buy almost anywhere, will surely work, as long as you keep it calibrated. This is usually done using an ice bath, which is a container filled with ice, and a small amount of water added to fill the gaps between the ice cubes. This should read 32 degrees F; you can then adjust the lock nut on the back to make sure your thermometer reads properly. You can also use boiling water; however, water boils at different temperatures, based on how close you are to sea level. Again, you can buy electronic probe thermometers, and place them into your cut of meat, and watch the internal temperature throughout your cook, but as mentioned previously, you need to make sure they are accurate above 180 degrees F. Since most cuts used for barbecue, are larger, more fibrous cuts, and the goal is to cook them until they are tender, their finished temperature will be well beyond 180 degrees F.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of “Is my barbecue ready yet?”
|
About the Author Kevin Bevington is the Pit master for the Championship BBQ Team, HomeBBQ.com He has won over 50 Championship Titles including 27 Grand Championships, and 27 Reserve Grand Championships. Kevin is releasing 2 DVD’s for the Backyard Cook, Grilling with HomeBBQ.com and Backyard BBQ with HomeBBQ.com. He also sells some of the finest bbq and grilling rubs, and Barbecue Sauce, the actual products he uses in Barbecue Competitions. |
All BBQ Needs Is A Good Rub!
June 18, 2008 by homebbq · Leave a Comment
Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts
By Kevin Bevington
As the masses begin to uncover their bbq grills and smokers for the season of barbecue and Grilling, many wonder what will set theirs apart from the rest. The answer? A good rub can make a world of difference. Sure, a good barbecue sauce is still a good thing to have to compliment your meal, but the seasoning is the key.
A bbq rub, is commonly referred to as a dry marinade, many times, it can actually bring more flavor to your barbecue than a liquid marinade, especially when used in a similar fashion.
Ok, lets look at the ingredient make-up of the barbecue dry rub, first, almost all barbecue rubs will contain the following basic ingredients;
Kosher Salt
White Sugar
Black Pepper
Paprika
These ingredients are typically used in fairly equal amounts, and other spices, and sugars can be thrown in to enhance flavor based on the type of meat you are cooking. A few of these additional ingredients are;
Spices
Celery Salt
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic
Sugars
Brown Sugar
Turbinado Sugar
Demerara Sugar
Golden Granulated
The most important thing to remember about putting a good dry rub together is balance. A good balance of flavors is key to complimenting the meats natural flavor, you don’t want to cover it up.
Once we have our ingredients established, along with their measurements, we can now use them on our bbq. On thicker cuts of meat, such as pork shoulder cuts (used in pulled pork bbq), or beef brisket (a texas bbq favorite), we will want to give ample marinate time for the flavors to work into the meat. On these thicker cuts, you will want at least 4 to 6 hours at a minimum, but ideally 10 to 12 hours is best. On thinner cuts such as pork ribs, or steaks, you should be looking for a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour, and ideally 4 to 6 hours.
Another key to using a rub is to work the rub into the meat. When you apply a bbq rub, you can apply it over a wet base, such as mustard, or oil (olive or canola). This is called a wet rub application, and can help the rub adhere to the surface of the meat. The most popular way to apply a rub is to shake it on heavy and dry. Once this is done, it is important to work it in, or massage it into the meat. This will help the rub flavor penetrate much quicker.
Now that I have given you the basics, it’s your turn! But, I will give a great all purpose BBQ Rub that works especially well on pork, and chicken. Enjoy!
Basic BBQ Rub
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/3 cup garlic salt
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
Kevin Bevington is the Pit master of the Championship BBQ Team, HomeBBQ.com. He has won over 50 Championship Titles. He also sells some of the finest bbq and grilling rubs, and Barbecue Sauce. For more information, please visit:
http://shop.homebbq.com
http://www.homebbq.com
