Bridgeton NJ, King Pig BBQ, September 19-20, 2008

…what is this?


Thursday morning I received an email from Dan Hixon, 3 Eyz BBQ. Dan was cooking in Bridgeton NJ on Friday and needed some help. Mutha Chicken Dan was going to help on Friday but could not stay the night due to a previous commitment. Dan would be by himself for turn in’s on Saturday and was inquiring if I would like to come on down.

I glanced at the schedule and found nothing pressing. A quick call to the boss and I was clear for take off. Dan said I wasn’t needed until the morning, but I was welcome to come down on Friday. As soon I was finished work I was bound for New Jersey. After a few stops I made it on site by about 7:30.

I helped make the boxes and eat the chicken wings, it was a good time. It was nice being at a contest without the pressure. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanted to do a good job, but it was a different feeling than the usual Friday night stressing that I have come to know.

Dan and Dan had all the meat prepped before I arrived. After the boxes were made, we only had to light the cooker and load in the big meats at the appropriate time. After the meats went in, MC Dan took off for home, while 3E Dan and I wondered over to visit with the Dizzy Pig gang.

When the DP team is at a contest, their site is always a gathering place for many of the cooks. Chris and the crew always make everyone feel welcome, often times passing around samples of some really tasty camp grub. This time they made lettuce wraps and grilled pizza, good would be an understatement. Followed with a sip or two of some really smooth tequila and I was ready for the sack.

The next day I slept in and didn’t get up until after 8:00. If I could only sleep like that when I am cooking at a contest. Dan and I went over what he wanted to do when it came to crunch time. I would assist and run boxes, everything was in place. His meats came off on time and all was well, we were working together without a hitch. Chicken time came and our box went in with time to spare.

Pork ribs were next, into the box, then off to the judges, two down. Dan had asked if I would like to build the pork box, sure I would. His pork was tasty and I was working on separating my selection for placement into the box. Things were humming along.

I looked up from my task and saw the contest rep, Linda, heading our way carrying a turn in box. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren’t the boxes supposed to be going TO the judges, not away from them? I froze; Dan whose back was facing the rep could only see my face, which I am sure showed an expression of absolute shock. “What’s the matter?” He had barely uttered the words as Linda came to a stop along the work table. Soon, we both would know what was up.

Linda lifted the lid, lying in the box were two ribs. Stuck on the end of one rib was something sticking straight up. “what is this? “ asked Linda. Dan and I both were speechless, my mind was racing, my mouth dry. As you know, anything other than the meat and garnish in the box is an automatic disqualification. What could it be? I looked closer; it sure wasn’t anything we PUT into the box. Then it hit me, the item looked like a slivered almond.

Dan had encountered a crooked set of bones while slicing his ribs for the box. I remembered as he was not happy with the look of the rib on the end, if you looked, you could see the slice into the cartilage/bone. The sliver was a piece of bone that had apparently surfaced when the top layer of ribs was removed during judging, whew, that was a bit stressful.

Linda returned the box to the judges’ tent. When I dropped off the pork box and inquired, she advised the box had been accepted, as a bone sliver was part of the meat, wow, a close one.

The brisket box went in at 1:30 and we got everything cleaned up in pretty short order. The only hitch was the contest organizer decided he did not want a mass exodus of the cooks after the awards, so he announced the awards wouldn’t be given until 5:30. The contest reps had the results ready by 2:30 and everyone had to sit around and wait. The awards, as late as they were scheduled, were even late getting started, beginning at 5:45. As the awards began, it was announced if a team wins any prize money, they must report to the judges tent AFTER awards to have the check written. I thought that perhaps, the checks could have been written in the extremely long down time between turn in and awards, but that is just me.

The contest was won by Stumpy Coal BBQ, reserve was Jacks Down Home, Dizzy Pigs were a close third. The best part of the event was the trophies for reserve and grand. A local chain saw artist carves King Pigs from a whole log. Then there is the King Pig Crown, really cool.

Stumpy Coal, along with the winner from the contest held this weekend in Westport CT, R2BQ, were both graduates of the Steve Farin, ISS cooking class that I attended this past June. It seems that folks that have attended his class improve their scores, just an observation.

The weather was great, the food was tasty, the venue was nice, (along the banks of a large pond), and the festival music was rockin, who could ask for anything more. (Other than a more timely awards presentation) I had a great time cookin and hangin with Dan and Dan, Overall, a great weekend spent on the Jersey shore.

New Holland Summer Fest August 22-23 2008

…is that thing supposed to be smoking like that?

After I recovered from what is now known as, the “Bel Air Chicken Incident” I began to look forward to New Holland. Some might remember that we had our best showing ever at New Holland last year, so in some regard, we were anxious to return. New Holland boasted a 72 team field, all of the sudden, 40th place chicken wasn’t looking quite so bad. Still, I wanted to try and improve, I knew we had it in us.

The weather forecast the week before showed the Summer Fest in the direct path from the remnants of a tropical storm, showing rain for both Friday and Saturday. I had been scheduled to have the day off Friday the 22nd, but at the last minute, things at work changed and I had to work, what a bummer.

Erich and Al came through again and hauled the trailer up to Lancaster County on Friday morning to begin the site set up. I don’t think I am paying those two enough, perhaps a raise in their salaries……maybe not. Anyway, it was mighty nice of them and it was a big time saver. I took off as soon as I was finished work and arrived just in time to trim the brisket and chicken, at least they left me something to do.

The weatherman changed his forecast mid week and it looked like great weather all weekend, comfortable days and cool nights, who could ask for anything more in mid August? The meat trimming went off without a hitch and we all sat down for another super pasta meal prepared by Al, complete with red wine and fresh baked bread. Erich remarked he was glad he didn’t have to run out for wine this time.

After dinner has become one of our favorite times at a contest, it was time for the evening walk. We all grab a drink and wonder around the contest site visiting and yacking with the other contestants. Of course no stroll would be complete without a visit to Jim, the guy with the magic cherries. Enough said about that!

Eventually, we all drifted back to our site, Erich and Bobby opting to hit the cots while Al and I decided we were in the mood for a nightcap. Al mixed some concoction of which I do not know the ingredients, which was, as it turned out, not such a good idea on my part. That drink, oh yea, did I mention the watermelon drink that Steve (Team Agave & I Smell Smoke) gave me just before dinner? Toss in a few of Jims cherries, well, you can see were I am going with this. Just a little bit too much of the high octane stuff for a 50+ year old light beer drinker from Essex.

Al and I also decided to go on another road trip while enjoying our night cap. We stopped at Sled’s site around 1:00 am just as he was preparing to trim his chicken. Sled was commenting on how he hated to trim chicken. I glanced over and saw the two packs, how long could that take, 12 thighs, piece of cake. With all the trimming practice I had this winter, this was a 10 minute job. “If you’ve got some gloves and a sharp knife, I’ll trim it up for you.” These words, or some other drunken, must have been out of my extremely large head comment, spilled from my unusually big clap trap.


Whatever the case, Sled was more than happy to pass this unwanted duty off to me. What I didn’t see was the additional packs that were under the two that were visible. To this day, I have no idea how many thighs I trimmed for my friend Sled, but I think he was planning to open a KFC the next day judging from the number of thighs on hand. I didn’t think I would ever get finished. The worse part was, as I told Sled the next day, the thighs I trimmed for him looked a hell of a lot better than what we had back in our cooler. I almost went up to his site Saturday morning to see if he was using them all. I have received several e mail requests for chicken trimming at Dover, our next contest, maybe I am on to something here. A small fee perhaps?

Upon finishing with Sleds yardbird, Al and I stumbled back to our site to grab a little shuteye. Usually at a contest I have a hard time sleeping, but I gotta tell you, I slept like a rock this night, perhaps it was the cool night air, who knows, but the next thing I knew, it was after 6:00 AM and we didn’t even have our ribs on the heat yet.

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter, when out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter. The clatter, as it turned out was my aching head. Three Tylenol and 45 minutes later and I was as good as new and off to wolf down a fine breakfast prepared by the guys at Smoken Dudes. After, of course, we stuck the ribs into the cooker.

Our meats were coming off the cooker as planned, maybe even a tad early, everything sure was running smooth. Maybe a little too smooth. Just about everything was resting, it was after 9:30 and I was jacking up the heat in the cooker to get ready for our chicken cook. Everything was running itself, so I thought I would run across the street to the mens room to take care of a small matter. I told Bobby where I was going, Al went down to buy a raffle ticket and Erich was out visiting. Everything was fine, I would only be 10 or 15 minutes at most. We would assemble around 10 to get the chicken started.

I ambled across the street and had a successful visit. I returned about 15 minutes later and everything appeared to be normal as I walked towards our site, contemplating my latest attack on the waiting chicken thighs.

It was then that I learned the truth. Jo, my wife and Bobby had been the only ones in camp, Bobby’s back to the cooker as they were in deep discussion about the chefs choice entry that Jo was preparing. It was then that Jo noticed a large amount of smoke billowing from the cooker. “…is that thing supposed to be smoking like that?” Jo asked Bobby before he wheeled around and saw for his self. He moved toward the cooker, opened the door, then the smoke really rolled. They had to back out of the area to be able to see, Al retuned to the site and together he and Bobby got the fire under control and everything back to somewhat normal.

Of course, there were some shouts and jeers form nearby competitors, many inquiring as to the brand name of the tire that we were burning, and all of this happening before I returned to the site. Once I was back, it took a few minutes of convincing before I believed the true story. Fortunately for us, most of our meats had already been removed from the cooker. I thought the team handled the problem very well, despite their fearless leader being off site, preoccupied as it were. In other words, I am glad that I missed it.

The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful, the boxes came together very well and we were all happy with our product. We felt like all of our submissions were about were we wanted them to be. Even with the grease fire, we were still very satisfied. This contest included two additional non KCBS categories, sausage and a chefs choice. In total, we had 6 entries to prepare between 11:30 and 2:00 PM.

At New Holland during the awards, they call from 15th place up, which I think is very nice. The field is large, and to get the recognition of hearing your team name called is very fulfilling to anyone that cooks competitively. We sat as they called sausage, chefs choice, and chicken without a mention of our name. Ribs came and was getting down to the last, when we heard our name called for 1st place. Wow, our best call ever for ribs had been an 8th last year here, and now we were 1st, unbelievable. Looks like the ISS cooking class was a big help.

Pork came and went, no call. Brisket, we took 5th, very respectable considering the level of competition that was here. Now it was time for the overall awards, Midnite Smokers had taken 1st in brisket and pork, also getting a chicken call, so everyone figured them for Grand, but who would Reserve be? They started the call at 5th then moved up, some of the names we tossed around for Reserve had already been called, who could it be?

Honestly, we never even considered our team, I am sure no one would have predicted it, but there it was, Who are those guys? Reserve Champions, 2nd place overall. I was frozen, stuck to my chair. It wasn’t until everyone was urging me to get up that I could finally rise and head towards the announcer, after, of course, gathering the other members of the team. We walked forward together to collect our trophy, all of us absolutely astonished. Grins were all around.

The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blurr. Many others came up and offered their congratulations, hands shakes and back slaps were a plenty. This would be another easy ride home. We had won Reserve Champion with only two stage calls, but, I guess our two other finishes, chicken at 22nd and pork at 24th were solid enough to keep us in the hunt. Jo’s submission of a peach & blueberry bread pudding with a rum butter sauce finished a disappointing 36th. I thought it was great; the judges however, had the last word.

It was very rewarding getting the kudos from the other cooks that day and later on the various forums that I visit. Reserve Grand Champion at New Holland, to say we were happy would be an understatement. The best part was the feeling that we had as a team, we had been working very hard all year and this was our best finish ever. Maybe we were improving. I think we all were surprised and at the same time satisfied with our finish. Additionally, we are all very grateful for a memory of a super weekend that will last a very long time, grease fire and all.

Bel Air BBQ Bash Aug 8-9 2008

Did anyone get a tag number on that truck?

Have you ever been hit so hard that the wind gets knocked from your lungs? You struggle just to get a breath, your head spins, your heart races. Well, Saturday afternoon, around 4:45 PM, just after receiving the final score sheets for the Bel Air BBQ Bash, that’s exactly how I felt, and I wasn’t even physically hit. I felt, however, like I had been hit by a screaming Mack truck.

We were walking back to our site, the awards ceremony having just ended. We had one call to the stage for 5th place pork, we were fairly upbeat when I glanced at the over all finishing order and found we had finished 14th overall. The field at this contest was very strong and included a lot of very good teams, so we were quite happy with our overall finish.

The happiness was short lived however. While still walking, I turned to page two which contained the chicken results. Looking from the top down, as is a natural way to review such information, I was into the thirty somethings and had not found our name. My weary, over taxed, alcohol preserved, working on 2 hours sleep, pea brain was having difficulty processing this revelation. Surely, I had read over our name in my haste to read and walk at the same time, a difficult feat for me even without throwing in a marathon weekend BBQ contest. A multi task person I am not. (and don’t call me Shirley!)

I would just need to stop for a minute and take a good look. The team and I all thought our chicken box was one of our better submissions for the day. At Bel Air, they call from 8th place forward; we must have been somewhere near there, even though our name wasn’t called to the stage. Top twenty for sure, it was that good. Flavorful, bite through skin, tasty, tender, we had it all packed into that first entry of the day.

Oh, and did I mention it looked good too. We were able to get 10 thighs into our box, I think that’s gotta be a world record. In short, our chicken box had it all as they say, it was the complete package.

I moved to the side a bit to get out of the main flow of the large crowd and perused the list a little more carefully this time. Where was our name? It has to be there. It was then that it happened. Out of nowhere, bam, I was down. I believe that I lost consciousness, although maybe not completely. I had thought the road was closed to traffic.

Have you ever read accounts from those that have had near death experiences, many speak of the bright light that draws them. Some have even said they could feel the light pulling them. Well, I did not see just a plain light. What I saw was a large neon sign, the light was flashing, and I could barely see it through the thick fog that was also present, (possibly related to my Patron intake the night before.) A force felt as though I was being pulled to the light. I felt like I had to at least get a little close, I had to see what the light was saying. What was it trying to tell me? Just a little closer and the fog wouldn’t be so thick, I thought as I inched closer and closer, fighting the urge to run in the opposite direction.

As I moved closer I finally could make it out, I saw a large four and a zero, the numbers must have been over ten feet tall and were blinking wildly, like the disco lights from the Babylon Club on Route 40 back in the eighties. Maybe this is what they meant by a disco inferno. The lights were not pulling me. In fact, it was just the opposite, the closer I got, the more I wanted, or should I say, needed, to run. The light was driving me away, it was repulsing, it was making me ill, I had to get away. This must be what chemical warfare is like. The whole thing just wasn’t making any sense. I couldn’t breathe; my head was spinning and also aching. Somebody, quick, call me a Doctor.

The next thing that I knew, I was blinking my eyes and scratching my head, trying to get my bearings and remember what had happened. I was looking up from the ground, surrounded by my team members and several concerned citizens. I think a stranger asked if I was alright. I know Bobby asked me, “how’d we do in chicken?” Although I am sure he meant to say, “how you feelin?”

The score sheet was still clenched in my sweat soaked paw, I picked it up and glanced again at the chicken page, struggling to get my eyes focused, and there it was, in bold black ink,
who are those guys? 40th place chicken.

I tried without results to mouth the words to Bobby and the rest of the team, but they wouldn’t come out. My mouth was as dry as the Sahara desert, I couldn’t speak. Instead, I thrust the sheet in their direction and let them read it for themselves, as I struggled to my feet. I could see they were more concerned with our chicken score than they were of my well being. I can’t say that I blame them for that.

I stumbled back to our site, struggling to understand, to grasp, to comprehend. The crowd seemed surreal, I could hear faint voices from off in the distance, “you idiot you”, “what the hell did he do?”, “I wonder if he even KNOWS how to cook a piece of thigh meat?”, “**** that chicken”, were just a few of the comments that I can recall. I am sure there were more. The fellows just weren’t happy.

The 3 or 4 regular readers of this blog, (at least I hope I have a reader or two), will recall that I have spent a lot of time this past winter working on my chicken method. Some have even considered it a chicken obsession. I would have thought that, at the very least, I had a small understanding of the procedure. Now I think not. I have hit the wall. Maybe, striking the wall was what knocked the wind from my lungs, causing Saturdays episode. At the very least, it certainly knocked the wind from my sail. I feel dead in the water. I don’t know where to turn. I feel like I am spinning wheels. I suppose its back to the drawing board, again.

After a hot shower and a good nights sleep and it was time for the contest debriefing. The only thing I could say without question was the weather this past weekend was great, it could not have been better.

I looked our chicken score over, all 7’s and 6’s, with the exception of Judge #5 who gave us 3-9’s, the highest score possible. That Judge must have been one of the 150 people that passed through our site Friday evening. Either that or he was drunk. One or the other, or maybe both.

All 6’s & 7’s, nothing “wrong” with the chicken. Average. Just nothing right about it, no “wow” factor. The same chicken we finished 8th with two weeks ago in Stevensville. The only variable was the quality of the chicken we received from our supplier.

While for the most part, we have been very happy with the quality of the meat they have been giving us all season, this week was different. The thighs were all very small, and looked somewhat thin. I thought perhaps they gave us thigh meat from Cornish hens instead of chicken, but who knows.

But alas, they are not to blame, for it was I that trimmed, prepared and cooked the chicken. And we all know you have to play the cards that you are dealt. A good cook should be able to overcome adversity and still produce some decent product, and in this case, I failed.

Failure might be a bit strong here, but I will certainly try and do better. We have New Holland in two weeks and there will be over 70 teams cooking there, no time for a relapse.

The rest of our entries were fairly solid considering the field, 5th place pork, 15th ribs, and 19th brisket. Pork, which had been our anchor last year, seems to be improving.

The over all winner was the team from BBQ Guru. Congratulations to Bob, Fred and the rest of the gang for their first Grand Championship. Back in March, there was a post on one of the forums asking who would be a first time Champion this season. My prediction was the Guru gang, I am very glad for them. Also kudos to Stoddard and Brown for winning reserve, those guys are so hot, the rest of the circuit better watch out in Kansas City and Lynchburg.

I know, I know, there will be a draw for S&B to get to the Jack. I will tell you this, at the Guru/ISS class last month there was a drawing for a new Digi Que. And the winner was, Brett Brown, the Brown in Stoddard and Brown. Talk about hot, I told Brett he should go out and buy a few lottery tickets. On fire is an understatement, somebody call the fire department.

With the exception of our feathered friend we were very happy with our scores. The team again worked well together as they are becoming more familiar with the routine and are moving ahead making the operation run better at each outing. If only the head cook could pick things up a notch or two we might be able to improve our scores. We’ll see.

As I said before, we have New Holland in two weeks. This is always a favorite of mine. I like the area and the organizers do a great job of running the show. The only down side is, it is held in the end of August, summer is disappearing quickly, where did it go? Seems like only a week or two ago we were heading down to Salisbury. Time flies when you’re having fun is what they say. This time I think “they” are right.

That’s all for this weeks edition from the WATG? blog, be sure to look in next week when the topic of discussion will be, how to feed and entertain 150 of your closest family and friends in a 20 x 20 foot site while trying to compete in a BBQ contest or next year why don’t I just fill my shoes with hot coals and walk around instead? Stay tuned.

July 25-26 Stevensville MD Chesapeake Bay Cook-off

A new team is forming and there is nothing I can do to stop it………

When picking days off during the summer months I was told that I could not have the date of July 25th as I requested. No big deal, I had been given most of the other days I had asked for and the contest was only 1 ½ hours away. Erich was taking the entire day off and volunteered to haul the trailer down to Stevensville and begin to set up. My wife Jo, who would cook the seafood contest Friday night, went along on the trip from Street to the eastern shore. Al picked up our chicken and would meet them there.

Everything came together as Bobby worked a ½ day then drove right to the site. The teammates set up the site and began to prep the meat before I was even off work. I finished work at 5:00 and took off for the contest. I had the radio on during the afternoon and was listening to the traffic reports for the Bay Bridge which is usually jamming on a Friday evening. All reports were saying no back ups so I decided to take a chance and take that route.

The trip went off without a hitch and I arrived at the contest site around 6:30 to find a complete set up, most of the meat was trimmed and resting in the cooler as it should be at this time, we weren’t behind at all, and I hadn’t even been there. Hmmmm, what did they need me for, I thought to myself. They did leave the brisket for me to trim, I suppose to make me feel at least a little useful.

They were going to let me help Jo get her entry boxed, although I noticed when I started grilling the shrimp, Al came over and took the tongs from my hands. Oh well, I took a walk around the grounds and greeted some of the other teams. After the seafood turn-in I returned to the site and trimmed the brisket. After which, we enjoyed a great meal complete with farm fresh tomatoes and sweet corn, man, was it good.

After dark, we were treated to a great 20 minute fireworks display, Erich broke out the stogies and all was well, or was it, things had run a little too smooth in my absence. I sensed something was afoot. I’d have to get to the bottom of this one.

My plan was to ply them with alcohol, then ask a few general questions to see what I could find out. The plan was moving along nicely, with plenty of beers being knocked off during dinner and the fireworks. Then I broke out the Crown Royal and Patron. Things get a little foggy from here on out, I think I forgot what to ask. Come to think of it, I think I even forgot the focus of the investigation. Oh well, we got the big meats in on time and took a leisurely stroll around the site visiting with the other teams, to hell with the inquisition, I’d work on that in the morning.

The weather was great and I think even got a few hours sleep, with the exception of a rather loud laughing girl a few sites down. I don’t think they knocked off until after 3 AM. These organizers really need to enforce quiet times. Most teams agree, but there are always a few…..

The next morning I was up early prepping the ribs for the fire. I was joined by the usual suspects, Bobby and Al, with a special guest appearance by Erich. He will claim he always rises early, to which we all disagree. We were all in stitches when Christy from the VA Pirates wondered into our site at around 9:00 AM and exclaimed upon seeing a vertical Erich, “what are you doing up?” Nuff said.

The cook went surprisingly well. Timing was on, no rushing; things went into the box without too much trouble. I think we only ventured into the last five minutes of one window. I ranked our boxes from best to worse, brisket, chicken, ribs, pork. The judges agreed for the most part, as you can see by the results. The best part was Jo’s seafood dish took 2nd place. We were all very happy for her and she was beaming when she walked up to collect her ribbon.

Our goal here was to try and break into the top ten overall, and we were successful for the first time this year with our sixth place finish. We are moving in the right direction, 16th Salisbury, 14th Chesapeake, 11th Landover and now 6th. I would like to keep it up, time will tell.

After we packed up the gear and were waiting for the awards, the fellows finally spilled the beans. They are considering starting their own team, now that they realize they don’t need me around barking out orders, they can get along just fine without me. Some are planning on passing out resumes at the Bel Air contest. I think they are serious, they have even come up for a name for the new team, “We were those guys!” Then, they say, I have to change the name of my team to “Where are those guys?”

I wonder what this is going to cost me. I wonder if it’s not too late, if I can reform and be a better person, a better, more understanding, more compassionate and flexible leader. Maybe I will experience a revelation of sorts, similar to old Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning.

Wait a minute, hold the phone, me, more compassionate, more understanding, and dare I say flexible,……..nahhhh...... I don’t see THAT happenin!

ISS Competition Cooking Class

You want me to do WHAT to my chicken?!???!

The weekend of July 28-29 team mate Al and I traveled to Warminster PA, just north of Philadelphia to the home of the BBQ Guru for the I Smell Smoke cooking class. The class was to be held in a contest format and included everything from meat selection to box building and presentation. Steve Farin even promised to reveal their new, top secret and successful chicken method. I couldn’t wait; we both were looking forward to the event.

Dan Hixon from the successful 3 Eyzs BBQ team, fresh off their third Grand Championship win at The Art of BBQ held in New Jersey, was planning to join us for the weekend. Al and I arrived early and began to set up. We were about halfway finished when Jim from Pequea Pullers parked next to us, remember Jim , the “cherry guy” from Bel Air. Jim is a good cook and an all around nice fellow from near Lancaster PA. He always travels with a jar of cherries that are usually swimming in some type of high octane rum. Another word to describe them would be flame throwers, wow, they are strong.

Anyway, before we finished our setup, out new neighbor Jim was set up, had out his lawn chair, had mixed himself a drink, and was lighting up a cigar as he sat down to watch the rest of us finish our work. Now, either I am bringing way too much junk or Jim has a bit of Houdini blood in his veins, (maybe from all of those cherries), but I gotta pay attention to my buddy Jim next time to see what I am doing wrong. He’s always got a prime seat to watching the world go by, and I have to admire that!

It wasn’t long and the class began. Steve and the rest of the I Smell Smoke team did a great job of explaining how they select the cuts that they cook and also what they do to prepare the meat for the cooker. They were very patient and answered all of the questions that were asked. Regular readers of this blog will know that Steve Farin is my BBQ mentor and basically taught me what little I know about cooking competition Que. I had cooked with Steve in the past but never had the opportunity to take notes and observe his work from a student’s perspective. It was great.

After demonstrating all the prep work, we were all given a full load of contest meats to take back to our sites and get ready to cook. The ISS gang wandered around, observed, answered questions, and gave pointers to everyone as we prepped our own meats for the cooker. Dan, Al and I worked to get our meats ready as instructed. It was then that Steve asked if I had any extra room in my cooker for his big meats, as they did not bring their competition trailer which contains the cookers they use in competition.

“Sure” I said without even hesitating. I had plenty of room. It wasn’t until after all of the meat, his and ours was prepped and shoved into the Tall Boy that it hit me. What if I blew it and ruined his meats. He was the teacher, the instructor, the Mack Daddy, if I didn’t properly cook his stuff, I couldn’t hide in the back of the class like I could if I had only ruined my meat, the whole world would know, particularly Steve, my friend and mentor. I couldn’t let him down. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep a wink all night, worrying about the cook. It was even worse than at a contest, and I can’t explain why.

The next day when I joked with Steve that he had applied too much pressure on me with his meat cooking, he calmly, (as he always is), said that if mine didn’t turn out, he would just grab someone else’s to use for demonstrational purposes. Why didn’t I think of that, if I had, I might have been able to grab a few hours of shut eye.

The BBQ Guru team did a great job with the class setup. They served up a super dinner Saturday night that included Phili style pork loin sammys, complete with broccoli rob and provolone cheese. I had never had this sandwich before, but it sure was good. After dinner we were given a tour of the Themomegatech / Guru shop. My only comment here is WOW. I always thought that Shotgun Fred, the company founder was an on the ball guy, but I think I had underestimated him, genius is more fitting. The guy has 23 US patents registered in his name. Speaking of Fred, you will remember he suffered a stroke while attending the contest in Salisbury this past April. Fred was in attendance at the class on both Saturday and Sunday, looking good and in great spirits. It was a real blessing seeing and speaking to Fred after what he has been through.

Overall, I found the class to be very informative and helpful and I look forward to using some of our newly acquired skills in the next competition, which for us is July 25-26 at Stevensville, MD. I also enjoyed hanging out with fellow competitors Dan, Steve, Brett and Jim. It was good having time to shoot the breeze without the pressure that exists when involved in a contest. Anytime you get that many BBQ cooks together, you know you are in for some good stories, a few cold beers, and a lot of laughs, trust me, this weekend did not disappoint.

If you ever get the chance and you want to try and improve your game, I would suggest taking a class. Even for an experienced cook, it is great to see what others are doing and I am sure you will pick up a few tips that will help you gain a few more points. It is money well spent in my humble opinion. Even for the average backyard BBQer, (like yours truly), a class cuts months and months off of the learning curve.

Some of you may recall my battle this winter past with our friend the yardbird. I have to tell you, these guys at ISS have a whole new twist on the chicken attack. If I had known then what I know now……well..…I guess its back to the drawing board!

Are you ready you retire from competition cooking?

Retire? we are just getting started...........

There was an interesting post on the BBQ Brethren Forum last week that asked the question, are you ready to retire from competition cooking? I read with interest the numerous posts and comments with regard to this very interesting topic.

While I am not ready to retire as of yet, I will say that I intend to cut back a bit next year. This is due to two main reasons, rising costs and not enough weekends. This is our second year of competition. The first year we did 4 events, this year 7, toss in a weekend cooking class and that’s 2 months of weekends blocked out of the calendar. While some may say that’s nothing, I think it’s a lot.

For me, a contest is a 5 day deal. Wednesday, check over the trailer make sure everything is in place. Thursday, go to the store, pick up meats, prep sauces etc. Friday, travel to the contest. Saturday, travel home, crash out. Sunday, clean out trailer, empty coolers, odds and ends, etc. It is a lot of work.

Don’t ask me on Sunday if I want to do another contest, you might not like the answer. But, after a day or two of rest and refueling, I am anxious for the next contest scheduled for our team and busy working on ways to improve our product. Certainly not ready to retire.

We are about to enter into a stretch of 3 contests in 6 weeks, Stevensville, Bel Air, then New Holland. In retrospect, I don’t think this was very good planning on my part. Of course, in March, when planning the upcoming season, our team has been idle since October, causing a bit of fog to enter into my vision. Seven contests, 3 in a six week period, no problem. Bel Air is our home event and we really like New Holland, so my guess is Stevensville will be a one time shot for us, unless they move the date.

We then will go from New Holland at the end of August, to Dover, the season ender, held in the middle of October, another month and a half of down time. Although I am sure that after our six week run, no one will complain about a few weeks off.

One problem I see from a competitor’s viewpoint is the scheduling of events within our region. While we were at Landover, there was another event held just north of here in Yardley PA on the same weekend. The Stevensville date is close to Bel Air. More than likely, this will cause us to skip that event next year. I would think that event planners would try to spread events around a bit to try and maximize the amount of team participation.

I know I am drifting off topic here and for that I apologize. My original point is this competition cooking takes a lot of effort, which is a fact. Planning, competing, cleaning up, all takes time. I enjoy the effort and don’t mind the work. My only concern is the block of time involved, and what gets neglected as a result. My kids are pretty much grown, so its not a matter of running them around. Summer weekends are a prime time to have friends over to eat outside on the deck, enjoying the nice weather and the garden. That would be if my garden wasn’t over run with weeds, another result of my time limitations.

Seven events, 5 days per, that’s almost a month, that’s a lot of time, particularly when you have to work for a living. And I, for one, HAVE to work for a living, not only to pay for this rather expensive hobby, but to keep a roof over our heads. When the wife and I look over a summer calendar, with BBQ, family vacation, a few weddings and other events we are committed to, we have not much time left for entertaining and or working around the house trying to keep things in some order. Although I will admit, the ladder has never been one of my strong points.

So, in conclusion, I guess my point is, time flies when you are having fun. It is almost July 4th and before you know it, Labor Day will be upon us, the significance or point of this rambling post, I have no idea. What I do know is, when you are busy, time moves quickly, when you are bored, time goes in reverse. Am I ready to retire from this crazy sport? no way. Will we cut back next year? Today’s answer is yes, we’ll see what my answer is next March.

One thing is for sure, life is too short to work all the time. You have to get out and enjoy yourself in order to make life worth living. Even if it takes some work to be able to have fun. All work and no play, blah blah blah. I have enjoyed the first half of our season and look forward to the rest of the contests. As for retiring, I leave that for the other guys, just don’t ask me the day after a competition.

Landover MD Beltway BBQ Showdown June 6-7

Do we really need red wine?

The plan was to take a half day off leaving the office around lunchtime on Friday. The trailer was loaded, the meats and the beer were on ice, everyone was ready to roll. I work from a home office and started work a little early to lessen the impact of taking a ½ day off, as we had a lot of work going on. I started work at 4:30 AM. It was close to 1:30 when I left to get on the road, which is not including a lunch hour. I might not be very good at what is now called the new math, but that sure sounds like 9 hours to me. No matter how you add it up, it sure is not a half a day off, oh well, gotta pay for this habit somehow.

Erich and I hit the road heading south to Landover. Of course, everyone one else had been waiting around for our departure which was only 90 minutes later than it should have been. Anyway, we arrived at the contest site around 3:30 and began to set our site. We were one of the last to arrive. Jonathan, the contest organizer greeted us with a big smile and a handshake. This is the second year for this contest and he does a great job, always stopping by to see if you need anything. His was our first contest a little over a year ago, my how time flies when you are having fun. It was very warm, with a little breeze, not too bad. Everyone was buzzing about the forecast for Saturday, record setting heat, along with a heat advisory, wow, I can’t wait.

As soon as we were set up, we began to trim our meat. It wasn’t long and we had everything ready in the cooler. Al had decided on spaghetti with meat sauce for Friday nights dinner. He made the sauce at home and brought along some great crusty bread, all the makings of a great evening meal. What about the wine, we were, after all, having pasta, even at a BBQ contest, I think red wine is required with pasta.

Not to worry, to the bat mobile, its time for a road trip. Al and Erich, armed with driving instructions from Bobby, were off to a nearby liquor store. ( It would later be discovered that Erich wished he was armed with more than directions when traveling in some areas of Landover)

The contest was held at the Prince Georges Sports and Learning Complex. A very nice facility complete with indoor pools, water parks, running tracks, exercise rooms, the works. The entire complex is located right next to Fed Ex Field, home of the Washington Redskins. While the complex and stadium are new and improved, the same cannot be said for the surrounding immediate neighborhood containing the aforementioned liquor store.

Team mate Erich does not travel out of the Harford County area very often, or so it seems. Upon arriving at the liquor store suggested by veteran Washington area traveler team mate Bobby, Arthur and Erich were first met by an off duty PG County police officer working as security on the parking lot in his marked patrol unit. Not a real big deal, Erich has seen plenty of squad cars sitting in parking lots. The best was yet to come.

Upon entering the store the two wine thirsty Q’ers found a store right out of Baltimore City. The store was complete with the waiting room or lobby, separated from the rest of the store with a wall of bullet proof glass, the whole thing centered with a turnstile that the money and goods passed through when a transaction is made. They had a large selection of red wine that would go well with pasta, Al said there were 4 bottles on the shelf. Most of the remaining wine selection was better served in a brown paper bag. Upon leaving the store, our two heroes’ were approached by a man selling some type of elixir from a shopping cart. I guess it was a modern day snake oil salesman. Welcome to Landover Erich.

Erich was amazed at what he had witnessed. A sad commentary on life near our Nations capital, but thoughts and musings along those lines are better left for a blog elsewhere on the net. The bottom line is we all enjoyed some decent red wine with our delicious pasta meal and a good time was had by all.

A few fine cigars, a stroll around the grounds to see a few of the teams that we knew, and before we knew it ,it was time to nest up for the night. Did I mention it was around 73 degrees, pretty warm for trying to sleep. I laid down after I was sure the cooker had leveled off and I began to sweat. Even as tired as I was after getting up at 4:30, I could only manage a few hours of restless sleep, a little warm.

As daybreak came, the sun stayed hidden and offered some welcomed relief during the mornings activities. By about 10:00, ole Mr. Sun broke out and you could just feel the temperature climb. By then things were pretty much moving along and again, as in Chesapeake, we were on schedule. Everything except one butt that must have been made of stone, seemed like it hung out at about 150 for most of the morning, eventually finishing and joining the rest inside the cooler to wait for turn in.

The Who Are Those Guys team members are really working well together. The guys are moving ahead and anticipating the next move, all to the benefit of time and pressure being lifted. Working well together and still having loads of fun. A pleasure to be around, even when the product the head cook produces is sub par. I was happy with the chicken and the pork, the ribs and brisket, well, that was another story. If I could only learn how to cook.

We got everything boxed up and delivered to the judges with plenty of time to spare, I ranked our turn ins from best to worse, pork, chicken, ribs and brisket. The judges agreed slightly. Our finish was 4th place pork, 8th brisket, 16th ribs, and 17th chicken. 11th overall in a 29 team field. Again we were pleased.

The awards were held in the middle of an open field which felt like a frying pan, man, was it hot. The drive home was not too bad, as we were only about 90 minutes away. I was able to cool down, get a shower, a shave and some sleep. I had to get up early Sunday morning to cook beef, ham, and turkey for 150 folks at a friend’s daughters graduation party. Team mates Erich and Al volunteered to lend a hand with the Sunday cook and it was much appreciated.

Our friends and neighbors Stoddard & Brown won their second Grand Championship at this contest, they are on a roll. I e-mailed Brett, the Brown of Stoddard & Brown, to ask them if they would consider skipping the contest in Bel Air. I am still waiting to get my reply.(just kidding)

We have almost a month and a half until our next contest which will be held in Stevensville MD in July. In the meantime, Al and I are taking a BBQ cooking class being put on by my friend Steve Farin and his team I Smell Smoke along with the BBQ Guru guys. The class will be held at the Guru shop in Warminster PA June 28-29. For info, here is the link www.thebbqguru.com I think its gonna be a good one! Perhaps after taking this class, I may finally be able to good some decent Que, or maybe not, we’ll see. Stay tuned!!

Chesapeake Jubilee, Chesapeake VA, May 16-17

Driving to Mediocrity, is 500 miles too far?


The trailer was loaded and ready to go when Erich arrived at my house Friday morning at 3:30 AM. We were meeting Bobby and Al down near the interstate for the 5-hour drive south. It had been raining steadily most of the night and the forecast for Chesapeake was for possible showers until around Friday midnight, we hoped they were wrong.

The trip went off with out a hitch and we arrived at the contest site pretty much when expected. Skip, the contest organizer greeted us and he quickly showed us to our site. The rain had stopped and we set up camp in short order, it almost gave the impression that we knew what we were doing. Quite an illusion.

It was not long and we met our neighbors Steve Farin and Dirty Dick who had flown down to compete under the name of Dirty Smoke. Next to Steve was the gang from the BBQ Guru. (Bob tells us that Shotgun Fred is doing well considering what he has been through and is continuing with his rehab) On our other side were the Virginia BBQ Pirates, Tom and Christy, fresh off a great finish down in Salisbury. A very nice neighborhood.

On the bright side, it wasn’t raining and the sun actually came out after lunch, it was a really nice day, so far. We had decided we were not going to enter the “anything Butt” category that was to be held on Friday night. But, after some prodding from Steve, Al and I drove over to the Food Lion to see what we could find. We were thinking seafood but after a look at the seafood section, we opted for bratwurst, yea that’s close.

Our contest meats were prepped and in the cooler by mid afternoon, we cooked and entered the “anything butt”, the weather threatened, but never rained, all in all it was a very enjoyable evening. Well, until we decided to try to get some sleep. As the threatening weather blew out, the winds increased, with gusts in my estimate, 20-30+ mph at times. Our canopies stayed put, but a few teams were not as lucky, nothing as bad as Dover, but windy for sure. I usually bunk in the trailer near the cookers. Due to the direction of the wind, when a big gust would come, the roof of the trailer would buckle sounding similar to someone hitting the aluminum roof with rocks, and that was on the outside, you should have heard it inside. Between the rocking and the banging due to the wind, I thought I was in the haunted hold of a ship all night, needless to say, I didn’t get a lot of sleep.

Some teams complained later of the noise made by a few partying teams, but to tell you the truth, I couldn’t hear them over the noise my trailer was making, The Pirates next door were treated to my trailer noise as well, sorry guys! The big gusts finally subsided around 3:30 and I was able to get 2 hours sleep until my alarm sounded at 5:30.

The sun rose and it was a beautiful day. The meats came off on time and at temperature, it was if the Gremlins from Salisbury didn’t even make the trip. My guess is it was the rising cost of fuel, but who knows.

The chicken was prepped and went into the cooker on time. When we were finished we had bite through, moist chicken for the third week in a row, wow, I could not believe it! It’s amazing what a little practice will do. Did I say a little?

Everything went well, we were not behind, not rushed, no panic, no problems. I was even happy with all of the entries for the first time ever. That had me scared. This was a first. I felt that this thought alone was enough to sink us to the deep. After brisket was in, we broke down the site in record time, packed up the trailer and even had time to sit around and talk with Steve and Dick before the awards.

We wondered over to the stage area and were not in our seats long when we heard our name called for 8th place chicken. We also took a 4th place call in brisket. The rest of our results, well, let’s just say, not too good. This was a 29-team field, our pork was 20th and our ribs were a resounding 28th place, one away from DAL. Woohoo! We finished 14 overall. Mediocre. We received our first score of 4 ever from a judge, for rib tenderness. Which is hard to understand when another judge gave us a 9 in tenderness, (the highest possible score), but, that’s the way it goes. I hope not to make it a habit of collecting scores of 4. I think that maybe one of those Salisbury Gremlins might have a cousin living in somewhere in tidewater Virginia, but who knows.

Overall, we had a ball, even with the long drive. Congratulations to everyone that walked, especially to our neighbors Tom & Christy, the Virginia BBQ Pirates who won the grand championship while cooking in their forth contest ever. Way to go matey’s!

We had traveled over 500 miles in 2 days, spent a ton of money, gone with little sleep, cooked some good and some mediocre meat, (per the judges). Some might question our sanity, well, we already know I am not all there. Are we nuts? I guess a little. Will we go back next year? Better ask me later after I catch up on my rest. Will we try to improve our product? I think that’s the only thing you can count on, I am already working on that one!