KCBS Competition Practice Cook for The Jack | Heath Riles BBQ

KCBS Competition Practice Cook for The Jack | Heath Riles BBQ

When it comes to competition barbecue, every detail matters. The tenderness of a slice of brisket, the shine on a rack of ribs, the bite-through skin on chicken — each category has its own set of challenges, and in KCBS you don’t get the luxury of focusing on just one. You have to nail them all.

After winning Memphis in May, we earned an invitation to cook at the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational — one of the most prestigious contests in the world. To prepare, I ran a full practice cook with all four KCBS categories: chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket. All of the meat for this cook came from Mister Brisket, ensuring top-quality cuts that matched the high standards of a competition run. The goal wasn’t just to cook good barbecue — it was to replicate turn-in conditions, dial in flavor profiles, test tenderness, and practice boxing so everything would be second nature come competition day.

KCBS Competition Practice Cook for The Jack

This blog is a deep dive into that practice run. It’s long because it has to be — there’s no shortcut to cooking world-class competition barbecue. Whether you’re a fellow competitor looking for strategy or a backyard cook curious about what goes into a championship turn-in, this walk-through will give you a front row seat to how we prepare for The Jack.

Smoker Setup for the Practice Cook

Every cook starts with fire. For this practice run, I fired up Royal Oak Charcoal paired with center-cut hickory wood splits. Hickory is bold, but it’s classic barbecue — it builds a smoke profile that carries across all four meats without overpowering.

  • Brisket & Pork: Ran steady in the 300°F range on my Outlaw 2860 Porch Model, starting hotter (325°F) to puff up the meat before backing down for tenderness.
  • Ribs: Same pit, rotated and stacked every 15 minutes to ensure even cooking across multiple racks.
  • Chicken: Cooked separately on a Recteq Bullseye pellet grill running Royal Oak Charcoal Hickory Pellets at 325°F. Pellet cookers excel at steady, hot chicken cooks that crisp the skin while keeping the meat moist.

Moisture management was also key. I used water pans in my main cooker to balance humidity, and butter baths in pans for chicken and ribs to keep them juicy. A clean-burning fire, steady airflow, and careful rotation made sure each category cooked consistently.

KCBS Competition Chicken

Ingredients & Flavor Profile

Cooking Process

After brining, thighs were shaped in fowl forms, seasoned, and set in butter baths. Cooked at 325°F until 205–206°F internal for bite-through skin. Each thigh was dipped in sauce, brushed evenly, and set back on the grill briefly to tack up.

Boxing

Six thighs and six wings were arranged neatly on a parsley bed. Meat tweezers helped align them, and the glossy finish made the box shine.

Results

Juicy thighs with true bite-through skin. Next time, I’d add a sprinkle of finishing salt before boxing.

KCBS Competition Ribs

Ingredients & Flavor Profile

Cooking Process

Seasoned ribs smoked at 300°F, wrapped after 2 hours in butter bath & wrap  mixture. Once tender (confirmed with the push-pull test), they were unwrapped, sauced, and set back on the pit to finish.

Boxing

Cut with a Victorinox Fibrox Bread Knife, sauced on the cut edges, and arranged in neat rows. Bones were cleaned with Q-tips.

Results

Perfect KCBS bite — tender without falling apart. Flavor balanced sweet, heat, and tang.

KCBS Competition Pork

Ingredients & Flavor Profile

Cooking Process

Injected collars were smoked at 300°F, wrapped at 165°F with butter bath & wrap mixture, and cooked until money muscle probed tender at 206°F. After resting in a Cambro, money muscle was sliced, tubes were chunked, and pulled pork was glazed.

Boxing

Money muscle slices went up front, sauced chunks and pulled pieces behind. Symmetry adjusted with tweezers.

Results

Great money muscle, though a few tubes weren’t as tender. More collars = more selection for a contest.

KCBS Competition Brisket

Ingredients & Flavor Profile

Cooking Process

Cooked on the Outlaw 2860 Enclosed Porch Model at 325°F then 300°F. One brisket in a caddy on the microwave shelf, the other on the grate. Wrapped with injection liquid, cooked until probe tender at 212°F. Rested in Cambro, then sliced flat.

Boxing

8 to 10 even slices all adjusted with tweezers and cleaned with Q-tips.

Results

The caddy/microwave shelf brisket was puffier and more tender. Flavor and tenderness were right where I wanted them.

Wrapping It Up

Running a full KCBS practice cook isn’t just about cooking good food — it’s about replicating competition conditions, testing flavor profiles, and refining every detail until the process feels automatic. From managing fire to boxing with precision, each step is a chance to build consistency and confidence before heading to a big stage like The Jack.

This run gave me valuable takeaways: chicken proved the importance of skin texture, ribs reminded me to cook extra racks for selection, pork reinforced the value of variety, and brisket confirmed that tenderness rules above all else. Together, the four categories showed why practice makes the difference between a solid cook and a winning one.

Whether you’re chasing trophies or just cooking for family and friends, the lessons from competition barbecue still apply: cook to tenderness, layer your flavors, and present your food with pride. Do that, and you’ll always turn out something worth remembering.

Now, let’s take a look at the equipment and tools that made this practice run possible.

Equipment & Tools Used in This Practice Cook

Cooking four KCBS categories in one day takes more than good fire — it takes the right tools. Here’s the full list of gear and products mentioned in this practice cook:

Smokers & Fuel

Thermometers & Fire Management

Pans, Racks & Forms

Cutting & Boxing Tools

Brines, Injections, Rubs & Sauces

Extras

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