We love grilling so much, my husband has been known to be out there in the fall…in the dark…with a headlamp on, adding a parka in the full-on winter. Can you relate? What we haven’t tried is smoking meats because, well, we don’t own a smoker, and we weren’t sure what we were doing. By the way, I’m referring to the “royal we” here because it’s all my husband, with me warm inside the house making the side dishes! Recently though, we both got to attend a Backyard Pitmasters Colorado class about smoked meats and now we can’t wait to put the knowledge to use in our own yard.
Backyard Pitmasters Colorado is the first franchise of the Houston-based Backyard Pitmasters, which holds classes in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. The local version is owned by Tony and Sarah Bolding who, in addition to their day jobs in the advertising biz, spend their weekends hitching their big, shiny, red smoker to their pickup to take their classes on the road.
The couple partners with local breweries, cideries, and wineries to hold the classes which include BrisketU, ChickensU, SeafoodU, RibsU, TurkeyU, and the new Pitmaster360 Class. Taking their equipment and classes to these local spots works out great for everyone. The sipping spots get to offer something new to their existing customers while Backyard Pitmasters Colorado brings them new customers. With classes held from Boulder to Colorado Springs, that means more people get to develop or amp their BBQ skills.
Students are given a booklet in which to make notes as they follow along. It accompanies Tony Bolding’s curriculum of covering the different types of grills and smokers, the best types of wood for different meats, tools, preparation, cooking time and temperature, solutions for potential variables, and recipes for rubs and sauces. Unlike a traditional cooking class in which students are making the food hands-on, these classes are primarily visual with Tony demonstrating techniques. However, there are opportunities to get more involved including a clever way to let students smell the essence that different types of woods impart into the food, test meats for doneness and, best of all, eat samples of the finished products.
“My passion for learning and cooking (not competing) is what has led my wife and I to start Backyard Pitmasters in Colorado. I want to share all the information I have to help anyone who wants to become a better bbq cook,” says Tony. “Am I a better pitmaster than anyone else in Colorado? No. But I have thousands of hours of experience cooking thousands of pounds of meat. I feel like what me and my team cook and sample in our classes can hold up to any other bbq around. I have been told by many that it’s some of the best they’ve ever tasted. I’m not sure how high that bar of comparison is, but I’ll take it!’
Tony was gracious enough to share some of his best tips with In Good Taste Denver readers from his Backyard Pitmasters Colorado classes:
Smoker 101
The most important thing that has to be learned first is how to properly run and manage your smoker. Airflow is key to managing temperature. Understanding how airflow works in your smoker will allow you to cook consistently and efficiently.
Use this toast test: Put pieces of white bread across your cooking racks in all different areas. If you have more than one level of racks, do this on all of them. You want to cover the key areas (corners, middle etc.). Let the bread cook on your smoker for 10 minutes. After that time, take off the bread and compare the bottoms and tops from each area to see which cooked more and which cooked less. This helps you learn where the hotter and cooler areas are on the smoker so that, when you cook meat, you know where to put it to cook it the most efficiently. Follow this up with inexpensive meat (do not waste money on expensive cuts for this purpose), like chicken wings to test what you have learned and really get to know your smoker. If you cannot maintain heat and consistent temperature and know the best spots to cook on your smoker, you won’t be able to cook quality meat consistently.
Smoker 202
You need to know how to ramp up the temperature of your pit 10-15 degrees without it having a drastic increase in temperature quickly. Load new fuel (charcoal coals or lump, wood chunks, sticks of wood) from the sides or back of the fire pushing them into the lower edges. Do NOT add fuel to the top of the coal bed/fire because it will ignite quickly and will drastically increase the temperature/spike. Heat management is key to quality cooking.
Smoker 303
Always use a water pan in your smokers. Moisture helps increase the quality of heat inside the smoker. Damp heat cooks better than dry heat. You want the flattest water pan your smoker will allow. Taller/skinnier pans do not output as much steam as flatter wider pans. Any pan is better than no pan if the space in the smoker only allows for taller/skinnier pans though. You just need water to create STEAM.
Other tips we came away with from the class:
Buy really good quality meats with good marbling, making sure there are no cuts or leaks in the packaging when buying it from the store. You’re more likely to get great quality meat from your local butcher though and Colorado has many. When you can’t find the kind you like, we like, and Backyard Pitmasters recommends, D’Artagnon. Don’t just stick with pork for ribs – beef and lamb ribs are also delicious.
Shake the bottle of seasonings before sprinkling them on to mix them thoroughly because the various ingredients will have settled.
Cooking meat bone-in does NOT add additional flavor as many people think.
Cooking until meat falls off the bone does not mean it’s at the peak of tenderness, it means it’s actually overdone. The bone should be a little glisteny, not white.
“Our classes are not about competition,” says Tony. “Yes, we teach some tips and tricks that can definitely help someone competing but we’re teaching anyone who wants to cook the building blocks, from beginning to end of a cook, to be able to confidently and successfully smoke meat and share it with their friends and family.
“I want the class to learn from my mistakes so they don’t have to suffer through them and waste time and money on meat and cooking for it to not turn out the best that it can!”
To learn more about Backyard Pitmasters Colorado and to sign up for classes, visit their website, here. Their newest class is Pitmaster360 which offers a 360-degree view of smoked brisket, St. Louis-style ribs, and a Pitmaster Instructor’s Choice of a third protein that will round out anyone’s backyard BBQ prowess. This is a great choice for increasing your overall knowledge and skill for smoking meats at home.
NOTE: They have a Father’s Day promo going on, the Father’s Day Gift Box for $139 (value $200) which includes one class voucher good for any Pitmaster360, BrisketU, or RibsU class for the rest of the year + Backyard Pitmaster pint glass + Thermoworks Thermopop digital probe thermometer + additional BBQ accessories and swag.
-Story and photos by Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher and Managing Editor of InGoodTasteDenver.com.
Please note: We were hosted by Backyard Pitmasters Colorado to help facilitate this article. However, as is always the case, that does not influence our opinions which remain honest and true to our readers.
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