Fast Freddie

I have a rub I make that is pretty good on everything. But lately, I have been using Texas BBQ rubs. Finally stopped searching for that magic rub and sauce. The brisket rub is great on any beef. The regular has a slight bite to it. I use these exclusively in competitions and do well. The price is good and I find the quality excellent. I am just a user, not a salesman. http://www.texasbbqrub.com/

I believe it is stating chicken pieces about two hours, and pork pieces would take eight hours. I do my chicken thighs overnight. Give them a good rinse, dry and then apply rub on the chicken and under the skin. By the way, you can make a quick brine for chicken and ribs with Coke or Dr Pepper. Just add kosher salt with the soda, using the same ratio, and mix until salt is dissolved. Brine overnight. I use this mixture at contests and it works for me. This mixture doesn't give the ribs a ham flavor as some other brine's do. First Contest - Second Place Chicken - Modesto 2006

Brining Article In several articles, I've mentioned the need to brine chicken or pork to produce juicier, more flavorful, and tender cooked meats. The net effect of brining is to infuse the meat with extra salt (and sometimes sugar and other flavorings) and water. But how does brining work? In this article, I examine what happens when you brine. What does brining do? Brining is the soaking of meat in a solution of water and salt. Additional flavorings like sugar and spices can also me added, but salt is what makes a brine a brine (just like acid makes a marinade a marinade). This soaking causes the meat to gain some saltiness and flavoring while plumping it up with water so that after cooking it still contains a lot of juices. Latest Articles The Story of Tea by Mary Lou and Robert Heiss Michelin Rated Restaurants (San Francisco 2008) Michelin Rated Restaurants (San Francisco 2007) Soda-Club (SodaStream) Vegetables (The Culinary Institute of America) The explanation for why brining works that I hear most often is that by surrounding the meat with salt water, salt and water are forced into the tissue through osmosis. Unfortunately, I've never been happy with that explanation. Osmosis is when a solvent (usually water or other liquid that can hold another substance, called the solute, in solution - like salt) moves from a low solute concentration (like the tissue of the meat) to a high solute concentration (like the salt water) through a semipermeable membrane (a surface that allows small particles to pass but not larger ones - like the cell membranes of our chicken or pork) to form an equilibrium. Hmmm... wait a minute. If that's true then water will be drawn from the low salt concentration meat to the high salt concentration salt water. At the same time, if the salt can enter the meat (which it can), then salt will be moving from salt water to meat. Won't that result in a salty, dry piece of poultry or pork? Obviously, there's more going on than simple osmosis. It is true that salt enters the meat (it tastes more salty after brining). But why is it also more juicy? Well, when water flows out of the meat, salt flows in and begins to break down some of the proteins in the cells. In the broken down state, the molecules become more concentrated and the solute levels rise within the meat. This causes additional water to flow into the meat. But doesn't that mean we've got the same amount of water as before brining? Nope. The cell membranes are semipermeable. They allow salt and water to flow in both directions freely, but larger molecules (like the denatured proteins and other solutes in the meat released by the salt) cannot flow out from within the cells. When the solutes of a solution on one side of a semipermeable membrane cannot pass to the other side, osmosis causes more and more solvent to move through the semipermeable membrane. This continues until the extra pressure from holding more solvent equals the rate at which solvent is "drawn" through the semipermeable membrane. (This rate is called osmotic pressure. How Stuff Works has a short article describing osmotic pressure with a diagram that may be helpful to visualize the water flow.) What has happened is that through brining, we've caused a state change in the cells so that they will draw and hold more water than before. As we cook the meat, the heated proteins will begin to draw in tighter and squeeze out water, but, hopefully, enough water will remain to produce a juicy, tender piece of meat. Brining Solution So, how much salt in water is used for brining? That really depends on how long of a brine you want and how salty you want the final product. A weak brine will require a longer brining time to achieve the same saltiness as a strong brine. When I need a moderate strength brine, I use 1/2 cup (about 150 g) of table salt per gallon of water. (Higher concentrations of salt can be used to reduce brining times, but the amount of salt and the time it takes to brine is dependent on the muscle structure of the particular piece of meat.) Using kosher salt is a common practice, but different manufacturers grind the salt to different levels of coarseness, so kosher salt should be weighed before adding to water. For small amounts of salt, the salt can be dissolved into cold water, but for larger quantities it may be necessary to heat the water to dissolve the salt. Brining Time Always start with a cold brine. If you heated the brine, then refrigerate it before using it. The raw meat will be in the brine for a number of hours, so we don't want the temperature of the meat to rise higher than refrigerator temperatures (40°F, 4°C) if we can help it. Place the brine in a noncorrosive container like a plastic or glass container, plastic bag, or a stainless steel pot. The brining time depends on the shape of your meat as well as the type of meat. Generally, a good rule of thumb is 2 hours per pound of solid poultry when using the 1/2 cup salt per gallon brine. Cut up poultry will have reduced brining time. For chicken pieces like breasts or thighs, 2 hours is usually enough time. Pork may take about four times as long to brine as poultry. In most cases, it's difficult to predict how fast the salt moves into the meat when you double or halve the salt in the brine, but it's worth experimenting with to have your brining "finish" at a time where you will be around to remove the meat from the brine. When you remove the meat from the brine, rinse off the excess salt from the surface and return the meat to the refrigerator to await cooking. Pour out the brine after each brining. (No need to have a half gallon of raw meat juice infused salt water lying around growing germs...)

Here are a bunch. http://www.google.com/search?q=recipe+software&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS176US229

Just brought the rest of my broken KK home from Rock's BBQ. He also gave me a Stoker unit for it. I will start the repair process in the next few weeks. Boy, that thing is heavy. It's a high lift to the bed of my truck. He also retrofitted my FEC100 with his Stoker controller. Now, I will have to be cooking a lot of meat everyday to put it through it's paces so he can get feedback on it, before putting it into production.

Thanks for the answer. I think I will go with the Edge Pro. http://www.edgeproinc.com/

Here is one I have seen for a long time, but I never found anyone who owns one. http://www.cuisineclassique.com/tru_hone_knife_sharpeners.htm

That's them. I went to Richard's forum, where I knew there was a picture of them cooking a contest, but I am unable to login. It seems that I offended him with a question awhile back LOL

Now that I own a KK, I can see the difference. Night & day!!

I like to buy things with all the options. It is good to know that the KK comes this way. The large middle section fell four feet off of a truck, breaking half of the bottom, and a piece of the side is broke. It cannot stand on the base. I will form the broken area and pour some refractory cement in the form and level it out. I will take pictures of the repair process. I have new replacement tiles. I want to get it fixed and practice cooking with it. I want to take it along with my FEC to some contests. No one that competes against me has one. There are a lot of BGE's, and I use to see the couple who competed with Richard's Kamado's, but I haven't seen them since the Vegas competition in 2003.

I get most of my spices from "My Spicer" Great product and great service. http://www.myspicer.com/

I never saw that sharpener before. Here is the recommended model for Shun. http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=6880 Here is a sharpener that a lot of people swear by. I am going to get this setup. http://www.edgeproinc.com/

I have a set of Wolfgang Pucks, that I bought at Costco, and they are terrible. For competition I bought a seven piece set of Shun knives. They are razors on steroids, but very expensive and well worth it. http://www.cutleryandmore.com/prodlist.asp?BrandID=87&LineID=143

Sounds good. But I still want to see a page with options and parts. Does one exist?