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BBQ contests are great fun and I encourage you to enter one in your area and find out for yourself how much fun they are. Our book “Competition BBQ Secrets” has helped many teams take Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion and many other high finishes in the four main barbeque categories… ribs, pork, chicken, and brisket. If you want to get your feet wet before entering a big Barbecue contest, try just entering the “backyard” division in a local competition. That’s a category where you will only compete against other beginners and amateurs. It’s a great way to get a feel for things before you start competing against the “big boys”. And don’t forget the other “side competitions” like whole hog, anything but BBQ competitions, pie contests, sauce contests, invitational only contests, Kid’s Q, etc.
Of course, you can always just visit a local contest as a spectator. But I have to warn you… you will not be able to taste the different competitors’ BBQ. They usually only cook enough to turn into the judges and maybe a little extra for themselves and a few friends. If you ask nicely, some of them might throw you a bone or two, but don’t count on it. Actually, they are not allowed to sell barbecue unless they have also paid a vending fee to the sponsor of the contest. So… there should be plenty of vendors selling BBQ, but you can’t go taste testing all the contestants’ barbecue.
However… there are three ways that will enable you to taste the contestants’ barbecue…
1) You can become a certified judge through the barbecue association of your choice and then volunteer to be a judge in a contest. This is a great way to learn how the system works and how real competition BBQ tastes. This is a great tip… become a barbecue judge first and then a competitor. The contests always need good, certified judges and you’ll also be able to take home what you can’t eat when you are judging.
2) You can become a volunteer helper at the contest. Most of the contests are run by non-profit organizations and they need plenty of help. Here’s a little secret… all the contestants are required to turn in a specific amount of servings (let’s say 8). 6 of those servings will go to the judges. They take a small bite of each and then throw the rest in their container they brought with them to take home. The other servings go to the volunteers and table captains to munch on after the contest.
3) Sometimes they have what they call a people’s choice contest. The contestants submit their entries and the entries are divided up into small portions. When it’s your turn, you will be presented with a tray of six numbered samples. You taste them all and rate them on how well they tasted.
To get a schedule of events in your area, I recommend you visit your local barbecue Association web site and check out their calendar of events.
Author of “Competition BBQ Secrets”. For more information on slow smoking competition quality ribs, butts, chicken, and brisket, please visit Bill Anderson’s barbeque recipes web page! He is the recent Grand Champion in Tryon, NC and Greenwood, SC and Kennesaw, GA.
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Tags: barbecue recipes
Posted in Gourmet cooking · March 3rd, 2010 · Comments (0)
Everyone likes cookies; kids, parents, grandparents, friends, and the list could go on. There is just nothing much better than warm cookies right out of the oven to kids of all ages. Baking cookies is a great way to get the kids involved in the kitchen even at an early age. Even the little ones are so impressed by cookies “they made themselves” even though they may have only stirred the dough, added an ingredient, or sprinkled on some colored sugar decorations.
And homemade cookies are perfect for everything from welcome to the neighbor hood gifts, teacher gifts, holiday gifts, office treats, to just simply something to hand to daddy and say, “Look what I made for you”.
Today we have some very good cookie dough in the dairy counters of our grocery stores to buckets of dough sold as fund raisers. But baking your own good cookies is still something special. Baking cookies with the kids is not only fun but it teaches them how to measure, a math skill they don’t even realize they are learning. It is also a lesson in organization as ingredients are gathered before the baking begins, a lesson in working with others even if it is just the two of you, and a lesson in cleaning up as the kitchen has to be cleaned afterwards. Even if children aren’t involved, becoming proficient with a certain cookie recipe gives one a sense of self and confidence as others come to expect and even request your “special” cookie.
Following are a few tips to help you bake great cookies from scratch, as the old-timers used to say:
1. Use good ingredients. It is impossible to produce a first-rate product with second-rate ingredients. For example, use butter instead of margarine. So many of today’s margarine products contain a large amount of water. This will not produce a good cookie. Forget about counting fat and calories when baking cookies. Concentrate on a good product and don’t over indulge on the finished product!
2. Use good utensils. For example, invest in a couple of good baking sheets. Good baking sheets will help you turn out a better cookie.
3. Use standard measuring cups and do measure the ingredients. Baking is not the place to “throw in a little of this or that”. Use glass liquid measuring cups for measuring liquids. You will be able to see the lines easily and the ingredients won’t slosh over the sides. Use nested measuring cups to measure dry ingredients. Dry ingredients should be measured to the rim of the cup. And use the right size. Don’t measure what appears to be a half cup in a one cup measure. Get out the one-half cup measure. It is no more trouble to wash one extra cup!
4. Use standard measuring spoons. Do not grab a “teaspoon” from your silverware drawer to measure an ingredient. Get out a measuring spoon and do it right. The teaspoon that came with your silverware set will not measure an accurate teaspoon for a recipe. And as with the cups, use the right size. Do not guess at a half teaspoon in a one teaspoon size.
5. Use the proper baking sheets or pans. Shiny metal absorbs less heat than the dark metal. Dark metal may cause your cookies to over brown on the bottom, so the shiny metal is best if you want to produce a delicately browned cookie. When baking bar cookies, it is especially important to use the proper sized pan that is called for in the recipe. If you are on a limited budget and can only afford one or two quality pans, go for the cake or bar pans. They can be turned upside down and used as cookie sheets.
6. Other important utensils. To make your baking easier and more efficient, helping you to turn out a better finished product, there are some other utensils you should have on hand. If your budget is limited, buy the utensils you will use most often (for other uses as well) and add the remainder gradually. (Hint: When family and friends ask what you want as a gift for holidays or birthdays mention good quality items you still would like to have.) Some of these items are: a good set of wooden spoons for creaming butters and sugars together, slotted spoons for efficient blending of ingredients that need to be mixed by hand, a good set of rubber or silicone scrapers or spatulas, sharp knives, a good set of cookie cutters, a set of heavy mixing bowls with rounded bottoms, large glass pitcher-style mixing bowl, quality wire cooling racks, and a good rolling pin and pastry cloth for use when making cut-out cookies.
7. Read the recipe carefully before beginning the mixing process. You don’t want to get started and realize you are out of a needed ingredient. This will also let you know the particular basic method of mixing this recipe so you can have the proper utensils laid out.
8. Preheat the oven. Before you place the cookies in the oven, the oven should be at the proper temperature.
9. Watch your baking time carefully to avoid over-baked or underbaked cookies. Always check your cookies at the minimum baking time given in the recipe, then you can bake them longer if needed, checking often. An overbaked cookie is just not a good cookie.
10. Never substitute ingredients unless the recipe gives directions for doing so or you are well acquainted with the recipe and know exactly what you are doing.
cake Can Be a great Dessert…..
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Tags: cookies | cake | cooking
Posted in Gourmet cooking · February 11th, 2010 · Comments (0)