Figuring out what you need ahead of time and what tips and tricks you can use are a great time saver. Setting up your site is an important part of the whole process.  Each of these sites has helped me a lot.

Here are some great tips and checklists to make your life easier:

Virginia Pirates Website

*Getting Started

*Tips

*Timelines

*Checklists

Smoking Guns Website

*Competition Checklists

BBQ-Brethren Website

Excellent resource for tips on all things competition and backyard BBQ.

The Pickled Pig Forum

*Excellent resource for competition and backyard BBQ.

Sometimes you just wish you could be in two places at once………….

If I wasn’t already booked for a competition I would be going to this next weekend. Rob “Rub” Bagby is a top notch competitor and an all around really great guy with a proven track record for getting terrific results!!

I have heard many extol the virtues of this class after taking it. I sure wish I could have made it down for his excellent BBQ Cooking Class.

You can also find Swamp Boys on Facebook and also you can catch up with them on their BLOG and Website

Love seeing so many great audition tapes. I know some of these folks and I wish them all the best!!

Smokin Scotsmen!! FEAR THE KILT!!

Fire Fightin’ Cookin Crew ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap0va0O7r9M

Kentucky Smoke Squad



Team Unknown BBQ- Seriously funny video



Moe from Ponderosa BBQ~



Tarheel Smokers!!!


Southern Soul Barbecue Harrison Sapp



A Boy and his BBQ!

Well today has been a very exciting BBQ day!! I got to see the new Traeger 300 in person right after it was unloaded. It is even more impressive in person. Really solid design. I am looking forward to playing on one in the upcoming weeks.

Here are some pictures of the unit

As soon as I get the spec sheet I will update this post!

Whiskeybent BBQ

And here is the new Banner AD for BBQ Pitmasters

New Cookbook that is available this month on Amazon.I was asked a while back to submit some recipes for the upcoming KCBS cookbook 25th Anniversary edition. I was surprised and delighted to receive my copy today. They included all of the recipes I submitted. These are truly some of my all time favorites.

About the authors of this latest KCBS Cookbook:

A charter member of KCBS and former three-term member of the Board of Directors, Ardie Davis founded the American Royal International BBQ Sauce, Rub, and Baste Contest and the Great American Barbecue Sauce, Baste, and Rub Contest. He is the author of five barbeque cookbooks.

Paul Kirk, a charter member of the KCBS and member of the Board of Directors, operates the Baron’s School of Pitmasters. The author of six barbeque cookbooks, he has won more than 475 cooking and barbequing awards, among them seven world championships, including the prestigious American Royal Open, the world’s largest barbeque contest.

Carolyn Wells and her late husband, Gary, were two of the original founders of the Kansas City Barbeque Society. Carolyn is the Executive Director and continues to dedicate her time as an ambassador for the KCBS and for barbeque itself.

The book is chock full of recipes (over 200) from lots of terrific teams and backyard cooks. I had to laugh at page 209 title page Cross Dressing at BBQ & Chili Events. So funny. I won’t ruin the surprise by posting it here but don’t miss that page. Also a fav recipe of mine from a friend Paul Seabrook is featured on page 17 . There are so many interesting and varied recipes throughout this book. It will be fun to experiment with some of them.

At the front of the book there is also a section on the KCBS 4 meats for competition making this an ideal book for any starter team as well.

Lots of fun and loaded up with contributions from so many this makes an ideal BBQ book purchase or gift for any on your list.

DIG IN!!!

Every Tuesday you can listen in on the BBQ Central Radio show part of the BCRN (BBQ Central Radio Network) . This weeks episode is a round table discussion with three of the top Chicken Cooks on the KCBS circuit:

Kelly Wertz – 4 Legs Up BBQ, previous winner of the Jack Daniels Invitational and in 2009 ranked #4 overall in Chicken and #6 Overall on the KCBS TOY Listings.

Joe Amore – Smokey Mountain Smokers, ranked #5 overall in Chicken and # 19 overall in the KCBS TOY listings. They also manufacture one of my favorite products disposable cutting boards.

Troy Black - Learn2Q.com, ranked #7 overall in Chicken and #15 overall in the KCBS TOY Listings. He also has a brand new DVD out Real BBQ Know How

Also tonight on the BBQ Central Show Mike Lake President of KCBS will be on at approx 10:05pm EST on the after dark segment of the show

It should be a great show! Make sure you tune in tonight at 9pm EST.

As I am prepping for the 2010 season to begin I have to start with where we really needed to improve from 2009. For the last years season I was really happy with our pork. Everything else needs a lot more work. Especially brisket. I have struggled with brisket. Brisket is my challenge above all challenges. Overall for the year we came in 241 out of 4716 on the Pickled Pig Rankings. I am proud and challenged by those results. Just shy of being in the top 5% overall we came in:

• 173 out of 4716  Pork
• 267 out of 4716 Chicken
• 331 out of 4716 Ribs
• 580 out of 4716 Brisket

For these rankings we had 6 competitions that were included:

We did however compete in additional competitions for the 2009 as well that were not included in those rankings:

Canada Southern BBQ Championships
Grand Champion

1st — Pork; 2nd — Ribs; 3rd — Brisket; 3rd —Chicken 1st—Anything  But

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“Smoke on the Water Barbecue Competition Saskatchewan”
Reserve Grand Champion

1st — Pork; 2nd — Ribs; 4th — Brisket; 4th—Chicken 1st—Anything But

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Canadian Pork BBQ Championships
Reserve Grand Champion

2nd—Chicken; 2nd — Pork; 4th — Brisket; 4th — Ribs

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National BBQ Festival “Best of the Best”

Invitational BBQ Cook-off
4th Overall

7th — Pork Shoulder; 6th — Chicken;

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National BBQ Festival “Best of the Best”
Open BBQ Cook-off

13th Overall

9th — Ribs
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BBQ on the Bow Calgary Alberta

4th Overall

1st — Brisket; 3rd — Ribs

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Crazy Canuck BBQ Championships Toronto Ontario

4th Overall

3rd—Chicken; 3rd — Pork; 4th — Ribs; 6th — Brisket

Overall we made improvements to our overall BBQ in my opinion. I am hoping to be able to attend more competitions this year however my schedule may have some interesting diversions this year. I can’t share them yet but I am really excited for 2010 overall. I have a lot of practice and work to do. LOL

Just an FYI we have announced two classes for 2010 with more dates being announced in the future. Please see our Classes tab for more information. Please note all of our past classes have sold out continuously so sign up soon.

For the next 4 weeks Ill be revisiting all of my competition notes, procedures and meat prep. Looking forward to the Little Rock competition I really want to just do better. Last year we came in 47 out of 129 teams. We got a 19th in chicken, 43rd in ribs, 55th in pork and a dismal 84th in brisket.

This year we are driving with all of our equipment to this comp. All 18 hours. Last year I used borrowed equipment that I had never used before and it really showed. My goal this year is to be in the top 20% or higher. I am going through my bx pictures form last year and the notes I made. I can really see lots of room for improvement.

This week I am focused on chicken. Just getting my timing down. I am still not sold on muffin pan chicken and I will stick to my own style of trimming. However I am going to modify my flavor profile.