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!