"Original" BBQ Rub

This award winning barbecue seasoning compliments anything barbecued. I have used this seasoning in competition with excellent results. This recipe is my own custom formulations that I use in KCBS and FBA bbq competitions.

The rub is available in 13 oz. shaker bottles for $7.00 (plus cost of shipping). Quantity discounts are available. Contact me to order bbq rub.

I am in search of distributors for my bbq products. It's the perfect opportunity for a competition barbecue team to earn extra income at contests selling our unique bbq spice rubs and sauces. If you would like to represent my unique line of products, please contact The BBQ Guy. Ask about special quantity discounts and how to qualify for free shipping. Wholesale inquiries are welcome.

Apple iPod Shuffle, 512Mb

I got a new gadget today that will be perfect for bbq contests: an Apple iPod.

I guess I'm moving into the technological age.

As I write this post I'm listening to some Johnny Cash songs I downloaded from iTunes on my iPod Shuffle I purchased at Sam's Club.

The Shuffle is the 512Mb iPod that holds 120 songs, has rechargeable batteries and an advertised 12-hour play time.

I'm listening to Johnny Cash songs that I downloaded:

Ring of Fire
Hurt
Folsom Prison Blues
I've Been Everywhere
I Walk the Line

Speaking of Johnny Cash, if you haven't seen Walk the Line, the multi-award winning and Oscar nominated movie documenting the life of Johnny and June Cash starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, I highly recommend you take a couple of hours and watch it.

Better BBQ Series: Day 6

At this point in the series we've talked about goals, motivations, cookers, butchers, meats, and rubs.

The time has come to discuss bbq sauces.

The popular styles of making BBQ include Memphis-style (using a tomato based sweet sauce), Kansas City-style (thick and sweet tomato based sauce), Texas-style (spicy tomato based sauce) and North Carolina-style (vinegar with either pepper or catsup).

Of course there are many variations of all of the above.

I like mustard-type sauces that appear to be popular in South Carolina, but I've noticed they are not prevalent in many other areas.

For contests, it's been my experience that a sweet sauce will consistently outperform a sauce that has a little kick to it. Also, in cooking for friends, family, co-workers and clients, I've noticed that the closer to mainstream you stay with your bbq, the better it's received.

If the sauce is too spicy, you risk alienating folks that prefer sweet sauces; if it's too sweet, you risk alienating those that prefer spicy and on and on. A sweet sauce that is a little tangy versus very spicy (i.e. hot) seems to be a pretty good choice.

One option is to take your favorite sauce and tweak it a little bit by adding some brown sugar, honey, molasses, vinegar, or a combination of the above.

For starters you might want to experiment with K.C. Masterpiece or Kraft and add honey in various amounts until you reach a flavor and consistency that you like. You can do some "informal" taste tests with friends to help you gauge the appeal of your particular ratios of sweet versus hot versus tangy.

Or, you can choose from a variety of sauces sold by any number of bbq competitors and use them straight from the bottle if that fits the bill.

I've included a basic sauce recipe you can experiment with.

Basic BBQ Sauce

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 1/2 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Here's some more information about bbq sauces found on the South Carolina Barbeque Association web site: South Carolina BBQ History

It's a pro-mustard bbq sauce article, but it will give you an idea about how passionate folks can be about their bbq sauce.

Click here to read the previous article in the series
BBQ

Michigan State BBQ Association

There's been some talk on the BBQ Forum this week about forming a Michigan State BBQ Association or a Great Lakes BBQ Association.

I think it's a great idea. It seems to be in the initial stages of discussion and exploration to gauge the level of interest, but there are a lot of barbecuers here in Michigan that I'm sure will support a barbecue association, if this comes to fruition.

If you're interested in the formation of a barbecue association in Michigan, check out the posts on the BBQ Forum, or shoot me an e-mail and I'll pass your inquiry along to the folks trying to get it organized.

How to Make a BBQ Rub - Better BBQ Series, Day 5

One of the first things to learn about when you're ready to take the next step and get serious about improving your bbq results, is how various spice flavors interact with one another. Some meats taste better with more salt than others--pork for example. Some meats taste better with a little more heat in the rub than others--brisket or even chicken other examples. However, in the final analysis, what's good to you might not be good to someone else. If cooking for others, it's best to stick to middle-of-the-road flavors rather than veering too far in any one direction.

There are plenty of commercial bbq rubs on the market. It's fun to experiment with them and try out different flavors and styles of rubs. Some are hot, some are sweet, some are salty and some have a near perfect blend of heat, sweat and salt; but, the best way to learn what tastes good to you is by learning to make your own bbq rub.

Making your own rub will teach you more about flavors and "blends" of flavors than buying someone else's idea of what they think tastes good. You may end up going back to the commercial rub eventually, but by experimenting with your own rub too, you'll learn what to look for in a commercial rub.

Let's begin be defining a bbq rub....

BBQ Rub = Mixture of spices that are combined are sprinkled or "rubbed" onto the meat before cooking. This could be a mixture as simple as equal parts of salt and pepper, or it could be something as complicated as a mixture of 10 -12 difference spices with subtle differences.

Here's a good basic rub that you can use to get started. After using it a few times you may find that you'd prefer a little more pepper, a little more sugar, or something else added, but this will give you a good base to start out.

Basic BBQ Rub Recipe

3 tablespoons of sea salt
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
3 tablespoons of mild paprika
1 teaspoon of granulated garlic
1 teaspoon of granulated onion
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of white pepper

Basic BBQ Rub # 2

1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup ground black pepper
1/3 cup salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne

Some other optional items you may to experiment with by adding to or subtracting from this recipe from time to time include: nutmeg, oregano, cummin, cayenne pepper, chipotle powder.

I've found that cummin goes well with pork and oregano goes well with beef.

Apply this rub to the meat you're preparing to bbq and let it marinade in the refrigerator for 8 hours or more (overnight works well) prior to cooking. This will allow the rub to penetrate the meat better than if you apply it directly before placing in the smoker.

In my opinion, it's better if the rub is a little on the hot side when you mix it up because after cooking, rubs tend to lose a little of their heat, especially if you use foil during the cooking process.

Happy experimenting!

Clinton Riverboat Days KCBS BBQ Contest

The Riverboat Days festival in Clinton, Iowa scheduled for June 30 - July 4, is home to the "Smokin on the River" KCBS sanctioned bbq cook-off.

Contestants will compete for $10,000 in prizes. The team that accumulates the most total points in the four professional categories--chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder (or butt), and brisket--are eligible for the overall grand champion awards.

For more information, visit the Riverboat Days web site.

Directions

BBQ Contest Proposal -- Claims Cook-offs

The cost of competing in bbq competitions is on the rise. Meat prices, gasoline prices, steel prices, entry fees for some bbq contests are rising, while "real" wages and income for competitors is decreasing.

Some contests that don't offer electricity or running water for competitors charge the same entry fees as contests that supply them for no additonal charge. Some contests charge the same entry fee to compete, but pay out less total prize money to winners than some others and still other contests charge higher fees and pay out less total prize money and to fewer competitors.

As a friend of mine used to say, "It is what it is." Granted, as bbq competitors we're probably lucky that organizers are still willing to organize bbq contests at all because it's likely that expenses for the organizers are also rising.

That has given me an idea for a way to reduce costs for competitors and add a little something "extra" to the bbq contest experience.

What if contest sanctioning bodies and organizers changed things a little bit and added a new feature to the mix--allow the cookers, grills, smokers, etc. use by the winning competitors to be "claimed" by any competitor that does not finish in the top 5 in the overall results.

In this manner, the overall expense for competitors would gradually decrease. This idea harkens back to "grass roots" auto racing, as many track owners and sactioning bodies allow losers to "claim" the winner's motor and sometimes even their entire car for say, $2,500-$3,000. This keeps cost down for everyone because the most you would want to spend is about $2,500 - $3,000 because if you win, you run the risk of losing your investment.

The bbq contest organizer or sanctioning body could allow the losers to purchase the cooker used by the winning team for a set fee, for example, $1,000. Over a period of time, this would bring costs for everyone down. New competition teams would not feel the pressure to constantly upgrade their equipment to "keep up with the bbq Joneses'" so to speak.

I'm not advocating making an across the board change for all bbq sanctioning bodies, but I do think it would be interesting to add this to the rules for a few contests here and there. Maybe it could be incorporated into the rules for the Backyard Division for starters.

Who knows, with a little luck maybe bbq will someday have it's own version of the popular SpeedTV program-- Pinks!

Another article about bbq contests

Peace, Love and Barbecue

Swamp Boys BBQ

Here's a picture of my friend Rob Bagby's Stumps CM-234 upright barbecue smoker.

Rob, who is affectionately known as "Rub" to his friends on the barbecue contest circuit and on various bbq forums and discussions boards, has a web site that details his barbecue efforts and it contains a large collection of bbq contest banners from professional barbecue competitors from all over the country.

Here's a nice offset bbq pit that Rub built and cooked on in route to winning the Backyard division at the Tiger Town 8th Annual Lakeland Pig Fest bbq contest in Lakeland, FL in Jan. 2004. This fine looking 5 foot cooker was built on a sailboat trailer. The trailer has plenty of wood storage underneath and a cage for hauling miscellaneous supplies on the front end.

Here's another offset smoker that Rub helped build from the ground up. This smoker measures 10 feet and was used primarily for fundraising efforts. The cooker will cook 32 pork butts at the same time and has been sold to a lucky new owner.

Pig on the Pond - FBA BBQ Contest

This weekend's Pig on the Pond bbq contest in Clermont, FL, should once again prove to be one of the best and most highly attended bbq contests in the State of Florida. No matter what sanctioning body you consider, this event is quickly becoming one of barbecue's "best".

For those who live in Florida, here's a map to event.

I competed in the event a couple years ago and it's one of the best bbq contests I've ever attended. The organizer paid through 7th place instead of the publicized 5th place in each category, because she had collected extra money towards prizes. This is unusual for a bbq contest, and most assuredly is one of the big reasons this contest is supported so well by competitors.

Other contest organizers could learn a lot by visiting this contest, or by talking to the organizer, Cheryl Fishel, to share ideas.

BBQ Food Safety - Day 4, Better BBQ Series

If you've been reading my series of articles titled "31-Days to Better BBQ", by now you've probably spent some time thinking about what type of bbq cooker/smoker that suits your personality, goals and budget. Before we start getting into the meat of the "how-to" parts of cooking bbq, I think it will be worthwhile to review some basic food safety guidelines.

The link above provides some basic guidelines published by the FDA that should help you understand the basics of food safety. There are too many positive things encompassing the overall bbq experience to allow something as preventable as illness resulting from the lack of food safety precautions to "rain on your parade". Please take a few minutes and become familar with the guidelines. Your guests will thank you for it.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Keep food chilled below 40 degrees in the refrigerator or in an ice cooler prior to cooking.
• Chill cooked food (leftovers) back down to 40 degrees ASAP.
• Do not let food sit out unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours.
• If marinading meat prior to cooking, do it in the refrigerator.
• When thawing meat, it's best done in the refrigerator (thawing at room temperature increases risk and is not advised).

Read the previous article in the series.

Barbecue Test Kitchen - Spare Ribs

Today, I'm conducting a taste-test for a variety of spice rubs that are used on pork ribs. From left to right: Smoking Guns BBQ Rub "Mild", The BBQ Guy's "Original" Rub, Willingham's World Championship "Original Mild", and Blues Hog "Dry Rub" Seasoning.

I've tried them all individually from time-to-time, but I've never conducted a comprehensive test and tested them side-by-side....until today.

I'll be using them just as I would use them in competition...liberally. And to make this test as "scientific" as possible, I'm cooking a fifth rack seasoned generically with plain old garlic powder, onion powder and a liberal coating of brown sugar. This rack will serve as my "control" for the experiment.

In the interest of fairness, I'm also going to use the same barbecue sauce on all the ribs so I can better gauge the pro's and con's of the actual rub. I'm cooking them in my Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) and using Royal Oak lump charcoal.

Here's a few pictures of the prepartion process.


St. Louis-style pork spare rib with cut, trimmed and ready for seasoning (front side).

St. Louis-style pork spare rib with back-flap and membrane removed (back side).

Seasoned with Blues Hog "Dry Rub" this rack of ribs is ready to be placed back in the referigerator to marinade for several hours prior to cooking.

Some folks I know allow their ribs to set out at room temperature for an hour or so before placing back in the referigerator. The theory is that the pores of the meat "open" a little more and allow the seasoning to penetrate deeper into the meat. Although this may occur, I still prefer to keep the meat refrigerated until just prior to cooking in the interest of food safety. I think it's best to maintain meat temperature at or below 40 degrees as the health department advises.

Here's what I ended up with 6 hours later. I separate each type of rib into it's own stack and labeled them so we could compare the pro's and con's of each type. Guess what we determined? They're all good!

I actually liked Blues Hog and The BBQ Guy spice rub the best, but the Willingham's was good too. The Smokin' Guns was a touch too salty for my personal tastes, but was pretty good.

Read about last week's cook--Beef Brisket

BBQ Contest Alternatives

I have an idea for a bbq contest where the competitors cook meat that is provided by the contest organizer instead of bringing their own. The price of the meat would be included in the registration fee for the contest. Buying the meat from wholesalers would help keep costs low for the competitors and would also help to level the playing field for the competitors.

If everyone were using the same type and quality of meat (whether high or low quality), it would offer a more balanced approach to the competition. The contest results would be focused more upon who the good cook's really are versus who has a better source for meat and who is willing or able to spend a lot of extra money for the best chicken, beef, and pork.

In this manner all competitors would come to the event with empty coolers. This would allow the bbq contest organizers to do a more thorough job of inspecting the coolers and would thwart attempts to circumvent the rules. Under the current system, all of the coolers in a cook team's contest site are not always inspected and there is opportunity for the unscrupulous to bring "extra" meat that might not comply with the spirit of the rules.

Competitors would draw #'s for their meat and it could be distributed at the cook team's meeting. Meat preparation would be conducted in plain view and not behind closed doors of an RV, camper or cook team trailer. In this manner, the meat preparation would take place following the cook's meeting and the contests reps ability to police the preparation would improve. This would also add an extra element of intrigue for spectators. Since the meat preparation would be happening concurrently, spectators would be better able to see what's going on.

Another idea for consideration....

Put the competitors in a centralized area with a controlled entry and exit point. Bring the competitors and cooking equipment into the centralized cooking area and any coolers, cookers, boxes, etc. coming in or out of the area would be subject to inspection.

Zoo B Que - KCBS Barbecue Contest

I ran across an article today announcing the Zoo B Que barbecue cook-off sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society being held at a most unusual location in Racine, WI--the Racine Zoo. Contestants in the professional categories will be competing for $13,000 in prize money.

Scheduled for July 29, the entry fee is $200 which includes entry into all of the traditional KCBS meat categories: chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder or butt, and brisket. To register for the event, or to obtain more information, contact Marsha at Lakeshorestudio@sbcglobal.net, or the Racine Zoo at (262) 636-9273, or via e-mail at skratochvil@racinezoo.org

It sounds like a good time. TheBBQGuy.com Cooking Team might have to make room for this contest on our planned events this year.

BBQ Books - Day 3, Better BBQ Series

If it's too cold outside to cook, it's the perfect opportunity to study up on some new ideas that will help you hit the ground running once the weather turns.

Barbecue books are an excellent source of ideas for barbecue recipes, smoking techiniques, bbq sauces, bbq spice rubs, as well as some interesting bbq history information.

Reading books about bbq allow you to learn from others mistakes and leverage their insight and experience to help reduce your learning curve. All of the books discussed below have valuable nuggets of wisdom. The authors have more than 100-years of cumulative bbq experience between them.

Here's a list of some of my favorites:

John Willingham's World Championship Bar-B-Q

I received John Willingham's book as a gift and have read it cover to cover. It's packed full of bbq secrets from the greatest bbq contest cook to ever put on an apron. Willingham details basic cooking methods including what wood to use and what wood not to use, temperatures to cook at, and he provides his personal recipes. I especially like the rib recipe and his recipe for pork shoulder. These recipes can be used as written, or you can tweak them slightly to suit your personal taste. The recipes alone would be worth the price of the book.

Willingham is a bbq restauranteur, author, inventor and historian. His innovative "Turbo Cooker" has won many barbecue awards.

Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook

The book contains a lot of common sense barbecue information that enthusiasts and those new to low and slow cooking can use to improve their barbecue ability. There are tons of recipes and a lot of nice stories and other tid bits to keep your interest. Mr. Lampe's results on the professional barbecue circuit speak for themselves.

Visit Dr. BBQ's home on the world wide web.

Slow Smoked Success

Lee Bentch takes the reader through his process from novice to expert on his quest to learn to cook mouth watering bbq and shares his experiences. He is a knowledgeable bbq cook with an entertaining wit. Lee's experience in the corporate world helps relate bbq to business and offers cautionary insight for wannabe bbq restauranteurs. Whether you are a back yard chef, or you make a living cooking for others, this book is worth reading. It will make you laugh, it will make you think, but most of all, it will remind you some things about bbq you may have forgotten.

Learn more about the author, Lee Bentch.


These others are on my list to read soon:

Ribstars Backyard Smoking and BBQ Cookbook
Dr. BBQ's Barbecue All Year Long Cookbook
Where There's Smoke There's Flavor
Backyard BBQ

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Read the previous article in the series.

Better BBQ - Day 2

This is the second installment in a series of articles titled, "31-Days to Better BBQ".

As you embark on your own personal barbecue journey, it will pay huge dividends if you take 30-minutes and ponder on your short, medium and long-term goals for your bbq effort. Making a few mental notes, or better yet writing them down, will serve you well in your quest.

Why are goals important?

Goals are kind of like a road map. They will serve as your own personal compass and road atlas to help you navigate your way throught the highs and lows of your journey. Setting some goals will help you identify and quantify your level of commitment, both personal and financial, to your bbq endeavors. Just like in life, there is no free lunch in bbq either.

Here's some quick thought starters to help get you going....

1) Do you want to learn to cook bbq for your own personal enjoyment and for family and friends, or are your goals oriented more toward the personal chef, catering for small and large groups, or do you think you want to become a a restaurant owner/operator?

2) Have you seen a bbq program featured on the Food Network, thought it was interesting and want to try to create your own pulled pork, slow-smoked brisket, or chicken so moist it almost melts in your mouth?

3) Will this be a weekend endeavor, or a full-time occupation?

4) Are you exploring the idea of competing in bbq contests, or will this be a backyard hobby?

5) Do you have experience cooking bbq already?

6) Are you ready to take your efforts to the next level?

Learning to cook good bbq requires devotion, practice, and a reasonable level of commitment...in varying degrees. Depending on your answers above, some professional training may be in order.

For example, if you want to turn bbq into a business, your first order of business should be a visit with the local health department office, or at the very least a phone call and quick perusal of their web site if your county offices provide this information online.

If your interests are focused on competing, your considerations should include time spent talking to others who compete, talking to judges, or becoming a member of a bbq association. Volunteering to assist another experienced team for a few contests is also a worthwhile possibility to consider.

Once you've identified some of these things, you will be better prepared to proceed with the wonderful world of barbecue. You can skip this step, but if your serious, I urge you to spend some time weighing these questions and forumlating your own answers before you invest a lot of time and money into barbecue. In this way you'll spend your energy more effectively and you won't be dissapointed later.

As another example, after you've invested heavily in equipment to start your new catering business, it would be disheartening to find out from the health department that you must operate from a "certified" or "commercial" kitchen, which may or may not be cost prohibitive.

And yet another example, imagine how you'd feel after you purchase a new $20,000 offset smoker and have it delivered only to discover that you'll have to purchase a new vehicle with enough towing capacity to transport it to bbq contests.

If there are readers who have experienced any of these situations and want to share some words of wisdom for the benefit of the group, your coments are welcome.

Read the previous post in the series.

Featured Smoker - New Braunfels

In response to my post from yesterday, Day 1 in a series of articles I have planned titled "31-Days to Better BBQ", I received this picture of "Bessie" from Adam Byrd, webmaster at Men In Aprons.

This New Braunfels is a perfect example of an offset smoker. Inexpensive, but very effective, Adam says this smoker turns out some good barbecue. He regularly cooks all types of 'que ranging from brisket, ribs, pork loin, chickens, Thanksgiving Turkey and plenty of other items. Adam has even customized the handles using spindles normally used in stairway construction.

If you'd like to share a picture of your smoker with my readers, e-mail me and I'll post it here.

Make Friends with your Butcher

Meat quality is one of many factors that will affect the end result of a barbecue.

Whether competing in a World Championship BBQ Cook-off, or cooking for family and friends in the backyard, the meat you start with will greatly affect your final results. You wouldn't take a Volkswagen Beetle to race in the Indy 500, so you certainly don't want to take a cheap piece of meat to a bbq cook-off. Or, to put it more bluntly, "you don't take a knife to a gunfight."

Whether it's chicken thighs, drumsticks or breasts; whether it's pork shoulder, picnic or butts; whether it's a brisket packer or brisket flat; whether it's a loin back, baby back, spare, or St. Louis-style pork rib....your barbecue needs all the help you can give it.

Or, to put it still yet another way..."garbage in, garbage out."

Some general guidelines for meat selection:

Chicken:

For overall tenderness and cooking consistency, it's more desireable to use a dark cut, like thighs or drumsticks versus a white cut, like breast. Avoid the brands that have "up to a 15% sodium solution added". You want "natural" chicken, often called "Amish" by butchers.

Brisket:

Resist the temptation to purchase the $.99 / lb. economy brisket flat that's on sale and instead, ask your butcher to order you a Certified Angus Beef (CAB for short) whole brisket ranging from 11 - 13 lbs. Don't be shocked if it's $3 / lb. or more. For brisket, marbling is key. CAB offers the marbling you need and whatever you do, do not let the butcher trim the brisket for you. You need to trim it yourself.

Pork:

The most forgiving cut of the four competition categories I've been discussing, but your results will be better with a "shoulder" or a "butt" versus a "picnic".

Ribs:

If you prefer spares, ask the butcher to order you some "3 lb.-and-down" spare ribs and definitely ask them to get you some that haven't been soaking in a "sodium solution". You'll need to learn to trim them St. Louis-style. Anything bigger than 4 lb. per rack and you'll end up with rib bones I refer to as "brontasaurus" bones (big bones from a big hog) that are not very appetizing. Baby backs or loin backs will work well too. It really just comes down to the preference of the cook, but again take special note to avoid the "sodium solution."

Find yourself a local "mom and pop" butcher shop and explain to them what your end goal is and that you are a bbq nut, and they'll probably bend over backwards to help you find just what you're looking for. If they don't. Find another butcher.

If your competing, stop by with pictures of your turn-ins or bring in a trophy or two when you win one and you'll make your butcher happy. Like most everyone, they will be happy to know they helped you succeed.

If you're butcher does right by you, do right by them and tell your friends about them. That way, everyone wins.

Barbecue Books

BBQ Pork

All pork is not created equal.

Meat from one of the traditional breeds, sometimes referred to as "heritage" breeds of swine such as Berkshire, Gloucestershire Old Spots, Tamworths, and Large Blacks, is generally more flavorful than pork from the popular commercial breeds. We consumers have resorted to downing our pork in sauce to add some flavor to what would otherwise be bland, white and tasteless.

The more "modernized breeds" have been bred more lean and long for commercial reasons and to maximize return on investment for the "company" farms and as a result the pork purchased in most grocery stores today do not have the same flavor that pork had 50-years ago or more.

The heritage breeds generally have more marbling and frankly more fat and thus, more flavor. The heritage breeds have been called "the other red meat" in direct contrast to the popular "the other white meat" slogan publicized by the commercial pork industry in recent years.

The heritage breeds are not very prevalent in the industry today, but they are making a comeback as an alternative breed for small-scale farmers attempting to fill niche market demand from specialty consumers.

This trend is carrying over into other areas of agriculture too including turkey, chickens and beef cattle.

So, if you have a choice, choose one of the "heritage" breeds for your next barbecue. You'll be in for a treat, and you'll most likely be helping the "little guy" compete in the new agriculture economy where specialty and high-quality can still win out versus mass production.

Whole Hog BBQ

RV Equipment

Cool Car Pictures

Auburn Roadster

Hudson Pick-up

I planned to cook some bbq this weekend and celebrate the start of the new NASCAR season, but I'm afraid the weather forecaster have successfully talked me out of it.

I was looking through some bbq pictures from last year and ran across this picture of this Hudson Pick-up and this Auburn Roadster taken at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michagan.

It's a car lovers paradise and by far the best automotive museum I've ever visited.

Become a Virtual BBQ Contest Competitor

Do you watch the Food Network’s coverage of barbecue contests and wish you could get involved?

Have you always wanted to form a competitive bbq cooking team, but don’t have the free time to get started?

Are you an accomplished bbq cook, but are short on the funds to start your own bbq team?

Would you like to learn to how bbq contest cooks prepare contest entries and read their recipes, including step-by-step directions?

TheBBQGuy.com Cooking Team is adding new feature to our competition bbq team this year—virtual bbq contest participation. You too can participate in bbq cook-offs—through the power of the Internet.

Linda and I invite you to become a member of our virtual barbecue team. Compared to forming an actual competitive cooking team, it’s a real bargain.

Our main goal with this virtual BBQ contest program is to teach you more about the life of a professional bbq contest competitor, the good and the bad; and to have a lot of fun in the process.

If you decide to participate in our program here’s what you receive:

• A custom printed and professionally designed “official” bbq team member t-shirt with our team logo. ($19.95 value)
• A complimentary bottle of The BBQ Guy’s “Original Spice Rub”. ($7.00 value)
• A subscription to TheBBQGuy.com newsletter. ($19.95 value)
• Recipes for our specially formulated bbq contest spice rubs for chicken, ribs, pork and brisket.
• Recipes and information about barbecue sauces we use in competition.
• Step-by-step instructions that will detail how we prepare our chicken, ribs, pork and brisket for competition.
• Pictures (via e-mail) of all the actual contest turn-in entries we submit at bbq contests this year.
• Copies of our actual bbq contest scoring sheets with full results.
• Other perks of membership too numerous to list here...and some more we haven’t even thought of yet!

If you decide to join the team, reply to this post and I'll send you an electronic subscription notice via PayPal for $49.95 and put your complimentary bottle of bbq rub and team member t-shirt in the mail ASAP.

Click here to become an “virtual” team member of TheBBQGuy.com Cooking Team.