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[Queball]

Appears TMG is playing it close to the vest ...... Keepin those "trade secrets" to himself.

For comp it is completely different prep process and cooking technique however I am no expert.
Dan

[Kristin Meredith]

If I were him, I sure would.  He does a great chicken and it is as perfect as you get in looks.  I bet it took him hours of practice and I would not share for free.  Although maybe he will share a pic of his turn in box.

[Rick]

Certainly two different animals. I've done pretty well with chicken in competition this year. I also cook a lot of chicken at home for the family. I approached it to completely different ways.

In competition, bite through skin and crispy skin are two different things. I don't know of any teams that really go after crispy skin. Not even sure you could accomplish bite through and crispy skin without drying it out. I do scrape skins but not the extent that most people do. I think chicken fat does add flavor and I try to leave a good portion of it on the skin. I do take the heavy fatty spots off though. I cook on the grate until i get the color i want, then  pan the chicken with fluid creating that braising effect. It must have a tight seal.  I also take those thighs to a much higher internal temp.

The chicken I cook at home, is usually bone-in skin-on split breasts. And we usually end up pulling the skin off anyway. I still Brine those the same way and I will even pan them with fluid once in awhile. But I don't take them nearly as hot. But at home I'm I'm much less concerned about skin since we're normally pulling it off and just eating the white meat off the breast. If I am cooking to eat the skin at home, I really don't concern myself with skin creep. It just tells me that it's getting nice and crispy.

I apologize for any errors in this post. I'm using voice to text from my phone.

[TechMOGogy]

Hey hey - no secrets here I am doing nothing that you guys can not do/figure out and while I did do countless cooks before the 2015 AR and fed many of my neighbors for weeks...
I am happy to share BUT since 2015 I have only done it a handful of times - will need to go to my book and lookup the steps.
I can tell you that much like FMT stated, I was/am OCD in the steps.
I truly am a believer that you only have x amount of control so for the parts (technique, prep, steps, time, procedures, etc) I can control I document it and do the EXACT same things with the EXACT same items (like same sauce, same rub, etc).
Obviously I can only control the chicken quality based on what my butcher/Costco/store tells me - that I consider a non-controllable item and a big one as it can make a huge difference (quality of chicken but also size of thighs, fat content, etc).
I am in Canada and it was fun traveling to the AR with 24 frozen chicken thighs in my suitcase!  I brought my own as it is what I practiced with and I did not want to just go buy some at a local Kansas store.  Other non-controllable things are things like weather (temp, wind, humidity) and the smoker.  I was lucky as I practiced on my FEC100 and was able to cook on an FEC100 at the AR but even it was different than mine and it flamed out and so I had to crank up the temp - not a good thing!!
Now with all that said and for as good as it may sound... the AR judges thought my chicken sucked and judged it accordingly so once again, I am no expert, just an OCD guy that made things as well as I could
This was my box (I will look for my step by step cooking instructions that are a help but much of it is just practice, practice, practice until you get your own steps down and your own trimming methods etc)
 [ Invalid Attachment ]

[Kristin Meredith]

I tasted that chicken and I think I am a pretty typical CBJ.  The only thing which probably got points off is that the chicken was what I considered very hot.  Bent thought it tasted perfect.  You probably got a table of judges like me who don't have a high heat tolerance.  Change that one factor and it is -- winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!!  Thanks for the pic.  They sure are pretty.

[Queball]

TMG,
Just havin a little fun! ...... Your presentation box is just stunning. Thanks for posting the picture! .... Give us some inspiration! The finish on that chicken is so clean it looks like it was spray painted. ... Amazing!

[Free Mr. Tony]

And to make his look even better I will post mine just to give you something to compare it to. Mine are not all shaped exactly the same, turned different directions, and in hindsight very splotchy. I did not remember them being quite that splotchy looking at the AR.

Dans looks nearly perfect to me.

[TechMOGogy]

I tasted that chicken and I think I am a pretty typical CBJ.  The only thing which probably got points off is that the chicken was what I considered very hot.  Bent thought it tasted perfect.  You probably got a table of judges like me who don't have a high heat tolerance.  Change that one factor and it is -- winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!!  Thanks for the pic.  They sure are pretty.

I 100% agree - too hot/too much spice!
As I thought about it and my OCD system - I am pretty sure I screwed up somewhere with the rub and added too much heat (and perhaps too little of something else)?
Oh well, that's the way it goes and I do think I received ok scores for appearance.  If anything the sauce is probably a bit thick and some really just don't like the uniform look!
Regardless, it was a fun time, fun experience where I learned, made great friends and memories!  I thank all who were there and esp. Larry for making it happen.  My post is way off topic now so I will stop and just say I hope we can make an AR PelletFan appearance happen in 2018!!
Dan

Edit - I found my list - perhaps not super helpful but gives you an idea (attached)
It does not talk about the trimming and prep as I did that all before hand.
I built custom tongs to hold the thighs for removal and dunking
etc, etc
The boxes for actual time on the clock