My First Pulled Pork

And the first time using the "new" smoker. Actually lugged it up to my friend Mike's place. Turn's out they had a family wedding the day before we planned to smoke, so we were going to be feeding about 17 family members.

 

I pulled two pork butts out of the freezer. They were just over 13 pounds together. Didn't get them out quite as soon as I had hoped, so turned to the CBBQA Forum to get some tips on faster defrost. In the end they were thawed late Saturday evening for a Sunday cook, so I rubbed them up with Bad Byron's Butt Rub and tossed them back in the refrigerator for morning.

We got a late start. Neither of us had done butt before. Mike had the coals going in the firebox before I got there, and we put the butts on just about 11:15 AM.

We added a small Tri-Tip and a sausage too. Also put a chicken on the rotisserie later too (used Butt Rub on it too, and it was tasty). The Tri-Tip and sausage went on about 2:15 PM. Pork butt was 131* internal temps at this time.

We added more soaked oak chips as we went along. We had the smoke box running with about a 10 degree difference from side to side. She was running about 210 at the hot side and 200 on the other.

We added a towel pretty quick - lots of air leaks. Going to have to work on that.  In the afternoon the winds picked up a little so we added the fancy brick mod to keep the towel on. It seemed to do pretty well keeping the drafts down. We took it off once to see what would happen - the temps shot up really fast. Was also glad to see it drop back down fast when the towel went back on. 

By 6 PM the natives were getting restless. So we decided to pop up the heat and get things moving along. We had already lost one family that didn't want to wait any longer and had a long drive home. So we tossed on a oak branch piece. That caught and the temps went right up - so turned down the air flow - kept her at about 250/260. At this point the pork was at 166 internal - as you can see in the photo to the left.

We wrapped in foil a little after 6. We pulled the meat before we really wanted to, but we were going to loose everyone, and the other meats were all done. We ended up pulling it at about 7 PM and the internal temp was at 174*.

Below you can see what I chopped for Mike's family to gobble up - yes chopped, I wanted to get it done fast at this point. On the cutting board are also the Tri-Tip and the sausage. That Tri-Tip was tasty. But so was the pork! Next to that is what I pulled after getting home that evening.

 

I pulled 1 1/2 butts and vacuum packed them up in 2 serving sizes. There was probably about 16 servings at least left there.

I'll be enjoying this meat for some time, and I learned a lot on the cook too. Not bad for my first run at pulled pork! I think we are going to try brisket. None of us have done a brisket before either. This is my kind of learnin'!

Review: BJ's Barbecue (Sparks, Nevada)

I happened to be in Reno at the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) annual conference a few weeks ago. Myself and two coworkers piled into a rental car with the Neverlost GPS system and took off for old Reno in search for food. We cruised the main drag a few times looking at the odd sights. I tossed out the idea of BBQ and Brent thought that was a great idea.

We tried a few variations on "BBQ" in the Neverlost and in the end it served us well by taking us to BJ's Barbeque in Sparks.

Sitting in the booth with a Newcastle on tap was a good start. I happened to mention that I am a member of the California BBQ Association and Brent was very interested to learn more - turns out he is a BBQ fan too. Kevin was quite interested to sit back and ask questions about this form of cooking that we seemed to be so excited about.

Looking over the menu Brent and I both settled on the 1/2 pound of pulled pork and we talked Kevin into the 7 ribs. I went with the coleslaw and dirty rice for sides. I had never actually had dirty rice before, so thought this would be a good time to go for it.

I wasn't thrilled by the coleslaw. It was OK, but not great. I didn't eat it all. The rice was dirty - a little spicy. I'm not that great with spicy, so that wasn't a plus for me. But it was pretty good. Better than the slaw.

Brent thought the corn bread was too sweet. I really liked it.

Brent and I both enjoyed the pulled pork. It wasn't fantastic, but it was quite good. I would get it again for sure. My plate didn't have any pork left on it, that's for sure.

The service was quick and friendly. Our waitress sat down in the booth and joked with us a bit and made suggestions when we asked. Friendly but not pushy.

We were there on a week night - I think it was a Monday evening. Two other booths had folks in them when we got there, so it was quiet.

Did I mention Newcastle on tap?  =)    
Sorry I didn't get any photos.

Enter the Team Pork Fiesta Bowl Sweepstakes!

[ Here's a contest that folks will like to enter for a variety of reasons. ]

 

Fire up the grill and bring along the mega phones, foam fingers and team jerseys. The Other White Meat® and Ray Lampe (a.k.a. Dr. BBQ), tailgating expert and author of newly-released The NFL Gameday Cookbook (Chronicle Books) will be partying in the parking lot with lucky "Team Pork" fans as part of this year's "Team Pork Fiesta Bowl Sweepstakes!"

Be sure to enter yourself in this "draft!"  One national winner will win:

• All-expense paid trip for two to the 2009 Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
• Two tickets to the Fiesta Bowl game
• VIP pass to a private tailgating party with Dr. BBQ himself, Ray Lampe

To enter the online sweepstakes, simply fill out the information below and click submit!  You can also check-out the official rules for details on the mail-in sweepstakes.

Contest begins on September 10th, 2008 and will run through December 1st, 2008.

One lucky winner and a guest will be selected on Dec. 8, 2008!

 

Follow link to enter: http://www.theotherwhitemeat.com/aspx/promos/tailgatesweeps.aspx

Porterhouse over Flame

Well, the smoker has been way too underused. Heck, I haven't even used the new (used) one I got. Once we are back from vacation that has to change.

But until then we are making good use of the gas grill. That lamb was different and very good. Also been doing a lot of burgers for lunch mostly. Mixing in some pork. Salt and pepper for the wife - I've been mixing in some D-Dog's in a few of mine. Twice we even mixed in some other goodies for gourmet burgers. Oh ya - and some ribeye's too.

But today was the day for the porterhouse! We splurged on a really nice cut from a local store called Major Market. It's a little higher end on the grocery store scale, and they have a nice meat counter.

Salted. A little pepper.

On the grill. A few oak chips as well.

Just pulled from the grill.

Juicy. Tasty. Very nice...

This is worth a little extra cost. OK, so not for every weekend. But definitely something to remember for those nice events or a special weekend.

Want a Free Grill & $10,000 Backyard Makeover??

Crisco and Coleman have teamed up to bring us a "Grill-A-Day Giveaway". 100 Daily winners of a Roadtrip LE Grill. And one Grandprise winner, who will get a $10,000 backyard makeover - with a Coleman Series 8200 gas grill.

Enter daily for a chance to win at: http://criscogrilladay.amgpromo.com/ 

 

Good luck!!

Can a Hamburger be Gourmet?

Why not? You see enough of them in restaurants for $10 or more!

My wife read an article in a food magazine that had a fancy recipe for hamburger patties - we took parts of that and modified a little.

 

We minced sweet onions, mushrooms and yes, even carrot.

The original recipe calls for roasted garlic too - that sounds fantastic, but we didn't get that far. Although, the first time we made these I did add crushed garlic, and that was a nice touch.

 

Tossed these on the hot grill and cooked through to just passed FDA recommended internal temperature of 160 degrees.

 

Toasted up wheat buns on the grill.

Add some fresh cut cheddar to melt, add your favorite toppings...YUM

 

This is the way to have a burger. Just a little extra work, but worth it.

Grillin' Some Lamb

We got a lamb shoulder chop (0.6 lbs) to bring out to my dad's for Father's Day to grill up - give him something special while the rest of us ate burgers and hotdog's. Well, it was a good plan, but we left the darn thing in the fridge at home!

So I finally got around to it tonight. Wasn't sure what to do, so I popped onto the BBQ Brethren site and did a search on "lamb" - found a lead on the second post I checked. Olive Oil, Garlic, Salt, Pepper and Rosemary - I can do that...well, almost. I didn't have fresh rosemary and didn't want to dig out the spices box - so grabbed some spices we got recently from Penzeys Spices. I decided on the Turkish Oregano in place of the rosemary.

Rubbed it up and popped it back in the fridge for a bit. Fired up the grill to pre-heat. Got it up to 300 degrees (F) and dropped some dry oak chips on the grill above the two outside burners.

Dropped the lamb on while all three burners were at full to sear it up. 30 seconds, turn 90 degrees, 30 seconds, flip, 30 seconds turn again, 30 more seconds and turned the middle burner (where the meat is) off to cook the rest of the way by indirect heat.

 

On a side note - we are going on an Alaska cruise in a few weeks, so we splurged a bit more than normal and got me a new digital camera. This was my first time grilling/BBQing with the new camera, so I took a few shots. Tons of features and settings to figure out!

 

Also had some help from Baron Herzog (2004 Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon). Not bad. First time trying this vineyard. I drank a lot of it, so it must be OK!

Gave Jen a small bite. She proclaimed that we would be getting some lamb on the cruise ship - so I'd say it was a success.  =)

Man, was this meat tender! This was my first time cooking lamb by any method. It was better after a little more salt at the table - but other than that - I would certainly grill lamb again.

Review (not mine) - QN4U BBQ House

Fellow CBBQA member Professor Salt was able swing by the restaurant on his way home from a BBQ Competition and was nice enough to post some photos and a review of his meal.

Wishland's Que'n for Kids BBQ Competition

Well, for various reasons I won't get into here I was not able to attend this event after all. Which is too bad, since I was really looking forward to it. But some things do take priority over BBQ - not many, but some do...

Twenty two teams turned out for this event - including a lot of rookie teams. It sounds like the turn out by the public was good too, and that the location was very nice (Canyon RV Park). Folks reported that everything was very well planned - which is fantastic for a first year event. Well done Wishland!

People are already talking about next year.

Here are some photo sets:

CBBQA Wishland Competition web page 

BBQ Junkie's Photos 

Silvie Curry's Photos

Harry Soo's Photos 

Event Photographer's Photos

Did the event go over well? Let's just put it this way - Que'n for Kids 2009 will be Saturday, April 18, 2009 at Canyon RV Park! I'd say it was a success - planning this far ahead!!

Short article on the event in the OC Register!

How to Pitch a BBQ Sponsor

This post comes from the BBQ Brethren forums where Ray Lampe (Dr BBQ) was kind enough to post this letter that he had recently used to pitch an event (in this case the American Royal) to a potential sponsor. Ray only asks that you don't use it word for word, but do feel free to borrow from the ideas it contains.

I certainly don't need this right now, but who knows, maybe down the road a bit! One can always hope...

 

Hi guys.
I just got done with this and thought I'd share. Here's a letter I just sent to a potential sponsor. I met a chef that works with Sponsor X and with his help I hope to get them on board for the American Royal. I omitted their name and some personal info but other than that this is what I sent. Notice that most of the document is about how great this will be for them and what we can do for them. We'll see how it works out. Feel free to use the ideas here, but please don't use this word for word.

 

March 27, 2007

Hi Todd,
It was great to see you at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. Per our conversation last week I’m sending my thoughts about the possibility of cooking at The American Royal Barbecue this October in Kansas City representing Sponsor X. I think this would be a fun partnership and I’d look forward to working with you on a Sponsor X barbecue sauce as well as recipes featuring Sponsor X for all of our other dishes for the weekend.

The categories we’d be competing in over three days would be:
• Invitational Chicken
• Invitational Ribs
• Invitational Pork Shoulder
• Invitational Beef Brisket
• Barbecue Sauce
• Vegetable side dish
• Bean side dish
• Potato side dish
• Dessert
• Open Sausage
• Open Chicken
• Open Ribs
• Open Pork Shoulder
• Open Beef Brisket

With a little luck and some good cooking we could turn our creations into award winning recipes that many Sponsor X lovers could enjoy. The dates for the event are October 4th through the 7th and it’s held in Kansas City. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Ray Lampe

About the event
The American Royal is a month long livestock show and a 100 year old institution in Kansas City. The American Royal Barbecue was added in 1980 and it has since become the biggest barbecue contest in the world. The American Royal Barbecue is the opening event of the American Royal and the season finale for the competitive Barbecue circuit. “The World Series of Barbecue” is spread over 20 acres in Kansas City’s historic Stockyards District, and boasts nearly 500 teams. They’ll be competing in a highly regarded invitational barbecue cook-off, the world’s largest side dish and dessert cook-off and the open barbecue cook-off which draws all of the top competition teams from around the country. Combine this with a barbecue-related trade expo and this is truly a major foodie event. This year “The Royal” as the barbecue is known, expects 75,000 people to pass through the gates for the three day event. Barbecue teams and visitors came from 30 states and a few countries last year and they represented sponsors such as Bayer, Harrah’s, Royal Oak Charcoal, Coors, Budweiser, The Kansas City Board of Trade, Sam’s Club, UNB Bank, Cerner Corp, Sprint and Premium Standard Farms. The teams host big fun parties on Friday night and. a good time is had by all. www.americanroyal.com

About me
My name is Ray Lampe aka Dr. BBQ. I am a cookbook author and product demo chef. I write a monthly column for Fiery Foods Magazine and I am the company chef for the Big Green Egg grill company. My third cookbook will be out in June 2007 from St. Martin’s Press in NYC but my real background is as a Barbecue Champion. Among my many barbecue awards are a handful of top five finishes at The American Royal Barbecue. I am already qualified to cook in the invitational contest this year at the American Royal. You can learn a little more about me at www.drbbq.com and I can send a full bio if needed.

What we can do
Because of my experience and long relationship with the American Royal I’m confidant we can get a high profile location for our team this year. We would enter the contest under a blatantly plugging fun name such as The Sponsor X Guys or Sponsor X the Bar-B-Q! We can put up any signage we’d like and use our space to promote at will. I’d have to speak with them just in case there was a conflicting major sponsor but that seems highly unlikely. We could hand out samples and recipe cards and have a drawing to collect business cards and contact info. We can host spokespeople or characters or props of any kind as long as it fits within our space. We can also host any VIPs and business related guest for dinner and drinks on Friday and Saturday night. We will use Sponsor X in all of our dishes for all of the contests and with my background and Todd’s recipe skills we will do our best to bring home some awards for the team. The awards would be icing on the cake because we’d have already spent our days promoting Sponsor X to the huge crowd and the media in attendance. There is always a full slate of local and national television on site as well as print journalists. With good advance communication I’m confident The American Royal folks will give us a heads up to all of them and of course we could stir up some of our own with a press release from Sponsor X.

What we need
I’ve cooked at the American Royal many times and I can determine and supply everything we’ll need such as an enclosed tent, a mobile kitchen, fencing, tables, chairs and enough supplies to feed and water everyone in sight for three days. We could not be responsible for supplying the signage but will work with anyone to get the appropriate signs to the event and get them displayed at the site. Of course we’d have travel and lodging expenses for the week for Todd, myself and a few other workers as well as logo’d up shirts hats and aprons. A total budget of $00 would allow us to put on a great show in a first class fashion at The American Royal.

 

This is some very useful info for anyone working on a pitch to a potential sponsor. If that person is you - all the best!