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A Day Of Learning From A World Champion (Picture Heavy)

Money_Hillbilly
Money_Hillbilly Posts: 450
in EggHead Forum
I spent all day Saturday at my son’s outdoor store working on a cooking demonstration with James Cruse, World Whole Hog Grand Champion, 3rd place rib finisher at Memphis in May, 3 time Hogs for the cause champion and pit master at Central City Barbecue in New Orleans.  I spent the entire day in his hip pocket trying to pickup as much knowledge as possible.  I learned that competition cooking is much different than our backyard cooks and is very focused on rubs, sauces, injections, presentation and meat sourcing.  It is a vocation, not a hobby.  It takes dedication, lots of money and hours to win a number of sanctioned regional events just to qualify for the big national events.  I did validate that many of the processes that I have learned on this forum are very sound. 




Southeast Louisiana
3 Larges, Rockin W Smokers Gravity Fed Unit, KBQ, Shirley Fabrication 24 x 36, Teppanyaki Stainless Griddle 
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Comments

  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 10,226
    That's very cool.  Any particular tips that you want to share?  I've spent some time with competition teams and have come to the conclusion that they are such dedicated perfectionists - working off an ipad that tells you what to do every 5 minutes from 2 AM to 3 PM... and they don't even share with me all the details of the hours of prep the night before - that they take the fun out of BBQ.  So, I've tried to learn many of their big principles, which were mostly just reinforcement of what I've learned here, while still trying to enjoy the journey.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

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  • JohnEggGio
    JohnEggGio Posts: 1,430
    Sounds like a great day!
    Maryland, 1 LBGE
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  • Money_Hillbilly
    Money_Hillbilly Posts: 450
    @Foghorn A big takeaway for me, he is big into using water smokers along with a combination of dry heat smokers. I didn’t get any whens or hows.  Trust me I understand why.  He sources BMS 8 Wagyu briskets from Australia.  His rib method was exactly the same that we all use.  I asked about timing on when to wrap ribs and the answer was “I look and feel” so I got more validation of processes and confidence not really any secrets.  Besides we had the “secret handshake rules”. LOL
    Southeast Louisiana
    3 Larges, Rockin W Smokers Gravity Fed Unit, KBQ, Shirley Fabrication 24 x 36, Teppanyaki Stainless Griddle 
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  • lkapigian
    lkapigian Posts: 11,549
    Awesome!!
    Visalia, Ca @lkapigian
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  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 10,226
    Thanks!

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

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