I haven't had a chance to comment on our experience at the 2011 American Royal. The weather was beautiful this year. We enjoyed sunshine for 3 straight days with temperatures in the 70's. Little to no wind made the conditions ideal for us WSM cooks.
We returned to our same spot for the fourth consecutive year and set up our gear like we always do. This year we had Myron Mixon and his entourage behind us. It was interesting watching people approach his area as if they were getting an audience with the Pope. Myron seemed gracious to everyone, stood for pictures and let each visitor kiss his ring before leaving. Okay, it wasn't his ring! Seriously, Myron is a good guy and and has a been a great ambassador for barbecue.
Friday night was the typical Royal spectacle. We spent most of the night guarding our porta-potty from being defiled by drunks and their raging cases of diarrhea. I suppose if we were to charge the drunks to use our crapper, we probably would make up our entry fee money on Friday night but it ain't worth the hassle.
The cook went well. No problems or issues. It was very relaxed for us and I thought that would be a good sign. Chicken came out great, tasted like it always does and we were able to get 8 pieces in the box. Box looked great and off it went to the judges! Ribs cooked perfect, great flavor and color. Many pieces went into the box and confidence was high as that box went off to the eaters. The Pork had great flavor like the Springfield contest and looked great in the box. So far in my mind, we are 3 for 3. Brisket was good, nice beef flavor, passed the pull test so we loaded the box with slices and burnt end cubes. Off it goes to be judged. Last up was Sausage. It cooked well too, great taste and we loaded the box. I had a good feeling about our chances of getting a call.
Time for the awards. After all the sides, etc. are announced we get to the Sausage category. Last year we were called for 6th overall. This year no call. Chicken no call. Ribs no call. Pork no call. Brisket no call! I'm thinking maybe we were just on the outside of the top 20 in at least one category but it was a cruel day for us. We end up 270th overall. Yuck! You go from Grand Champs one weekend to the dung heap the next. Such is the world of BBQ.
So we are done for the year. We'll crawl back into our cave and lick our wounds. I wish we had another contest to close out our 2011 season but scheduling won't allow it. Our plan is to amp up our cook schedule for 2012 and hopefully win another Grand and roll into the Royal ready to rumble! I'm ready to take the Invitational on next year!
Good luck to everyone cooking the Jack this weekend! Safe travels to you all!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Springfield Sertoma Summer Sizzle - Boom Goes the Dynamite!
Springfield, MO - Our fourth event this season took place on September 16 & 17th at the Sertoma Summer Sizzle. We cooked this event last year when it was in the blazing days of August. This year it was moved to mid-September and the weather was the opposite. Of course it rained, it would not be a contest for us this season with out rain. We have been four for four this year with the rain! But rain be damned! It was time to cook.
We really enjoyed cooking this event last year. It was well run and the organizers were constantly coming around to check on the teams. You could not ask for better organizers. It was a no brainer for us to do it again. The event date did change this year and made this contest coincide with 5 other regional events. We were not really sure what the final team list would be like here but knew going into this, like all events, we would have to be on our game.
We arrived and set up in the same spot we had last year. We were able to beat the rain and get everything set-up our standard way. We were able to get our prep work and boxes done before it got dark and had down time to enjoy the bands until it was time to cook.
The cookers were fired up at 1230am but the rain forced us to move the cookers under the tents to keep the temps where needed them. Our brisket was a little bit undersized. Probably about 11lbs or so. It went on at 130am with the pork butts. The cookers stayed at 250 degrees so we took a nap. Everything cooked well without any problems which was nice considering the conditions. The rib cooker did spike to 350 degrees for about 10 minutes while we went to grab some coffee and donuts but fortunately no damage was done.
Our chicken came out well and we were able to get 8 pieces into the box. We had plenty of good ribs and filled that box too. We repeated our pork process from our last contest. We made a few tweeks to the injection and followed our normal timelines with it. What really helped is that we were able to get some great money muscle slices to put in the box with our pulled pork. The brisket turned out like it has the last 3 contests and did not wow us but had good flavor. After the turn-ins were over, I felt we had a strong chicken entry, good ribs, good pork and decent brisket. Now it was time to sit and wait for the awards.
The awards started with the chicken category. I thought we should get a call and as the winners names were called 10,9,8,7,6,5,4 still no call 3,2, and then we called for first! It felt great! We won first place in chicken here last year and it was great to repeat. Then the rib category started and we heard our names called at 9th. Not a bad finish and I was happy for the call. Pork was next and I really didn't know what to expect. Maybe 8th or 6th at best. As the names were read 10th through 2nd place, I was disappointed. I didn't think we had a 1st place entry but then I heard our names called for 1st place! I was shocked. After getting our award and sitting down, then I became nervous. We sat in this similar position last year waiting for a call in brisket to have a shot at winning but we never heard that call. We looked at each other and said we just need to hear our names. When we heard it at 5th in brisket I knew we had a shot at a top 3 finish. As the top overall was read and we were not the 3rd place finisher, we were now on the verge of doing something we had never down before -finish 2nd or 1st! Well when we weren't called for reserve grand I knew we had done it! Finally a Grand Championship! What a great feeling to finally experience. It had been a long time coming for us!
Thanks to our families for hanging in their with us. Thanks to Brant for dragging me into the competition world. This is not a cheap hobby and I was not sure how much longer this train was going to roll but I could never say no. There were times that I thought we were on the verge of breaking through to a win only to sit in an award ceremony and end up out of the running. It has been long haul to get here and I am glad our team did not give up! Now we need to work on our 2nd Grand Championship!
We really enjoyed cooking this event last year. It was well run and the organizers were constantly coming around to check on the teams. You could not ask for better organizers. It was a no brainer for us to do it again. The event date did change this year and made this contest coincide with 5 other regional events. We were not really sure what the final team list would be like here but knew going into this, like all events, we would have to be on our game.
We arrived and set up in the same spot we had last year. We were able to beat the rain and get everything set-up our standard way. We were able to get our prep work and boxes done before it got dark and had down time to enjoy the bands until it was time to cook.
The cookers were fired up at 1230am but the rain forced us to move the cookers under the tents to keep the temps where needed them. Our brisket was a little bit undersized. Probably about 11lbs or so. It went on at 130am with the pork butts. The cookers stayed at 250 degrees so we took a nap. Everything cooked well without any problems which was nice considering the conditions. The rib cooker did spike to 350 degrees for about 10 minutes while we went to grab some coffee and donuts but fortunately no damage was done.
Our chicken came out well and we were able to get 8 pieces into the box. We had plenty of good ribs and filled that box too. We repeated our pork process from our last contest. We made a few tweeks to the injection and followed our normal timelines with it. What really helped is that we were able to get some great money muscle slices to put in the box with our pulled pork. The brisket turned out like it has the last 3 contests and did not wow us but had good flavor. After the turn-ins were over, I felt we had a strong chicken entry, good ribs, good pork and decent brisket. Now it was time to sit and wait for the awards.
The awards started with the chicken category. I thought we should get a call and as the winners names were called 10,9,8,7,6,5,4 still no call 3,2, and then we called for first! It felt great! We won first place in chicken here last year and it was great to repeat. Then the rib category started and we heard our names called at 9th. Not a bad finish and I was happy for the call. Pork was next and I really didn't know what to expect. Maybe 8th or 6th at best. As the names were read 10th through 2nd place, I was disappointed. I didn't think we had a 1st place entry but then I heard our names called for 1st place! I was shocked. After getting our award and sitting down, then I became nervous. We sat in this similar position last year waiting for a call in brisket to have a shot at winning but we never heard that call. We looked at each other and said we just need to hear our names. When we heard it at 5th in brisket I knew we had a shot at a top 3 finish. As the top overall was read and we were not the 3rd place finisher, we were now on the verge of doing something we had never down before -finish 2nd or 1st! Well when we weren't called for reserve grand I knew we had done it! Finally a Grand Championship! What a great feeling to finally experience. It had been a long time coming for us!
Thanks to our families for hanging in their with us. Thanks to Brant for dragging me into the competition world. This is not a cheap hobby and I was not sure how much longer this train was going to roll but I could never say no. There were times that I thought we were on the verge of breaking through to a win only to sit in an award ceremony and end up out of the running. It has been long haul to get here and I am glad our team did not give up! Now we need to work on our 2nd Grand Championship!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Racin' For The BBQ
Heat and rain! What a great combination we had this past weekend in Lee's Summit, MO at Blue Springs Lake. This was the third year for this competition and a new venue for 2011. Despite the 100 degree temperatures, humidity and rain, we had nice time and enjoyed the new venue. The organizers did a great job and the KCBS reps (Dave & Peg Rogers) were superb.
Overall, our cook went well. We dealt with the rain and even though it came down hard for about an hour, there was no strong wind or hail. The chicken came out like it always does but the skin was slightly rubbery. The ribs had great flavor and we were able to get 9 pieces into the box. We have made a few changes to our rib process and we have been pleased with the results. The pork tasted excellent but the money muscle was too overcooked to use. We were really excited about how the pork tasted. We have made a few changes to our recipe and felt like it payed off on how the prok turned out. We knew either it was a winner or the eaters would trash it. We cooked a prime brisket for this contest instead of the Waygu. It cooked well and also had a good beef flavor.
The boxes went together well. We struggled with the pork box because we had no money muscle to work with. We gave the eaters a lot pulled pork to sample and hoped that would help our cause.
At the award ceremony, we were not called in chicken and we were surprised. Afterwards, we would find out that we finished in 11th place. We actually tied with the 9th and 10th place finishers in that category but lost the tie breakers to keep us from being called. So I was a little disappointed after that first category was called.
Ribs were next. Again, they were cooked perfect and had a great flavor. Usually this is the kiss of death for us. It is one of our more inconsistent categories. Surprisingly, we were called for 6th place and that improved the mood.
We sat through the pork category and no call. I really felt we would hear our names but once again a no call. We ended up with 23rd place. I was really disappointed with the result. I felt it was a strong product. Were we knocked because there was no money muscle or too much pulled pork? Just a few questions that need to be answered to get a grip on this category.
The brisket cooked well. We decided to try a prime brisket purchased at Sam's and it did well for us. We heard our names called for 4th place and got some much needed redemption.
We ended up 9th overall out of 34 teams. Big Creek BBQ took the grand, Pork Pullin Plowboys were the reserve champs and Muchin Hogs at the Hilton finished 3rd . A super trifecta to try and overcome for sure. This was our third contest of the season and considering that we have now had two top 10 finishes in two out of three, I'll take it!
Now we have more down time until mid-September. Myron is right - we don't cook enough!
Overall, our cook went well. We dealt with the rain and even though it came down hard for about an hour, there was no strong wind or hail. The chicken came out like it always does but the skin was slightly rubbery. The ribs had great flavor and we were able to get 9 pieces into the box. We have made a few changes to our rib process and we have been pleased with the results. The pork tasted excellent but the money muscle was too overcooked to use. We were really excited about how the pork tasted. We have made a few changes to our recipe and felt like it payed off on how the prok turned out. We knew either it was a winner or the eaters would trash it. We cooked a prime brisket for this contest instead of the Waygu. It cooked well and also had a good beef flavor.
The boxes went together well. We struggled with the pork box because we had no money muscle to work with. We gave the eaters a lot pulled pork to sample and hoped that would help our cause.
At the award ceremony, we were not called in chicken and we were surprised. Afterwards, we would find out that we finished in 11th place. We actually tied with the 9th and 10th place finishers in that category but lost the tie breakers to keep us from being called. So I was a little disappointed after that first category was called.
Ribs were next. Again, they were cooked perfect and had a great flavor. Usually this is the kiss of death for us. It is one of our more inconsistent categories. Surprisingly, we were called for 6th place and that improved the mood.
We sat through the pork category and no call. I really felt we would hear our names but once again a no call. We ended up with 23rd place. I was really disappointed with the result. I felt it was a strong product. Were we knocked because there was no money muscle or too much pulled pork? Just a few questions that need to be answered to get a grip on this category.
The brisket cooked well. We decided to try a prime brisket purchased at Sam's and it did well for us. We heard our names called for 4th place and got some much needed redemption.
We ended up 9th overall out of 34 teams. Big Creek BBQ took the grand, Pork Pullin Plowboys were the reserve champs and Muchin Hogs at the Hilton finished 3rd . A super trifecta to try and overcome for sure. This was our third contest of the season and considering that we have now had two top 10 finishes in two out of three, I'll take it!
Now we have more down time until mid-September. Myron is right - we don't cook enough!
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Raytown To Now
It's been awhile since the last post. Work and other commitments have been keeping me busy. However, we are competing again on 7/29/11 in Blue Springs, MO at the Racin' For The BBQ event. Sounds like 35 teams will be participating. Hopefully this 100 degree weather will break a little bit for the weekend.
We did cook the Raytown, MO contest on 6/10/11. This was a second year cooking this and it lived up to it's nickname - "Raintown." Fortunately this year it rained late Friday night until about 3am Saturday morning and didn't bother our cook.
There were 48 teams this year and we ended up 13th overall. We finished 7th in Chicken and 7th in Sausage. Ribs were 15th, Pork 21st and Brisket 17th. We were disappointed that we didn't finish in the Top 10 overall. I thought our chicken and brisket came out very well. The pork was a little over cooked. The ribs came out like they always do. We either do well or they are just average. With a few tweaks of our process, I hope that we get closer to a more consistent product.
More to come.....
We did cook the Raytown, MO contest on 6/10/11. This was a second year cooking this and it lived up to it's nickname - "Raintown." Fortunately this year it rained late Friday night until about 3am Saturday morning and didn't bother our cook.
There were 48 teams this year and we ended up 13th overall. We finished 7th in Chicken and 7th in Sausage. Ribs were 15th, Pork 21st and Brisket 17th. We were disappointed that we didn't finish in the Top 10 overall. I thought our chicken and brisket came out very well. The pork was a little over cooked. The ribs came out like they always do. We either do well or they are just average. With a few tweaks of our process, I hope that we get closer to a more consistent product.
More to come.....
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Rockin' Ribs Recap
Finally! Our season kicked off in the center of Springfield, MO's universe. On the sprawling grounds of The Bass Pro Shop, 58 teams faced off in what turned out to be some of the worst cooking weather we had ever faced.
Now we all know Missouri is no Eden. It is more like the sweaty knee pit of some fat lady on the Tilt-A-Whirl at Silver Dollar City. Hot and sticky or cold, clammy and wet. Well, we ended up on the cold and wet part from the start. Throw in non-stop windy conditions and it was miserable. I was layered up more than that kid from "A Christmas Story" and still could not keep warm! It was a test of fire and temperature management for us.
The wind created problems with our set-up. Normally, we like to put our 2 Easy-Ups together and use our sides to give us a nice block from the wind. Luckily, we were supplied with a 10x10 tent from the event organizer that was anchored in the asphalt. We anchored our Easy-Up to that tent. The gusting wind made it almost impossible to put it up but with some persistence we were able to make it work. The sides were another story. The wind blew so hard that the velcro straps would not hold. We had to find a way to block the wind and rain or we were in big trouble. Plan B kicked in. I bought 2 tarps at the Pro Shop and we zip tied them to the anchored tent creating a much needed wind/rain block. The downside was that we had every piece of equipment crammed under the tent which severely hampered our work space. Yet another challenge to work around.
The cook itself went better than I had thought it would. The brisket and pork finished on time. The ribs followed the always predictable timeline we have. The chicken was stubborn. For some reason, about half of the pieces were not done. I am still not sure why? We followed our same exact recipe and cooking timeline and have never had this issue before.
In the end, the chicken proved to be a disappointment. We were only able to select from a limited amount of pieces and it handcuffed us when it came time to put the box together. The chicken looked good but it did not taste very well (too tough in my opinion). The ribs also disappointed me. They had a great flavor but did not look good in the box. We tried a different brand of rib that was supposed to be of better quality but it did not deliver for us. On the bright side, I thought our pork and brisket tasted great (this usually signals doom at judging time).
Overall, we were "caned" by Quau as they took the Grand. We finished 8th out of 58 teams. In chicken, we finished in 16th place and 19th place in ribs. Pork was our first call in 8th place and brisket finished in 10th place. Considering the crappy conditions, I was pleased with our finish.
Now we have a few weeks of downtime as my personal schedule and competition schedule are not seeing eye to eye. We are looking at the Raytown, MO contest for our next event. I hope that my schedule will allow for another in between but it is not too promising right now.
See ya' down the trail and beware of the "Missourah" fat lady!
Now we all know Missouri is no Eden. It is more like the sweaty knee pit of some fat lady on the Tilt-A-Whirl at Silver Dollar City. Hot and sticky or cold, clammy and wet. Well, we ended up on the cold and wet part from the start. Throw in non-stop windy conditions and it was miserable. I was layered up more than that kid from "A Christmas Story" and still could not keep warm! It was a test of fire and temperature management for us.
The wind created problems with our set-up. Normally, we like to put our 2 Easy-Ups together and use our sides to give us a nice block from the wind. Luckily, we were supplied with a 10x10 tent from the event organizer that was anchored in the asphalt. We anchored our Easy-Up to that tent. The gusting wind made it almost impossible to put it up but with some persistence we were able to make it work. The sides were another story. The wind blew so hard that the velcro straps would not hold. We had to find a way to block the wind and rain or we were in big trouble. Plan B kicked in. I bought 2 tarps at the Pro Shop and we zip tied them to the anchored tent creating a much needed wind/rain block. The downside was that we had every piece of equipment crammed under the tent which severely hampered our work space. Yet another challenge to work around.
The cook itself went better than I had thought it would. The brisket and pork finished on time. The ribs followed the always predictable timeline we have. The chicken was stubborn. For some reason, about half of the pieces were not done. I am still not sure why? We followed our same exact recipe and cooking timeline and have never had this issue before.
In the end, the chicken proved to be a disappointment. We were only able to select from a limited amount of pieces and it handcuffed us when it came time to put the box together. The chicken looked good but it did not taste very well (too tough in my opinion). The ribs also disappointed me. They had a great flavor but did not look good in the box. We tried a different brand of rib that was supposed to be of better quality but it did not deliver for us. On the bright side, I thought our pork and brisket tasted great (this usually signals doom at judging time).
Overall, we were "caned" by Quau as they took the Grand. We finished 8th out of 58 teams. In chicken, we finished in 16th place and 19th place in ribs. Pork was our first call in 8th place and brisket finished in 10th place. Considering the crappy conditions, I was pleased with our finish.
Now we have a few weeks of downtime as my personal schedule and competition schedule are not seeing eye to eye. We are looking at the Raytown, MO contest for our next event. I hope that my schedule will allow for another in between but it is not too promising right now.
See ya' down the trail and beware of the "Missourah" fat lady!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Kookers Kare Banquet 2011
Well it's been awhile. Sorry it has been so long. We are still in winter's grip and not much has been happening. A new job for me has created less time to concentrate on barbecue. As we have had two days here in the last week that have hit 70 degrees, I know it is just Mother Nature thumbing her nose at me and more cold weather is right around the corner!
My wife and I attended the Kookers Kare banquet on February 19th. It was a sold out event with 300 people in attendance. This is my first time attending and was anxious to see what it was all about.
I never realized the amount of food that Kookers Kare donates to local food pantries in the Kansas City area. The amount was staggering. For example, they provided over 460 turkeys this past Thanksgiving. It really shows what a great service they provide!
There was a lot of great food for all. If you went hungry, then there was something wrong with you. The amount of door prizes and contest entries that were donated to be raffled off was a terrific draw for them. I purchased $50 worth of tickets in hopes of winning a contest entry. I came up short and did not win anything but that did not matter. I never have luck at raffles and my streak continued. Regardless of the outcome, I still had a very nice time.
Kudos to all the folks at Kookers Kare for putting on such a great event! I encourage all cook teams to support them as best they can.
More to come............
My wife and I attended the Kookers Kare banquet on February 19th. It was a sold out event with 300 people in attendance. This is my first time attending and was anxious to see what it was all about.
I never realized the amount of food that Kookers Kare donates to local food pantries in the Kansas City area. The amount was staggering. For example, they provided over 460 turkeys this past Thanksgiving. It really shows what a great service they provide!
There was a lot of great food for all. If you went hungry, then there was something wrong with you. The amount of door prizes and contest entries that were donated to be raffled off was a terrific draw for them. I purchased $50 worth of tickets in hopes of winning a contest entry. I came up short and did not win anything but that did not matter. I never have luck at raffles and my streak continued. Regardless of the outcome, I still had a very nice time.
Kudos to all the folks at Kookers Kare for putting on such a great event! I encourage all cook teams to support them as best they can.
More to come............
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Turn Out The Lights........
Yep, the party's over for this year. With the American Royal in the rear view mirror, I now can look back on our 2010 barbecue season. There were some great finishes and some not so hot ones. It was a season where our results let me fly high and roll in the dumpster at the same time. A dove in the hands of judges that could be set free or crushed.
Our 2010 preseason was terrific. The team was very excited for the upcoming season after coming off of our 3rd place Chicken finish at the 2009 American Royal Open. In early January, we appeared on episode 5 of the first season of "BBQ Pitmasters" on TLC. It was great to have our 2009 American Royal experience chronicled for us and to have the cameras there when we received our 3rd place call! It really got our juices flowing.
Our team met in January and planned out some initial competition dates for the first part of the 2010 season and also to lay out our cooking methods for each category. This enabled us to get some dates on the calendar, have more time to prepare for those events and to have a single methodology as to how we would cook each category. Now chicken, ribs, pork and brisket would be cooked one way so each member would know all the time lines and procedures to each category to follow.
Everyone was now on the same page with our cooking process. To insure everyone was comfortable with the cooking methods, we conducted a practice cook in February that followed a contest timeline. Prepping and cooking all four categories, as well as, working out the presentation bugs. It was something we had never done before and was a great tool for us. Armed with all this knowledge, we were ready for the competition season to start!
The decision had been made to start our season in March at the Smoke On The Water contest in North Little Rock, AR. It was not an easy decision to come to. It was the first time that we had argued over something as a team but we worked it out and came to an agreement. The entry fee was steep but the prize money was high. It was the first time we had traveled out of the Kansas City metro area to compete so there would be higher travel costs for us as well. It was also an opportunity for us to get out there with the big boys and show them that we could hang with them. The contest mood was very serious amongst the teams. No partying or carrying on late into the night. With all the top teams there from across the country, this was no ordinary contest but rather an elite invitational. That gnawing pit in my stomach was telling me that we would have to be perfect in order to have a good showing. The cook itself went well. None of the meat gave us any trouble. However, for the first time, some tempers flared up and hung like a dark shadow over the cook. We worked through it and thought all 4 categories had come out well. When the awards ceremony started the rain came with it. It was an ominous foreshadow for what was coming for us. Getting a call in chicken for 12th place gave us hope for good things to come but we sat through the rest of the categories and we were not called again. After waiting for seemed like an hour to get the judging sheets, my heart sank when I saw that we finished 155th out of 225 teams. Dejected, we piled into our vehicles for the long drive home and had our finish to think about each torturous mile. What the hell happened?! On top of this, as the weather on the way home severely deteriorated from rain to sleet to a full blown snow storm, so did our team along with it. The BBQ gods were laying down a severe punishment on us! Why? What had become excitement before the event turned sour after. "What a waste of money!" " It wasn't worth our time!" Looking back, all I can say is hindsight is always an unforgiving bitch! It is so easy to second guess yourself. What I took away from this experience was sometimes you have to get hit in the face to realize who you are and to bring you back to reality (television be damned!) It was a valuable lesson learned, and as it turns out, it wasn't going to be the last time we get KO'd in 2010.
April brought us Spring and also the second stop on our barbecue tour at the Springfield, MO Rockin' Rib Fest. Our team was now a man light and we adjusted accordingly. This was also the second contest we cooked outside of the Kansas City area. Fifty-nine teams showed up to do battle on the grounds of the iconic Bass Pro Shop. This was a great event. We met so many nice folks there who wanted to talk barbecue. Our cook went excellent. It was the most productive and efficient cook we had ever had. Everything went perfect. Our presentation boxes went together so effortlessly and looked terrific. We felt great after the last turn-in and for the first time that great feeling translated into great results. We ended up 6th overall! It was the polar opposite of Little Rock. What a great feeling! However, these results were dampened with the announcement by our 3rd teammate that he would be leaving the team for personal reasons after this contest. It was bittersweet for me. Everyone on the team brings a unique set of abilities that combines to create who we are. Those abilities would be missed as the 2 of us work to fill in the those missing gaps. We would learn that at our next cook.
Deciding to strike while the iron was hot. We chose Belton, MO as stop 3 on our tour. This put us back in the Kansas City metro area to compete for the first time this season. Thirty-three teams showed up to participate that first weekend in May. We felt our chances of having another top 10 finish were very strong. We were now a team of 2 having to adjust to doing the work of a team of 4. For the most part, we were able to do this. The cook was normal with no issues. We felt good about the turn-ins but things were not as smooth as the last contest in Springfield. Our bubble was burst as we received no calls and a 16th overall finish. I was left scratching my head at what happened? How can what was the same tasting product do so well in Springfield but just be average here? As we would find out, this theme would pop up again later in the season. We survived and suffered a TKO for our efforts. It helped prepare us for the next contest in Raytown, MO.
Tour stop 4, Raytown, MO, took place in early June and it was considerably hotter and humid that weekend. After our TKO at Belton, we were eager to prove that we were better than those results. We learned a few things at Belton and didn't want to repeat them. The tone for us was a far more serious one with the emphasis of keeping our focus on the cook. Things went very well until 10:30 am on Saturday morning. A severe thunderstorm ripped through the area. It dumped a tremendous amount of rain for 1.5 hours along with strong winds, hale and lighting. It was all we could do to hold onto the Ez-ups to keep them from blowing away. Some how we made it through and miraculously the ribs and chicken we were cooking made it through too! We were wet and miserable when we showed up for the award ceremony but it had all paid off. We ended up 7th out of 65 teams overall with a call in Ribs and Brisket. What a great feeling that was! Everything had come together nicely and we had survived the fight.
We sat out the hot part of the summer, or so we thought, and picked up again in mid August at the Sertoma contest in Springfield, MO. This was our 2nd contest here and it was the hottest one too! After setting up on Friday, the temperature was at a cool 111 degrees in the shade. I was already spent and we had not even started prepping yet! Fortunately, we had pre-trimmed the meat before arriving so that helped ease the amount of work we had to do on site. Thirty-two teams were there to battle the heat and eventual rain that rolled in Saturday morning. Once again we had to battle mother nature! Our cook went well except for the brisket. It just would not finish like we wanted it to. By the time it was ready to turn in, it was done but it just didn't have the wow factor we wanted it to have. When the awards ceremony started we felt like we had delivered good product and thought we should hear our name called. Boy did we ever! We were 1st in Chicken, 6th in Ribs and 7th in Pork. It was going to come down to the brisket if we were going to win this thing! Sadly, it let us down and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We did finish with 5th overall and it was our 3rd top ten finish this season. Had the worm finally turned for us? We were going to find out at the American Royal.
The 6th, and more than likely last stop this season, was last weekend at the American Royal. In a way, it was the closing of this barbecue odyssey circle we have been on this past year. A lot of things have changed in that year's time. We had gone from being a team no one had really heard of to one that got a little publicity from the Pitmasters program. It was a humbling experience and we are thankful for the publicity generated by the show. It has allowed us to meet a lot of great folks this year while competing. It also is an experience that changed us. In a way, it made us turn up the fire to be more serious about competing and wanting to win. Did it take some of the fun away? To me, the answer is no because part of the fun I get out of competing is winning.
Our experience this year was a much quieter one as there were no cameras filming our every move and also that there were only 2 of us instead of 4. The cook went flawlessly. We even entered in the sausage category for the first time. Our boxes looked great and we both thought everything tasted excellent. We were very excited for the award ceremony. When the awards started I had that nervous/excited feeling come over me. As the top 20 was announced by the emcee in each category, I hung on every word waiting to hear our name called. When he called us for 6th in Sausage, I was elated! Our first time out with that category and we make the top 10! I thought that was a good omen as to what was coming. Once again, I was wrong! The ceremony went by without our name being called. We looked at each other and said maybe we were just outside the top 20 on each category. When we got the overall results and finally found our team name at 212th place overall, I was disappointed. What happened? Were we that bad? What were the judges thinking or not thinking? Myron Mixon was right when he said that this event is a total "crap shoot!" Our Chicken entry was spot on and was no different than last years 3rd place entry but this year it was a paltry 285th! What a dagger to the heart. I know our product is better than what it was scored at! Just like at the beginning of the season, we are KO'd at the end too! I'm off the canvas and I'm ready for next year!
Our 2010 preseason was terrific. The team was very excited for the upcoming season after coming off of our 3rd place Chicken finish at the 2009 American Royal Open. In early January, we appeared on episode 5 of the first season of "BBQ Pitmasters" on TLC. It was great to have our 2009 American Royal experience chronicled for us and to have the cameras there when we received our 3rd place call! It really got our juices flowing.
Our team met in January and planned out some initial competition dates for the first part of the 2010 season and also to lay out our cooking methods for each category. This enabled us to get some dates on the calendar, have more time to prepare for those events and to have a single methodology as to how we would cook each category. Now chicken, ribs, pork and brisket would be cooked one way so each member would know all the time lines and procedures to each category to follow.
Everyone was now on the same page with our cooking process. To insure everyone was comfortable with the cooking methods, we conducted a practice cook in February that followed a contest timeline. Prepping and cooking all four categories, as well as, working out the presentation bugs. It was something we had never done before and was a great tool for us. Armed with all this knowledge, we were ready for the competition season to start!
The decision had been made to start our season in March at the Smoke On The Water contest in North Little Rock, AR. It was not an easy decision to come to. It was the first time that we had argued over something as a team but we worked it out and came to an agreement. The entry fee was steep but the prize money was high. It was the first time we had traveled out of the Kansas City metro area to compete so there would be higher travel costs for us as well. It was also an opportunity for us to get out there with the big boys and show them that we could hang with them. The contest mood was very serious amongst the teams. No partying or carrying on late into the night. With all the top teams there from across the country, this was no ordinary contest but rather an elite invitational. That gnawing pit in my stomach was telling me that we would have to be perfect in order to have a good showing. The cook itself went well. None of the meat gave us any trouble. However, for the first time, some tempers flared up and hung like a dark shadow over the cook. We worked through it and thought all 4 categories had come out well. When the awards ceremony started the rain came with it. It was an ominous foreshadow for what was coming for us. Getting a call in chicken for 12th place gave us hope for good things to come but we sat through the rest of the categories and we were not called again. After waiting for seemed like an hour to get the judging sheets, my heart sank when I saw that we finished 155th out of 225 teams. Dejected, we piled into our vehicles for the long drive home and had our finish to think about each torturous mile. What the hell happened?! On top of this, as the weather on the way home severely deteriorated from rain to sleet to a full blown snow storm, so did our team along with it. The BBQ gods were laying down a severe punishment on us! Why? What had become excitement before the event turned sour after. "What a waste of money!" " It wasn't worth our time!" Looking back, all I can say is hindsight is always an unforgiving bitch! It is so easy to second guess yourself. What I took away from this experience was sometimes you have to get hit in the face to realize who you are and to bring you back to reality (television be damned!) It was a valuable lesson learned, and as it turns out, it wasn't going to be the last time we get KO'd in 2010.
April brought us Spring and also the second stop on our barbecue tour at the Springfield, MO Rockin' Rib Fest. Our team was now a man light and we adjusted accordingly. This was also the second contest we cooked outside of the Kansas City area. Fifty-nine teams showed up to do battle on the grounds of the iconic Bass Pro Shop. This was a great event. We met so many nice folks there who wanted to talk barbecue. Our cook went excellent. It was the most productive and efficient cook we had ever had. Everything went perfect. Our presentation boxes went together so effortlessly and looked terrific. We felt great after the last turn-in and for the first time that great feeling translated into great results. We ended up 6th overall! It was the polar opposite of Little Rock. What a great feeling! However, these results were dampened with the announcement by our 3rd teammate that he would be leaving the team for personal reasons after this contest. It was bittersweet for me. Everyone on the team brings a unique set of abilities that combines to create who we are. Those abilities would be missed as the 2 of us work to fill in the those missing gaps. We would learn that at our next cook.
Deciding to strike while the iron was hot. We chose Belton, MO as stop 3 on our tour. This put us back in the Kansas City metro area to compete for the first time this season. Thirty-three teams showed up to participate that first weekend in May. We felt our chances of having another top 10 finish were very strong. We were now a team of 2 having to adjust to doing the work of a team of 4. For the most part, we were able to do this. The cook was normal with no issues. We felt good about the turn-ins but things were not as smooth as the last contest in Springfield. Our bubble was burst as we received no calls and a 16th overall finish. I was left scratching my head at what happened? How can what was the same tasting product do so well in Springfield but just be average here? As we would find out, this theme would pop up again later in the season. We survived and suffered a TKO for our efforts. It helped prepare us for the next contest in Raytown, MO.
Tour stop 4, Raytown, MO, took place in early June and it was considerably hotter and humid that weekend. After our TKO at Belton, we were eager to prove that we were better than those results. We learned a few things at Belton and didn't want to repeat them. The tone for us was a far more serious one with the emphasis of keeping our focus on the cook. Things went very well until 10:30 am on Saturday morning. A severe thunderstorm ripped through the area. It dumped a tremendous amount of rain for 1.5 hours along with strong winds, hale and lighting. It was all we could do to hold onto the Ez-ups to keep them from blowing away. Some how we made it through and miraculously the ribs and chicken we were cooking made it through too! We were wet and miserable when we showed up for the award ceremony but it had all paid off. We ended up 7th out of 65 teams overall with a call in Ribs and Brisket. What a great feeling that was! Everything had come together nicely and we had survived the fight.
We sat out the hot part of the summer, or so we thought, and picked up again in mid August at the Sertoma contest in Springfield, MO. This was our 2nd contest here and it was the hottest one too! After setting up on Friday, the temperature was at a cool 111 degrees in the shade. I was already spent and we had not even started prepping yet! Fortunately, we had pre-trimmed the meat before arriving so that helped ease the amount of work we had to do on site. Thirty-two teams were there to battle the heat and eventual rain that rolled in Saturday morning. Once again we had to battle mother nature! Our cook went well except for the brisket. It just would not finish like we wanted it to. By the time it was ready to turn in, it was done but it just didn't have the wow factor we wanted it to have. When the awards ceremony started we felt like we had delivered good product and thought we should hear our name called. Boy did we ever! We were 1st in Chicken, 6th in Ribs and 7th in Pork. It was going to come down to the brisket if we were going to win this thing! Sadly, it let us down and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We did finish with 5th overall and it was our 3rd top ten finish this season. Had the worm finally turned for us? We were going to find out at the American Royal.
The 6th, and more than likely last stop this season, was last weekend at the American Royal. In a way, it was the closing of this barbecue odyssey circle we have been on this past year. A lot of things have changed in that year's time. We had gone from being a team no one had really heard of to one that got a little publicity from the Pitmasters program. It was a humbling experience and we are thankful for the publicity generated by the show. It has allowed us to meet a lot of great folks this year while competing. It also is an experience that changed us. In a way, it made us turn up the fire to be more serious about competing and wanting to win. Did it take some of the fun away? To me, the answer is no because part of the fun I get out of competing is winning.
Our experience this year was a much quieter one as there were no cameras filming our every move and also that there were only 2 of us instead of 4. The cook went flawlessly. We even entered in the sausage category for the first time. Our boxes looked great and we both thought everything tasted excellent. We were very excited for the award ceremony. When the awards started I had that nervous/excited feeling come over me. As the top 20 was announced by the emcee in each category, I hung on every word waiting to hear our name called. When he called us for 6th in Sausage, I was elated! Our first time out with that category and we make the top 10! I thought that was a good omen as to what was coming. Once again, I was wrong! The ceremony went by without our name being called. We looked at each other and said maybe we were just outside the top 20 on each category. When we got the overall results and finally found our team name at 212th place overall, I was disappointed. What happened? Were we that bad? What were the judges thinking or not thinking? Myron Mixon was right when he said that this event is a total "crap shoot!" Our Chicken entry was spot on and was no different than last years 3rd place entry but this year it was a paltry 285th! What a dagger to the heart. I know our product is better than what it was scored at! Just like at the beginning of the season, we are KO'd at the end too! I'm off the canvas and I'm ready for next year!
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