Certifiable!

Well, in the tradition of BBQ and getting it on when you can get it on, I got it on. Sorry,... I'm now a Kansas City Barbeque Society certified judge. Last Saturday I went back to Stillwater (home of the OSU Cowboys), and took the course to be certified as a judge for KCBS sanctioned events. It took about six hours, we learnt the rules, the criteria, and now I'm a judge.

I was sitting at the end of my table, at the final section of the afternoon - we raised our right hands and pledged (there were a about a hundred people there, I felt like I was at Tea Party convention):

I do solemnly swear, to objectively and subjectively evaluate, each Barbeque meat that is presented to my eyes, my nose, my hands and my palate.

I accept my duty to be an Official KCBS Certified Judge, so that truth, justice, excellence in Barbeque,

and the American Way of Life may be strengthened and preserved forever.

done.

That wasn't the end. The officials thanked the volunteers who cooked, served.....and gave each of them a OSU oven mitt stuffed with a .... wait for it... bottle of Head Country BBQ Sauce. Then, as I was dozing like the rest of the bbq fed crowd, they called for the Canadian. Dumbass I am, I swept the room looking for the Canadian, thinking how weird that was. It was me. My neighbour poked me and I rose and went up front to receive my applause and oven mitt and BBQ sauce. I was a little taken aback.

They asked me to stay behind and after everyone left, I posed for yet another photo for their newspaper, the BullSheet - photo to come. Unbelievable. I wish I had a better synonym for classic.

So let's move on to the goods. Let's get back to the Q.

The last week was nuts with business. We catered the G.E. job and then the NRA job (I forgot my camera, oy!). By the way, the NRA job was in Ark(kansas)City, Kansas, where Twister was shot, about 20 miles north of Ponca City.

Tomorrow night is a fundraiser with 500 people, I'm cutting ham (literally).

Otherwise, I've been screwing around with the smoker when it wasn't stuffed full for restaurant jobs.

Firstly: I tried to source pork bellies but couldn't find any in the city. So I had to go with a supplier from waaaay out of town. What I got was rectangularish, maybe 8 pounds, and an irregularly shaped morsel.

I first cured it in a mix of sugar and salt for about 3 hours. Then I put it on the smoker for two hours at roughly 260 degrees (I say roughly because they open the doors constantly to remove or add things to the smoker, and when you're talking about 60 or 100 racks of ribs, it takes a while and heat is lost). Then I put it in the oven for an hour (scooping a little of the rendered fat on top), before taking it out. By the way, I put it on the smoker fat-side up, then switched it for the oven.

In the end, it burnt like Paul Reubens in the 90's. I overcooked the crust a lot, but the meat was only slightly overdone. Kind of like medium versus medium-rare. I had to trim the hard crust off, but the rest was great with a bun and some BBQ sauce. Great dish.

If you have a more rectangular cut (cooking way more uniformly), then this dish will rock.

I also tried Prime Rib two ways. I initially asked the Sysco dude for beef ribs. The best he could do was prime rib of about 7-8 bones, with all the meat on it - meaning roughly 20 pounds of goods times four, it cost a bit.

Side note - there are no butchers here. The pork belly, the beef ribs and everything else I'm playing around with has to be specially ordered. There is no where to go and request a cut, like...well, what I want. Everything is packaged and delivered to the markets as is, no exceptions.

So prime rib. I originally just wanted to try beef ribs, but apparently I had to deal with an buttload of meat as well. So I trimmed the beef ribs and kept the meat aside to tie, season and smoke. Here are the results of trial 1:

I marinaded the ribs overnight, seasoned them and then smoked them for 6 hours - they came out a 7. The boneless part was rubbed, rested overnight and smoked for 2 and a half hours, also a 7 (but I was never a fan of prime rib anyway).

Today I did the same thing, except, I kept the bone on for three ribs' worth of meat. Marinade and rub, then smoked for three hours. I finished it with a compound salt of kosher salt, fresh rosemary and black pepper. A 10!

I have the ribs marinading now and the boneless half as well. Results to come tomorrow. I'm pleased though. Remember, the smoker, at peak temperatures, runs at 260 degrees. This is a hot and fast sort of joint.