049 Live @ Cue For A Cause 2018

With David from DG BBQ

• He’s Food Master for the Coomba Wine and Dine Society
• He’s a keen BBQ’er at home
• He has a gas-powered 6 burner that he does a lot of roasts on
• He’s friends with the Women’s Shelter and so he’s there to compete to support the cause
• Chicken: they’ve gone for Oriental flavours
• Pork: they’ve used a spicy rub and glaze
• He’s working collaboratively with the team next door sharing their smokers so they have one protein in each smoker

With Jake from JAB BBQ

• He’s been enjoying spending time talking about BBQ with loads of people
• His family has always cooked on Webers with charcoal and so the competition was a natural progression
• Both of his Webers were second handers. They’re cookers, not lookers
• He’s focussing on his timing in this competition and hoping that everything will go well after that
• He’s using a mix of Heat Beads and chunks of Cherry on Pork and Apple on chicken
  • He uses an apple cider glaze on the chicken which goes well with the apple wood

With Mark from Pits’ Pitches

• They were mentored by Linda from Pits Perfect and that’s how they came to their name
• They’ve got a Flaming Coals offset for the ribs
• The chicken things are in the Webers
• He’s been cooking on kettles for ten years and developed his interest in competitions after hanging out with Linda
• He got into the competition in order to test out his cooking
• Pork Ribs:
  • Series of 4 rubs
  • Wrapped with sugar, honey and butter
  • A little heat, but not too much

With Rusty from R2Beef2

• They had a great night the night before ‘getting to know everyone’
• He had brisket at a restaurant a few years ago and decided he had to learn how to cook it himself
• He’s always liked team sports, competitions and hanging out with mates and now he wants to test his BBQ skills
• His first Weber came out looking a little like R2D2. His newest smoker is called Darth Brisket

With Craig from Sheen Shangrila

• He’s the NSW State Sales Manager for Hark who distribute GMG
• Pellet smokers:
  • They like the constant temperatures
  • Don’t need to worry about fire management
  • It is a wi-fi model so you can run the machine via an app on your phone
  • They can get some sleep

With Grant and Ash from Manning Valley Natural Smokers

• Rolling Smoke, Country Boys and Smokin’ Hot ‘n Saucy and Piggy Butt Brain are who they are keeping their eyes on the most
• They’ve got two Gateway drum smokers that they use
  • They are used for hot and fast cooks
  • Two air controls on the side, a vent on the top and a charcoal basket in the bottom
  • They are able to do their briskets in 5 hours
  • Pork ribs are done in 2.5 hours. They hang for the first 40-45 minutes before reverting to a traditional process
  • They get 8-12 hour burns out of one charcoal basket
• They find that there isn’t too much difference in flavours between the reverse-flow trailer smoker and the Gateway drums
• They use Firebrand hardwood premium lump

With Linda from Pits Perfect

• Her daughter Chloe won RGC in the Give-it-a-Go competition the day before
• She cooks on a reverse-flow offset and has learnt where the hotter and cooler spots are which allows her to position things more strategically
  • It’s great for briskets, pork shoulders and lamb shoulders
  • She runs it on Iron Bark and Cherry Wood

With Anthony from Dr Cue

• He has done a really good job with his lamb this comp
• He cooks on Weber Smokey Mountains
  • It has a fire in the base, followed by a water pan, then the cooking layers
  • The water pan settles the temperature and provides moisture
  • He runs Heat Beads fuel in his WSMs
• Tips:
  • Make the investment from the outset to save spending money again later
  • Try and use the best quality products that you can

The Awards Ceremony