The ’steaks’ are high, it’s time to ‘meat’ the contestants!
Myron Mixon (above) is a three-time world champion from Unadilla, GA.
Team Name: Jacks Old South
Location: Unadilla, GA
Name/style of pit: Jacks Old South Indirect Water Smokern
Amount of money won in competition: Between $50000 and $100000 a year
Favorite dish to cook/most awarded dish?: Whole Hog
Favorite Food (other than BBQ): Fried Chicken
Secret Tip: Select High Quality Meat Before BBQing
Paul Petersen is executive chef at Rick’s Chop House in McKinney, TX.
Team Name: Pablo Diablo BBQ Team
Location: McKinney, Texas
Name/style of pit: David Klose Pits – Custom Built Offset Smoker
Amount of money won in competition: none…yet!
Favorite dish to cook/most awarded dish?: Ancho Glazed Quail with Fried Quail Egg
Favorite Food (other than BBQ): Classic French
Harry Soo is head cook of team Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ in Diamond Bar, CA.
Team Name: Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
Location: Diamond Bar, CA
Name/style of pit: Weber Bullet Smoker aka Weber Smokey Mountain aka Weber Water Smoker aka WSM
Amount of money won in competition: $20K in 2009
Favorite dish to cook/most awarded dish?: Spareribs
Favorite Food (other than BBQ): Anything Thai or Japanese
Secret Tip: Cooking BBQ from the heart with love and intention. Practice, practice, practice
Tuffy Stone owns Q Barbecue and A Sharper Palate in Richmond, VA.
Team Name: Cool Smoke
Name/style of pit: Jambo Pit, offset style pit and I use hickory wood. I call her the “Grillvette”.
Amount of money won in competition: Approximately 125,000 dollars since 2005 with this pit.
Favorite dish to cook/most awarded dish?: My favorite bbq category to cook is either chicken or ribs, but if I have to choose one it would be chicken.
Favorite Food (other than BBQ): My favorite food is a steak, caesar salad, and a chewy red wine.
Secret Tip: Secret is that too many people over smoke their bbq. You can prevent this by running a clean fire and by wrapping ypor meat with aluminum foil after your meat has nice color. Then finish cooking until done. This will prevent over smoking.
Johnny Trigg is considered the “godfather of BBQ,” he’s from Alvarado, TX.
Team Name: Smokin Triggers
Location: Alvarado, TX
Name/style of pit: Jambo,26” Offset
Favorite dish to cook/most awarded dish?: Ribs
Favorite Food (other than BBQ): Seafood
Secret Tip: Good quality meat
Lee Ann Whippen is owner of Wood Chick’s BBQ in Chesapeake, VA.
Team Name: Wood Chick’s BBQ
Location: Chesapeake, VA
Name/style of pit: Pits at restaurants “Ole Hickory & Southern Pride”
Competition: On trailer and for competition-Jedmaster (rotisserie smoker) also use WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) and Green Egg Ceramic Smokers
Amount of money won in competition: Amount of money won varies year to year…average 7-10k per year
Most awarded dish in BBQ: Bone in Pork Shoulder with Ribs close 2nd.
Favorite dish to cook for BBQ: Misc categories is Shrimp stuffed with Crabmeat and almost always places in top 3.
Favorite dessert dish to cook at BBQ contests: Coffee Ice Cream balls with Peanut Brittle and Warm Kahlua Fudge Sauce and Homemade Whipped Cream. Awarded a perfect score of 180 this year!
Favorite Food: Depends on my mood! I love all food but if I had to pick French as I love rich creamy sauces and Thai as I crave hot & spicy food too! Favorite dish Steamed Lobster with drawn butter….simple and delicious! Secret tip…when cooking and deciding on a recipe to cook, don’t substitute with low calorie. Recipes with real butter, cream and fresh herbs and spices always are good. Also, ask your butcher to leave more fat on your meat as this creates tenderness and flavor! You only live once!
Jamie Geer is based out of Burleson, TX.
Team Name: Jambo Pits
Location: Burleson, TX
Name/style of pit: Jambo pit,26” offset
Amount of money won in competition: $20,000.00
Favorite dish to cook/most awarded dish?: Chicken
Favorite Food (other than BBQ): Fried chicken
As temperatures soar, it’s not just the meat that’s getting cooked as the 7 BBQ Pitmasters compete through the series for the $40,000 at stake.
I hope you enjoyed reading about TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters. If you would like more tantalizing recipe ideas for your next barbecue, head over to Barbecue Party for hundreds of varied and delicious barbecue recipes. You may like to read more about TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters and catch up on their progress in this popular TV series. Don’t forget to visit Barbecue Party’s blog, they have a wealth of BBQ guides, recipes, how-to’s, hints, tips and reviews, with a blog that is updated daily, so don’t forget to subscribe to their feed.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/meet-tlcs-bbq-pitmasters-1607798.html
Filed under Pit Master by on Dec 15th, 2009. Comment. 
Long before the advent of charcoal briquettes and propane people were cooking their meals over wood fueled fires.
From the days of cave-men to less than one hundred years ago wood was the fuel of choice when it came to cooking. In this modern age we are constantly looking for a faster, cleaner and easier way to do everything, including preparing our meals. This has led to the development of bigger accessory laden gas fueled grills lining the isles of home improvement stores and showing up in our backyards.
But for the barbeque purists out there nothing tastes quite the same as preparing their favorite barbeque dish over a wood fired grill.
Why is this? What could possibly work better then the latest and greatest in barbecue technology?
Depending on the type of wood used the “Grill-Master” (that guy who hovers over the grill creating barbecue master pieces) can create flavors in the meat, poultry or fish that just cannot be had over a more modern gas fueled grill. This flavor can further be adjusted just by the amount of wood used, how hot the fire is, and how much smoke the meat is allowed to marinate in.
There are several types of wood fired barbeques on the market today. They are sometimes referred to as smoker grills. The offset firebox is the one most of us are used to seeing. These come in all sizes, from small family sized units to large trailer born monsters capable of feeding several hundred people.
The distinguishing characteristic of the offset firebox is, well the offset firebox. Set off to the side and slightly below the main cooking chamber is the firebox. This separates the food from direct heat and allows for a nice slow cooking temperature.
The bullet style smoker is not actually a smoker but more of what is called a cold smoker or water smoker. They use a pan of water between the heat source and the meat, thereby blocking any direct heat that would cause any overcooking. In a sense they are not really considered a barbecue because of the way they work.
The main chamber cooker is the third type of wood fired barbeque. These are barrel shaped and allow the fire to be built off to one side with the meat offset from the wood allowing for an indirect cooking method. You do need to be careful with how large of a fire gets built because there is no physical separation between the heat source and the meat. The fire need to be kept small and tended in a timely manner throughout the cooking process.
Of course all this is a moot point if you do not select the right type of wood.
For a wood fired barbecue nothing works better than a fruit bearing hardwood such as oak, hickory, pecan, maple apple and of course from Texas mesquite.
Do not use softwoods or the wood from evergreens or conifers. Aside from burning at a lower temperature they are loaded with sap which will leave a bad taste on anything you cook.
Cooking meat over a wood fire has been something humans have been doing for thousands of years. With the newer and more modern wood barbecue smokers on the market today it is possible for just about anyone to enjoy real wood fired barbecue.
Andrew Bicknell is a barbeque aficionado with a website about barbequing. For more tips and trick about wood fired barbecues visit his web site Backyard Barbeque.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/cooking-with-a-wood-fired-barbecue-952127.html
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jun 3rd, 2009. Comment.
