Ingredients I use in Competition BBQ
 

Here are the ingredients we use for each catagory when we compete in a KCBS BBQ contest. In some of the threads I have given little bits and pieces of what we do. I don't mind sharing so if you would like to know just shoot me a PM. My thoughts are if you give each cook the exact same cake mix, when done you will have 3 different cakes.


Brisket:

1. Plowboys Bovine Bold Rub
2. Butchers BBQ Injection
3. Ames FAB B injection
4. Charlie Prides Beef Au Jus Mix
5. Sugar
6. Plain Yellow Mustard

Pork:

1. Plowboys Yardbird Rub
2. Head Country BBQ Sauce
3. Stubbs Pork Marinade
4. Injection: 3 1/2 C Water, 3 TBSP Amesphos, 1/4 C Caro Syrup, 1/8 C, Plowboy's Yardbird Rub finely ground, 2 TSP Accent, 1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
5. Plain Yellow Mustard
6. Apple Juice

Ribs:

1. The Slabs Perk up your Pork Rub
2. Obie-Cue Sweet Rub
3. Brown Sugar
4. Parkay
5. The Slabs Amazing Glaze
6. Plain Yellow Mustard
7. Apple Juice

Chicken:

1. Amesphos Injection
2. Chicken Stock
3. Accent
4. Plowboys Yardbird Rub
5. Mayonaise
6. Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce
7. Parkay

So for instance, do you use all of those things on your brisket, or a varying combination of those items?

Thanks!

We use all of them. We start by injecting with the Butchers BBQ Injection. We rub the brisket with the mustard. It acts as a glue for the rub. We add a little sugar to the rub for carmelization to form a good bark. When we foil we add the Aus Jus to tenderize and let the moisture be absorbed by the brisket. The FAB B while an injection is used to make a finishing sauce when mixed with the drippings of the brisket.

We used to make our own rubs and sauces but quickly discovered we were trying to reinvent the wheel when there were companies perfecting their rubs and sauces for years. Most of the big teams do the same. Lots of competition teams use the same or similar ingredients. The better commercial rubs and sauces are so good and inexpensive it makes no sense to make your own. We do however add one or two extra ingredients like the sugar to help us achieve a certain effect. Although taste is very important most teams will agree that perfectly cooked meat wins every time.

Guy, I've read most of your BBQ posts, and first let me say thank you for being so willing to share your techniques and ingredients. I think this thread would be a good place to try to consolidate that information in one thread.

I'm building an AB flower pot smoker this weekend and plan to make my first boston butt in it next weekend. (I have a UDS, and even though it holds the temp extremely well, I don't feel like I could walk away and leave it unattended for hours). My AB smoker will use an Auber electric smoker controller to maintain the temp.

I assumed, like Bulldog, that you mix and match the ingredients from the list. Do you both inject and marinate pork with different ingredients at the same time? Would you mind walking me through how you do pork?

Thanks

JTB

Awesome info! Thanks!

For Pork Butt we always smoke a Bone-In butt. The bone helps the butt in many ways and if you are not sure when it is done the bone will tell you. First rinse the butt and pat it dry, then wrap it in cellophane. Take a marker and mark the cellophane with a dot on the places you want to inject. I usually make a 1 1/2" grid. Mix up an injection made of the following:

•3 1/2 C Water
•3 TBSP Amesphos
•1/2 C Caro Syrup
•1/8 C Plowboy's Yardbird Rub, finely ground
•2 TSP Accent
•1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

Now inject the butt at the grid points. Let the butt rest in the refrigerator overnight. Take the butt from the refrigerator and pat it dry. Slather a thin coat of yellow mustard on the butt. Rub the butt with mixture of 2/3 cup Plowboys Yardbird rub and 1/3 cup of sugar. Place the butt in a 225* smoker. We use a combination of apple and cherry to smoke with. We usually add apple juice to a spritzer bottle and give the butt a spritz every 1 1/2 hours. When the butt gets to 160* pull the butt, sauce it thoroughly with Head Country BBQ Sauce and foil the butt. Put it back in the smoker until 180*. At 180* pull the butt from the smoker open the foil and put about an 1/8 of a cup of strained Stubbs Pork Marinade in the foil and fold it back up. Put it back into the smoker until 200*. Remove the butt and open the foil. Rest it for 15 minutes because we do not want it to cook any longer in the foil. Fold the foil back up and wrap it in a towel and rest it in a dry cooler for 1 1/2 hours and you are ready to serve. We usually pull chunks from the butt and glaze with some Head Country BBQ sauce thinned with a little Apple Juice and serve the money muscle as glazed slices.

http://www.thepickledpig.com/ppforum...tionpork/1.jpg

This is how we do it. You will see a lot of teams do it differently. You can always substitute you own favorite sauces and injection. Good luck with it.

FYI: We always use a Thermapen but you can always tell when a butt is done by tugging on the bone. It it turns and removes with minimal effort the butt is done.

Great. Now I'm hungry and drooling and it's at least 4 hours until lunch. Thanks. :-)

Thank you, Guy! I can't wait to try it! Couple more questions... If you don't mind. I know one wants to cook to temp, but to get a feel for how long it should take, I think I've read somewhere about 1.25 hours per lb. Is that about right?

Also, it looks like the ingredients store is currently out of Amesphos. Have you ever used the phosphate mixes from any of the other makers such as Butcher's or Kosmos?

Yes, as a matter of fact on Brisket we use Butchers BBQ Injection. For a while we used FAB P in the pork injection so if they have that it will work also. As you have guessed the whole idea is to get the phospates that were lost when the animal was slaughtered back in to help with tenderness and moisture retention. Some of the phospate injection mixes have flavor enhancers also. That is why we use FAB B mixed with the Aus Jus from the brisket. It makes a dynamite beefy glaze for the brisket presentation.

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. We usually cook 8lbs to 10 lbs bone in butts. We almost end up at 12 hours so if I do the math correctly between 1.25 to 1.5 hours per lbs is about right. If you have any doubts if the butt is done simply turn the bone in the butt. If it turns easily and pulls right out of the butt, you are done and good to go.