BBQ Tips

Champion Pitmaster Christie Vanover shares her seven key tips to smoking the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. Learn how she picks the right size bird, makes it super juicy and creates craveable crispy skin.     Girls Can Grill Rubs https://shop.girlscangrill.com/     Buy her new books on Amazon now! Holiday Grilling: https://amzn.to/4eKkVko Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book: https://amzn.to/46q7xPl  ...

Champion Pitmaster Christie Vanover's award-winning BBQ rubs are back on the market. Learn all about the spice production process, the flavor profiles of each of her blends and where you can buy them. Girls Can Grill Rubs https://shop.girlscangrill.com/     Buy her new books on Amazon now! Holiday Grilling: https://amzn.to/4eKkVko Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book: https://amzn.to/46q7xPl    Comp...

Ninja Grill owners struggle with finding recipes and information tailored to their style of grill. Well, Pitmaster Christie Vanover just launched a new website dedicated to Ninja Grills. She shares all the details in this week's BBQ Tips Podcast. Girls Can Grill Rubs Coming Soon! https://shop.girlscangrill.com/     Buy her new books on Amazon now! Holiday Grilling: https://amzn.to/4eKkVko Steak Co...

Pitmaster Christie Vanover just got back from judging the 2024 Jack Daniel's World Championships. Find out what she thought about the entries she judged and what trends she saw.   Girls Can Grill Rubs Coming Soon! https://shop.girlscangrill.com/   Buy her new books on Amazon now! Holiday Grilling: https://amzn.to/4eKkVko Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book: https://amzn.to/46q7xPl    Competition BB...

Beef plate ribs are impressive on their own. When you turn them into smoked pastrami beef ribs, they're an amazing display of meat on a stick. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast, champion pitmaster Christie Vanover walks you through her technique.  Holiday Grilling Cookbook Available Now! https://amzn.to/4eKkVko Links mentioned in this episode: Pastrami Beef Ribs Recipe: https://girlscangrill.com/rec...

For those headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee, for the Jack Daniel's BBQ World Championships, Pitmaster Christie Vanover has some tips for how to get the most out of Lynchburg.  This week's BBQ Tips Podcast shares information about team load-in, the parade, Barbecue Hill and the extra activities you should make time for.  Links mentioned in this episode: Distillery Tour: https://www.jackdaniels.com/en-...

Pitmaster Christie Vanover loves entering the dessert category in BBQ competitions. She usually takes first place with a perfect score. But she made one critical error when competing at the Jack. Find out what that was and how to avoid it at your next competition. Girls Can Grill Rubs Coming Soon! https://girls-can-grill.myshopify.com/   Buy her new books on Amazon now! Steak Cookoff Score Sheet L...

The top barbecue teams from around the world will be competing in the Jack Daniel's BBQ World Championships in October. Several will enter the Cook's Choice category, which is where they can get really creative and show their culinary point of view. Pitmaster Christie Vanover, who has both cooked and judged the Jack, shares examples of what she and other teams have turned in.  Buy her new books on...

The Jack Daniel's BBQ World Invitational has ancillary categories in addition to the four main meats. Pitmaster Christie Vanover, who has both cooked and judged the Jack, shares why you should enter the sauce category along with her secrets for getting top scores.   Buy her new books on Amazon now! Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book:  https://amzn.to/46q7xPl    Competition BBQ Scores Log Book:  ht...

There are fewer BBQ competitions happening this fall. Teams and judges are hungry for more, so what's happening? Champion pitmaster Christie Vanover has a hunch she's figured out what's going on..  Buy her new books on Amazon now! Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book:  https://amzn.to/46q7xPl    Competition BBQ Scores Log Book:  https://amzn.to/3xPJMUe    Links mentioned in this episode: BBQ Jackpot...

Teams around the country are on pins and needles waiting to find out if they qualified to compete in the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BBQ. The draw is taking place Aug. 8. Champion Pitmaster Christie Vanover has cooked and judged the Jack. In this week's episode, she explains how the draw works.  CORRECTION: In this podcast when explaining the trickle effect, I said that the home...

Champion Pitmaster Christie Vanover is bringing KCBS back to Vegas with the BBQ Jackpot Master Series Competition. It will be held in December at Bass Pro Shops and promises to be the Biggest BBQ Bash in Sin City. Tune in to learn all about how you can compete, judge or even sponsor the event.   Buy her new books on Amazon now! Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book: https://amzn.to/3yjOPfN   Competit...

The SCA Steak Cookoff Association is an internationally sanctioned competition BBQ organization that's taken the world by storm. Champion pitmaster Christie Vanover shares how the contests work, from steak selection to judging. Buy her new books on Amazon now! Steak Cookoff Score Sheet Log Book: https://amzn.to/3yjOPfN   Competition BBQ Scores Log Book:  https://amzn.to/3xPJMUe      Links mentione...

Christie Vanover is not only a champion pitmaster. She has also built and managed brand identities for companies for around 30 years. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast, she shares her three golden rules for building a successful barbecue brand.  Buy her new book on Amazon now! Competition BBQ Scores Log Book:  https://amzn.to/3xPJMUe   Links mentioned in this episode: Social Search: https://www.name...

Champion pitmaster Christie Vanover just launched a new book to help competition cooks improve their results. Plus, she shares some updates from the KCBS Board of Directors related to the West Coast.  Links mentioned in this episode: NEW Competition BBQ Score Sheets Log Book: https://amzn.to/3xPJMUe   Digital KCBS Calculated Scores Spreadsheet: https://mailchi.mp/girlscangrill/kcbs-scores KCBS Jul...

Last week, Pitmaster Christie Vanover teased that she might go all out and get risky with her competition BBQ turn ins. Well, she did just that at a competition in California. Find out what changes she made and how the judges reacted.  Links mentioned in this episode: Competition Chicken Legs: https://girlscangrill.com/competition-bbq/how-to-smoke-competition-chicken-legs/ Snake River Farms Briske...

Do you have the guts to take a risk? To be bold? To be different? In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast, Pitmaster Christie Vanover shares why she's getting a little bit bored with competition BBQ. Find out why and what she plans to do about it. ------------------------- Prefer to watch this podcast?  Subscribe to the Girls Can Grill YouTube channel at:  https://www.youtube.com/c/girlscangrill?sub_confi...

ThermoWorks just announced that it's going wireless! Pitmaster Christie Vanover was at their headquarters when they unveiled their first wireless leave-in thermometer - the RFX Meat.  In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast she shares how the RFX Meat works and how it has overcome the problems that many other wireless thermometers face. She also explains the Thermoworks products that she uses regularly an...

Does this sentence make any sense to you? "I'm going to put my A9 flat on the barrel after it has blue smoke and look for some bark before I do the Texas crutch. Hopefully, that bend is good enough for a call." If not, you should definitely listen to this episode of the BBQ Tips Podcast. Pitmaster, Christie Vanover is going to break down some of the popular slang terms used in the world of BBQ. So...

When you're serious about competition BBQ, you're probably ready for a competition BBQ trailer. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast, Pitmaster Christie Vanover shares her trailer evolution, the type that she is currently using and what sets it apart from others she's tried. Links mentioned in this episode: Dune Sport Toy Haulers: https://dunesport.com/ ------------------------- Prefer to watch this po...

When you get your KCBS BBQ results, they can look confusing. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast Pitmaster Christie Vanover breaks down what all the numbers mean. That way you can fully understand your KCBS BBQ scores, which will help you up your competition BBQ game. FREE KCBS CALCULATED SCORES SPREADSHEET: https://mailchi.mp/girlscangrill/kcbs-scores Links mentioned in this episode: KCBS Event Resul...

Pitmaster Christie Vanover has talked a lot about barbecuing at hotter temperatures. She finds the best way to do that is on a drum smoker. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast she shares the pros and cons about four drum smokers she's cooked on and which one she likes best.    Links mentioned in this episode: Pit Barrel Smoker:  https://homedepot.sjv.io/q4Mv7N   Oklahoma Joe's Bronco: https://girlscan...

We are down to our final KCBS competition meat. Pitmaster Christie Vanover has shared her winning BBQ Tips for chicken, ribs and pork. Now it's time for brisket. Brisket is the one meat in a BBQ competition that if you can nail it, you have a really good chance at being grand champion.   Links mentioned in this episode: Proud Souls BBQ Class: https://www.proudsoulsbbq.com/bbq-classes   How to sepa...

Pork butt is pitmaster Christie Vanover's number one KCBS meat category. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast, she goes over the judging rules and shares her winning secrets for competition pork.  Links mentioned in this episode: Competition Pork Butt Recipe:  https://girlscangrill.com/recipe/competition-pork-butt/     Prefer to watch this podcast?  Subscribe to the Girls Can Grill YouTube channel at: ...

Tenderness seems to be what gets everybody tripped up in the KCBS rib category. We always hear the phrase fall-off-the-bone ribs. That is not good in a competition. In a competition, that's considered overdone. The challenge is finding the balance. In this week's BBQ Tips Podcast, pitmaster Christie Vanover shares her process for competition BBQ pork ribs.  Links mentioned in this episode: Competi...