Attending a BBQ Bootcamp really is basic training

Hal Wagner, owner of Charcoal & More, right

To some, barbecue is a form of alchemy, which has been defined as “philosophical tradition whose practitioners have, from antiquity, claimed it to be the precursor to profound powers.”

But as I learned recently at a “BBQ Bootcamp,” preparing good quality food over indirect heat isn’t all that complicated, especially when someone shows you the way. 

Recently, I was among about 20 people who attended a four-hour class hosted by Hal Wagner, owner of Charcoal & More in Sellersburg, Ind. Our group included backyard barbecuers such as myself, as well as others who dabbled in competitions and even some who run the pits at restaurants (including Bloomington’s own Short Stop and Louisville’s Rob-a-Que).   

“I guarantee a good time will be had by all, as well as the possibility of lapsing into a condition commonly referred to as the ‘Meat Sweats,’” Wagner told me when he extended the invitation to attend. 

“We’re going to cook the way we like. We don’t know what you like yet, but that’s for you guys to figure out and we’ll help you along the way,” said Wagner, during his introductory remarks to the class. “We’re going to have some fun.”

Chris Marks demonstrates how to prepare ribs

Our instructor was none other than Chris Marks, winner of more than 40 barbecue competitions across the country, including the American Royal Championship eight times, who I introduced you to earlier this year. He teaches about 75 classes across the United States each year.

“I love teaching barbecue and I love showing people how to do it right,” Marks said. “Where they take it, that’s what I want to hear. I have a lot of people from five or six years ago, when I started to teach classes, who’ve told me how successful they are. The thing that makes me the happiest is when some guy says, ‘My wife really liked this – this was the first time that she’s eaten my barbecue.’”

During the class, Marks used TheGood One brand of smokers, which he designed, but it wasn’t an infomercial. He demonstrated how to “build” baby back ribs, spare ribs, pork shoulder and chicken, beef brisket and scotch eggs in the smoker, which we then were able to sample.

“When we build a rib – notice that I said ‘build’ – we’re going to build it up into layers … We’re going to want to taste the meat. We’re going to want to taste the rub. We’re going to want to taste the smoke,” he told us. “Notice I didn’t say anything about saucing the meat, that’s where you personalize it.”

Out of respect for Marks, I won’t divulge too many of his class tips, but here are a few of his suggestions: 

1. Avoid the "Texas Crutch" 

Aluminum foil, which Marks and others call “the TexasCrutch,” shouldn’t be used because it parboils the meat. When you wrap your meat in the foil, it can lead to a “doughy bite” instead of getting something firm to bite into. All the fat and connective tissues have been rendered out along with a lot of the flavor.

“When you see ‘falling off the bone’ ribs, what do you see it in? Sauce. There’s a reason, because they know they’re dry,” he noted. 

2. Remove the membrane and tenderize your ribs 

After removing the membrane next to the bones, use a folk and poke holes through the meat between each rib. Not only does this tenderize the meat, but it will make them easier to eat later. 

3. Have some mustard handy 

Before applying your dry rub on the meat, put some yellow mustard on first to build your base.

A properly prepared rack of ribs

Marks recommends using just plain old yellow mustard – no honey Dijon or Grey Poupon. The mustard acts as a binding agent between the meat and your spice rubs. It will cook completely off but will enable you to build a crust of flavors coming from your various rubs. This crust also will lock in juices, aka flavor. 

4. Use the mustard and rubs, not marinades, to build flavor 

“Understand this: meat is not a sponge,” Marks said. “If I sit there and spritz and spray it all day, is it going to be absorbed down into the meat? No. Pretty much what it’s going to do is wash away the work you did to build up a great rub.”

Marks is not a big fan of marinades, but believes that meat brines can be useful, particularly with chicken, turkey and hams.

In his rubs, Marks doesn’t use brown sugar because it tends to burn during the cooking process and can thus add a bitter flavor.

5. Watch your temperature to decide when to use wood smoke 

A final tip: The nitrates and nitrites that come from the salt in your rub will interact with the pigment from the wood you are using to smoke your meat primarily when the meat temperature is between 140 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit. For most people, this happens during the first two hours of your cook.

BBQ Bootcamp offers ample opportunities for sampling

Keep in mind that if you are cooking at a higher temperature that your window for adding a smoked flavor will be much shorter as a result. That’s why “low and slow” is more often preferred. Marks prefers to keep his meat temperatures between 225 and 250 degrees at all times.

“As the meat cooks, that cell structure is going to relax and the better it’s going to be,” he said. “The slower that we can do it, the more flavor we’re going to enhance and the physics back that up.”

Adding more wood after the first two hours will have a tendency to make the outside of your meat darker, but won’t add more inside flavor (By the way, Marks is a “wild cherry kind of guy”).

Marks was very friendly and open to questions both during and after the class. “I help people all the time on the phone, even high-end restaurants who call me, wanting to know how to do it right,” he said, after mentioning that we could follow up with him later via email and Facebook. 

Charcoal and More will be hosting another BBQ Bootcamp just outside of Louisville in Sellersburg, Ind., on Aug. 23-24. For more information, call 812-248-2233 or send an email to info@charcoalandmore.com.

An interview with eight-time American Royal BBQ Cookoff grand champion Chris Marks

Chris Marks at one of his Good Ones

It’s not every day when I am able to sit down with an eight-time grand champion of the American Royal BBQ Cookoff in Kansas City. A while back, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Marks, chief cook of the Three Little Pigs barbecue team, while he was visiting Bloomington.

Marks was in town to offer support to our favorite hometown barbecue joint, Short Stop Food Mart, and to give cooking demonstrations and share recipes. He also brought along some things Hoosiers wouldn’t see unless they’re traveling, such as alligator.

Marks also is the winner of more than 40 national barbecue competitions, including at the Jack Daniels World Sauce Championship.

The Kansas City native was introduced to barbecue at a young age by his father Larry -- known as “Boss Hawg” – who created the Three Little Pigs team. “He was a great backyard barbecuer,” he recalled. 

It all began when his father received a smoker as a present after retiring from Hallmark in 1991. Soon, Larry entered a local contest and won his first ribbon. The family incorporated the team the following year.

“My Dad more or less was the ‘promotion guy.’ He was the guy walking around doing all the talking,” Marks said. “Me and my Mom were in the background doing all the cooking and it worked very well that way.” 

The Marks’ are friends with the “Baron of Barbecue,” Paul Kirk, and after Larry took one of his classes about smoking, the family never went back to grilling.

The younger Marks got his first taste of victory in 1993 in McLouth, Kan., beating out about 35 teams. “The excitement nearly caused my Dad to have a heart attack,” he remembered.

From that point on, the Three Little Pigs team tasted victory many times over a 10-year period starting in 1994. Chris took over the team after his father’s death in 1997.

A close up of what made Marks successful

But competition barbecue is different today, Marks noted. Back then, there were no consistent standards and specifications for the judges to follow. Judging was more subjective and based more on personal preferences about tastes.

“There was no judging training back then,” he said. “You better know how to cook well, because the judges just came off the streets. If they didn’t like it, you were toast.

“It would be interesting to see how the some of the teams that are doing well now would have done back 10 years ago.”

You may also have seen Marks on television programs such as “Taste of America” on the Food Network and “BBQ Battle” on the Travel Channel. He is fond of those largely unscripted shows which really showed how barbecue is done. “It was just smoke, no mirrors,” he added. “And it was an absolute ball.”

More recently, he’s observed that producers of some barbecue-themed shows are more into perpetuating stereotypes than really showing how it’s done. Shortly before we spoke, Marks had been in discussions with a network but was dropped from the project because he and others “weren’t Bubba enough.”

“We weren’t what they were looking for and they ended up putting on a guy on who cooked on a half-drum with overalls and beard and he flipped ribs,” he told me. “It about the perception out there.”

Today, Marks doesn’t compete very often. He is the face and chief consultant of Good One Manufacturing brand of smokers and grills – which has more than 200 dealers around the country -- and also sells natural lump charcoal, rubs and sauces. He travels with his wife around the country teaches at more than 75 BBQ Boot Camps last year.

This week, he is attending the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association Expo in Salt Lake City.

His parents developed the recipes for the rubs still sold today.

“It started out as my hobby and I turned it into a job,” Marks said. “I love what I am doing and I love teaching.”

The recipes for Three Little Pigs’ rubs were developed by his parents and the sauces were created as tribute to his father. Rather than one rub for all kinds of meats, his gluten-free rubs are separately designed for beef, pork and poultry. They sell three different sauces.

Much of what is written about barbecue focuses on particular states and regions, such as the Carolinas, the Deep South, Texas, Memphis and Marks’ home town of Kansas City. But with the growing popularity of barbecue nationwide, Marks has seen it migrating to new places where new regional flavors have been added.

For example, out West, in Arizona and California, he’s seen the pit flavors, but instead of tomato and vinegar-based sauces, people are using marmalades and other fruit glazes.

“You build a great flavor profile and then you put on it what you like,” he said. “It’s about the person. That’s what I teach and that’s what I want people to understand … You’ve got to develop your own style, you’ve got to make it personal.”

Marks is a purest. He prefers natural woods and charcoals over gas and wood pellets. He also understands why people in other regions may knock anything non-traditional.

“It all about adapting,” he said. “The great thing about Kansas City is we do all styles. We do them all and we really don’t care. Some other places, I tell you, they won’t budge but it’s their loss.”