The Nashville Sports Leagues is hosting the first annual Brew B-Q on Saturday, November 21 from Noon to 5pm. The event is a "backyard" BBQ contest and beer fest.
Competition
The BBQ contest is the perfect opportunity for someone wanting to get their feet wet in the world of competition BBQ because it is a "backyard contest". That makes it great for newbies for several reasons.
It is truly for backyard cooks. "To qualify as a backyard team, you may not have won a cash prize in a BBQ contest previously, or be compensated as a professional BBQ restaurant or caterer." No pro teams are allowed to show up just to collect some trophies on their resume. You have a level playing field and have an equal chance at winning.
It is just ribs and chicken. No staying up all night nursing brisket and butts through the evening. Limiting to ribs and chicken means it's a 1 day contest.
Lower cost. The entry fee is only $150, half of what I normally pay. Also since it is limited to the two meats, your food costs are reduced.
No fancy equipment needed. You can cook this event on just about any charcoal grill, you don't need a $12,000 trailer rig, electronic pits, or war wagons.
You have a week to sign up at $150, after November 8th, 2015, registration costs $200 and that is only if there are any spots left. So if you are a local club, church group, or just a bunch of drinking buddies who think you have what it takes, hurry and sign up for a chance to prove your Q rules Nashville. Register here, full rules here. Tasting Tickets
If you just want a taste of the action, you can buy tickets now for sampling at the event. In addition to getting to judge the Peoples Choice award samples, there will be tastings of local brewers and Jack Daniels Spirits (must be over 21, obviously). It should be a great time for all, come on out and enjoy the food and brew.
Yeah, I know, that doesn't sound right. People splurge on Wagyu beef and heritage breeds of pork. People buy chicken because it's cheap. But Willy Carithers, the namesake of Willy's Butcher Shop in the Homberg District of Knoxville, tempted me. He had a semi-boneless Poulet Rouge Fermier (Famer's Red Chicken) from Joyce Farms over in North Carolina.
According to the Citizen-Times, Joyce Farms went to France to find the finest chickens available and came back with the ugliest. The specific breed is cou nu which means naked neck. They are ugly - Google it. But they are also very tasty. They take almost twice as long to raise to harvest. Joyce Farms takes every step to make sure they are perfect, including, select vegetarian feed, no antibiotics or hormones, free range, and I wouldn't be surprised if each bird got it's own personal masseuse and Netflix account.
The end result is obvious. The bird weighs in at about 3 lbs whole (mine was 1.7 lbs after deboning), much smaller than the 4.5 to 5 lb commercial chickens raised in half the time. The raw meat is much more colorful, not pale like your average supermarket chicken. The skin gets extra crispy, I'm guessing because these chickens have less fat under the skin. The taste? Here's an actual quote from Alexis that said it all -
"It doesn't taste like chicken - it tastes like meat."
So this recipe doesn't require a Poulet Rouge Fermier, you can use the smallest fryer you can get at the supermarket. And it doesn't require a semi-boneless bird, you can just spatchcock a chicken or ask your butcher to do that for you. But it sure was a nice splurge and you can tell the difference in taste.
For this cook, there are options. I used GrillGrates at a lower temp than I normally grill to ensure a more even cook. You could use a raised direct set up for a kamado grill or gas grill and get the same effect in this case. This is where my Grill Dome gave me an advantage - it is already slightly raised compared to my Big Green Egg. The firebowl and fire ring are each about 3/4" taller than the ones in my Egg so the grate sits 1 1/2" inches higher. Or you can just skip that and cut your grill times to 5 to 6 minutes on the skin side down, watching carefully to avoid burning it. You can also speed up your cook by using a grill press or foil wrapped brick.
Brown Butter and Thyme Grilled Chicken
www.nibblemethis.com
Published 10/28/2015
Ingredients
1 semi boneless or spatchcocked chicken
2 teaspoons Meat Church Season All or other quality seasoned salt
Make the brine. Heat distilled water to simmering. Add the salt, sugar, liquid aminos or soy sauce, garlic, and thyme. Stir until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Remove from heat, allow to cool and then refrigerate until the brine is 40°f. (Alternatively, you can heat just 1 cup of water and add the ingredients. Then add 3 cups of ice topped off with cold water to cool it down.)
Place the chicken in the brine and keep refrigerated for 4 to 6 hours.
Preheat your grill and GrillGrates to 350°F (medium).
Meanwhile make your browned butter. The ingredient link gives you a good how-to for this. You should be able to do it in the time your grill preheats. Trust me, you want the brown butter.
Season your chicken on both sides with the Meat Church Season All and black pepper. Sprinkle the thyme leaves on the skin side.
Grill the chicken skin side down until golden brown, 6-8 minutes.
Flip the chicken, top with a grill press or foil wrapped brick, and continue cooking until the breast reaches an internal temperature of 165°f, anywhere from 6 to 12 minutes depending on the size of your chicken.
Remove to a platter and drizzle with the warm brown butter. Slice and serve.
Yield: 2-4 servings Tags: chicken, grilled
Substitutions:
Commodity chicken - if you are using a commodity chicken rather than a semi-boneless heritage breed bird, you will need to slightly increase your cook times about 1 to 2 minutes to account for the larger size and bones.
Bragg's Liquid Aminos - We're able to get this at about half of the local grocery stores. It's a gluten free item that people with celiac disease use as a soy sauce alternative. I just happen to like it better than soy sauce and it has a umami note to it. You can substitute regular soy sauce.
Browned butter - Just don't. Don't try substituting melted butter or clarified butter. Take the few minutes while the grill is preheating to make it. The nutty flavor from the darkened milk solids elevate the dish.
I have been using these 2 liter containers (Rubbermaid we bought at Sams) a lot this year. Great for brining like this or prepping ingredients for made to order foods at events. They fit nicely in our refrigerator.
A semi boneless chicken from Joyce Farms only has the first wing bones still attached (similar to "hotel" or "airline chicken breasts"). This would also be good for stuffing, rolling back up, tying, and then fire roasting whole. That's my next plan.
Normally I'm using GrillGrates for sear marks but today I was using it more as a partial buffer.
The grill press or brick is an old Italian trick for chicken. It flattens the bird out even more than just spatchcocking and it speeds up the cooking time.
I normally only take my commodity chickens to 160°f and let the carry
over cooking finish bringing up the temp but these smaller heritage
birds are leaner and thinner so they don't do as much carry over
cooking.
The brown butter serves as a luscious condiment for the chicken, adding to the overall flavor profile without covering up the taste of the chicken. My buddy Curt McAdams makes a great brown butter potatoes that would go well with this.
The flavor is described as "slightly game like" but I'd say it's more like "chicken that has the mute button turned off". It tastes like chicken should, if it wasn't mass produced.
So would I go with a Poulet Rouge Fermier every time I want chicken from here on out? No, the price point ($19 to $22) keeps it in the splurge category for me but after tasting it, it is a splurge that I will do again. It is something distinctive deserving of a special occasion. I'm looking forward to trying one stuffed, rolled, and tied roulade style. I'm thinking maybe goat cheese and spinach or maybe rice, cranberries, and almonds. Got any other ideas?
[FTC Standard Disclaimer] I have no connection with Joyce Farms, received no compensation for this post, and paid full price for the chicken.
A few weeks ago, I was invited to cook with Crow Creek BBQ for the Jim Beam Classic BBQ competition in Springfield, Kentucky.
Crow Creek is one of the 4 teams that make up our Memphis In May team and the head Pitmaster, Jim Loggins, is a great guy, so I jumped right on the offer. The Jim Beam Classic is a KCBS event so it consists of smoking chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket and turning them all in in 30 minute intervals on Saturday.
I had a wedding shower luncheon to cater on Friday so I loaded up the truck, got the BBQ buffet set up, and then I took off for Kentucky as soon as that was done.
It was steady rain when I got there, shocker, right? It has rained at every single contest for me this year.
Jim let me have free rein with the brisket category and gave me this really nice Wagyu brisket to use. I did my usual competition brisket program. Separated, injected, used 4 rubs including my NMT Beef Rub, and then smoked in a kamado grill just under 300°f until it is probe tender.
The Jim Beam folks have quite a nice smoker themselves.
No competition is complete without touring the other team sites checking out their equipment and artwork.
I had to ask about the origin of the Smokin' Hookers - it is there last name, that's all.
I'd love to be there when this guy has to take the truck into the mechanic for "squealing brakes".
If KCBS ever banned the use of the word "butt" in team names or slogans, about half the teams would probably have to make a change ;)
Pretty big battle wagon!
An enclosed Jambo, starting at $6k but this was has some nice touches like the chrome stack ($200) and wheels.
An insulated box smoker (left), small reverse flow offset (middle), and a Jambo J3 (right).
"Bad" Byron's Butt Rubs was there cooking on two Weber WSM and a nice Primo. There were not a lot of kamados at this contest, just mine and this one from what I saw.
Jim Beam's rig even has neon underlighting, very cool. I enjoy walking around the sites during quiet hours.
This contest was a first for me - the first time we have ever used a controller/blower at a contest. We've always relied on manual vents at our comps but I have really been impressed with the Flame Boss 200. The contest overnight was cold, windy, and rainy - so windy that it kept ripping the walls off of our EZ-ups. But the Flame Boss 200 kept my kamado steady and stable all night long.
Looking at the front half of the site as dawn arrived. This is when things start to get busy across the grounds.
Bruce made some skillet potatoes but used some kind of Jamaican chile that lit my mouth on FIRE! Not a back of the tongue heat either, this hit you right on the front of the tongue like a scorpion stung you. Habanero chile is about as hot as I can go but this smelled so great.
Sorry for the crappy phone pic of the brisket turn in. The burnt ends were tender, smoky, and delicious. The slices were almost too tender but hung over the finger nicely. We got 8th out of 45 teams, I'm always happy to get a call.
Congrats to Tim's Full Belli Deli (currently 8th in national standings) for winning the Grand Championship! Full results available at KCBS.
See Ya Later
I was sad to hear that one of my favorite teams - Monty Pigthon and The Holy Grill - are retiring and coming off of the competition trail. This was their next to last contest. But I totally get it, doing a lot of contests can definitely be a grind and I only do a half dozen a year. At the same time, I'm glad for Sid and Connie getting to enjoy their time off in the Carolina mountains. We'll miss ya'll on the circuit!
Camelot - tis a silly place. (It's only a model.)
Monty Pigthon's Jambo stick burner.
The Bar-B-Cure
Our team's last contest for 2015 is just 4 weeks from now. We are competing in The Bar-B-Cure here in Knoxville on the beautiful grounds of the Hunter Valley Farm Event Center on November 20-21.
This is a first year KCBS event and most importantly, it is a fund raiser for The Butterfly Fund - a Fund dedicated to fighting childhood cancers. It may be a first year contest but Hunter Valley Farms are pros at throwing events so you can rest assured that this event will run smoothly.
If you are on a competition team, I encourage you to sign up for this event. There are also sponsorship opportunities. If some local group wants to try a competition but lacks the equipment, I'd be willing to lend you our Warthog pit and/or two Pit Barrel Cookers. We'll be there cooking on our Grill Domes.
[FTC Standard Disclaimer] Grill Dome, Pit Barrel Cookers, and Flame Boss are equipment sponsors of Nibble Me This.
I received the following e-mail from Eger, a new Big Green Egg owner, last week:
I'll address the second part of the question first:
I
did encounter that problem when smoking my brisket, my temp dropped by
50 F by the morning and it took me over an hour to bring back up the
temp by opening the vents all the way. I didn't know why?!
This has probably happened to any kamado griller who has done a few overnight cooks. You get everything stable and going well, take a nap, and wake up to find your temperatures have plummeted. There are a few things that can cause this.
Ran out of fuel - highly unlikely. Every kamado that I have used is capable of going at least 18 hours at low and slow temps on a full load of coal.
Fire burned out in a pattern. This doesn't happen often but I have seen it. Sometimes the fire burns into a weird pattern where parts of it aren't making good contact so it doesn't pass the fire on to the neighboring coal. So you have fuel left but the fire just burns out. Typically when I have seen this, the fire was started with a starter cube in the middle of the coal. The fire burns straight down leaving unburned coal on the sides. I light my fires in three spots around the edges so the fire will burn inwards and down.
Holes in charcoal grate are clogged and blocking airflow. Very common
and this is exactly what the wiggle rod is for.
Stock charcoal grate from a Large Big Green Egg like Eger has.
As the coals burn down, usually about 6 to 8 hours into a low temp cook, smaller coals and rocks may fall into the holes as shown above (I set these for demonstration). Ash then fills in around the debris and can block air flow. When enough of the holes get clogged, you will start to see your cooking temps fall because the fire is no longer getting the amount of airflow that it needs to burn. The fire is being partially smothered from below. This is where the wiggle rod can help, it's an instant fix for clogged charcoal grates.
Would
you mind elaborating more on the wiggle rob please? Did you make it
yourself? are you accessing the egg from the bottom vent? or top? taking
the grid off etc?
To make a wiggle rod, I just take an 18-inch long metal bbq skewer and bend the tip up as shown. You can also use a coat hanger if the wire is stiff enough.
Wiggle rod
You don't have to take anything out of the kamado. To use the wiggle rod, I access the cooking chamber by going through the bottom vent and then the vent hole of the fire box.
This can be pretty hot so wear appropriate protective equipment when doing this on a live fire.
You can't really see, so you are going by feel. Have the tip angled up towards the charcoal grate and drag it along the bottom of the grate to find the holes. When you find one, poke the tip up and wiggle it to dislodge the coal, debris, and/or ash like this.
(NOTE: This is looking down at the charcoal grate in an empty kamado with the
wiggle rod coming up from below. Normally this would be covered with
coals and wood, but I wanted to show what's happening when you use a
wiggle rod.)
When done, re-position your vents they way that you originally had them and you should see the cooking temps start to rise back up.
Prevention of Air Flow Problems
The best way to minimize chances of these problems is to clean out your kamado grill before setting up for a long cook. I also try to put larger pieces of coal on the bottom and smaller on top, but not to the extent that I'm sorting coal. I'll just grab a few of the larger pieces out of the bag and then add the rest. Even doing this, you can still occasionally run into problems with the hole style charcoal grates.
Some third party solutions also help avoid this. High airflow grates like Fishbones by Innovations by Chance and High-Que use durable bar style grates that are almost impossible to clog. I've used this one for over a year and I'm very happy with the results.
Fishbones grate lets plenty of air through and doesn't have holes to clog in the first place.
Grill Dome makes a high air flow grate for their awesome line of kamados and includes a ceramic disk to go on the base of the kamado as an additional heat shield from the higher temps. My BBQ teammate has suggested that ceramic plate would be a good idea for any other brand of high air flow grates.
Picture from Grill Dome website
The Kick Ash basket is also eliminates this problem by eliminating the holes. We use 4 of these at BBQ competitions and at home. They also help us in getting the kamados cooled quickly after a contest or onsite event by getting the hot coals out and letting the ceramics start to cool immediately.
tl;dr
So to deal with those pesky temperature drops in long, overnight cooks:
Set up the cook with a clean firebox and neatly stacked fuel,
Consider a high air flow charcoal grate, and
Use a wiggle rod at the first sign of trouble.
Thanks for the question, Eger!
[Standard FTC Disclaimer] Grill Dome, Innovations by Chance, and Kick Ash Basket are product sponsors of Nibble Me This.
This past weekend, our BBQ team went to Eggtoberfest in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
We weren't cooking at the event, we were just taking it all in since this was the first Eggtoberfest for most of our team. It is a BBQ/grilling exhibition, not so much a competition. Four hundred people cooking on over 200 Big Green Eggs for 4,000 people - quite the spectacle.
Camp NMT
Since the event was held at Stone Mountain, we stayed in the lakeside campground nestled in the tall pines. The five of us stayed in a RV rented from RV Valet which is a very cool service. They secure your camp site and set you up with a fully furnished RV onsite. All you have to do is show up and "move in". They even set up the outdoor area for us. It was the easiest camping experience I have ever had. The RV was ready for us including bed linens, cable TV, outdoor settings, and a kitchen with all of the essential equipment. Thad and his team were hospitable and made sure we had everything that we needed.I highly recommend RV Valet if you are ever planning on camping at Stone Mountain.
We had the 28' Grey Wolf unit. Well worth the money when the rains came in at 2am.
Our site was right on the water.
Still enjoying my Father's Day present...it's bear proof! Just in case bears like beer.
Campsite and park grills are notoriously bad. When I got there, my sister had "slightly modified" ours with her Mini-Max to make it a "little" better.
Prepping brisket nachos...it's so nice out, I'm glad it's not going to.....
...rain. Well crap. Like sister, like brother.
Rhonda's cherry chipotle pork tenderloins for sliders.
Cherry chipotle pork tenderloin sliders, smoked brisket nachos, and Asian chopped slaw. Beats the heck out of hot dogs for camp food.
We were also there with a larger group of people but we have a very strict "what happens here, stays here" policy, so no pics from the evenings. Suffice it to say that we had a couple of good nights, ridiculing each other, laughing, and telling lies.
The Event
Smaller Eggfests happen across the country throughout the year but this is THE Eggtoberfest held by the corporation. The event was on Saturday morning from 10am to 4pm.
It started off on a bad note this year. The line to get in was about 1,100 feet long and took right at an hour to get into the gates. By then, a lot of the teams had already served their first courses. I haven't been to Eggtoberfest since 2010 but there was never a line like that back then.
About halfway through the line at this point.
The yellow arrow is pointing to the end of the line way in the distance by the trees.
Overhead layout of the event. The yellow line marks where the line to get in was. Photo Credit: Google Earth image
I get that this was 4,000 people but Memphis in May has 100,000 people and it doesn't have lines this long. Long lines will turn people away from coming back so I hope they address it next year. The bottleneck was the check in process where they marked you off by name, after finding you on a list several pages long. The tickets already have QR codes printed right on them for instant validation. BGE needs to take advantage of that and scan tickets for check in - it's WAY faster and would take fewer people to handle that process.
One of the great things about these events is fianlly meeting fellow kamado enthusiasts that you know from online, like my cyber buddy Tim Shelburn (on the left). Here he was deep frying smoked pork belly.
Blake Carson was also with Team Big Green Craig using a pair of his Carson Rodizio rigs that work on kamado grills, gas grills, or other charcoal grills. These are Brazilian style rotisseries like the churrascaria restaurants like Fogo de Chao use. Pricey but very cool.
Marcia staying on top of things and keeping the food coming.
Clayton serving up a delicious blueberry French toast with whipped cream. I love that teams do creative things like this instead of the typical grilling fare.
Cooks were busy trying to keep the throngs fed throughout the event.
These teams are doing this for the love of grilling/BBQ. They aren't paid to do the event and they pay for the food they serve.
When a team booth starts serving food, the lines form quickly and the food disappears in minutes. Almost like how piranhas can strip a cow carcass clean in minutes.
Salmon gives you rock hard abs, who knew?
Obligatory Thermapen sighting. There is a reason you see these at every high level BBQ event - they are best in class in the digital thermometer category.
Two common sightings at Eggtoberfest - food lines (moved quickly) and the bright green gift bags.
One difference between Eggtoberfest and the regional dealer Eggfests is the number of Eggs per team. At regional ones, teams might only have 1 to 3 Eggs.
It strikes me that I have "known" some of these people from the old egg forum for 7 years now.
Sliders are a crowd pleaser but require a lot of hands on prep. Teams make strategic menu decisions where prep time and turnaround time are just as important as the final product because there is no time to waste. Then again, many hands make light work.
The North Georgia Eggers always represent well at Eggfests. This year their theme was cookies and they made some great ones. Here long time Egger, Kim Youngblood, checks a batch that were delicious.
There were rows and rows of teams.
Michael Collins of Flame Boss takes time to talk with an attendee about the Flame Boss 200 . This is my favorite electronic controller and it is the only one that I have trusted to use in BBQ competitions.
In addition to the Eggers, corporate had a big tent of Culinary Partners serving food as well.
Raspberry chipotle pulled pork crescent from Marcia S and company. This is the kind of creativity that I like.
My favorite team shirt of the weekend - "Cook like a captain - party like a pirate".
There were culinary experts on hand sharing their advice and recipes at two demo stages.
Happy Belly - a Big Green Egg powered food truck. Nice idea, I've been working on something similar for Knoxville.
Climbing rock tower, bounce house, and inflatable shark slide for the kids and kids at heart.
Congrats to Big Green Craig and his team for winning First Place in the recipe contest. He made a great strategic move by serving 1 menu item throughout the day. Brilliant move because it got that item in front of the crowd all day long. Most teams serve three items, one at a time, so they only get exposed to 1/3rd of the potential audience. Craig's smoked and deep fried pork belly was shared all day long. PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Bishop
The BGE Store store was constantly full of attendees checking out the latest gear and stocking up on supplies.
The new BGE branded aprons by Chef Works garnered a lot of attention from the crowds.
These full length bib aprons are a one time run (as of now) to kick off Chef Works new endeavor into consumer goods.
Chef Works Giveaway
So Chef Works was at Eggtoberfest to announce their expansion. They are a global leader in culinary apparel for the hospitality and restaurant industries. Now they are expanding their reach with to serve the back yard warriors and home chefs like me and you.
It's the same gear that you see professionals wear. It is just as rugged, stylish, and most importantly - functional! This apparel is constructed with heavy duty materials to handle repeated use and washing. I got to see some of their line up at Taste of Atlanta last year and I was impressed, especially with their Urban Collection. A lot of that line would be great for outfitting your BBQ team to look first class.
To help get the word out about their new consumer retail program, Chef Works has put together the following prize package for a giveaway here on Nibble Me This. It includes a Chef Works Memphis apron ($34.99), a Chef Works 5 piece Professional Grill Set ($75), and a super sweet 9" slicing knife from legendary knife maker, Ken Onion ($190). That is a top shelf prize package, my friends!
Not to scale....but how kicking would that knife be if it was?
How To Enter and Rules
To enter, just leave a comment below. You can have a second entry for a
tweet about this giveaway including my twitter handle @nibblemethis so I
can find it. NOTE: If you are using the anonymous
comment option, please make sure to leave a way to reach you (email,
forum user name, twitter etc) in case you win.
Giveaway entry period begins as soon as this is posted and ends October 25, 2015 at 11:59pm. Drawing will be held October 26, 2015 at
noon (All times are
Eastern Time zone). Winner will be announced
in an update to this post.
Comments and Tweets will be numbered by order received and I'll use random.org to generate a random number for the winner.
Limited to residents of the continental United States unless
you wish to pay the extra shipping charges.
Chef Works is just sponsoring this prize. I am the final judge regarding any discrepancies,
interpretations, grievances, etc about this drawing.
Winner must respond to claim the prize within one week of
the winning announcement and/or email contact. I do attempt to contact
the winner directly if contact information is provided. If a winner
does not claim the prize during the
specified time, a reserve winner will be drawn from the original
entries.
CONTEST WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT The winner of the random drawing was Adam Carver who entered via a comment:
Adam I sent you a message through Google+ for your mailing address.
[FTC Standard Disclaimer] We have no affiliation with RV Valet and paid full price for our stay. We received no compensation for this post from Yeti, BGE, Carson Rodizio, Thermoworks, Chef Works, or Flame Boss.