I've been barbecuing ribs for years now, and I'm always searching for my ideal pork supplier. My criteria, in no particular order: pasture-raised, humane, sustainable, local, meaty (no shiners!), full-flavored, uniform. I've purchased pork from many local NY farms, but I thought I'd put a few of my favorites to a taste test this past weekend. The candidates? Sir William Berkshire in Dutchess County, Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan NY, and Kinderhook Farm in Ghent NY. They were all at the tops of the scale, but the newbie to the bunch won out in this test. Who is the newbie? Pork out with me to find out! 

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It's that time of year when you might have a crazy amount of leftover brisket in your fridge after celebrating the Jewish New Year. Brisket can be super tasty, but too much brisket is... well, just TOO MUCH BRISKET. Following is a recipe for a beef brisket chili that I've come up with to get through the massive amounts of leftover brisket I have after barbecue competitions. I usually don't add additional spices to that chili because the smoked brisket is already jam-packed with seasonings and smoke... but a typical Rosh Hashanah brisket is not overly seasoned. So I have included my standby chili spices. Interetsed? Read on for the recipe. 

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My second KCBS barbecue competition is in the books after competing in the Harvard Fall Festival BBQ State Championship. 60 teams showed up for this one (note to self: stop entering "State Championships!"), and the competition was serious. Some of these teams are 10 people deep, with decades of experience among them. At most I have a decade of backyard grilling under my belt, so these comps are as much about learning as they are about competing. Read on for a little tour of the weekend.

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I've been smoking ribs for years over charcoal and wood. But before I had a pair of smokers and a pair of charcoal grills, I had a gas grill. I've grilled hundreds of meals on that gas grill and to this day I love that it provides immediate grilling access with zero grill preparation. But could it be possible to smoke ribs, low and slow, on the old blue flamer? Many commercial pits are gas fired with wood added for flavor (Ole Hickory, Souther Pride, etc) and they can turn out some pretty killer 'cue (Blue Smoke, 17th Street Barbecue, Fette Sau, for example).... so I figured it was worth an honest effort. Read on for the results! 

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My next KCBS barbecue competition is coming up this weekend, and the past few weeks have been filled with numerous ribs and chicken tests. It's hard to think of many things better than barbecue testing: You deal with zero stress, you have all the comforts of home, the backyard smells of delicious smoke and meat, and you simply concoct, adjust, fiddle, rearrange, and otherwise tweak until you can tweak no more. It's akin to my old days of being a graphic designer, but so much better because it involves fire, smoke, and meat!

Mmmmm Riiiibbbbbbbss:

After trying a few local farms out, I've settled on using The Meathook in Williamsburg as my ribs supplier for this competition. I have to find out which pig farm my last round of slabs came from, but regardless they were outstanding. Balanced fat levels, nice uniform st louis cut (good job Sara the butcher!), and a wonderfully rich meaty flavor. I've recently switched to wild cherry wood for smoking ribs, and I'm loving the taste. Super mellow yet distinct. A really nice combination with the richness of spare ribs. I'm still on the fence about going with my favorite vinegar-heavy sauce or using my latest sweet/tomato sauce. I'm guessing the judges will like the sweeter one better... so thinking it's worth a shot.

Test That Chicken:

I've spent a lot of time on chicken variations. Too much time really. I've brined. I've braised in butter. I've removed skin, scraped all the fat off then stuck it back on. I've deboned. I've rubbed under skin and on skin. I've used cherry wood. I've used apple wood. I've used oak. What have I learned? A shitload, most notably that barbecued chicken rocks. But here's my final takeaway: I plan to trim uniformly, remove skins, brine, scrape fat from skins, keep meat on the bone, season under skin, wrap skin back on, season on top of skin, pierce a few holes in skin, indirect grill on the kettle with drip pans and cherry wood, crisp skin-side down at the very end, and sauce off the grill. Woohoo! 

So I've been thinking: I love chili. I love pork barbecue. I should love pork barbecued chili! As it turns out, I totally do. With Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Flood Watch/Tornado Warning/East Coast Terror Alert/Irene on it's way, it seemed like a good idea to use up any frozen fixin's we had in our freezers. After discarding pounds of year old freezer-burned breads and veggies, I found a nice brick of frozen leftover barbecued pork rib meat from my last bbq competition. Then came the realization that the storm might also wreak havoc on the vegtable garden... so in came a nice basket of fresh poblanos, tomatoes, jalapenos, and serranos. I also found half a bag of dried great northern beans which meant we were fully stocked for chili making. Curious about the results? Read on for the lowdown. 

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