How many of you practice

C

cottonquick

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
4
Points
0
Location
Fork, MS
I've been cooking with a group for several years now. We don't make a ton of events, maybe 10 a year. I hear about a lot of teams that practice between events and throughout the year. Since we never practice, I was wondering if we were the norm, or the exception to the rule?
 
Every time I cook in the back yard, I consider it practice. I pay attention to look, feel, flavors, tenderness, temp/timing, etc.

My team actually gets together 1 or 2 times a year outside of competitions to either compete internally, (where we'll all cook our version of a meat and ask the neighbors to judge) or occasionally we'll get together for a party or something and cook/use it as practice. The internal comps we have, then set who's recipe we're going to use at the next competition. Keeps us working hard, always trying to one-up each other. Hopefully it'll make us better competitors as well.
 
As gig said I try something new every time I cook. Not always a full fledged practice but keep trying different combinations of flavors and doneness.
 
We practice, but not as much as I think we should.

But, that being said, we are doing a full blown practice tomorrow and Saturday adhering to turn in times, boxes, the whole enchilada.

Everything will probably be great; then when comp time rolls around at Salisbury, I'll suddenly have a momentary lapse of reason. :oops:

wallace
 
It can be hard to practice with as much time as BBQ takes up, but I try and practice as much as I can. During the season it is mostly practicing/tweaking on meats that aren't working/doing well. So last year we practiced chicken and brisket a lot :becky:. If something is doing well it can be hard to make changes, but even on those categories repitition is worthwhile.

I remember last year at a backyard MBN event we actually practiced brisket for an upcoming KCBS. And I've practiced chicken at a KCBS event on the Friday we arrived to hone it in for Saturday.

Was there a reason to your question other than just wanting to see how much teams practice in general? Like do you think you need more practice and aren't doing well at the contests?
 
Not too long ago somebody asked me how often we practiced. When I said never, they seemed pretty shocked about it, so I was curious to see how other teams do it. For example, our last event of 2012 was in Oct. I don't think we even fired up the cookers until March of this year.
 
cottonquick said:
Not too long ago somebody asked me how often we practiced. When I said never, they seemed pretty shocked about it, so I was curious to see how other teams do it. For example, our last event of 2012 was in Oct. I don't think we even fired up the cookers until March of this year.
Click to expand...

Yeah not everyone is into it as much as others in terms of feeling compelled to practice all the time. Some people have different goals. Some folks just want to go out and hang with their buddies/families and have a fun weekend. Some folks want to win every single time and practice a lot. So when they hear someone doesn't practice they can be shocked.
 
A "wise" person once said, "Master one entry first". Then practice on the others.

I need to remember that..........

wallace
 
I practice more with some meats than I do with others. Chicken is a whole lot cheaper than a brisket so thats what I have been practicing.
 
We are doing 6 or 8 racks of loin backs Saturday. Having a party, but it will be three different recipes and let our guests vote. Did chicken and ribs last weekend, pretty much cooking something every free weekend for practice.

I never just try to duplicate something I've done before. For the big meats, I go by memory and decide if I like the new seasoning/method better. For ribs and chicken I always cook the current comp recipe along with 1 or more different methods.
 
the best way to practice IMO is to make every backyard cook a practice...paying attention to time, temp, and tenderness.....I think that's the best way to practice.....its just to hard to get the whole team together and hang out for 12 hours cooking
 
I practice with ribs and chicken every time I cook. That being said its more about getting my time down verses my flavor profile. But I do a full out comp practice about every 1 1/2 mth.
 
yeah, practice means cooking just like you would in a contest.

Practicing isnt testing out a new rub or having a party. Practice is just like a competition.

Tooling around the neighborhood on your kids huffy is not going to get you ready for the tour de france.
 
A guy at work told me once "If you're not cooking this weekend, the guy who'll kick your a$$ is!!.. "... Heck, I cook everything as if it were a contest. I can have the entire dinner cooked and ready at the same time.. Time management can always be practiced..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Mystery Meat Ideas
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
BackYardRob
BackYardRob
ModelMaker
End of an era (I guess)
Replies
15
Views
926
halfcocked
halfcocked
J
My Annual Deer Grind.......
Replies
18
Views
648
SmokeOCD
S
R
Where do we go from here!
Replies
7
Views
793
Bourbon Barrel BBQ
Bourbon Barrel BBQ
Hotch
2023 Texas HS BBQ State Competition May 5th
Replies
7
Views
617
CivilTrojan
C
Back
Top