The two hogs that didn't place in the top 5 getting sold:
Image

4th place trophy:
Image
[Reply]

Buddy that pork looks great though and great to see you got a trophy!
My brother wants to challenge me to see if I can do a pork shoulder for him. Look for a " how the hell do I do a shoulder" thread tomorrow. Never ever worked with one. It's either that or he picked brisket, one or the other as he is my guest for dinner.
[Reply]

You sure are right that was for me! I love those pics. I would love to have seen and smelled that!
So you throw all the different kinds of meat together in a skin purse and sauce it? I guess I never really
understood how whole hog was done or judged. You can learn a lot in this thread. I thought they
walked up to your hog and sampled from the various areas for taste.

I like that HAT....BBQ & Shag. I lived in Myrtle Beach for a year working for Cox Cable. Do I shag?
Do I know how other people shag? Hell no, but I know where they do it, anyway. I kind of miss it.
When you live where I do, ALL of your former homes/haunts are great memories.
[Reply]

It all depends on the venue. Some places come by and take the samples themselves from different areas of your hog. This ensures you didn't prepare something last week to submit for judging, but ended up with a chitty hog the day of the contest. Some places also test the temp as they come around to make sure the pork is within temp specs. Some allow you to take you own samples. I've also seen hogs barely tampered with, meaning all the bones are left in and the beast sauced and served that way. The vast majority of teams debone, pull the pork, remove fat and gristle, and sauce. This way you can get a piece of loin, ham, shoulder, etc. in a single serving. Also with different venues are heat levels. We know certain events like a sweet, milder pork. We know some like a hot, vinegary sauce.

And do I shag? Not the dancing type!
[Reply]

YEAH, baby, yeah.
[Reply]

Damn that pig looks good.
[Reply]

Just wanted to say thank you to you and Brent (Smokin Gator) regarding the feedback on digital meat probes:-)

I'd been reading about the above prior to you guys getting back to me. Lot's of pro' and con'. More pro than con though and just decided to move forward and purchase the ET 732 from Amazon. Looking forward to receiving the unit to start playing around with it. Don't think I'll need the 300' remote feature, but nice to know that I can be sitting watching a Packer game only 70' away from the smoker.

Also, remodeled my Weber One Touch grill recently with some firebrick (similar to Adams (T.G) grill shown earlier on in this thread). Performed a little slicing with the circular saw and used a metal file to put the final touches to the brick. Looks good and it all fits pretty darn good where I can use the "minion" method for the charcoal. I'll post some pix later on this...

BTW, looks like you guys had a good time bbq pig at that event Jamie. Must of been great smelling all that flavor and smoke in the air:-)
[Reply]

Thank goodness we don't ever seem to obsess about this minion method here like a true BBQ forum,
but I have to say I AM CURIOUS as to how this can work. I have never seen unlit charcoal do anything
but produce noxious fumes when it is lighting, so how do people allow the bulk of their briques to sit
unlit, waiting to catch fire like an extremely slow fuse and not get bad flavors? Am I describing it right?
Isn't that the basics of the minion method?? Isn't that how a 'maze' works?
[Reply]

You're describing it right, Brad.

You don't get the big cloud of noxious gas like when you first light off a chimney of charcoal. While maybe not completely avoided, it seems that, in the MM, these fumes are significantly reduced.

It's a slower ignition, the briquettes are packed in there, so when a burning one is in contact with the unlit one, it's more like a half lit briquette burning from the from the lit to the unlit side, so it's only a small amount lighting off at one time, unlike a chimney where there is a huge volume of charcoal touching off all at once. Also, because it's happening slowly in a hot chamber, you're getting a more complete combustion. It's also possible that some of these noxious gases are being vaporized due to the heat of the chamber, something that is severely lacking when you first light off a chimney. If I still had access to stack gas analysis equipment on the ships, it would be a fun thing to test.

Think of a chimney of briquettes - when you first light them, you get the cloud of crap, then within a few minutes, they are burning clean, even if not all of them are lit. The smell when the chimney is half lit and the smell when it's fully ashed over are the same.
[Reply]

I have always been apprehensive about using this method, and since I am a fat guy,
I don't mind going up and down the stairs when it is time to replenish the coals. But
I'd be lying if I said I never thought of using a method like that on long cooks, of which
I do very few. Looking forward to some spares this weekend. I have a triple rack pack
that needs to be done up. That fact alone also means I get to do some pintos with the
trimmings. So it's all gonna be great, I hope.
[Reply]

I understand, at one time I had the very same questions & concerns that you raised about the method. It seems like there should be some problem with the briquettes lighting off, but yet there isn't, or at least I can't detect them.
[Reply]

In my cooker when doing slow and low, I start with an empty paper towel tube. I use lump charcoal and build a 8" high by 8-10" wide mountain of lump around the tube. Slowly pulling out the tube leaves a volcano with a clear sight to the grating below. I then use a half a cotton ball soaked with olive oil as the fuel and drop it to the bottom of the hole. The hole in the volcano allows it to pull air up through the pile and ignite the entire inner ring. At 250-275 cooking temps, the fire slowly expands to the out lump. With a 10-hour cook, I'd dare say I've never seen it make half the way through. The large pile ensures consistent, evolving heat. There's always plenty left over to use with fresh lump for the next cooking. No noxious fumes from the lump, as far as I can tell.

I've never had to replenish a grill that was at work, for which I am happy.
[Reply]

...and there you go:-)

Brad, there's a number of different applications for the MM. Jim Minion came up with the MM back in 1999 for his WSM due to useless manufacturer instructions. I'm sure you have, but if you have not, you can google "minion method" which will reveal a number of different articles and video' on You Tube as well.

Go for it brother...:-)
[Reply]

smoked these in my little electric smoker today (24th) for my bday on the 25 :-):-)
and i agree it is not as smoky as other methods but hell of a lot smokier then my crock pot ever did :-)
12 hours cooking and all i need to to do is toss a hand full of chips in every hour or two

#1 7 pounder

Image

#2 5 pounder

Image
[Reply]

Hey Guys,
With Thanksgiving around the corner I have been giving thought to trying a smoked turkey... I have a small charcoal smoker and was wondering if anyone has tried this before? any luck/ words of advice?
[Reply]

Not sure if I'm breaking some sort of rule but..http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/ Lots of Turkeys over there, lol.
[Reply]

Thanks Mike :-)
[Reply]

Jason... great looking butts there.

Rob... my three tips for smoked turkey:
Don't do one that is bigger than 12-14 pounds - any bigger and they just don't seem to smoke well.
Brine it for 24 hours before cooking - makes a huge difference in the juiciness of the end product.
Set the turkey out breast up before putting it on the smoker. Put a gallon ziplock of ice on the breast while it is sitting out - helps the whole bird be at the correct doneness at the same time.
[Reply]

Thanks for the advice Gator... and also for all the work you do with the NST, Really makes noobs like me feel at home... :-)
[Reply]

Does anyone think that there's any difference between the quality of meat between Costco and Sams? They seem similar to me, but have bought so little from Costco compared to Sams that I don't know. I'm making some pork butts to take in for a pitch in for the ER I work in Friday nights and want to make the best impression.
[Reply]