Introduction

 

 

WE BUILT THIS ENTIRE BOOK ON ONE SIMPLE QUESTION:

WHAT DO CHAMPIONSHIP BARBECUERS COOK AT HOME IN THIER OWN BACKYARDS, WHEN THERE ARE NO RULES BUT THE SIMPLE LAWS OF PHYSICS AND BASIC CHEMISTRY?

We got more than 100 delicious answers, along with tips and stories from the champions that will inform, entertain, and maybe even inspire you to take your next backyard cookout to a whole new level.

This book serves two purposes: introducing you to the champs and introducing you to some of the best barbecue you’ve ever eaten. You won’t see most of the barbecue here on the judging tables at competitions. If you are lucky enough to befriend the team that gave us the recipe, however, you may get a bite if you are invited to socialize with the team in its booth at a contest. For many pros, their camper and booth become their home away from home during the barbecue season, and many booths take on a backyard feel as old friends and competitors come together to eat and swap stories. Most cooks will gladly share tips and recipes, especially when your interest is in backyard fare instead of contest secrets. Ask them questions about how to improve your backyard barbecue skills. And it’s always fun to hear stories about backyard cooking disasters, especially because you can learn from their mistakes. A few of our favorites are here.

We have written books on what the pros cook in their restaurants and on the competition circuit. This time we wanted to know what they cook when they don’t have to follow strict rules or pay attention to profit margins and customer demand. This book is a gift to you from our many friends in the global barbecue community—champions and almost champions. It also demystifies them. Barbecue contest champions are everyday folk like you and us. They just took their backyard cooking beyond their backyard. Many say that at some point they were bitten by the barbecue bug and didn’t look back, hooked on the fun and friendly atmosphere and hog wild for smoking meat throughout the night and the wee hours of the morning, all for a chance at points and prize money. While you may not seek those yourself, the recipes in this book will at least earn you the title of king or queen of the backyard cookout.

We’ll be the first to say that some of the best barbecue is backyard barbecue. Contest rules and regulations literally put barbecue creativity in a box—a turn-in box. Failure to follow contest rules will disqualify an entry. Backyard cooks can be creative with no penalties. So while some of the recipes in this book are competition quality and comply with the rules, most are on the more creative side. You’ll wonder why champions ever care to cook to contest specifications when you try what they cook at home. We asked them, and you’ll get a variety of answers in their tips and stories.

We have been involved in competition barbecue for more than thirty years each—Paul as a competitor with one of the most impressive win records in the world and Ardie as a contest organizer and a judge hundreds of times at world champion, state, regional, and local contests, including the Memphis in May World Champion Barbecue Cooking Contest, the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue, and the National Capital Barbecue Battle. We’ve been there, done that, and are proud to call hundreds of barbecue champions all over the world our friends. Those friends are proud to share their experience with you.

Every year, about 1,000 barbecue contests are held all over the United States and Canada and throughout the world, and teams come from all over the globe to compete. Although we strived to make sure every region of the United States is represented in this book, the recipes are for the most part not regional specialties. Stuffed mushroom appetizers, for example, are as likely to show up at a backyard barbecue in the shadow of Mount Rainier as in a backyard in suburban Maryland. Beans are one of the most likely dishes to show up at any backyard barbecue, though they can be prepared in a cornucopia of fantastic ways, such as in Paul Schatte’s Head Country II Pinto Beans Cilantro Style. That doesn’t mean the recipes in this book aren’t creative, though. Far from it! One taste of Burnt Finger BBQ Bourbon Brie, Scottie Johnson’s Shrimp-Stuffed Avocados with Citrus Aioli, or Chris Lilly’s Flank Steak and Shiitake Yakitori and you’ll know they’re in a whole new league.

To add an international flavor, we asked some of our barbecue champ friends in Estonia, England, Puerto Rico, and Norway to share some recipes too. Thanks to Jaan Habicht, Jeremy Fowler, the BBQ Freaks (Jose Bengoa, Yolanda Bolivar, and Gabriel Antunez), and Craig Whitson, you can wow your guests with a touch of unusual backyard cuisine when you feel like serving something different—Jaan’s Barbecue Meat “Cake,” for example, or Craig Whitson’s ElvisLaks Grilled Salmon.

Most of the recipes here are in the six-to-eight-servings range, by design. We scaled down some of the recipes that would serve an army, but we’re talking about barbecue here. In our experience, people tend to eat more than usual when barbecue is on the table. Furthermore, if you’re going to take the time and make the effort to prepare a great dish, especially if you’re using best-quality ingredients, you’ll want to make sure there is plenty for everyone—maybe even with a few leftovers. Feel free to adjust the quantities to serve more or fewer accordingly.

One bonus with the recipes in this book is that most are not complicated. Champs not only serve these dishes in their backyards; they also eat them at contests while they tend the fires, and unless they travel to contests in a home on wheels, they don’t have all the equipment and convenience of the home kitchen. The ability to adapt is part of what made them champions.

As you read this book and try the recipes, imagine that our featured barbecue champs are right there with you, coaching you on how to make your backyard fare the best ever. They are with you all the way—from tips on choosing the best grill for your needs to essential tools and handy gadgets, food prep and presentation, and an array of recipes to make your backyard barbecues celebrations to remember! They will crank up the quality of your food, as well as your homestyle pitmaster reputation. Light the fire, bring out the meat, and grab your tongs. Let’s get started!

 

 

A perfect score in a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned contest is 180. Of six judges, the scores of five count—the lowest is thrown out. Nine is the highest score a judge can give in each category.

So, 5 x 9 on Appearance = 45;
5 x 9 on Tenderness = 45;

5 x 9 on Taste = 45, doubled to 90
(because it’s more important

than the other factors);
45 + 45 + 90 = 180.

 

WHAT IS BARBECUE?

 

There is no universal consensus. Barbecue is a method of cooking. Barbecued meat is also barbecue. A gathering of people to eat barbecue is a barbecue too.

CNN Money writer Paul R. La Monica metaphorically referred to a current U.S. economic situation as a “BBQ Recovery”—that is, “a slow and low rebound,” an allusion to the slow and low method of barbecue cooking, which involves cooking meat at low temperatures (225° to 275°F) for several hours—from 4 to 24 or more. The result is meat that is tender and smoky, with about 25 percent of the original bulk lost through rendering of fat and juices, but percentages vary by meat and meat quality. When barbecue is called “smoking,” the reference is to “hot smoking” in a barbecue pit, as opposed to “cold smoking,” which involves cooking brined meats at a low temperature, usually for several days. Traditionally that is done in a smokehouse. Both methods impart smoke flavor to the meat.

The word barbecue is sometimes used interchangeably with grilling. Grilling is a method of cooking foods directly or indirectly over hot coals or flames for short periods of time, from a few seconds to more than an hour. Thus grilling is hot and fast; smoking is slow and low. Grilled or smoked, we call it barbecue.

Many barbecuers insist that grilling is not barbecue. We have no argument, however, with backyard cooks who invite friends and family to a “barbecue” featuring grilled hot dogs, sausages, steaks, or burgers. We’d gladly attend! While the folks on the barbecue circuit tend to favor their craft, and it’s reflected in their recipes, more than a few like to grill at home so they can spend less time with their cooker and more time with their company. They, too, have provided some fast feasts from the flames so that you’ll have a variety of choices for your next gathering.