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)
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