Grand Champion BBQ Competition Wins!
Pitmaster Club members Powersmoke_80 and Juddlight attended their first local BBQ competition held at Dark Horse Brewing Company in Marshall, MI. 

The duo, whose team name is Polish Smoke, used Powersmoke_80's (a.k.a. Dean) customized offset and two Weber kettles each equipped with a Slow 'N Sear.

"Out of 40 teams in the Pro Division," says Dean, "we took 3rd in ribs and 3rd in Pork Butt and ended up as the Grand Champions of the Dark Horse Brewing 8th annual Smoke Off!"

Pit members Powersmoke_80, left, and Juddlight, right.
 
"Just wanted to thank AR and the Pit members for all the knowledge and help over the years and my team mate Juddlight,"  says Dean.  The event also raised over $21,000 for a local charity.

From all of us at AmazingRibs.com, well done boys!
Another Pitmaster Club Grand Champion Win!
Another Pit member and moderator, Candy Sue Weaver a.k.a. CandySueQ, recently took home her very own Grand Champion title from KCBS's "Smokin' On The Prairie BBQ Cook-off"  in Stuttgart, Arkansas on April 28, 29. 

"By 0.0116 of a point, I won GC this past Saturday! 4th in Chicken, 3rd in Ribs, 4th in pork & 11th in Brisket," states Candy Sue.

She tells us her competition team BBQR's Delight consists of 3 people, "me, myself and I".  We're sure happy all three of them could work together like this and make all of us proud!  Here's a picture of her and the other winners.

See CandySueQ's topic on the event and her pictures in The Pit.

Candy's currently in position 6 overall, and that's not counting the recent Grand Champion win!  "The [win] is just the cherry on top when you get one. The travel, the prep (and cleanup) work, the cooking and comradery with fellow cooks, the presentation and the anticipation at awards is all part of the process. It's all grand!" she says.

She plans to cook 16-18 contests this year, mostly KCBS.  Equally as impressive, her current cooker count is up to a staggering 19! Will she stop?  We hope not!  Keep up with her experiences as well as others in the Competitive Cooking channel in The Pit, and be sure to check out her informative topic on what you'll need to make sure of if YOU want to compete!

Welcome to Our New Moderator, Henrik!
We are proud to announce that a familiar Pitmaster Club member by the name of Henrik Oscarsson, whom we simply call Henrik, has joined our team as our newest moderator.
 
Henrik hails from Stockholm, Sweden. Born & raised on a farm with a castle in southern Sweden, Henrik was an exchange student in the USA in Iola, Kansas during his high school years.  He relocated to his nation's capital, Stockholm. He lives in the big city but also has a country home about an hour's drive away but he still BBQs in the city too.

Impressively, he's more fluent in English than myself or Meathead {clearly, Huskee, since the correct grammar would be "Meathead or I", MH}! He currently works as a computer engineer, writing real-time financial trading applications, specializing in performance. He has since broadened his software engineer practice so he now works with performance in general for various projects. "Basically they call me in when it needs fixing and don't know how", Henrik said.

He discovered his passion for food later in life, and after looking at recipes verbatim like the engineer he is, he realized he could experiment and create new and exciting things by making subtle or sometimes not so subtle changes. In 2013 he felt he was working too much. He was able to take 5 months off to de-stress and cook cook cook! He focused on BBQ during this time, and seriously upped his game. As many of you know from seeing his pictures, his endeavors have paid off, the man knows his way around a smoker and grill! Henrik also recently finished work on his own homemade and self-designed stickburning offset smoker, "Rude Boy", to complement his Big Green Egg and his Slow 'N Sear-equipped Weber kettle.

We are thrilled to have such a talented and passionate pitmaster join our team!  Give your congratulations to Henrik in The Pit!

Meet the team!
Are you new to the Pitmaster Club and you'd like to know what other names & faces help run things 'round these parts?  Be sure to visit our Introduce Yourself > Meet the Staff! sub-channel to find introductions & brief bios from past & present moderators, administrators, IT, and ancillary talent that help create and run things at Earth's favorite barbecue website!

The PitCast With Greg Rempe Reaches its 1-year Anniversary!
Greg Rempe's "PitCast", the podcast exclusive to Pitmaster Club members, reaches the 1-year mark (53 weekly episodes and counting). Congratulations, Greg and keep 'em coming!

Greg tells us some exciting changes are coming!  "I have some great interviews lined up with some very active [Pit] members", he says, and he'll be "instituting some very regular insight from our moderator group here at AmazingRibs.com".  His goal is to be "very Pitmaster Club-focused" going forward. 

But that doesn't mean just staff, that means all of us.
 
"This is going to be the year that YOU need to be heard!  I want to talk to you, I want to interview you... so hit me up in the PitCast forum...I will reply back, we will get you booked ," he says.  And he adds, "if you're really good we will do it on a regular basis."

Be sure to catch the official year-marker 52nd episode featuring a classic 2006 "ribs round table" interview with a few well known names in barbecue, including some guy named Meathead.
Congratulations to April's Gold Medal Giveaway Winner, OldnSlow!
April's GMG winner, OldnSlow (a.k.a. Bill Shisler) had only been a member for a few weeks, but his recent choice to join up with fellow pitmasters in our Pitmaster Club sure paid off big. 

"I just joined AmazingRibs.com last month and boom! I hit the monthly draw! I've only been smoking for a little over a year and I've been researching a new charcoal cooker. Timing of this windfall couldn't be better but I'm not sure what to pick given my inexperience."  Bill ended up picking The Good One- Open Range.  I'd say as far as choices go, that surely was a good one!  [buddum tiss]

Be sure to send OldnSlow your "congrats" in his announcement topic in The Pit . 

And remember, next month's winner could be you, so keep @AmazingRibs.com on your email safe list!
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
Pequod's Authentic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
While many of us may view the smoker and grill as a device primarily for meats, Pequod shares a recipe for what just may be the world's favorite food, pizza, cooked on your smoker!  A classic Chicago Deep Dish-style pizza, from the crust to the sauce to the bake, in "excruciating detail"!  Warning- those on a diet plan may wish avoid this temptation!

Here's a sneak peek at what the recipe will get you...
Show Us What You're Cookin'!
Memorial Day on May 29 might be the unofficial start of summer and grilling season for some, but in The Pit your fellow Club members often know no seasonal boundaries.  They've been at work this whole time smoking up delectable proteins, breads, and other fancy feasts.  Here's a small sampling of the last month's presentations:

Check out one more from Charter Member Pequod, this time an outstanding tea-smoked duck smoked on a Komodo Kamado which went toward some mouth-watering duck tacos.  Have you seen a more beautiful color?




Charter Member JeffJ shares his Easter Buffalo wings cooked on his 22" Weber kettle with the Slow 'N Sear. The wing joints in his area might want to take some notes!


Another Charter Member, Breadhead, shares his outstanding Big Green Egg pork butt cook.  "I preheated the BGE and...set the Pit cooking temperature at 225° and let the DigiQ Dx2 do its thing... and went to bed," he says.
 
"I never wrap my pork butts. I never power through the stall. This was a 15 hour cook and I put it in the faux cambro for 3 hours and dinner was served at 5:00pm... just as planned."  Can pulled pork look any better?




What about you? Do you wrap your BBQ meats or go unwrapped?  Tell us your preferred method of "low & slow" in the Recipes and Techniques channel in The Pit.

Not everything needs cooked outside....um, right?  Charter Member  bbqoaf from Canada shares this outrageous shot of his "indoor reverse seared rib chop" .  Nicely done, sir!


Pit member notavegan's "smashed cast iron chuck burgers" just might be enough to win over a staunch vegan!  If only we could slide a hand right into our screens.


DWCowles, the man of many cookers, was hard at work a couple of weeks ago smoking up this tasty looking smoked meatloaf on his REC TEC. "I was just mostly experimenting with this meatloaf. I have to say it did turn out very good and everyone really liked it. I started with 3 lbs of ground beef and 1 lb of ground pork followed by..." check out the rest of his secret recipe here!




 

Hulagn1971 turned out some killer salmon on his grill.  "Fresh salmon that had a basic brown sugar, cumin, ancho chili powder, salt and pepper rub", he says. 






PJBowmaster puts a more economical spin on "steak night" with this impressive presentation of a very underrated cut, the chuck eye steak, a.k.a. the poor man's ribeye.


Wrapping things up in this month's Show Us What You're Cookin'! highlight reel, and proving that we cook more than meat is Thunder77's Easter dinner bread basket, with regular white dinner rolls and his steakhouse brown bread. I'd be thrilled to see this basket on my dinner table, how about you?

Scottranda Meets Tuffy Stone
Pit member scottranda (a.k.a. Scott) recently attended the KCBS "Jiggy with the Piggy"  BBQ competition in Kannapolis, NC, which included a cooking demo with legendary pitmaster Tuffy Stone. 

"We got there and walked around to all the different vendors and BBQ teams. Then, at 11am, we went to Tuffy's demonstration. He came out and shook a few hands and took some pictures," he says.
 
"He demonstrated how to prepare a pork tenderloin with a celery seed rub and cream cheese and jalapeño stuffing. I didn't get to taste it, but it looked good!"


Scott was also able to get a keepsake photo with Tuffy!  Could they be long lost brothers?

If you haven't listened to Meathead's interview with Tuffy, here it is. Some pretty good brisket stuff.

Have you had a chance to attend a cooking class or even meet a BBQ/cooking personality?  Start a topic and tell us about it in The Pit!
"Best Craigslist Find, Ever!"
Pit member Sephon from Pennsylvania USA was thrilled to find, as he puts it, the "best Craigslist find, ever!", a Primo Oval XL kamado on Craigslist.com with lots of extras!

"For months and months I have been searching Craigslist for a Primo Oval XL. I've traditionally stuck to the Pittsburgh and north area. On a whim, I extended the search radius to include West Virginia," he writes.

"Bingo. Primo Oval XL, Teak table, drip pan racks, new firebox, firebox divider, extra dome thermometer, extra gasket, extender rack, 3 ash tools, 3 grate lifters, BBQ Dragon, Looflighter, MAP torch, Primo cover for table and grill, and 1 bag of Primo charcoal."

The teak wood table was in need of some serious TLC & elbow grease, and Sephon was up to the challenge.  Take a look at the before & after shots:

Nice work Sephon!

If you're thinking about a refurb of your own and need a little encouragement from your fellow members, or have completed refinishing a grill or smoker and want to brag about it, visit our Grills & Smokers channel in The Pit and brag away!
Cartoons by Jerry King
In case you've missed them, we've been delighted to share with our members weekly cartoons from one of the worlds most published cartoonists, Jerry King!  Jerry creates these BBQ cartoons just for us, and lately he's been including Pit members and even Meathead in his drawings.  It seems no one is off limits!

Be sure to scan through our collection of Jerry's BBQ cartoons and pick a favorite or three!  Do you have an idea for a cartoon?  Let us know in The Pit!

Know a Good BBQ Joint?
Summer's coming FAST, and we know many of you will be busy making plans to travel. If you're wondering about local BBQ joints you may stumble upon in your travels, or if you discover one or two worth sharing (or warning us about!) be sure to visit our Members Reviews > BBQ Restaurant Roundup channel.  There are sub-channels covering all 50 US states as well as over 15 other countries, so browse, learn & share!
 
Member "Meat-Ups"
You'll likely remember that back in February 2017 AmazingRibs.com together with GrillGrate, hosted the first ever large scale Member "Meat-Up" in Green Turtle Cay, Bahamas.  We shared some pictures, stories, and highlights back in the March issue of this newsletter.  Meathead even shared the recipe for the famous Tipsy Turtle island cocktail!  Is it good?  "We went through 22 gallons of it", Meathead says.  So, yeah!

In case you missed it, here's a recap video that highlights some of the events but only a fraction of the fun:
 


We're already planning the next big "Meat-up" for next summer! 

Plans for 2018 are currently settled on a more central USA location- Memphis,Tennessee, June 8-9 with optional activities on June 7 and 10.  To see what's in the works at this early stage, and/or to offer some suggestions on what you'd like to do or see, please visit our Pit topic: "International Meat-Up in Memphis in June 2018?" and let us know what you think!
"Thanks AmazingRibs"
Pit Charter Member Obi-Dan wrote this nice note of appreciation, not only to AmazingRibs.com, but also to YOU:

"So I asked my wife last night what she wanted our daughter and me to do her Mother's Day celebration. After the obligatory request that we make it to church on time for once (she's in the choir so we take different cars) she said what she really wanted was a pulled pork dinner with slaw and Hawaiian rolls. For Mother's Day she wants me to make BBQ. Makes my heart warm.

"We are celebrating with my mom the following weekend due to some scheduling issues. I asked her what she wanted to do. Her first response was, "Can you smoke Cornish Hens in your smoker? Because I love those and haven't had them in years.

"I can't express what joy getting into smoking and better grilling has brought to me and my friends and family. I'm so thankful to the friend who pointed me to this site. And I'm thankful to all the fellow chefs here in The Pit who know, share, and teach so much."

Thanks for the nice words, Obi-Dan!

If AmazingRibs.com and recipes from Meathead, Chef Ryan, and Clint Cantwell have upped your game, let us know. Tell us your favorites in MillerTime's fun topic, "Your top 3 AR Recipes?"
 
Need Help?
Not everyone feels at home in an online forum such as The Pit.  If that's you and you're occasionally finding yourself lost & wondering how to get around, how to post a picture, where to post a topic or find a topic that interests you, we have few select topics that may help!

The Pit's Welcome! and Tutorials channel- this contains:

The Pit's Help! & Suggestion Box channel- start a new topic here, or scan through previous topics here, if: 

  • The tutorials don't help you or don't address your particular trouble, or
  • If you have a suggestion for something you think could be addressed, fixed, upgraded, smoothed out, a bug you're experiencing, etc., post the details here and if it's something we can pass on to the IT department, we'll do so!

All of us, together with our great IT experts, will continually work to make the Pitmaster Club an ever-improving experience for you!  

 
vBulletin And Drupal Experts Needed!
The Pitmaster Club runs on specialized software called vBulletin that we have extensively customized. We badly need a vB jock who can really make The Pit better, and we have a nice long list of things to do.

We also require a Drupal Developer to assist in building, testing, and deploying a database to house the majority of our website.

Want to work for the world's most popular barbecue and grilling website? And call your boss "Meathead"?
"Hot From The Pit" is the exclusive members only newsletter of the AmazingRibs.com Pitmaster Club from Aaron "Huskee" Lyons, Manager, Pitmaster Club.

For past issues, check out the newsletter archive in The Pit.