Paul Kirk Class - Day 2

Day 2, Class Day! It started out early, we were there at 5:30 to begin getting ready for the day. Here are the first tents set up in the morning light. We would be cooking all 4 competition meats - brisket, pork butt, ribs, and chicken. These meats take a long time to cook so we had to start early.
Paul also taught us how to make our own custom spice rubs, how to mix bbq sauces (there doesn't seem to be an ingredient on this Earth he hasn't used or has some knowledge on how it will work in a rub, sauce, or mop), etc. He talked about trimming meat, selecting meat, cooking meat, cutting meat,etc. We talked about sausage, we talked about everything BBQ.



The legend himself, in the flesh. The participants all learned a lot during the course of the 14-hour day, there wasn't a single question Paul wouldn't answer.


Paul explaining the finer points of sliced brisket...

I was lucky enough to be teamed up with local competitor Kevin, who cooks under the team name Porkaholics. For one day only, we were the Smokeaholics... And the Smokeaholics cleaned up, winning first place pork butt and first place brisket. Too bad our chicken and ribs tanked!

All in all, an awesome day, an incredible weekend. I had so much fun talking to all the B.C. competitors, learning from them and just chatting about BBQ. I hope to make it back to compete soon. 2010 is looking good! I will see lots of these guys in Calgary over the labour day weekend at BBQ on the Bow.

Paul Kirk trip, Day 1 continued

Whistler! Made it! This was very exciting, I haven't snowboarded much in the past few years but this sure ignited the desire. Whistler is home to the Canadian BBQ Championships, held over the August long weekend, which we intend to attend in 2010.

A new joint opened up over the winter, BBQ Bob is a very successful competitor and BBQ cook, and I was hoping to meet him. That didn't happen in April but Bob managed to drive to Regina for the Pile of Bones competition so that goal was eventually met.

Just some of the awards won over the years. Bob has nailed down THREE Grand Championships so far in 2009, he's going to need more walls!

Paul Kirk Class in Langley, BC Day 1

A great opportunity came up this winter, BBQ legend Paul Kirk was going to be teaching his all day Pitmaster class at the Well Seasoned Store in Langley. This event was made possible by Angie Quaale, head judge extraodinaire and a true ambassodor of BBQ in Canada.
I arrived bright and early on Saturday, and the class wasn't until Sunday so I had all day to explore.
First Stop: Granville Island market for some breakfast and food gawking.

One small section of the charcuterie display:



Had to hit the West coast BBQ mecca to check it out!

I drove up to Whistler for the afternoon, always wanted to visit but every time I've been to Vancouver there was never time. So here's a rest on the drive up:

BBQ'd Tri tip

Beef Tri-tip. Maybe my favorite meat in the world. It's extremely juicy, tender without being mushy, and is so packed with beefy flavour there's no way to describe it. I always cook it in the Weber Smokey Mountain, no water pan. The fat and drippings from the meat hit the fire, adding smoke and flavour you can't duplicate anywhere.

You think this looks good? Try it thinly sliced on a warm baguette, topped with fresh pico de gallo. And there's always lots of juice to dip in! Oh man.
Too bad it's a rare find in the Canadian prairies.

Chipotle Powder!!!

I do not see red jalepenos in Saskatchewan very often! These appeared in November 2008, so I scooped up a few pounds. Pictured is about 1/2 of them.They were smoked in the Weber Smokey Mountain, using just a few briquettes at a time to keep the temperature about 120, for about 12 hours. I used pecan wood. Then they were finished in the oven to complete the drying process.

Seeds and membranes removed, I wanted smoky heat, not intense killer heat!


Drying process complete:


A few runs through the coffee grinder and we have chipotle powder! Easy easy. This stuff is awesome sprinkled over anything where you want to add some smoky heat. I use it in chili, on eggs, pasta, etc.

Ribs! Ribs! Ribs!

This was just an afternoon rib cook, some time during August 2008. I just wanted some nice pictures of ribs! These ones turned out pretty good I think...

A cropped version of this shot is now the back of my business cards:

Saskatoon pie on the Traeger

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
'Nuff said. The Traeger can bake a pie as well as it can smoke a rack of ribs! Stay tuned for an awesome dessert to be cooked on it this weekend for the Chef's Choice event at the Saskatoon BBQ Competition.

First Competition - Pile of Bones 2008

Here are some pics from our first competition, the 2008 Western Canadian BBQ Championships (Pile of Bones BBQ), held at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.
Here's the team, Jacy and I partnered with my cousin Paula and her husband Warren, who branched out in 2009 and formed his own BBQ Team, Prairie Dog BBQ. Gainer didn't help much, he was just a 'taster'.


We had such an awesome time, and we truly got hooked on this competition thing. BBQ people are the best! The Regina Hotel Association only had about 6 weeks to pull this event together and it was a job very well executed!









Here's our Brisket turn-in box. It was pretty good brisket, but now I'm critical of the torn bark along each edge. It was good enough for second place!

















Here's the team with all our ribbons. We took 2nd place in brisket, 3rd place in pork butt, and 4th place in chicken. Good enough for 3rd place overall! Yeeeeehaaaa! We were extremely happy with this outcome.

Warren managed to snag a great result and ribbon in the grilling (steak) competition as well.


















Last but not least, our chicken entry. Looks better then than it does now!

Memorial Day trip to ND

Took the kids down to Minot & Bismarck on US Memorial Day weekend this year. I planned on stocking up on cheap charcoal and good prices for some of my favorite BBQ sauces. I go through this stuff like crazy catering, with all the ribs, chicken, and beans. I don't like using cheap garbage BBQ sauce available in Canada. I mean I used to like Bullseye but now the stuff turns my stomach, there's so much liquid smoke in it.

Well I found lots of my favorite sauces, not just cheap but in bulk sizes too. Famous Dave's, Cattlemans, etc. And kosher salt! $1.50/box, vs. about $5.00 in Saskatchewan. They had non-iodized table salt for $.44/container, you can't even find that stuff in Regina. I used about 1/2 of this salt up making my big batches of rub.

I also took the opportunity to purchase some of my favorite commercial rubs online and had them delivered to a friend in Dickinson, ND. I like experimenting with these but I hate paying the shipping to Canada and I despise getting nailed with UPS's bogus brokerage fees.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun with the kids on this little junket but I was secretly very thrilled with all the BBQ booty! You can't even see the 20-odd bags of charcoal we brought back. Memorial day sales are the best!

rubbbbbbbbbbbb

53 lbs of rub..... Took me two nights to grind certain spices, to measure everything out, and to mix it all (mixed in a big picnic cooler by hand). This was mixed in May so I didn't have to worry about mixing rubs every time a catering job came along...

This is one of my personal blends, I'm not 100% thrilled with it yet but it's darn close. It's meant for chicken and ribs and it works very well with both. It's got a sweet edge to it, but well balanced with salt, background heat, chilies, other spices, and the secret 'tang' ingredient. It's good stuff.

Ask me for a sample, but it's for slow, indirect heat. It's got too much sugar for direct grilling, the food will just burn.


My beef rub, not pictured, was mixed in a big batch too but I only filled about 3/4 of a pail. I'm talkin' about my brisket rub, which I worked on for 6 months, through about 8 iterations. I took it to Paul Kirk for evaluation... He liked it, agreed it was well balanced with good flavour that should persist through a long cook. It's not a complex rub, only about 8 ingredients, and he nailed 7 of them. The 8th he guessed was chile powder, which was not quite right. I used ancho chili powder, roasted the chilis and ground them myself. Well that's not too far off since most chile powder is something like 70% ancho. He did suggest a bitter note, once I told him the amounts of each ingredient he suggested backing off the chili a bit. So now my recipe uses 3/4 the amount of chili, and I'm happier with it too.

This brisket rub has been used in one competition, resulting in a third place finish.