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WooPigFoodie

WooPigFoodie

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123
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
  2. Bullseye
Hello all, I ordered the Bull yesterday and peppered a lot of you with questions and am very grateful for all of your responses!

I am in Little Rock, Arkansas. I started smoking on a Weber Smoky Mountain my wife got me when I turned 40. That tuned me on to smoking in a big way. (My WSM has nearly a decade on it and hundreds of cooks and still looks about brand new. Great build quality.) It led me to setting up a blog about cooking and smoking Southern and led me to getting certified as a judge.

I’ve had a ball judging Memphis in May for the last 5 or so years and judging in and competing in lots of local comps. Became a KCBS judge last year and I’m looking forward to things settling down so I can judge some of that.

I have been trolling the webs searching for a good pellet smoker for the last few years. Kept backing away from that due to bad reviews. Like Enzo’s path, I found my way to RT and pulled the trigger on the Bull yesterday. I really wanted better heat control and to be able to check in on it when running errands. Really didn’t have either option with my WSM.

Anyway, glad to be here and contribute what I can. Thanks for all your terrific advice.
 
Welcome! What a great story!!! I think you will be a very valuable and interesting addition to the Forum! Looking forward to hearing about your cooks!
 
Welcome to the family...Sounds like we can get some advice from you too!
 
Blues1 said:
Welcome to the family...Sounds like we can get some advice from you too!
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Very happy to share! I could talk about BBQ all day. If any of you compete, please hit me up. I have an awful lot of thoughts about successful competition. Where permitted, I take photos of the boxes I judge (local comps, not MIM or KCBS). I’ve been slowly drafting a long blog on tips for success.
 
All very cool and welcome. I’ve been a stick smoker (Tejas) and have a pitmaker vault. Smoking for many years and have done dinners and lunch for more than 500. Smoking is a great art at so many levels. Glad to have you getting a Rec Tec. It’s an adventure. ??
 
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Gotbbq said:
All very cool and welcome. I’ve been a stick smoker (Tejas) and have a pitmaker vault. Smoking for many years and have done dinners and lunch for more than 500. Smoking is a great art at so many levels. Glad to have you getting a Rec Tec. It an adventure. ??
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That is impressive! One major reason for moving from the WSM is that 18.5” diameter. It was so very limiting cooking for a crowd. Love to hear some of your catering tips sometime. I raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (I do their half marathon each December, albeit slowly) and want to do a BBQ get together to fund raise.
 
WooPigFoodie said:
That is impressive! One major reason for moving from the WSM is that 18.5” diameter. It was so very limiting cooking for a crowd. Love to hear some of your catering tips sometime. I raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (I do their half marathon each December, albeit slowly) and want to do a BBQ get together to fund raise.
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I’m happy to share. Usually when I cook for close to 500 people, its pulled pork. I do it on potato buns with homemade slaw (a definite hassle) and my own bbq sauce (kinda spicy). The slaw is tangy and cuts the fat of the pulled pork. At my last few large cooks I needed to have “something” for vegetarians. I’m guessing beans and slaw constitute a dinner ?. My tejas smoker handled an ok sized crowd but the pitmaker vault, can do 30 pork butts at a time. We often had access to a commercial kitchen and depending on circumstance, they kept the butts at temp till needed, which really was almost all at once. We have done cooks where we kept the butts and the rest of the food in insulated containers . Always a good time with people leaving full and messy. As good as it gets. If it’s a smaller crowd I do ribs but much more time and temp sensitive. Welcome to Rec Tec. How did you get into judging? ??

Today’s dinner -beef short ribs
 

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Gotbbq said:
I’m happy to share. Usually when I cook for close to 500 people, its pulled pork. I do it on potato buns with homemade slaw (a definite hassle) and my own bbq sauce (kinda spicy). The slaw is tangy and cuts the fat of the pulled pork. At my last few large cooks I needed to have “something” for vegetarians. I’m guessing beans and slaw constitute a dinner ?. My tejas smoker handled an ok sized crowd but the pitmaker vault, can do 30 pork butts at a time. We often had access to a commercial kitchen and depending on circumstance, they kept the butts at temp till needed, which really was almost all at once. We have done cooks where we kept the butts and the rest of the food in insulated containers . Always a good time with people leaving full and messy. As good as it gets. If it’s a smaller crowd I do ribs but much more time and temp sensitive. Welcome to Rec Tec. How did you get into judging? ??

Today’s dinner -beef short ribs
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Wow. Those beef ribs look amazing. What smoker did you do those on?
I’ll definitely reach out on catering. Sounds like you have the thought process well thought through. I’d probably do butts and ribs to show a little dazzle dazzle for the donations. It would probably be 50-100 people I’d guess.
I got into judging since it seemed like a cool next step. Took the required class, did the two required comps then became officially certified. It’s so much fun. Meet some great teams. My first time out I judged the rib team that won ribs at MIM the prior year. Talk about pressure. I live for it. It’s good times.
 
Thanks muchly. I did the ribs on the Bull. They come out great. A slightly different smoke profile but I use a smoke tube to boost the smoke. You do get good smoke in general, especially if you start low, 180 degrees. Puts out a lot of smoke. I was surprised that my pulled pork sandwiches went as well as the ribs. I always thought people were more into the ribs but not always so. What we have thought is just doing it many times. Looking back at our first runs compared to where we are now is amazing. Just learned as we went. The worst curve ball was the vegetarian thing. ?
Be good. ??
 
Ha! My wife is a vegetarian. But she’s cool about the smoker. You did a killer job on the beef ribs. Just killer. I’ll make sure to start at 180 to get the smoke on. On my WSM I start with cold meat. That keeps the smoke cool for a good bit and leads to good smoke rings. But not like that beef rib. Man!
 
WooPigFoodie said:
Ha! My wife is a vegetarian. But she’s cool about the smoker. You did a killer job on the beef ribs. Just killer. I’ll make sure to start at 180 to get the smoke on. On my WSM I start with cold meat. That keeps the smoke cool for a good bit and leads to good smoke rings. But not like that beef rib. Man!
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Again, thanks. It seems like your wife is an understanding vegetarian. Not all are. One of my favorites are beef ribs. I like the 123a Plate better but can’t always get them. Do you eat/like Mortadella? I’ll share a killer recipe I developed ??
 
Definitely. We smoke baloney down here and it’s no joke. Holiday thing usually. I’d love your recipe!!!
 
WooPigFoodie said:
Definitely. We smoke baloney down here and it’s no joke. Holiday thing usually. I’d love your recipe!!!
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We call them “Morties” (mortadella). I’ve done it with baloney, too.
3” thick piece of mortadella.
Potato slider bun or King’s Hawaiian slider buns
Pickle some thin sliced onions
Mix mayo and your fav hot sauce

Smoke mortadella at 225-235 for at least 3 hrs. Should shrink, some fat renders.
Slice cooked mort or baloney
Use inverted shot glass and cut circles from slices
On slider, Place mayo mix first
Mort circle
Pickled onion mayo mix on top
Toothpick through whole thing.

killer, Killer, killer!!!! Have fun. ??
 
Gotbbq said:
They are good. Some snooty types don’t eat baloney or mortadella. Let me know what you think after you make them. ??
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Where do you get a mortadella? Do you have to just get it from the grocery store deli and just tell them to slice it one piece about 6” thick?
 
WooPigFoodie said:
Where do you get a mortadella? Do you have to just get it from the grocery store deli and just tell them to slice it one piece about 6” thick?
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Yeah. Our deli carries it and I have them make 1 piece 6-8” thick. They always ask, are you sure 1 piece. I slice it after it is smoked. It’s a great appetizer. ??
Ever been to hay merchant in Houston. 1/2 of pig head. Amazing.
 
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