Practicing

Practicing is just not something I do on a normal basis or at all really. Not that I don't see any value in it, but it's hard to set aside the time to cook bbq for 10 to 12 hours. I'm usually too busy or too lazy to commit the time.

This weekend I need to cook some bbq for a party so I'm going to use the cook as a contest practice run. I've been struggling with brisket a little lately so I will pay particular attention to that. I'll use a couple of different rubs and sauces and hopefully come up with a winning combination.

In Arkansas my brisket ended up being overcooked. When I took the meat off the cooker and put it in a cambro (insulated box) to stay warm, the brisket was definitely not overcooked. I think it overcooked in the cambro because I had it loaded with more meat then I normally do. The Arkansas contest had $50,000 in prize money so I thought it was worth cooking extra meat to try to get an edge on the competition. I think my decision to do that cost me in the end. I don't think cooking the extra meat was a bad decision but loading it all in the same cambro was, it may be time to invest in a second one.

I'll try to post some pictures of my progress this weekend but don't expect to see a lot about my recipes or techniques. The team is looking at schduling a class sometime this spring so if your interested in attending keep an eye on our website www.ismellsmoke.com