Remember friends. Tonight at 8PM EST is when the floodgates open for this year’s Sam’s Club National Tour BBQ Contests. Make sure you visit the site below. Please share via FB or twitter!

http://www.kcbs.us/samstour/index.php

Now go and enter and tell us where you’re confirmed to cook in this tour!

The winning entry was announced on our livestream on wednesday night as promised but we figured we’d publish it here for those that weren’t streaming.  We would like to send congrats to Wesley Gustin who’s winning entry can be read after the jump.

“I would have to say The cookers…. Green Egg and WSM’s etc.. Fantastic indirect heat grills. When i first started 22yrs ago a person had to be an apprentice to a “pitmaster” for several yrs learn the art of controlling a fire .. cooking on open pits on the ground, in a firebox, hut pits in extreme conditions.. making their own coals from wood and no use of commercial charcoal…  no digital thermometer’s.. and after you learned this only a Pitmaster could determined whether or not you have graduated to the title Pitmaster… nowadays just buy a WSM and enter a contest and you can call yourself one.  We did a experiment.. Got A 14 yr old boy gave him a WSM and he started the fire and held  a constant temp of 250 for 10 hrs all by reading the directions and playing with it for a few hrs . then the following  try’s we had him try to do the same on a offset and he could not get the temp up and when he did get it hotter it was well over 300 and could not maintain a even temp…..  we then tried to get him to make his own coals and cook in a pit dug out of the ground and that went Horrible… So we called him a WSM Master But no where near a pitmaster. That is one of the things that i liked bout last season of pitmasters where Mixon made them cook a whole hog on a block pit….  so i think the modern day Cookers are most definitively the biggest game changer.  A close second would be the whole appearance judging..  i have seen where a contest came down to a final slim % point and a Cook would lose cause of his appearance score,  who cares on how well you can stack your product into a box with lettuce…  the best bbq joints in the country serve their Q on Butcher paper with a couple of slices of bread.. “blind Judging”  Should be just that…”blind”  should come down to taste.. and how well it was cooked.. if it is cooked right… it will look great!”

Ok readers for this next contest, we’re going to make it kinda easy for you all.  You must answer in the comments section below what you think is the biggest game changer in BBQ within the last 10-20 years.

We don’t want to give examples because we want to leave it wide open.  All we ask is that you accompany your answer with your reasoning why you chose that gamechanger.  The person that gives the best answer/reasoning combo wins a BBQ Guru Party-Q unit for their pit.  The package will include one Party-Q unit, one 10 CFM Fan** and the mount to fit your smoker(if available).  This contest ends on 3/11 and the winner will be announced live on the “In the Hut” podcast on 3/14. To view our livestream on that date please click HERE. CONTEST STARTS NOW!!!

**The Party-Q unit comes with a built-in 5cfm fan.

Check out footage from wiredbbq of what happened this past weekend in St. Louis.  This will be an interesting story in the weeks to come.  What’s your reaction?  Let us know in the comments.  Video after the jump.

BBQ Radio is alive and doing well in the world of BBQ, and “radio” is becoming a good source for the latest BBQ information. Most shows are not going to be dialed up on your old AM/FM radio, they stream the shows, live via the internet. Very easy to pick up the show no matter where you are, and if you happen to miss your favorite show, you can listen, at your convenience in the archived shows.

www.OutdoorCookingChannel.com has really been taking off with the on-line talk show shows. Outdoor Cooking Channel has been started by Kevin Bevington of www.HomeBBQ.com. Great shows offered on this site, always some great BBQ information available. One of the most popular shows offered on the Outdoor Cooking Channel is Greg Rempe’s BBQ Central Radio Show.

Greg always has good BBQ information going out on his show, and he always gets the top names in BBQ and grilling as guests on the show. Tune in live every Tuesday at 9:00pm EST.

Another very popular show on the Outdoor Cooking Channel is “In The Hut” with Huck Jr. If you are reading this post, you are probably familiar with this show, yes it is the same Huck’s Hut………

Bruce McCall, aka, Huck Jr., has been diligently working on his site, and show. I use to download his shows onto my i-pod through i-Tunes, which you can still so, but now I prefer to listen to the live stream on the Outdoor Cooking Channel. Bruce is a true BBQ die-hard, and also gets great BBQ information out to his listeners. As of late, Bruce has had a regular panel of BBQ experts on his show, consisting of :

George Hensler from, Who Are Those Guys? A GREAT KCBS BBQ Competition team. Author of Startin’ the Fire. George always has good information, and can explain things where even the novelist cooks can benefit from his segments.

Another regular guest on Huck’s by-weekly board is Chad Ward from Whiskey Bent BBQ. If you want BBQ passion, Chad has it! More about Chad in a bit.

Huck Sr. is also a regular on In The Hut, talk about BBQ knowledge, Sr. has it. There is always a wide variety of BBQ topics discussed on Huck’s show, and Sr. has had experience with most of the topics. He is a walking BBQ encyclopedia, he just needs some help with his hats. Part of the entertainment is to check in every show to see what hat Sr. is sporting. I do have a suggestion for an upcoming show…….……..some how, I don’t think he will be taking my suggestion! lol

I really enjoy “In The Hut”, please join in by-weekly on Tuesdays at 9:00pm EST.

Darryl Mast has been doing a lot of shows on his BBQ Super Stars.

Darryl has numerous BBQ videos on you-tube, some great interviews, and how to BBQ videos.  I saw Darryl working at the FBA Smoke on the Water event, this past February, in Winter Haven, FL. Darryl is very dedicated  to BBQ, and he shows his passion through his shows. Please check out Darryl’s web-site for times & days of his show.

The latest BBQ radio show on BBQSuperStars.com is Chad Ward from Whiskey Bent BBQ hosting “In The Pit, with Whiskey Bent”. Chad has been doing this show now for, I believe 4 weeks, and I have thoroughly enjoyed his show!!! I have had the pleasure to met Chad and the Whiskey Bent BBQ team, and I know their passion for putting out top notch BBQ. These guys are professionals through and through, and are always willing to extend a helping hand to their BBQ brethren.

Chad started his show doing only a one hour show every Tuesday at 7:00pm EST, but quickly has realized that there is just so much content that they are trying to get into each show, they have been extending his show by a half hour each week, I do not know if this will be a regular schedule for “In The Pit”, I, for one, hope it will be.

One theme that Chad focuses on is helping folks that are interested in BBQ, take that next step and throwing their hat into the competition BBQ arena. There is a lot of interest in competition BBQ out there, but most folks do not know how to, or are unsure of taking that next step into competition BBQ. Chad has been more then happy to answer any questions to help teams reach their competition goals, and at the same time help the growth of BBQ as a sport.

One thing about all these shows, when watching the live stream, that I really enjoy, is the live chat during the show. This is a good way to not only listen and enjoy the show, but to have an active part in the show. Many of the host will answer some questions directly from the chat, and it is a good way to met other BBQ folks that are passionate about this sport. I know that many times, for Chad’s show, the chat has started before the show is on the air, and continues after the show ends, great way to catch up with what’s new in the world of BBQ.

If you are into the BBQ scene, or just curious and want to find out what the BBQ family is about, check out one, or all of these great shows, and make sure to participate in the chat, it is a great way to met some new friends.

Keep your fire stoked…

Doug

Here in FBA country, summer time is a good time, for some of us, to practice competition BBQ. Competitions are spread a bit thin, and unless you have a good way to stay cool during the summer heat, we all having to wait for cooler weather. Cooking so much BBQ, sometimes you have to be inventive on how to get rid of it. My family can only eat so much BBQ, friends see me coming, and quickly turn the other way, because they know that the conversation will end up being about BBQ.

This past January we competed in the KCBS, Lakeland, FL Pigfest. We sold our BBQ at this event. Funny thing vending, your cooking for 1000′s of folks, but, if your like me, you don’t even get a bite. That is what happened for my family at PigFest. We served our BBQ Nachos, and they were a BIG hit. We sold out, Friday and had to go get more supplies from the store early Saturday, and sold all of it that day. Folks told us, they came all the way across the park, just for our Nachos. This week my family and I were discussing the PigFest, and realized none of us had even tried the Nachos, friends had all tried them, and told us they were good, I just went on their word, and man were they right! Of course, with all this practicing, we had pulled pork in the freezer, so it was an easy fix.

This is  a very simple recipe, but I was very pleased with the flavor. With football starting, this is a great snack for game day.

First I start with some Hogs Gone Wild BBQ Pulled Pork.

HGW Pulled Pork

After that the ingredients are very simple, Corn Chips, Nacho Cheese & BBQ Sauce. We used our house sauce, HGW “Sweet with some Heat”, we found the sweet and a hint of spice, is a nice contrast to the cheese and corn chips.

Simply construct you nachos, we started with the chips, added the cheese, then the pork and finally the BBQ sauce.

BBQ Nachos, very tasty!!!

Nothing better then sharing Nachos with great friends and family, and the beverage of choice of accompany this tasty treat is…..Ice Cold Beer……..surprise!!!

Enjoy!!!

Please visit us at www.hogsgonewildbbq.com

Hey folks, it’s about time for another contest.  Remember when we reviewed the 18-piece toolset here and the Hydro Blaster Grill Blaster here?

Well we were so satisfied with these products that we decided to offer a brand new set to you, for free!!  That’s right, free!!  All you have to do is like Mr. Bar-B-Q’s facebook page here (we will be checking) and comment below with a slogan for our blog.  The best slogan wins.  This contest starts right now!!!  The deadline for entries is Wed. 6/29 @ 11:59PM EST.  Huck’s Hut reserves the rights to use any of the slogans provided by contestants as it sees fit.  Good luck!!!

One thing that a competition BBQ team needs each time out, is to have a consistent cook.  Getting your name called in a category is fun, but everyone there wants to hear their name called last. You don’t have to win all four categories, but just have a strong cook in all. I was doing well in the pork & rib categories, but struggled in the chicken & brisket categories, I think it is these cuts of meats that most home cooks do not have experience with. Coming from the backyard into cooking competition BBQ, I had never cooked a brisket till I was in my first competition…we did not come in DAL, but…enough said. Chicken on the other hand, everyone has cooked chicken at some point in their lives, but cooking to competition standard…now that’s a different story. To many, chicken is the arched enemy of BBQ teams, there are many steps that need to be followed to achieve results that will please the judges. The procedure to get your chicken to that point, can be quite time consuming, some folks take longer then others, I have spent 5 hours prepping chicken for a competition, but of course, as time went on the more beer I drank, the more socializing I was doing, well you get the picture.

I try to do a chicken practice cook, when ever I can, and chicken is one meat that my family still enjoy, with practice comes results, I am probably most proud of our first place chicken award at our last competition. This was our first call EVER for chicken, backyard or pro, we got RGC at the event, but I keep telling everyone about our first place chicken!!!

Work paid off

Our take for the day in St Cloud, FL.

Sweet!!!

I was happy with where we were going with our chicken, but I still had to try it again, just to make sure it was not by accident that we did so well in chicken, you can do the exact same procedures each time your out at a competition, and come home with different results each time. I want to do everything I can on my end to give the judges something to work with, if they score me down from what I turn in, at least I know that I have done everything I could have done. A couple of weeks ago I was taking, online, with a friend of ours here at Hogs Gone Wild BBQ, C-Dub’s BBQ Rub.

Great folks, check them out!!!

I have not had the opportunity to check out their great rubs, but I plan on doing it very soon, but I hear it is GREAT on chicken. Anyway, C-Dub’s and I were taking about chicken prep, online, and it got the urge to do a practice cook going again for me. C-Dubs and I exchanged a couple of ideas, then it was off to the drawing board. Thanks C-Dub’s!!!

I will be happy to share how I prepare my competition chicken with everyone, most things here can be found, more in depth trough out the internet, this is just a basic guide to do a couple of things that I feel are necessary to create competition style chicken. I will not be able to share certain, “proprietary” secrets, and flavoring will need to be something that everyone should do to their liking, but I did give you a good hint above!!! (Another hint…I do not use muffin pans!!!)

Let’s begin, I always cook thighs, white meat is fun to try out and experiment with, I have even thought about wings, but I always come back to thighs. There are many teams that have used wing, with good results, I’m just happy to get the thighs where I like them. Thighs stay juicy and have a good flavor, I do not take the bone out. I started off by cutting the “knuckle” joint off, but I have decided to stop doing that, I do not like the way the bone is exposed on the end piece.

Chicken straight from the package.

I look for the package of chicken, that has the most uniformed pieces, the skin looks good & does not have any discolorations. Some chicken skin will appear to be yellow, I try to stay away from those brands, I want the skin to be as white as possible.

I take special measures with chicken, I store it sepetate from all other meats, I use different cutting boards & work ares designated just for my chicken. The first thing I do is wash the chicken, then I take the skin completely off the piece of chicken. I just pull it off, some folks say it is better to cut it off, but I like to preserve as much skin as possible. I trim the fat from each side of the chicken, and make the piece nice and uniformed shape.

Keep all the skin for use later.

From the under side of the thigh, there is a small loose piece of meat, commonly referred to as the “oyster”, I always remove this piece. When a judge bites into the piece of chicken, this could put the flavor off, and has a strange texture after cooking, best to just remove it.

I

The "Oyster" take it off.

After I cut off the oyster, I want to take care of a problem that gets many teams disqualified at the competitions, taking out the blood vein, (that’s what I call it, i don’t know the official name for it). This vein can be full of blood, even after washing the chicken thoroughly. The chicken can cook to temperature, but this vein can hold the blood, when bitten into, it will flow out, as if the chicken is under cooked, and we all know what comes from bloody chicken…disqualification!!!  I norally find this vein near the bone, I will go in with my knife and work it along the bone, using the backside of the knife, if you use the sharp side of the knife, you’ll just cut through the vein. Use the backside of the knife, and pull the vein out as far as you can then cut it at each end. There is  some extra work doing this, but it is better then having your box returned to you at the competition with a DQ.

This vein is normally near the bone.

This could mean the diffence between D.Q. and 1st place.

I want my piece to be a nice uniformed piece of chicken, I take off as much fat as I can. Normally end up with a heart shaped thigh.

I will place the thighs only, keep the skins off to the side and cold, into a zip-lock bag for marinating. There are many commercial marinates and chicken soaks on the market, if you have a favorite, please continue to use them, I use Italian salad dressing. Yes it is true, Italian dressing makes a good marinate for chicken, the oils and vinegar works well on the chicken, and gives good flavor. I will try to have my chicken in the marinate over night. Please be sure to rinse all the marinate off your chicken before cooking.

Now I turn my attention to the skin. Skin on the chicken is another BIG issue. even before the judge is able to taste the bite he/she had just taken, they evaluate if there is, what is known as “bite through skin”. The last thing you, as a competition BBQ cook wants, is for the judge to take that bite of chicken, and the entire skin comes off in that one bite. The judge was not able to bite through the skin cleanly. Smoking/grilling chicken, can lead to tough and rubbery skin, not a good thing to have on any chicken, mostly your turn-in chicken, one of the best ways to insure that does not happen, you need the skin to be a thin as possible. All the fat from the underside of the skin MUST come off.  This does take some doing, and I would suggest doing some practice, before going to a competition. This will be something you will need to master, and not many folks will get it right on the first try. There are a couple of ways to achieve this, some like to scrape the skin, I like to use a thin filet knife, and cut the fat off.

Cutting the fat off the underside of the skin.

Skin has to be so thin, there' only one side!!! lol

Now I wrap the skin back onto the thigh, keeping everything as tight as possible, and place the thigh on your rack for cooking. As far as seasoning, and some special cooking techniques, there are so many out there, I will leave this up to you to decide which is best suited for you and your team.

All lined up and ready to cook.

I cook thighs at 275 degrees for at least 1 hour & 45 mins. For chicken you are looking for an internal temperature of 178-182 degrees. DO NOT UNDER COOK YOUR CHICKEN!!! When the chicken is at the point where I am satisfied that it is done, temp is good, and only clear juices coming out of thigh, I will then dip the entire piece into my sauce and place back on the grill for another 15 mins at 300 degrees.

No secret about my sauce of choice, I use Draper's, period!!!

Pull the chicken off the grill and let rest.

I think we have a couple of useable pieces here.

Test your product!!!

Now that's what I mean by "Bite Through Skin"

We made a mock box for your practice cook, it is not an official box, actually is the top of a serving plate. The competitions we enter are Florida Barbecue Association events, and they do not allow garnish of any kind.

Not bad!!!

I hope this has helped answer a couple questions about chicken, trust me, you never stop learning. Fell free to add comments, or to contact me at www.hogsgonewild.com Thanks for your interest.

Although we didn’t do as good as we’d like, here are the Pork in the Park results

The other day I was reading a nice blog from my friend Wilfred “Fred” Reinke, also know as Oshawa Ogre. In his blog he was talking about the relations and friends that BBQ has created for him. That made me stop and think for a minute, how many friends, relationships, and dare I say families, have started over a good plate of BBQ?

Fred sporting his Hogs Gone Wild BBQ T-Shirt

Fred referred to the BBQ community as, “a very close knit community. It is amazing to me that friendships can develop with people that are 1000?s of miles away but yet it feels like we are neighbors.” I am finding that to be true as well, yes I know there are the differences amongst folks anywhere you go, but for the most part, about 98% of the time, I have found BBQ people to be good honest folks, and are always out for a good time!!!

I am very new to the BBQ community in comparison to may teams out there that have years of experience and knowledge in the world of BBQ, and I am sure they have seen many teams come and go over the years. It is said that if a team can make it through the second year of competitions, that they will have longevity in this game. Many teams get started and have the momentum behind them the first year, everyone is all excited and happy to just be out there in the field. If they are luck they get to take home a couple of awards, and some bragging rights. Then the second year sets in, and the competition scene may start to become routine, and they begin to realize, “Hey this is a big commitment, not to mention, a lot of work!!!”  Next thing you know there is a for sale sign on their smoker in the front yard. From what I can see, many of the teams that have been around for a while have a few things in common, they all can cook great BBQ, they all love winning and they all enjoy socializing with other teams, and people interested in BBQ on all levels. To them this is not only great way to satisfy that need for competition, but it is also a social event.  Anyone who wants to enter this arena is welcomed with a smile and a hand shake. Folks will get involved with competition BBQ in many different ways, be it through a friend who is already on a team, just showing up at an event and getting interested that way, for me, I guess it was mostly on-line. I started making “friends” on Facebook, and Twitter, mostly. I was not getting much of a challenge at my “real job”, oh, who am I kidding, a monkey could replace me at work, and no one would be the wiser. I needed some type of release from the mundane  everyday routine, but how to get started?  To me, getting out there and connecting with people I do not know, is not something that comes naturally for me, I’m not real relaxed around new people, not what you would call a real smooth talker, but on-line it seemed to come to me much easier, I am no good on the phone, and in person, well you get the idea. On-line is a good ice breaker, for me.

Two friends I have met on-line, Fred and Chad

Many teams are using on-line networks to not only promote their teams, but to also make connections and learn new techniques. For me really the first person who I connected with was Chad Ward from Whiskey Bent BBQ, he has been instrumental in me getting involved with competition BBQ. This is an all around great team, please visit their web-site at www.WhiskeyBentBBQ.net to learn more about their team.

Shawn watching over us at 2011 Lakeland Pigfest.

Another person I met on line and have formed a friendship with is Shawn Reagan from Boca BBQ. Shawn and I have cooked together a couple of times now, and I have learned a lot from him. Shawn came out and helped us at the 2011 Lakeland, FL Pigfest, he just jumped right in and help out. Great guy!!!

We have also had great fun meeting folks like Tim from Tiki Time BBQ, the guys from Beachneck BBQ and of course the whole crew from Team Unknown BBQ.

The commendatory amongst the teams is just incredible. At the award ceremonies you are always hoping to hear your name called, but you also find yourself cheering loudest when a team, that has friends on it, get to make the walk up to the stage. Yes, it is a competition, but everyone is supportive of all teams competing, it really makes for a good time for all, win or lose. I see much of the same type of things happening on-line as well, we have connected with folks across the country, from FL JM from www.celebritygrillshow.com all the way to CA Tim from www.greenleafbbq.com. up north to Tom with www.BigButzBBQSauce.net in Wisconsin, to deep in the heart of TX with Chad with 3CS BBQ CO. out to the heartland of  Nebraska Michael at www.bandiolaspice.com and Bert in CO. with www.FruitaWoodChunks.com, and of course Huck’s Hut, but you already knew that. Then there are the international friends, Fred of course, you can become his Facebook friend under Wilfred Reinke,  and Danielle or better known as Diva Q,  both from Canada and very nice people. Even getting support from across the pond, from Hanneke in the Netherlands you can find her great blog at www.thedutchesscooks.com. This is just a very short list of some great people within the on-line BBQ world, being active and enjoying time with these people and others can become part of your regular live. It has become a great way to keep in touch and share information. Soon you get to know these folks with whom you regularly speak with and start having other relations with them, outside of BBQ. One is having an operation, another has issues with their kids, another has a sick relative, and you truly want to be there for support.

Please visit www.pigogthemonth.com

I have also been luck enough to meet Lea Richards from Pig of the Month. She and her great service provide some really good BBQ and sauces via on-line ordering. They believe that we can help each other out, and has decided to be our first team sponsor. This is very important to any BBQ team, sponsors are not only a great way to get our name and the name of our sponsor out to the public, but it helps to make competition BBQ stronger as a whole. I will always do everything possible to help out any organization that decides to sponsor my team, and I know that this is just the beginning of a great long relationship between Hogs Gone Wild BBQ & Pig of the Month. Please visit Lea’s GREAT web-site, and take atvantage of some of their awesome products. I know what some folks will say, BBQ through the mail? Come on, how good could that be, well I’ll tell you, I have eaten a lot of BBQ as a judge, and her pork was right up there with some of the best I have ever had!!! ( and that’s the truth).

Family and friends is what it's all about!!!

...but a few of these don't hurt!!!

If you give it your all, you will get so much in return.

When the line between life, family & friends begins to blur, you have a true since of where this journey, we are all on, has taken you, and there will be peace. I’m not saying that BBQ will become the center of the universe or anything like that, but I think it has become an avenue, at lease for me, to great times with great people. BBQ folks of the true salt of the earth people, and I hope everyone out there will go the a BBQ festival in their town, or even better enter a BBQ competition. Take that leap, it would hurt, trust me there are plenty of good people to help you get back up and brush off, and start again!!! I feel like I have found were I belong, amongst loved one’s and close friends, working at a passion that is known simply as BBQ.

Visit us at www.hogsgonewildbbq.com