Just got my first smoker

[MileHighGrowler]

(07-26-2021, 03:57 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I was watching a Malcom Reed brisket video, and it’s funny because I know someone has said it here, but he said there is no way you could sit down to a meal with a competition brisket. I just keep shaking my head wondering how it got to that point. Apparently everyone including judges are aware. Why would you want a completion like that?

It's about control and hitting specific benchmarks.  It's about how well you understand the meat and equipment to make it to a specific spec.  That's the competition.  Taste is subjective, so I'm guessing that competition Q got where it is because they had to make it objective in some way.  I think it misses the point of bbq completely, and has no appeal to me, but in my head it makes sense as well at the end of the day. 

I've compared it to the beer competitions I used to enter.  Every style winner is based on specs.  Best in Show is the only one truly based on taste, which is completely subjective.  The bigger issue with beer comps was how hard it is to find enough qualified judges, so at a table of 4 judges who would do a style or two, it wasn't uncommon to have 2-3 of the 4 be people who just liked to drink beer who didn't even understand the specs.  I stopped competition brewing for a reason a long time ago... 

I finally got a couple of racks of spare ribs done yesterday.  First time I've smoked on my home smoker in a couple of months.  Been too busy and hate smoking when it's 95* outside!