Competition Steak Cook Off / Mo Money

There is an upcoming “Praise the Lard” SCA competition steak cooking contest in Murpheysboro, Illinois in September and it sure looks good to me. Along with the low entry fee of just $100 dollars and that includes the meat as well, and a nice prize fund of $2600 dollars with $1000 for the winner, it has even gotten better!

SCA and Kingsford have teamed up for the “Kingsford Challenge” which will double the winners prize if you are using the Kingsford Professional Briquets. On top of that, Grill Grates will pay the top placing team using their product an additional $500 dollars for their effort.

Sure seems like a bargain to me...heck, if a fellow gets lucky and wins this event, he could collect as much as $2500 dollars for his $100 dollar entry fee which like I said even includes the meat. Nice prize for a 2-3 hour event.

Since I am signed up for this event, I need to change my charcoal from lump over the the Kingsford Professional Briquets to qualify for the larger prize. I have done so with my Weber Jumbo Joe and have worked out the correct amount for the temperature I want for steak and now need to work out the correct amount on my Cobb Grill as I plan to use it in one of these events.



I tried 20 briquets for this first try and am hoping for a cooking temperature of 620-650 measured on top of the Grill Grates for my steak cooking.



Steak ready to go on the cooker after a one hour warm-up with the rub applied.



Just nailed it...after a 25 minute warmup on my Grill Grates, I had a temp of 650 degrees which is perfect for my method with the steak.



To fill out my cook, I also did three of my homemade 1/3 pound pork burgers on the back side of the Grill Grates.



The results of the cook.





Now, I do like steak but not near as much as one of my 1/3rd pound pork burgers on a slider bun. Added some lettuce, a slice of onion and tomato and then a nice amount of horsey sauce and I enjoyed a very nice 2 bib meal. The steak can wait...

Cobb Grill / Competition Steak Cooker??

Well...maybe. I think if set up right, a fellow could come pretty close to producing a competition quality steak. This is my attempt at this task with the little Cobb Cooker.

Those great folks at Grill Grates make their product for about any grill or cooker and sure enough, they had a pair of grates to fit the Cobb Grill so I did order a set for my grill.



For my first try at a good competition steak, I started with a 16oz ribeye and got it out of the fridge about 45 minutes before the fire. Applied a great steak rub and set it aside to a cooling rack. I also had one of those nice big Indiana pork chops (1” thick) that weighed about a pound so I applied some salt and pepper to this chop as well for the wife. To complete the cook, I made up three of my homemade 1/3rd pound 60/40 fat burgers as these are always great on any cooker.



Rather than using the standard lighting procedure for the Cobb Grill fire, I decided to use a small charcoal chimney to be sure I had all of the fuel hot at the start of the cook.



Poured the lump into the grill and spread it out evenly and my fire was ready to cook.



Placed the Grill Grates on the Cobb and waited for about 15 minutes to allow the grill to get up to about 600 degrees which is ideal steak cooking temperature and then placed the steak on the grid at the 10am to 4pm position for the first phase of the cook. Let it cook for 2-1/2 minutes and turned it 105 degrees to the 2pm to 8am position on the grill. After another 2-1/2 minutes I turned the steak over and cooked that side the same as the first and took the steak off of the grill after about 9-1/2 minutes at 135 internal which should come out to about a medium steak as the contest requires.



This is the steak just before it came of of the Cobb Grill and I think it looks great. That answered my question and I do believe a competition quality steak can be cooked on the Cobb Grill.



Here is the steak as I would present it at a SCA event.

Next up was my big Indiana pork chop.



I used the same procedure as with the above steak as it was about the same thickness of the steak and I wanted it cooked to about 140 internal so I figured it would need about the same amount of time.



Didn’t come out as pretty as the steak but did look good.

After the chop, I turned the Grill Grates over to the smooth side for my three fat burgers.



About 600 degrees at the cooking surface on the backside of the Grill Grates is searing excellence at it’s finest for my fat burgers. Cooked the burgers to medium rare at about 3-4 minutes a side.



The smoke pouring out of the cooker with the burgers on it kinda reminded me of an old steam locomotive climbing a hill many years ago.

Let’s eat...





Wife wanted the chop so I fixed her up with some peas and fruit and she had a nice meal although she couldn’t eat the whole chop.





While steak and chops are good, I live for my 60/40 fat burgers cooked to about medium rare as they are about my favorite meal coming off of a grill. I dressed the burger with a slice of tomato, a slice of cheese, a slice of onion, and some lettuce and then added some chips and a couple of deviled eggs and I was one satisfied old man.

Small Utility Trailer -- Contests/Parties/Catering

This has been an on going project for about a couple of years and although I have used it in several contests, it is still not done and kinda a work in process.

I wanted a standard utility trailer that my medium size SUV could pull easily and I didn't want to block a whole lot of wind as the car uses plenty of gas the way it is.

While still in the planning stage, I got a note from a friend that River City Rub (Theron Malone) who is also a Backwoods contest cook has his small trailer for sale.

Theron had really done a lot of work on the trailer by installing the roof and it was perfect for what I wanted to use it for so we made the deal and met on the road about half the distance between us and swapped the trailer over to my car.



This is what it looked like when I got it home and I also purchased the very heavy duty lockable tool box that he had mounted in the front of the trailer. Theron had also done some wiring in the trailer as well and it sure was perfect for my plans.

The trailer is heavy duty with a real 3500# axle under it with springs and it also came with 15" tires.

The first thing I did was put it together for the way I wanted to do a contest and it worked out great.





The cooker in the picture is the Backwoods Fatboy and I have the trailer setup with one 4 foot prep table and then I found another big lockable storage box that fits perfectly under the prep table so I would have plenty of security in my travels. I also wanted to be able to cook on or off the trailer as well as both heat an air condition the trailer as well when the cover was on the trailer.

Next job was to make a tailgate.



Then the air conditioner mount.



I also made a spare tire mount.



At this point, I decided to try it out and purchased a cheap tarp to use as a cover for the first contest to see if everything would work like I wanted.



This picture shows us all loaded up and ready to roll. The cooker of choice for this trip was the Backwoods Fatboy. Was able to keep everything pretty low in the trailer so I wouldn't be blocking much wind. I planned to take the cooker off the trailer at this first contest as it was cold and we needed the cover so we could heat the trailer. The cooker is strapped to a dolly and the loading ramps are on the trailer as well.

I wanted options for this type of setup and we now have them. We can use the trailer with a tarp cover for a contest with the cooker on or off the trailer, or we can take an EZ-UP and then just set the trailer up for cooking with the cooker on the trailer, or just use the trailer to haul all our contest equipment to an event.



We are now cooking the contests with one Backwoods Party cooker and we lay it down in the trailer and we just don't block any wind at all with this cooker. Using this cooker, we did eliminate taking the loading ramps and the 2 wheel dolly as it is very easy to handle this cooker by hand. The picture shows the trailer all loaded up and ready to roll.

If the gas price goes back up, I am sure we will be using this setup again for the contests that are a good distance from the Po-Farm and we will continue to improve upon this project.

I also didn't include a picture of the trailer with the tarp over it as it looks kind of trashy and my good friend Dr Chuckie calls it Old Dave's Shanty! It Fits!

The old mans work is never done....

Lightweight Contest Cooking / Tailgating Setup

This setup is just great for many different cooks where you need to travel some to do them. This swing out cargo carrier will hold up to about 300 pounds and the cookers or cooker doesn't have to be unloaded at your event as you can just swing it out and cook on it. I used this setup several times a couple of years ago for contests and once for a private party. I would think it would be great as well for tailgating.



This picture shows my Backwoods Fatboy loaded up on the carrier as I was packing the SUV for a contest. I have two loading ramps and I just slide the cooker up the ramps and position it on the carrier and tie it down and I am ready to go. Many other cookers would also fit on this carrier including a ceramic cooker, maybe a couple of WSM's, a gas grill, etc..

One other nice feature that doesn't come with a standard cargo carrier is that if you need to get into the back of your car after you are loaded or on the road somewhere, you just drop the stabilizer leg and swing the carrier out and raise the tailgate of the car.



This picture shows the carrier in the locked position, the cooker strapped down, covered, and ready to roll to a contest.



This picture shows the cooker swung out and stabilized at a contest in Missouri and ready for cooking.



We did this contest out of our EZ-UP and this is our setup.



The Backwoods Fatboy sitting on the carrier and doing it's thing at the contest on Saturday morning.

The swing out carrier is made by Kargoholder in Oklahoma and is expensive as compared to a regular cargo carrier but it does work nice for my application.

Lightweight Contest Cooking / Backwoods / WSM

Wanted to do a contest over in the East somewhere to meet some e-mail friends and compete against some of the cooks we know but don't see very often and did this contest in August of 2004. The contest was in New Holland, Pa which is in the heart of Amish country and is a great event.

This contest is about 620 miles from the Po-Farm so we decided to go with just the SUV and a lightweight setup and use my Backwoods Fatboy and one WSM cooker.



Loaded up the Backwoods Fatboy and begin to wonder if we will be able to get it all in this car??



The back of the car just before we closed it up and finished packing the garbage cans on the cargo carrier.



Ready to get on the road.

Was a long drive but with our early start, we did get in to the contest site pretty early in the afternoon and got setup before dark on Thursday.



Was a hot evening and we did get to visit and meet with several other teams that arrived on that day.



My co-cook on this trip was my good friend Mike Zinkan who claims to be the Indiana Grand Champion Micro-Wave Cook and a friend from New York came down to hang with us and run our boxes.

We had planned to use the Backwoods Fatboy for our butts, brisket, ribs, anything butt, and the WSM for our chicken and also a holding oven. On Friday, one of the teams had an accident on the way to the event and lost the use of their big offset cooker and we loaned out our WSM to them for the contest. Had to double up some on the Fatboy but that cooker was designed from the ground up to do the KCBS contsts and it did us proud at this event.

We did Jambalaya for our Friday evening party and served it out of my homemade bread bowls. Was a nice treat along with a cold beer on this warm evening.

Had a few problems early Saturday morning with a Thermo-Pen that was reading about thirty degrees high and after I discovered it, had to get some meat back out of the cooler and place it back on the cooker to get it done correctly!

Anyway, got the meat all turned in and started to clean up and get ready for our trip home which was to start early on Sunday morning.

We went to the awards later in the afternoon and did very well considering my screw up on the overnight cooking.



We got one real nice trophy for our ribs that has an Amish Buggy on it along with some money.



We also received a nice plaque and a ribbon to go with our trophy along with some more money as we got 3 of our 4 meats into the top ten and ended up placing 4th overall out of this more than 60 contest team event.

Got to meet several new teams and visit with some friends and with a good finish, sure made for a nice trip home. Was a great contest and will probably go back in the future.

Contest Cooking With WSM Cookers

The Weber Smokey Mountain Cookers (WSM's) are a very popular starter competition cookers and are still winning many contests each year. They are really foolproof and will cook overnight without much attention and produce a winning contest product. They are inexpensive as compared to many other contest cookers, lightweight and easy to handle, and can be used for contests out of the back of your van, car, or pickup truck. With some careful planning, a good 5 day cooler, a fellow can do a whole KCBS contest on just one of these cookers!! However, most folks use at least two of these cookers for their contests.

I always keep a couple of these cookers around as I never know when I might want to do a contest without my RV that might be some distance away and at the high price of fuel, might just take the SUV and the WSM's and save a little money.



This is my lightweight and compact setup using the WSM's ready to head down the road. The car is a medium size Ford Explorer and we are heading for Charleston, Missouri which is a 335 mile trip.

I use 3 large plastic garbage cans for my two WSM cookers and this allows me to also pack up the center of the cans with other contest equipment. I have one of the cans inside the SUV and two on the back in my cargo carrier.



This is the back of the SUV all loaded up and ready to go with plenty of stuff to do a contest.



This is a picture of our site after we got it all setup and ready to cook.





A couple of other pictures of our cooking area.

We usually setup a cot inside the EZ-UP at night for my co-cook and then I use the SUV to sleep in and this works out great. We use about 1/2 the space in the SUV for our storage and the other half for sleeping.



This is my long time friend and co-cook Mike Zinkan in front of our site.



The site next to us had the Ulcer Acre BBQ team of Randy and Marla Twyford and they as well were using the WSM cookers.