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Watching BBQ Pitmasters and got a question

Well said oldbill :) couldn't agree more!!! and BTW whats next, automatic rub and sauce makers to go with automatic cookers?
 
Barbecue (also barbeque, BBQ and barbie) is a method and apparatus for char grilling food in the hot smoke of a wood fire, usually charcoal fueled. In the United States, to grill is to cook in this manner quickly, while barbecue is typically a much slower method utilizing less heat than grilling, attended to over an extended period of several hours.

Does propane and wood pellets fit the defitintion of Q......
 
plush2426 said:
Barbecue (also barbeque, BBQ and barbie) is a method and apparatus for char grilling food in the hot smoke of a wood fire, usually charcoal fueled. In the United States, to grill is to cook in this manner quickly, while barbecue is typically a much slower method utilizing less heat than grilling, attended to over an extended period of several hours.

Nevermind
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plush2426 said:
Barbecue (also barbeque, BBQ and barbie) is a method and apparatus for char grilling food in the hot smoke of a wood fire, usually charcoal fueled. In the United States, to grill is to cook in this manner quickly, while barbecue is typically a much slower method utilizing less heat than grilling, attended to over an extended period of several hours.

Does propane and wood pellets fit the defitintion of Q......
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According to the definition you posted I would have to say yes.
 
I have a Jambo and Backwoods and while they are completely different concepts in making BBQ, it still comes down to fire management in producing good results. They both require proper control just done in different ways. Both have there good points and bad points. It takes more skill with a stick burner, but in a different way. Mastering good BBQ on a stick burner is an art. Mastering good BBQ on a "set and forget" cooker is more of a science.
 
I'm with you Oldbill I think comps should be done simpler! leave the other hi-tech stuff for the backyard guys!(like me) I use electric but I'm not competing!
 
It's kind of like using a GPS vs knowing how to read a map or just read the road signs. Both will get you there but when the electronics fail or send you in the wrong direction (like ALL GPSs will do) you need to know how to navigate. Fire management is a basic skill that is absolutely necessary to cook consistantly. Electronics are a helpful tool but I don't rely on them to do my job for me.
 
cheapbeer said:
why dont you find an old woodburning oven and tell her that you will be getting rid of the modern kitchen stove so she can cook on the same level that great grandmothers did............
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. . . and then the fight started! :biggrin1:
 
I like oldbill's ideas 'cause that's the way I cook and the way I like BBQ to taste but I don't mind any of the hardware or gadgets somebody uses to cook with. In the end it's how good the BBQ tastes and that's a very subjective thing. Personally, I like my uninsulated RF stickburner, but I've had some pretty darn good BBQ (by my definition of good) from a pretty wide range of pits. I like oldbill's notion of comps showing off old school styles and would take it a step further: go back to "regular" meat products. For example if you are gonna have chicken in a comp; make it a bone-in whole or 1/2 bird cook. But hey, that's just my $0.02.
 
J-Rod said:
Couldn't agree more. I guess nowadays drama sells, but I ain't buyin'.
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I would have agreed with you in Season 2 (where Myron, Art Smith and Warren Sap were "judges") but in the seasons past that, they've really reduce the amount "drama" in the series.

Its completely up to the three cooks to win on their own merits without any added drama (apart from strategic commercial breaks :))
 
This is not to criticize anyone using electronics, because I am looking at getting a Cyber Q setup myself, but I really fail to see any difference in having a sealed cooker with electronically controlled airflow to control the temperature is any different that an electric smoker or even an oven. It's fair, because everyone has that choice, but it really should probably be a different category. And really and truly, if the sanctioning bodies are going to allow electronically controlled boxes to feed fuel and regulate temperature, why do they disallow electric smokers and propane?
 
I'll pile on here. When I first started watching Pitmaster's, I would laugh every time a competitor would say, "I'm going to set my pit for 275...".

A big part about what **I** enjoy about Q'n is tending the fire while socializing with my friends.

I have entered a few small local comps. The first one I entered, the team next to us used a programmable propane-fired smoker. They came out, set it up, and went to a hotel for the night. Not one person stayed on their plot. We stayed up all night BS'ing with other teams. The propane guys won first place, but I bet I had more fun.

To each there own.

David
 
cheapbeer said:
why dont you find an old woodburning oven and tell her that you will be getting rid of the modern kitchen stove so she can cook on the same level that great grandmothers did............
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That's a pretty cheap shot but since this is a friendly forum I'm going to pretend you forgot to put in the smiley face and walk away from this.
 
smokeisgood said:
This is not to criticize anyone using electronics, because I am looking at getting a Cyber Q setup myself, but I really fail to see any difference in having a sealed cooker with electronically controlled airflow to control the temperature is any different that an electric smoker or even an oven. It's fair, because everyone has that choice, but it really should probably be a different category. And really and truly, if the sanctioning bodies are going to allow electronically controlled boxes to feed fuel and regulate temperature, why do they disallow electric smokers and propane?
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I think you and Oldbill might be on to something. There should be a different category. Because at the end of the day, fire management is part of the process of making good BBQ. If electronics are doing that for you, you're not competing on an even playing field.

I do feel these gadgets and gizmos have there place, especially if your are catering or doing backyard cooking, but if the goal of a competition is to see who can make the best BBQ, and fire control is part of making BBQ, we all should be on a level playing field.
 
The use of electronic controls on smokers is about as contentious as the use of foil, fat cap up or down or using galvanized metals :-D

As I read through this thread I noticed a couple of things that always come up and always bug me. Yes, I use a pellet smoker, and I have a fan controller for my Backwoods. BUT... a lot of folks seem to assume that just because folks use these devices or types of smokers that means that they don't know how to cook without it. That's a generalization, and most generalizations are generally wrong. Most guys who have chosen to use a pellet smoker or add a fan controller to their existing smoker have cooked on other smokers in the past and are comfortable with those methods. I've cooked on just about every kind of smoker out there and have done the 2AM shift feeding sticks into an offset. I chose to use a pellet smoker because I like the result and I need my beauty sleep :-D. That doesn't make me any less of a pitmaster.

Second. at least one post questioned why pellet smokers and fan controllers are allowed in competitions but gas and electric smokers aren't. One common misconception is that pellet smokers, in particular, don't burn wood. That is simply not the case. The fire and heat source in a pellet smoker is 100% wood. Gas and electric smokers use either gas or an electric heating element as their heat source and wood for smoke. This has been debated for competition use quite a bit and the determination was that pellet smokers use a wood fire and are no different in that aspect than any other wood burning smoker (I'm lumping charcoal into that category).

Finally, I like Oldbill's suggestion of a competition where no electronically assisted pits are allowed. In fact, this has been done. There was a comp on the east coast last season that followed this concept, and the Chicago Rib Classic in September has taken this approach.

And the other side of the topic, there was also a couple of comps a couple of years back in Iowa where gas smokers were allowed. We competed in LPQue2 and, interestingly enough, the winner was a propane fueled Old Hickory, but the majority of the top 10 were wood fired.

One final note... Don't bash your fellow Brethren because of their choice of cooker. I see this a lot in these threads. Folks come in and disparage others because they made a different choice of cooker. That's not how we do things around here. Discuss the merits of your choice, but realize that it is exactly that. a choice. It doesn't make the other guy any less of a cook.

OK... Off of my soapbox. This has been a good discussion.
 
va_connoisseur said:
I think you and Oldbill might be on to something. There should be a different category. Because at the end of the day, fire management is part of the process of making good BBQ. If electronics are doing that for you, you're not competing on an even playing field.

I do feel these gadgets and gizmos have there place, especially if your are catering or doing backyard cooking, but if the goal of a competition is to see who can make the best BBQ, and fire control is part of making BBQ, we all should be on a level playing field.
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Exactly Right!!! If there were tougher requirements as to what kind of "tools" you could use in competition, then you would see some of the winning teams out there suddenly become pretty average. I remember in season 1 of Pitmasters Leann Whippin and Woodchicks BBQ was competing and Leann was horrified to find that a Guru fan wouldn't work on one of her Eggs! Well instead of sucking it up and running the cooker manually, she got on the phone and woke up her Guru rep. during the wee hours of the morning to come out and fix the problem, (which turned out to be a loose connection) so that she could continue! In another episode Leann was using a big electric rotisserie cooker and when the maintenance guys had to cut the power to do a repair on a transformer or something Leann freaked out because her rotisserie would stop turning! I'm not attacking Leann but competitors in general who rely on their gadgets and electric toys to cook for them, it's as if they aren't even capable of cooking without mechanical help! So let's just take away the use of all of the electric machinery and then we'll see who's left standing at the end of the day! It might be surprising!!!:wink:
 
How I would've handled it.

"Honey that is a great question to which I do not know the answer, how about a couple red beers with lime and a tad of olive juice while we ponder?"


Wives, lives and questions go better with beer.
 
Ron makes some really good points. Another thing I would like to mention is regional cooking traditions. We all come from various regions and the choice of cooker often has ties to those influences. We have all kinds of brethren here. Some were taught by close friends or relatives and carry on some old school traditions. Others here are self taught and use many sources of information from all over the place to learn how to cook. I am a died in the wool, Weber kettle/ WSM cook. The reason for this I think, is that I am from the upper Midwest and I grew up seeing kettles all over the place. I learned to cook on what was around and when I had something outstanding at a party as a young man, I would ask questions and try to figure out how the cook did what they did. For instance I remember a guy who would smoke turkeys with a peanut oil injection on Weber kettles in the late 70's. That was some pretty cutting edge stuff at the time. I asked all kinds of questions and figured it out. I still very fondly remember his birds as some of the best stuff to ever come off a cooker. I have heard many great stories about Southern traditions like brick pits and whole hog cooks from Brethren on this site. There are also folks who learned to cook with totally modern/ internet related sources because they wanted to make good ribs or something but had no experience in their youth. They are free agents who aren't tied to BBQ history and might try anything to cook well. This is not a bad thing. We all have different starting points and influences.

I think the competition stuff veers from the roots of BBQ because it is a modern competition. Lance Armstrong was mentioned earlier. Would a modern bikerider have a chance in a race with an old Schwinn? Would they have a chance without legal/illegal supplements? Any competition with equipment is going to have boundaries and rules pushed to the limit and sometimes crossed. That being said, It would be cool to see a comp with 20 teams and 20 stock cookers without gadgets.
 
oldbill said:
Exactly Right!!! If there were tougher requirements as to what kind of "tools" you could use in competition, then you would see some of the winning teams out there suddenly become pretty average. I remember in season 1 of Pitmasters Leann Whippin and Woodchicks BBQ was competing and Leann was horrified to find that a Guru fan wouldn't work on one of her Eggs! Well instead of sucking it up and running the cooker manually, she got on the phone and woke up her Guru rep. during the wee hours of the morning to come out and fix the problem, (which turned out to be a loose connection) so that she could continue! In another episode Leann was using a big electric rotisserie cooker and when the maintenance guys had to cut the power to do a repair on a transformer or something Leann freaked out because her rotisserie would stop turning! I'm not attacking Leann but competitors in general who rely on their gadgets and electric toys to cook for them, it's as if they aren't even capable of cooking without mechanical help! So let's just take away the use of all of the electric machinery and then we'll see who's left standing at the end of the day! It might be surprising!!!:wink:
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Yeah, but Leann sure is easy on the eyes....:thumb:
 
Well here's my 2 cents... I had a choice to go with the stick burner or gravity fed smoker... decided to go with the stick burner because I wanted to learn to manage a fire for long periods of time and I got a great deal on a Lang 60 deluxe!! Now if I was going to do competition bbq I would go with the gravity fed smoker because there are lots more things to do then just watch the fire. I have learned a lot about bbq and managing a fire using a stick burner throughout the year. I have learned a lot about weather and bbq and it's been challenging and fun at the same time. So I don't think one style smoker is better than another I think it all matters on personal prefenece. :blah:
 
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