What are the big differences between US competition BBQ and what we might cook at home?
The biggest difference between US competition BBQ and what the average person may BBQ at home in the UK is the size and cuts of meat, and the flavour profile.
US competition BBQ focuses on chicken, pork ribs, pork and brisket. The last 3 are certainly big, gnarly, tough cuts of meat that require a much lower temperature than we typically think of BBQ being here in the UK. They use rubs and sauces, which can be indicative of where in the US you are from; and the meat gets cooked for hours!
While we have pockets of BBQ devotees in the UK, I still see a lot of weekend grillers but the trend for backyard cooking is rising extremely fast!
Did you pick up any competition tips you'd like to share?
As a judge you aren’t unfortunately allowed to fraternise with teams until judging is finished, so this made it hard to pick up any tips from them.
I was fortunate to be hosted on the trip by Jim and Becky Johnson of the KCBS IO Team and we did some cooking at their home in Indiana before and after The Jack.
The biggest thing that stood out for me was getting to know first-hand how to cook burnt ends properly.
These have eluded me for many years and they are far too tasty not to know how to cook. The process is a little too long for this answer but there will be a recipe on my website in the New Year, I promise!
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