Do You Have BBQ Principles Or Are You A Sell Out?

Way back in March of this year on a weekend trip to Texas to take delivery of a new smoker, I was really charged up to begin competing in KCBS (Kansas City Barbeque Society) cook-offs; we'd picked some established events to enter that were close to home to reduce long road trips.

Before venturing off to our first competitive gig in Bixby, Oklahoma I'd read a little bit of Chris Lilly's new cookbook in which Chris made reference to someone who'd said you can't win contests with good eatin' cue. That comment caught my attention right off the bat. What do you mean you can't win with good cue?
That's the heart and soul of BBQ; when it's done right, there's nothing better on the planet you could ask for. Little did I know at the time, there's a whole lot of truth in that powerful statement. Good cue can't win at competitions because teams now cook for the judges and not themselves; teams know how to play the game and I refuse to sell out my BBQ principles for anyone. End of story.

So, let me pass on some advice to you, especially if you're new in this. When it comes to seasonings, sauces, marinades and injections MAKE YOUR OWN. Why? Because your BBQ will have it's own taste profiles that no other team can duplicate, unless you give them your recipe. For example, throughout 2009 I tinkered with rubs by using store bought ingredients but nothing jumped out, at least not right way. That's when I decided to make my own Chili Seasoning, Seasoned Salt, Garlic, Onion and Celery Salts; take it from me the homemade stuff is 10X better and 10X cheaper than going to the supermarket. I began growing my own peppers and bought a dehydrator and ground my own spicy powders that I could add to my recipes.

Most teams lay off in the winter months, so now is a great time (minus growing peppers) to experiment and learn all the things that will set your BBQ apart from the others. Not only that, it's fun to build a spice cabinet that is full of things you've made and not by some spice company.

Invest in some BBQ cookbooks, but in regular cookbooks too because they might have an idea or two you can apply to BBQing. In my mind, you can never have enough sources on how spices interact and work with others and what goes well with a particular type of meat. I'm not so much into the actual slow-smoking recipes themselves because I want to make the BBQ mine and not just duplicate someone else's dish. Now if I can take an idea from a recipe like this that enhances my dish, then I'm all about that, but your cooking will never grow and evolve if all you do is follow some other guy's footsteps; you have to make your own tracks.

Hopefully, in a month or so I will have our Chain Gang BBQ trailer set up in Nixa selling some good barbecue. I've decided my BBQ is well received by people who eat my product, but not so much by KCBS judges, so in 2010 I'll be dishing up good BBQ to people who can appreciate it for all the right reasons. Hey, look at the bright side, that'll leave a lot more lettuce and parsley for the teams that still follow the old BBQ trail.