December 9th A Day That Will Live In BBQ Infamy

I'm not sure how many folks read this blog, but in case there's anyone out there who does, we've cleared our final hurdle in securing a location. Not only did we secure a location, we got the green light from the city of Nixa to locate at highways 160 and 14. Whew! It was nip and tuck for a while today, but everything came together at the last minute.

We've finalized our final version of our menu. Our serving trailer is 99.999% complete, I'm picking up charcoal and wood this week and an obscene amount of meat next week from Bichelmeyer's in Kansas City.

We're shooting for December 9th as Opening Day. A Nixa Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting December 21 and who knows what else.

By the way, as an addition to the Smoky Footprints post, here's a shot of my Granddad, Bob Henry tossing me, a little Pitmaster into the air in 1956. Sorry, had I known this would've been on the web 53 years later, I would've dressed better. See what good BBQ does for a smile!

Smoky Footprints

I was talking with my Uncle Bob via email the other day. He had written me to say that how proud my Granddad, his Dad, would be of me by following what he called, "his smoky footprints." You know, sometimes someone will tell you something that gives you pause. That comment did.

Years ago my grandparents lived on North Douglas; it was a modest home but it did have something no one in Springfield had: a BBQ pit in the backyard. It was a screened in BBQ pit with a firebox to the side, a big lid and tons of room to barbeque anything. I remember him cooking half-chickens and to this day, if I do yardbird, it's a half chicken even in KCBS competitions. And even though he passed away long before anything like barbeque cook-offs were thought of, he would've been on those contests like white on rice. Guaranteed.

So, after having pondering this "smoky footprints" comment for a few weeks, I began digging through old family photos. I knew there wasn't any photos of him at the pit, but I did remember shots that had been taken at a big family reunion, not long after Granddad had passed away. Well, I found one of them.

This reunion was the "mother" of all reunions. I can't remember how many family members came that day, but it was a crowd. So, my Dad, pictured on the left and other members of the family like my Granddad's bother, Paul Henry on the right, developed a huge make-shift pit. They used concrete blocks, sheet metal and handmade racks that were secured and their handles allowed for all the chickens to be rotated all at once. Corn was on the pit too as well as other smoked goodies that filled every square inch of that pit.

So maybe these smoky footprints are taking me on a journey I was meant to take. BBQ is actually soul food when you stop and think about it; Mac n' Cheese, Ribs, Slaw and the whole nine yards. So, if BBQ is in the soul, through such a thing as "smoky footprints" then our BBQ can't be equalled because when you cook from the heart and the soul, that is what will make all the difference. You can taste it.

We're Gettin' There

We're getting closer to getting our BBQ business off the ground. We've found an undisclosed location in Nixa with not only high traffic but a guaranteed draw to our spot. No one in Nixa is doing concession BBQ vending, so we should have a good opportunity ahead of us.

We've been trying to cut a new door in the back of our trailer, but it won't quit raining. Hopefully we can get a day or two precip free so we can get that done. We've installed everything required by the health people, so passing a final inspection shouldn't be a problem.

The menu and pricing is finalized and after months of creating rubs, we've finally nailed down the flavors for each of the meats we're going to feature. My sausage guy is hard at work (at least I hope he is) on stuffing my hot links into casings. It's weird that you can't give the packing plant your finished, seasoned sausage to stuff, but you can give them the seasonings and they'll do it. I should get the first batch of 25 pounds this Saturday. Any excuse to fire up the pit.

Keep you posted as we get closer.

"The Legend"

If you're into BBQ like I am then you can imagine spending an entire day cooking on 4 Ole Hickory Pit cookers with "The Legend" Mike Mills, well I had that chance this past weekend in Cape Girardeau, MO at the Ole Hickory Pit test kitchen. Wow is all I can say.

If there's one thing I've learned this past year is that are a lot of really nice BBQ guys out there and Mike Mills was truly one of those. But aside from being a super nice guy he's also an incredible BBQ Pitmaster with a wealth of knowledge that few will ever know. To coin a phrase, he's from the old school and when it comes to BBQ that is an invaluable asset. Mills talked about how "old timers" used pork fat to render down for seasonings, or how he cuts his own ham hocks to smoke for green beans and so on. Now guys my age have heard about stuff like that and I'll use hocks from time to time, but Mills knows how to squeeze out the flavors and apply them to BBQ and a lot of guys these days either don't know or recognize their benefits.

Aside from getting some precious nuggets of BBQ tips, Mills also runs multiple BBQ joints in Illinois and Las Vegas. He's won Memphis In May a number of times and has been declared to have the best ribs in America, so restaurant knowledge and tips were discussed too. And since I'm gearing up to sell BBQ from our mobile pit, this was something I'd not heard discussed in other cooking classes and boy, did it help me out. Having never served BBQ to the public before I had a million questions and his answers really cleared up in my head how you go about the daily tasks of BBQing in the restaurant world. Believe me it is a total opposite from the competition circuit, but a welcomed change.

Mike did a ton of BBQ on Saturday. He did two whole pork shoulders; one he injected a cure solution and the other he did not. He did three or four pork butts too. He injected one, the other he did not and another had no seasoning except kosher salt and pepper. He did chickens and brisket as we all discussed his techniques and each class member, 24 total did a slab of ribs each removing membranes, trimming fat and eventually seasoning them with his "Magic Dust."

David Knight and Margaret Wiggins were a delight to work with once again. I'd worked with Margaret earlier this year when buying my Convecture Ole Hickory Pit and met David, the "big guy" of Ole Hickory when we picked up the pit in July. But they helped play a big part in making the class truly wonderful.

If there is any BBQ cook out there that thinks someone will have "the answer" to impart to you that unlocks all the secrets thus turing you into a super cooker: Quit looking because there is no one with a magic wand a "pit dust" to sprinkle you with. The answer is inside you. Whatever you like in your BBQ will work for you. Mike Mills stressed a number of times that there is no right way or wrong way because it's based on what you like. And it's true. Yes, there are little tidbits or tricks you pick-up as you go along the way, but those are the little gems that will eventually turn your cooking into the best.

Now get out there and some em if you got em.

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.

Golden City's Cook-off

The Chain Gang completed it's 2009 KCBS Competition BBQ tour by going to a wonderful event in Golden City, Missouri.

The weather on Friday was terrible. Rain by the bucket fell which actually prevented three or four teams from making the cook-off; flood waters in southern Missouri literally kept them homebound. Once the rain, mist and drizzle left, the clouds remained and the cold air came in.

By early evening, temps were in the upper 30's as the northwest winds continued to howl. However, the show must go on.

Our team hardly ever participates in "Peoples Choice" contests at these cook-offs. Not sure why except for the added prep and work added on top of the KCBS aspect of things. But, this being our last for the year, hey, why not. So we entered the PC contest with our homemade BBQ sauce and I'll be darned if we didn't take 2nd place. Now I'm thinkin' we should've entered a few of these Peoples Choice things earlier. But it was nice to see what the folks liked versus BBQ judges.

We did good in Chicken. I gotta say that our half-chickens were as moist and juicy as they've been in a long time. One of the greatest things about Golden City was being located right next to the team Munchin' Hogs at the Hilton, based out of KC. Just like everyone on the circuit, I knew of these guys, but for me, I'd never met them before. These guys are wonderful people. Friendly would be an under statement and they made the cook-off special for me; not only because they thought my chicken would take first, but because they were true BBQ ambassadors. Our chicken came in in the top 15. That's good for chicken breast because everyone and I mean everyone turns in thighs for judging. I've covered that on previous posts though.

In the Anything Goes category, the Chain Gang finished in the top 10 with our homemade hot link sausage. It is good - a tad bit warm maybe, but hey, they are hot links.

One of the funniest things happened when my two daughters decided to pass the time using my iPhone and a window in our pick-up truck. Instead of posting a picture of an entry, a cooker or all the smoke in the air at the cook-off, I threw this in. My younger daughter doing a pressed pig impression under glass.

Well, at least kids can have fun at these cook-offs too.

Two Days In Texas

Even though there were 13 KCBS sanctioned cook-offs being held the weekend of September 25-26, 2009, I elected not to compete in any of them so I could attend a BBQ Cooking Class with The Baron of BBQ, Chef Paul Kirk.

Traveling the 475+ miles to McKinney, Texas on Friday I wondered if it was even possible to learn a fraction of what Chef Paul knew about the art of BBQing in just two short days. Paul Kirk has won a BBQ award for each mile I drove to attend his class, so the odds were in my favor that I would learn a lot about BBQ.

Friday night, our hosts Sue and Brad Sparr served up a wonderful dinner as 12 class members enjoyed bouncing questions, ideas and the like off the Chef. During the evening it became clear to me that things I'd played around with and experimented with were on the right track but needed a little more tweaking.  It was truly gratifying to discover that.

To make a long story short, the main crux of the weekend was this when it comes to BBQ: Do what works for you. That's pretty much the nucleus of Chef Paul Kirk's philosophy and he's right. I once saw a DVD on BBQ competitions and how they function. Chef Paul happened to be one of 12-15 BBQ experts on this video. He said in a nutshell, cook the way you would cook for you or your family and let the chips fall where they may. Chef Paul's advice is dead-on and here's why. Anyone who has attended a cook-off knows there can 50-200+ judges tasting everyone's entries and scoring them on appearance, taste and tenderness. There is no way your BBQ is going to hone in on that many pallets. Your odds of winning the Powerball are better than that.

He and I had a conversation Saturday during a break in which we discussed principles in BBQ. Chef Paul will not use aluminum foil to cook his meat in; he calls it the Texas Crutch. He told me that his friends would say, "but Paul that's what's winning." Chef Paul said he didn't care because he would not betray his principles. I told the Chef I felt that way with chicken at competition because I do half-chickens and the rest of the KCBS crowd does thighs. I told him that I didn't care if it hair-lipped the Governor, I was going to stick with half-chickens for the same reason: Principle! Simply put, to me half-chickens just means real BBQ and that's what competitions should be about versus the latest craze or some trick-in-the-book notion.

Of the 12 people who took Chef Paul's class, to my knowledge I was the only one there who had competed in a KCBS cook-off and I had lost sight of that simple low and slow rule. It's easy to do so because of the number of BBQ cookbooks on the shelves, the never ending cooking shows on TV and the advice people on the competition circuit pass on to you. Now I'm not saying you can't learn something new to adapt to your cooking technique, but just imagine how long it would've taken Henry Ford to get the first car off the assembly line if he'd tried to make his cars to fit everyone's tastes; we'd still be on horseback.

The Chef was a great guy to learn from. He knew more jokes that anybody I'd ever met and the man is genuine. If you ever get the opportunity to take his cooking class, do so. It's money well spent.