Hatfield and McCoy Trial Cook

[Bossy J's BBQ]

Ok guys i wanted a trial run cook to get my timeline down for the actual competition next weekend. Rules of the Comp is i should be able to cook 50 lbs of meat so here's what I'm cooking:
2 Boston buts and 2 racks of baby backs. Its not 50 lbs but it should make for a decent comparison.

I had a couple of questions that need to be answered: I know the ribs won't take as long to cook so when do i put them on the Mak 1 Star? When to foil the Butts? How long will the cook take? These Butts are big ones too =)

Ok my day started at 5:30am when i woke up to my dog licking my feet eeww. Pulled all the meat at 6 am after making coffee. Started trimming the butts at 6:15. Took 15 or so minutes and I applied rub and the injections. Let Butts sit until they began to sweat (about 30 minutes or so).
Meanwhile I prepared the ribs…cut off the ends and trimmed the fat a little. Applied rub and Suran wrapped both ribs and placed them in the refrigerator.
Placed Pork Butts on Mak at 7:30. Temp is 250 and spraying with apple juice mixture (not telling what else is in there) every 30 mins.
4 Hours into the cook things are going well. Butts are coming along nicely with good color. I took ribs out of refrigerator and lets them sit for 30 minutes or until they began to sweat. Put the ribs on the cooker at the 4 hour mark. Butts have IT of 126 and 128 respectively.
Im wanting to foil the butts at 155 or 160

Ill post pics soon….

 

[Bossy J's BBQ]

At the 4 Hour Mark….Butts starting to show color and Ribs are just starting…


Tell me where I'm going wrong

 

[Bossy J's BBQ]

Ribs after 2 1/2 hours @ 250 Shown right before foil


At 2:30 The both butts read @ 149 after seven hours on the Mak 1. Im resisting the temptation to foil. Cant wrap my mind around how you guys can cook for 500+ like its a walk in the park.

 

[Bossy J's BBQ]

Here are the Butts after 7 1/2 hours…IT of 151 right before i foiled them. Ribs are cooking away…gonna remove from foil soon and add glaze…

 

[Bossy J's BBQ]

Pulled the Butts at 7:30 with an IT of 201 and 203. 12 hour burn. Felt good when the I thermapened it so its all good. Dinner was awesome with loads of food leftover =) Buts were very juicy, tender with good flavor. Don't know if they were comp good but family and extended family loved em. Guess i just need to take the plunge and just do it…

I'd love to take a class on competition cooking

 

[MattBPS]

Nice looking practice cook! You're right, you just need to jump in and get your feet wet!

 

[scooter]

Buts were very juicy, tender with good flavor. Don't know if they were comp good but family and extended family loved em. Guess i just need to take the plunge and just do it…

If you want it, I'll give you what I look for in the pork category.

Appearance. I look for color. A nice reddish brown crust and meat glistening with moisture. It's OK to put some dark crust pieces in the box just not too many that the general combined appearance tends to the dark side. Personally, I like to see sliced money muscle fanned out, not a log. Also pulled and chunks. Arrange it in the box like you had a plan and executed the plan. I will give that type of arrangement higher points than if the cook simply put only a mound of pulled in the box. But then if the meat itself looks incredible I've given 9's on appearance to a single mound of awesome looking pulled pork many times. It really is about the meat but a gorgeous looking display of good looking sliced, pulled and chunked pork will get higher scores from me than an average looking display of only good looking pulled pork.
Don't over sauce your pork! Make it glisten with a very thin layer of glaze.

Taste. First thing I look for is pork flavor so be careful not to mask the pork flavor with any of your ingredients including smoke. Next thing I look for is smoke but it needs to be in balance with everything else. Whatever you add ingredient wise must enhance, not overpower, your pork. Salt, sweet, spicey, smoke, etc..everything in balance with nothing overpowering the pork.

Tenderness. I look for moisture, and tenderness. If I can mash up the meat with my tongue on the roof of my mouth it's mushy. Mushy pork results in at least a point off depending on how mushy it is. Dry pork is the same. I should need to chew pork with my teeth but not be able to mash it up with my tongue. Be VERY CAREFUL about what pork you choose to go into your box. Make sure there are no hidden globs of fat or the gland. While I expect there to be some fat in pork, a big glob of it will result in points off. Just be very careful about everything you put in your box.
If the pork looks dry to you before you add your glaze, don't put it in the box. There are good parts of a butt to use in competition and other parts that should not be used. All muscles in a pork butt are not created equal and only the very best of the butt should make its way into your box.

I hope this helped. The most important thing to remember is to keep your competition experience fun and don't take it too seriously if the judges hand you a beating. There are good judges and bad judges just like there are good cooks and other cooks there mostly for the party. I've sampled product from both ends of the spectrum and just about everything in between!