If you follow the KCBS stats then you already know or have heard of the Pork Pullin Plowboys who are in the top 25 teams in the KCBS this season. I’ve never met Randy Hinck or Todd Johns but I have been active in talking to them on the BBQ Brethren website. This is also where I first learned of their BBQ rubs “Plowboys Yardbird” and “Plowboys Bovine Bold”

I learned along time ago to talk with the competitors and those who BBQ on a regular basis to find out what the best rubs, sauces and techniques are. In doing this I was consistently hearing and reading about these two rubs and how good they were. I contacted Todd Johns and asked where I could get my hands on these rubs since I couldn’t find them in Colorado. Within a couple of days I received a UPS package with both rubs.

With everything I was reading and hearing about these rubs I decided to put them to the test, using both of them when I went to Worland Wyoming State BBQ and Bluegrass competition.

When I opened and tasted the Yardbird rub I could easily tell how good this rub was. It had the perfect flavor and balance for poultry. You could see the different elements in the rub and the smell alone was awesome.

 I prepared my chicken as I have in the past but used the Yardbird rub instead of my usual choice in rubs. The color of the chicken was great. When preparing to turn in our chicken we did as we always do and have a sample taste to see if we need to change anything prior to preparing the box. Unlike past times we were perfectly satisfied and anxious to see how our chicken would do.

 I did the same process as above for our brisket, replacing our usual rub with Plowboy’s Bovine Bold. As with the Yardbird rub, the Bovine Bold also had an awesome flavor and aroma. We seasoned and smoked our brisket and hoped for the best with all the rain and drop of temperatures we experienced during this contest weekend. Below is a picture of our brisket prior to turn in.

 Well our results, Our Brisket took 5^th place and our Chicken came in 10^th! Our overall placing in this contest was 9^th out of 32 competition teams. This was the first contest this season that we walked and received a ribbon for our brisket!

Now your results may vary with these rubs, but I have to tell you, both Todd and Randy know what their doing when it comes to BBQ, their results speak for them self just check out their stats at the pickledpigbbq.com power rankings!

 To order their products they have a number of distributors. I would recommend you contact our friends at-

 Great Lakes BBQ Supplies-http://www.greatlakesbbqsupply.com/category.sc?categoryId=2

 Or our friends the BBQ Addicts at

-http://www.bbqaddicts.com/rubs-sauces/plowboys-rub/

 Both places will hook you up with this award winning rub and get it out to you in no time. The Bossman wants to wish both Randy and Todd continued success and thanks for all they and their families contribute to this wonderful sport! Until next time Smoke ON!!

It was a hot long summer day of packing the trailer and loading the smoker, getting ready for our next Bar-B-Que contest when the UPS man pulls up to the house with a package for me. My wife looked at me with the “What did you order now look” to which I plead my innocence (for once) that no I didn’t order anything.

So with much eagerness and with a mission to prove my innocence, I opened the package to discover a find that would only later become a regular purchase for the foreseeable future, BIGS Bacon Salt Sizzlin’Bacon Sunflower Seeds! It took a couple of minutes before I realized that there were more Sunflower seeds other then the Bacon Salt. But the impact it made was sure genius in and of itself.

I had to do a double take and wonder to myself why I hadn’t thought of this! So of course I had to try these. In my home bacon is its own food group and one we enjoy a lot!

Now I’ve had other brands of Sunflower seeds and love the flavored seeds, especially the Dill pickled flavored. So with eager anticipation I put a few in my mouth. I was not disappointed at all, as the product Bacon Salt has very good flavor and adds to any dish, so it did with Bigs Sunflower Seeds. I had to let the whole family experience this very unique and awesome flavor of sunflower seeds.

 Over the next few days my family and I tried the other flavored sunflower seeds which included: Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sunflower Seeds,  Vlasic Dill Pickle flavored Sunflower Seeds, Zesty Ranch, and regular Salted and Roasted Sunflower Seeds with equal results, Bigs Sunflower Seeds deliver big in flavor and taste and add depth to a quality product.

Words alone can not describe these great products. I would encourage you to be on the look out for Bigs Bacon Salt Flavored Sunflower Seeds . IF you cannot find them in your local stores, order them on line at: http://www.bigs.com/ or contact my friends at Bacon Salt for information on purchasing the BIGS Bacon Salt Sizzlin’Bacon Sunflower Seeds or any of the other AWESOME products they make at www.baconsalt.com. Until next time Smoke ON!

Whole hog is a barbecue pitmasters, hog farmers, and butchers of rural western Tennessee, video documenting the everyday transformation of the lowly hog into some of the best BBQ in the world.

This video from Joe York documents the long time tradition of whole hog BBQ. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I have. This is the kind of history that is not always shared or known. This is also a tradition that if not documented and shared may be lost forever. Please enjoy the video and share with everyone!

Whole Hog from Joe York on Vimeo.

Congratulations to our Mug Root beer Brew-B-Q winners who shared with the world their favorite father’s day memories. Our winners are:

 

Elizabeth Johnson

Dan Chambers

Garret Bertrand

Mike Harmon

Bryan Bennett

We hope you enjoy your  Mug Root beer Brew-B-Que kits. Father’s day is a special time for many. We know that activities such as family barbeques are where traditions and fond memories are made!

  Everyone has a BBQ Sauce recipe and everyone has a secret ingredient. Mug Root beer is no different, they too have an outstanding BBQ Sauce recipe and they want to share it with the world! This week I received a Mug Root Beer Brew-B-Q Kit!

Even though you can go to Mug Root Beer’s website and download the recipe for their Mug Root beer BBQ Sauce for free, Mug has come out with one of the coolest Father’s day packs around, a Brew-B-Q kit to make your own Root Beer BBQ Sauce!

Almost every Dad I know looks forward to the cool gifts from their family and friends. I think this is one that stands out and will become a family traditional recipe for everyone to enjoy for years to come.

These kits are very unique. It includes a soft sided cooler, apron with the Mug Root beer Logo on it and of course all the ingredients you will need to make several batches of Mug Root Beer BBQ Sauce to share with your family and friends.

Because this is a unique gift, and with Father’s Day weekend coming up, The Bossman has FIVE Brew-B-Q Kits to give away!!.

Here is what you need to do to win one of these cool kits!. Respond to this article by posting a comment with the heading:

 ”Why My BBQ Dad Should Receive A Brew-B-Q Kit”

 Include comments telling the Bossman and our readers why your Dad, Grandfather or significant other should receive one of these cool kits! Of course were looking for BBQ related stories good, bad, funny, ugly and insights so be creative and have fun!

The winners will be selected and their names posted on our website on JUNE 20^th!  Remember BBQ America will be reading these responses posted and they might have some insight into their favorites as well. Have fun and GOOD LUCK! Smoke On!

This past weekend Bossman Bar-B-Que had compete in the Pueblo Colorado “Boats, Bands and BBQ Challenge” where we entered the four main categories being: Chicken, Ribs, Pork and Brisket.

 Were proud to announce that we placed first in the pork category and took 20^th overall out of 56 teams! This was a HUGE thing for our family and something we have looked forward to achieving!

We would like to thank our family and friends for their support and of course our sponsors. Were hoping this is an early prelude to this BBQ season and a sign of things to come! Smoke On!

We had planned to go to our first contest of the year in Rio Rancho New Mexico until we were hit with the winter storm of the year. Since we had our contest meat ready to go, we decided to go ahead and smoke it up! The link provided will take you to our photos and progress as the day goes on, feel free to check back throughout the day as we update our progress! Tommorow our family will be here to taste and judge our final product!

Saturday’s Smoke  and the finish Saturdays Finish

Butcher’s BBQ Marinade is so simple and easy to use, even young kids are able to produce an award winning brisket !  Thought I would share this excellent video, I’m sure this won’t be the last video we see from this young man! Check out Wyatt’s vist:

http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff194/txschutte/?action=view&current=ButchersBBQReview.flv

Brisket is one of the many mysteries we find in smoking barbeque. You see and hear many techniques and ways of preparing and smoking the perfect brisket. When I first started my quest in smoking the perfect brisket, a good friend of mine shared an important piece of information with me during my frustration with dry, almost inedible brisket when he said “Chuck, you’re going to eat a lot of burnt tires before you realize how to smoke an EDIABLE brisket”.

I’m happy to report that I have come close to the perfect brisket in the past year with winning a couple of awards for my brisket in KCBS contests. But the one thing that always drives me crazy is trying to ensure that the brisket is moist and juicy. It seems that no matter what you do, once you slice brisket, in only a matter of seconds it seems to dry out. Until now that was a major concern.

Last week I received a sample of Butcher BBQ Beef Brisket Marinade. Now I have injected briskets before and I’ve marinade briskets over night for as long as 12 hours, so I wasn’t unfamiliar with this, so I was a little skeptical that an inject able marinade put out by Butcher BBQ would make a significant difference compared with what I was already experiencing. How wrong I was!

The first thing I did before opening the packet of marinade was of course read the instructions of use which seemed pretty simple to follow. You’re told to start out by using ¾ of a cup of marinade to 2 cups of water, beer, apple juice, cola or beef broth on a 13lb brisket. The following is an excerpt from the directions:

“All taste palates are different, so strengthen to your taste. We recommend starting with 3/4 cup of marinade to two (2) cups of water. Other options are to split 1/2 the water with beer, apple juice, Cola or beef broth.

Place your brisket on a cookie sheet with edges to help catch any excess marinade. Now, using a checker board pattern, inject in every other square, keeping the injecting needle in the center of the brisket meat. This amount should be enough for two thirteen (13) lb. briskets.

Butcher BBQ recommends you allow the brisket to marinade for as little as 4 hours and no longer then 8 hours. Upon opening the packet the smell is a very definite beef smell. I followed the directions, and being nervous that I was going to screw it up; I only allowed the brisket to marinade in the Butcher BBQ Marinade for 4 hours.

For this smoke I used a combination of Oak and Mesquite. I separated the flat and point as well to have some burnt ends. The brisket I chose was a 12lb brisket.

I followed the directions and injected both the flat and point and allowed the marinade to do its magic for 4 hours. On this smoke the brisket actually was done 2 hours earlier then normal the results from the marinade and smoking session? Well, judge for yourself:

Brisket

Brisket Flat Sliced

It was pretty evident in doing this experiment with Butcher BBQ Beef Marinade that it does exactly what it advertised to do, it gave the brisket and point a great, moist beefier flavor then past briskets I’ve done. The consensus of my family after tasting this brisket, Butcher BBQ Marinade has to be included with our cooking arsenal in preparing brisket wither for contests or catering.

I would highly recommend contacting Butcher BBQ at www.butcherbbq.comand order yours today. I know that once you use it and family and friends taste and see the difference this marinade makes you to will be adding Butcher BBQ to your list of ingredients needed to have smoked brisket. When you order let them know the Bossman sent you, Smoke On!

One of our favorite steaks to grill would be Tri-Tip Steaks. The Tri-Tip Steak is a roast that is cut on one side of beef loin from the sirloin primal cut. Tri-Tip is also known as bottom sirloin or triangle roast because of the shape of the roast.

Unfortunately in a lot of areas of our country this cut of meat is near impossible to find, but in other areas it can be found year round. You can try and speak to your local butcher and he/she should be able to help you get your hands on this amazing piece of meat.

Tri Tip reminds me a lot of a good Rib Eye Steak in that it is nicely marbled making it very tender. It is also one of the more flavorful cuts of meat available. In most cases a whole Tri Tip will weigh in at about 5lbs or slightly less, and about 2-3 inches thick.

A lot of times Tri Tip was ground into and mixed with hamburger or made into more undesirable cuts of beef such as being cubed for stew meat or stir fry strips. This was due to their only being one roast per hind quarter of beef which didn’t warrant enough display room in the meat case.

Due to most stores receiving “boxed beef” from the beef processing plants, Tri Tip is becoming more available now then ever before. Today this relatively inexpensive piece of meat is becoming more popular and fast becoming a favorite among true beef connoisseurs.

What I have found is that most Tri Tip is found in the Western part of the United States and is relatively unheard of in the Eastern part of the United States. I first learned of Tri Tip steak while visiting my wife’s family in Northern California. In that part of the region, especially in the Santa Maria Valley it is the meat of Choice being called “Santa Maria style Tri Tip”.

The meat is usually seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic then slowly cooked over red oak wood giving it a very distinct flavor. It is often served by slicing the roast across the grain with fresh salsa, beans, guacamole and homemade tortillas. It is often said that this is the true first fajita.

In preparing my Tri Tip steaks for this article I purchased the steaks from my local Sam’s Club where it is already sliced and ready to season and grill. A traditional Santa Maria rub for Tri Tip consists of salt, granulated garlic, dried parsley, black pepper. But for my cook I chose to use a combination of Durkee’s Steak Dust and The Slabs “Wow Up Your Cow” Beef Rub.

I chose to grill the Tri Tip with a combination of Oak and Mesquite wood. Both of these woods are excellent for grilling and smoking beef and give the steak a distinct flavor.

Traditionally Tri Tip is grilled over a Red Oak wood fire at a cooking temperature of 350-375, cooking at about 10 minutes per-side or until an internal temperature between 125-135 is reached (Medium rare) or more to your desired temperature of doneness.

After a 10 minute rest period slice the tri tip across the grain (see diagram below) for sandwiches or fajitas or slice at 1/12 inch – 3 inch slices for steaks, adding more rub to taste if desired and accompanied by your choice of steak sauces or BBQ sauce if desired. As for myself I add a little more rub and then begin eating.

It’s my hope that after reading this article that you will have a desire to search out this amazing piece of beef and try it for yourself. From my own personal experience, once you try Tri Tip Steak it will fast become your favorite cut of steaks. Drop me a line and let me know of your experiences and recipes!