Here is an interesting article shared by Rodney Grey on Ray Basso's forum.
BBQ Meats
Supplying the BBQ niche REGULAR FORMAT
(MEAT&POULTRY, February 1, 2005)
by Joel Crews
The barbecue niche can be a lucrative opportunity for meat processors. Blue-ribbon quality barbecue doesn�t occur by accident. Most teams that compete for prize money and trophies carefully plan every step as they vie for the handful of awards. Sure, the type of smoker, fuel cooking time and temperature are important, but most cookers realize the foundation for success starts with the meat selection.
At the corporate level, teams compete in contests, but with much more at stake than a tin cup or a nylon ribbon. Few food industry professionals would argue that America�s love affair with the smell, taste and comfort associated with barbecue-style foods grows stronger each year and processors should find out what is on the wish list of the more prolific barbecue
cookers.
"The quality of the meat makes a huge difference," says Lane Schmiesing, vice president of marketing for Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Famous Dave�s of America, Inc., parent company of a chain of 107 barbecue restaurants. "We have very tight
specifications for our meat. In fact, our specs are tighter than Hormel uses for foodservice in general." Famous Dave�s uses chicken from Gold�n Plump Poultry, St. Cloud, Minn., while its supplier of beef is GFI America, Inc., Minneapolis. Hormel Foods Corp., Austin, Minn., supplies the pork. "Because of our specs, Hormel sets up a cutting line dedicated to our St. Louis-style ribs."
The restaurant specifies the length of the ribs, the amount of meat on the bone, the rack weight and the size. As for the beef, Famous Dave�s specifies the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture�s grade of Choice. "We don�t specify a specific breed," says Schmiesing.
With 25 new stores opening in 2005, the restaurant�s research and development team is urged to stay on top of the latest barbecue trends, which can include finding out what is going on in the world of competitive barbecue cooking. To this end, Famous Dave�s sponsors "The Rib Team," a competition team that enters � and often wins � about 20 contests per year. "We are attuned to what goes on in the barbecue circuit," Schmiesing says, which
often influences the rollout of new menu items.
Product developers regularly accompany the chain�s Rib Team to contests to keep them abreast of what�s hot. "They (R&D) have to be able to respond to market conditions and consumer trends," as they try new recipes. One thing is clear, says Schmiesing: Barbecue will always be popular. "It�s hand-crafted and has a quality halo hovering around it," which consumers are obviously gobbling, as evidenced by Famous Dave�s sales totaling $187 million in its most recent fiscal year.
Besides adventurous flavors and zesty tastes, barbecue offers consumers the two attributes pursued by all food companies. "It�s a constant quest for convenience and quality," says Schmiesing.
Big guns
Ten years ago, Phil and Linda Hopkins began traveling to regional barbecue competitions along with their two children. "It was a family thing," says Phil. "We camped, cooked and enjoyed the competition." Within a couple of years, the team, Smokin� Guns BBQ, began winning a few categories at some of the contests. The publicity spawned a few catering jobs, which led to more publicity. The trophies and prize money kept mounting. They eventually won the prestigious Jack Daniels contest and the American Royal.
Back then, Hopkins was working as a metal fabricator by day, but he had dreams of taking his "camping and cooking" hobby to the next level. In 2002 his dream became reality when Hopkins quit his job so he and Linda could open the doors of their restaurant to the public in early 2003. With trophies and ribbons covering nearly every square inch of the restaurant�s walls and shelves, it�s obvious Phil knows a thing or two about selecting the meat he uses to win contests and
now, to make a living.
When he was a rookie, Phil would make a quick run into the nearest grocery store and buy the first brisket, chicken, pork butt and ribs he saw in the meat case. After a couple of years, he befriended a local butcher who agreed to custom cut Hopkins� meat for the competitions. He soon realized the value of quality meats. Nowadays, he picks through the thousands of pounds of meat delivered to his restaurant and selects the ideal cuts when a contest is drawing near. "My philosophy is �good in, good out,�" he says, meaning the product coming out of the smoker is only as good as the quality of the product going in.
Cooking expertise is valuable, but there�s no substitute for starting with the right meat. "A good cook can only make the difference between a good piece of meat and a great piece of
meat,"
He rattles off his requirements for briskets like he�s cooked thousands of them�because he has. "For brisket, I only use certified Angus or Prime, 12 pounds and up, 72 pounds per case or up," he says, leaning on a dolly full of boxes emblazoned with Creekstone
Farms� logo. "I�ll reject anything less. He (the supplier) knows I like big briskets."
When cooking large pieces of meat, size does matter. Cooks like Hopkins base their recipes, cooking times and t e m p e r a t u r e s on a consistent size cut. For c o m p e t i t i o n s , most cooks wetage briskets in
a Cryovac bag, for between 30 days to 45 days from the date on the package.
Next, he addresses his preference for the pork shoulders he cooks. Again, size is important, especially for a cut that cooks in the smoker for 12 to 14 hours. "I like them to be 8 to 12 pounds each and two per pack," says Hopkins. "And they must be Cryovac packed and not frozen. I use Boston butts, with the fat cap on; quarter trimmed and bone-in � to give it a better flavor.
Whole shoulders work best with the
skin on," he adds. "For pork I like IBP and Seaboard." Pork babyback ribs are the only products Hopkins will accept frozen from his suppliers. He serves spare ribs, but says the babybacks are much more popular.
When it comes to chicken, Hopkins wants carcasses that are at least four pounds. He likes to think they�ve never been frozen � at least that�s what he asks for from his supplier. "I don�t like frozen and I prefer whole birds. I cut them in half so I can get the size and look we want."
At his restaurant, turkey is on the menu. Hopkins uses all breast pieces. "They can�t be any more than 10 percent shot up with solution," he says, because the liquid taints the flavor. "I won�t use injected pork either. It�s too salty for me."
For its sliced ham, Smokin� Guns uses Red Label pit hams. The cut, says Hopkins, looks like a hindquarter, deboned and cured. "I like to see some muscle definition," he says.
Phil and Linda continue to compete in contests. They�ve got 21 slated for 2005 starting next month. Staying aware of trends among his competition helps him improve his restaurant business, where he cooks about 1,100 pounds of meat per month. It often is the testing ground for the next great technique or product. "You see everything at the competitions."
K.C.�s BBQ Baron
One of the most successful competi
tive barbecue cooks in the U.S. is Paul Kirk � a.k.a. "The Baron of BBQ." During his decades of
competing, Kirk has won 475 cooking and barbecue awards. Included among these awards are seven world barbecue championships, including the American Royal, the world�s largest competition.
Kirk could probably recite his meat preferences in his sleep. "I want a 10-pound brisket because that�s what my cooking times and recipes are based on," he says. Besides, the yield is better. I use Certified Angus Beef and Certified Hereford Beef, both of which are in the upper five percent of the choice grade. You see some Wagyu out there," he says, "but I�m not that crazy about it." Like Hopkins, Kirk
ages his briskets in a bag, ideally for 35 days.
For pork butts, Kirk asks his wholesaler to get him the biggest he can, preferably around eight or nine pounds. Unlike Hopkins, Kirk prefers to cook spare ribs 3.3 pounds or less. If there is a need for other ribs, he cooks loin back ribs, around two-and-a-half pounds. When it comes to poultry,
Kirk says he, and many other competition cookers are regularly using the Smart Chicken brand of air-chilled chicken. At between three-and-a-half and four pounds, he says, "They score better in taste and appearance."
For any given contest, Kirk says he cooks four briskets, six slabs of ribs, four whole chickens and four pork butts. Unfortunately, even a guy with Kirk�s clout has to go all over town to get his meat for a contest. "It would be nice to be able to go to one place to get it all," he says.
For processors willing to supply
the competition cookers, a good-sized contest could bring them upwards of $20,000. "You�re talking
a couple hundred bucks per team," says Kirk.
The fat factor
Carolyn Wells, executive director of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, says the complaint she hears among competitive cookers is that pork has become too lean. "They want fatter hogs," she says. "Producers have bred all the taste out of them," a trend she says that started about five years ago. "Some teams use specially grown pigs to ensure they�ll get some flavor. It�s hard to find a fat hog anymore."
A spokeswoman for Kansas City, Mo.-based McGonigle�s Market,
one of the most successful, family owned meat markets in the Midwest, says the quest of many competitive barbecue cookers ends at their meat counter. "They�re all looking for the best quality," says Joan Weber. "We carry only choice and prime cuts," she says, with the most popular among barbecue teams being brisket and babyback ribs. "They want the meats that can cook a long time without drying out."
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