Restaurants and smoke flavor.

Wow that is surprising.
Sorry you couldn't find any good q.
You'll just have to keep making your own! Darn!

Interesting to hear. Did you try any turkey from Big Bob's? I remember Ray Lampe raving about it. Real surprised about Big Bob Gibsons, because of the old style pits I see in their book.

I seriously always wondered about comp vs good eating, and whether or not trophies do transfer (was going to make a thread about it). I hear big name competitors saying "this is a good eating rib, but not a comp rib". I tried a comp rib prep once (brown sugar, parkay, etc) and after the first bite, it was kind of gross, because it wasn't meant for more than a bite or two. I sometimes wonder how a Myron Mixon brisket would do in a restaurant and how an Aaron Franklin one would do in a comp. Can either pitmaster make the necessary changes if they wanted to = a.k.a do skills in a comp, translate to skills in a restaurant and vice versa

LIke I always say Comp BBQ aint Eatin BBQ all them trophies don't mean Doodly sqaut. KCBS should just go the fark away their so called standards are BS. It's funny because on the Meat & Mouth show old Myron &Moe where complaining about all the injections Phosphates being the only flavor the winner didn't inject and the same deal again at the 2015 Bluesack invitational non injected S&P brisket was the winner Cooked by NYC chefs Hmmm .... Blu don't eat BBQ out!!! WHY you ask, well I can't see paying a kings ransome for something I can cook better for much less.

Interesting question, Tony. I've only been to one competition and had the good luck to be able to try several competitors' ribs. I did notice that they all had strong and varying flavors, but that they might be a bit much for a meal. A guy who calls himself Mountain William was my favorite. He's on the internet if anyone cares to look. Heck, he may well be on here.

What else was interesting was the 20 pulled porks that made up the judging. There wasn't a dime's worth of difference between them.

I've done comps and I also sell at a farmer's market. For the first comp I ever did, I entered my farmer's market ribs...the style I sell. Needless to say I got crushed in that category. The following year, I really tuned up my rub, sauce, etc....and made them like the other competitors...sweet, a little sauce and glaze, etc. My score went up dramatically.

My point is I would feel soooo sick if I had to eat more that a couple bites of those comp ribs....or would at least need a ton of insulin due to all the sweetness. Comp cooking...at least in my opinion....is something I would never consider selling.

Bludawg said:

LIke I always say Comp BBQ aint Eatin BBQ all them trophies don't mean Doodly sqaut. KCBS should just go the fark away their so called standards are BS. It's funny because on the Meat & Mouth show old Myron &Moe where complaining about all the injections Phosphates being the only flavor the winner didn't inject and the same deal again at the 2015 Bluesack invitational non injected S&P brisket was the winner Cooked by NYC chefs Hmmm .... Blu don't eat BBQ out!!! WHY you ask, well I can't see paying a kings ransome for something I can cook better for much less.

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I don't think I could have said that any better.:thumb:

Beentown said:

I don't eat anyone's "Q" around here but my own anymore. Thought I would give the big names a try. City BBQ here was better than Big Bobs.

Everyone had horrible brisket. Just terrible. Only fit to sauce and make sandwiches.

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That is so disappointing, bummer!

I will say that as a general rule of thumb, I don't think any BBQ restaurant makes better 'Q than what I (and I'm sure many of us on the boards) can produce at home. Largely I think that's just because it's difficult to produce high quality BBQ in restaurant quantities and keep it high quality throughout service time.

I will say I've always been quite pleased when I've hit BBQ places on road trips. Never made it to any of the ones you mentioned, but I've been to Allen & Sons (among others) in NC. I really love the NC style of BBQ, and I've yet to be disappointed when I've stopped at a highly regarded place down there.

Of course I'm not eating chicken, ribs, or brisket down there which are all probably a little trickier to put out than NC style chopped/pulled pork BBQ.

As for local options (being in NWO), City BBQ is edible. I think the sides are vastly better than the actual BBQ, but it is good enough to satisfy a fix without committing the time to producing my own. There's a small place in Maumee called Deets that catered my wedding and I think has better 'Q than City, so that's where we usually end up if we're going out for BBQ.

Yep, I'm almost always disappointed when I have gone out for BBQ. The few comps I did, I tuned in some good Q, only to learn about the comp style later! That's why I don't do that anymore. I did do well with sauce though, go figure.

I'd venture to say that most brethren on here can cook better Q than what is served in restaurants because we're not cooking mass amounts at a time. We are able to pay more attention to detail and do not have a hundred people sitting in the dining area waiting on their order. I know some guys that own Q restaurants who simply cannot transfer their backyard Q to their restaurants and they admit this. They say it is an entirely different animal when you're cooking fifty butts, or 100 slabs of ribs at one time compared to five or six on a backyard pit.

I have done 3 comps. First 2 comps we did the different commercial rubs, sauces, injections, etc and finished top 1/3 of the pack, with 1 call with a 10th place brisket at one contest.

3rd contest I tried cooking just like I cook at home. I brined the chicken thighs (I always brine my chicken if I planned on cooking chicken the day before). The brisket was a salt and pepper brisket, used my own rub on the ribs, pork butt, and chicken. I used my own home made finishing sauce on the pork and also the red sauce I serve on the side. I finished in the top half of the field. I felt that this was probably the best overall cook I had, and I got hammered on taste. There is a huge difference in competition bbq vs everyday eatin bbq.

Bamabuzzard said:

I'd venture to say that most brethren on here can cook better Q than what is served in restaurants because we're not cooking mass amounts at a time. We are able to pay more attention to detail and do not have a hundred people sitting in the dining area waiting on their order. I know some guys that own Q restaurants who simply cannot transfer their backyard Q to their restaurants and they admit this. They say it is an entirely different animal when you're cooking fifty butts, or 100 slabs of ribs at one time compared to five or six on a backyard pit.

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This is 100% correct. When tending to that amount of meat vs a few briskets or a few pork butts, it becomes really tough to keep quality control up. Not to mention the ability to hold meats is important, and most people can't hold that much meat and keep it moist and tender.

For all intents and purposes (few exceptions) Comp/restaurant type of bbq will NEVER be up to the standards of many on this board.

Over done, too saucy, too much faux flavors

Bamabuzzard said:

I'd venture to say that most brethren on here can cook better Q than what is served in restaurants because we're not cooking mass amounts at a time. We are able to pay more attention to detail and do not have a hundred people sitting in the dining area waiting on their order. I know some guys that own Q restaurants who simply cannot transfer their backyard Q to their restaurants and they admit this. They say it is an entirely different animal when you're cooking fifty butts, or 100 slabs of ribs at one time compared to five or six on a backyard pit.

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aawa said:

This is 100% correct. When tending to that amount of meat vs a few briskets or a few pork butts, it becomes really tough to keep quality control up. Not to mention the ability to hold meats is important, and most people can't hold that much meat and keep it moist and tender.

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Yep, the big Q joints that really stand apart from the rest have simply gotten more consistency with the quality of their products than others, they're just better organized and have a better trained staff to make everything run right.
One thing that comes to mind as far as smoke flavor however is that many of the bigger, fancier places out there (especially the chain restaurants) are using big electric, rotisserie style pits that are really geared for cranking out large quantities of food more than applying flavor. Many of those contraptions use very little wood while the wood burning pits that are used by guys like Aaron Franklin are not the norm.:wink:

I've found that BBQ joints can be hit or miss, but I still enjoy visiting some of the more well known ones, or the smaller unknown ones. I do shy away from the franchise ones. I know a guy that competes, owns a Q restaurant, caters Q, and barbecues at home. He summed it up for me 6 or 8 years ago like this "There are 3 kinds of barbecue: competition, restaurant, and backyard".

He went on to say that competition barbecue has some rules and an expected tenderness and flavor, the flavor is more intense as judges only give it one or two bites. Restaurant barbecue (for the most part) is designed to make profit by giving the average customer average to above average barbecue, and is usually sauced because the majority of customers like sauce, and sauce can hide bland flavors or dryness. Backyard barbecue is something cooks can put their heart and soul into, and often don't cut any corners... plus, the atmosphere is laid back and you are generally eating at the same table as the cook. He stressed the fact that a backyard cook needs to be flexible enough to make changes to please the guests. For example if some folks want fall-off-the-bone ribs, by all means cook a rack or two just for them. Or if people want sauce, have some at the table.

Really interesting thread. I spent too much time in the restaurant business and have no interest in competition BBQ, so it's nice to read opinions from others.

It is interesting to note that comp judging and Michelin ratings both have their own systems that can be manipulated.

I tend to get BBQ from places that can do something I can't do on my own. An example is Chicago rib tips. I don't have an aquarium smoker that produces a certain level of bark that I can completely replicate on my equipment.

I also avoid the big chains and for the most part many local BBQ joints that pretend to offer non-regional Q. I always thought Chicago had pretty mediocre BBQ outside the south side and west side joints, but after reading this thread it seems like this is the norm for most places.

I completely concur that a decent backyard guy can put out food that is way better than most BBQ places. It's not to say that he can cook better than the owner, but with mass produced stuff, they're buying by the case rather than finding the good cut in the case. They're cooking with timers in big batches rather by feel in small. And they're doing so in a business with the slimmest of profit margins. They can't toss a brisket because it's a bit dry.

I was in Austin recently and should have gone to Franklins to see how he keeps it real. Sad thing is my company decided to close that office just after my trip so there's a good chance I'll never be in Austin again.....

i drove miles out of the way to a famous bbq joint in NC just to taste REAL bbq a few years ago, (not saying names) and i asked them where the pits were. they just kind of laughed and said "oh we don't use those things no more. everything is gas now."! this was the beginning of what i call the "myth if southern bbq" as being some unatainable utopian bbq perfection only found in the "real joints" in the south. since that time i have been through all the southern states on the east coast, stopping at various bbq joints near and far from I-95 and have found the results to be dismal. i'm not a bbq elitist or a bbq snob but i found chopped pork with no bark in bus tubs visited by flys in one place (in fact i almost never found any bark in any places i have been). one time i had to throw a sandwich away because when i unwrapped it it stunk the car out with the smell of tuna fish. i have found luke warm pork in buffet tables that actually had a crust form over it, and one place in Georgia that just doused their Q in yellow mustard, not mustard sauce. one guy who gave me some Q was so dirty that the dirt from his hands was dripping down my cup when he handed it to me. in fact i only found one place, in Georgia, with real pits and real pit cooked bbq, pulled and chopped fresh to order. it was great and we waited all year to go there again but when we returned things had changed and again we had to compete with flys to eat our luke warm ribs.