Every year in Kansas City, MO a hundred thousand people flock to the prestigious American Royal Barbecue competition to eat, drink, and listen to live music with the fantastic aroma of barbecue smoke in the air.
Over the course of 3 days, around 500 teams from all over the world will compete in what has become known as the World Series of Barbecue.
If you've ever been to one of these as a competitor or a spectator, then you know what I'm talking about.
I've had the pleasure of competing in the American Royal and I can't describe to you the incredible feeling of having your name called when award winners are being announced.
It truly is the highest honor in barbecue competitions.
If you are reading this article, you are no doubt a lover of barbecue.
Perhaps you compete on a team, or maybe you just like to grill burgers in your back yard.
Maybe you have tasted fantastic slow smoked barbecue in a restaurant and wondered how it is done.
What if I was to tell you that the champions of barbecue competitions are regularly turning out barbecue that tastes better than ANY barbecue you've ever had in a restaurant? And what if I was to tell you that you could learn to cook this way too? Imagine what it would be like to be able to prepare barbecued ribs that fall off the bone, smoky chicken that melts in your mouth, amazing pulled pork and juicy beef brisket for family and friends that would absolutely blow them away! I'm telling you it can be done and your barbecue parties will never be the same again! You'll be taking barbecue to a whole new level! Here are some secrets and tricks used by the champions that you can begin using yourself:

• Make sure the temperature in your smoker runs at about 225 degrees.
  Keep it as close to this as possible.
  This is particularly important with beef and pork.
  Chicken and turkey tend to do better at 275-300 degrees.
  
• Use a rub first before putting your meats in the smoker.
  There are some great rubs available that you can buy or you can make a basic rub using kosher salt, black pepper, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder and brown sugar.
  Experiment and make your own secret rub!
• Before applying the rub, spread a very thin coating of plain yellow mustard on pork shoulders and ribs.
  This does several things: Helps the rub to stick, helps form a nice flavorful crust on the meat, and can even help tenderize the meat because of the acids in the mustard.
  Don't worry if you don't like mustard.
  I promise you will not taste it!
• When smoking chicken and turkey, you will get much juicier and more flavorful results if you soak them in a brine solution first.
  Simple brine is made with a cup of kosher salt dissolved in a gallon of water.
  Use this salt to water ratio to make enough brine for the amount of poultry you are soaking.
  Chicken should be brined for a couple of hours and turkey can be brined overnight.
  Just be sure to rinse the brine off and pat the poultry dry before you apply your rub.
  And also make sure the brine is ICE COLD!