Wednesday, September 30, 2009

American Royal BBQ

The highways and byways of America are littered with thousands of bbq enthusiasts all on their way to Kansas City MO to compete in or judge one of the worlds largest bbq events. American Royal here we come !
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Packing for the American Royal

Not just one competition but two in the same weekend. We are qualified for the Invitational contest which has around 100 teams from all over the country and we will also compete in the Open contest that has 400 teams !
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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Whole hog in Norwalk CT

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Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Maine and stuff

We competed in Maine and placed 2nd in Chicken, 1st in Ribs and 1st in Brisket. I bet reading that you think we took Grand Champ. Well your wrong we ended up Reserve Champs by .6 points because the judges just did not like our pork entry this time around. The situation was the opposite of Lake Placid for us where everyone thought Mr Bobo's would be Grand but they called our name. I was in shock then when we won and I admit I was in shock this time when we lost. Those are the breaks though. I thought our pork was as good as it's been all year long but the judges clearly did not agree. Congrats to iQue on the win and we will see you at 'The Jack'.

Have you looked at the KCBS team of the year rankings ? No ? Well damn take a look would you ! I Smell Smoke is ranked 9th in the country ! We are proud to be on that list with many great teams. This weekend we will compete in the Hudson Valley ribfest which will be our 10th KCBS contest of the year. That will increase our points and hopefully move us up the ladder for team of the year. Wish us luck !

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A quick update

After NH Charlie and I competed in Boston Hills NY and placed 4th overall in the Barbecue and Reserve Grand Champs in the grilling contest. We got a score of 676 in the grilling which really boosted our standings for NEBS Team of the Year.

Lake Placid one of our favorite contests of the year followed Boston Hills. We placed 2nd in Peoples choice ribs and were Grand Champs in the KCBS bbq competition. When they called our name for Grand Champs the whole crowd was stunned because we had 3 lower calls in the categories and there was a team with a 1st place and two 2nd places that everyone including us thought would win the event. Luckily for us that team did not do well in the 4th category and our consistant placing in each category propelled us to the top.

After Lake placid I took the parents to Wildwood NJ for some fun in Atlantic City and a competition practically on the beach. The site of this years event was right next to the sea wall and the view was awesome. I posted some pictures in an earlier update. While there are no woods in Wildwood there is plenty of Wild to go around. The bars let out around 3am and it's quite a site to see.

Stupid me forgot to pack pellets for this trip and out of 62 teams I was the only pellet cooker in attendance. I decided to cook all the big meats in my Backwoods and save what little pellets that were in the hopper for chicken. That decision paid off and we were named Reserve Grand Champions. Congrats to Fat Angel BBQ for their first Grand Championship!

The following week we sat out the event in Troy NY because we all had other things on our schedule.

The most recent event we attended was the Harpoon Championships of New England Barbecue bar none our favorite contest every year. Charlie and a team of helpers vend the event and Doug and I concentrate on the Competition end of things. We placed 1st in Brisket and Pork which put us on top for team of the year for both of those categories. We were trailing coming in to the event and hoped we would do well enough to win at least one of the categories. It was also good enough to make us Grand Champs for the second year in a row !

We were also Grand Champs of the Grilling contest which we have struggled in the past couple of years. Harpoon is a Marathon and most of us on the team are not even built for a sprint, a brisk walk maybe. Doug really worked his tail off on Sunday and I did my best to help even though I think I may have gotten a bad Ice Cube sometime during the night.

Sunday of Harpoon is also the day that the NEBS Team Of the year is announced. I'm very proud to say we were named NEBS Team of the Year for the 4th Year in a row. The awards this year were a knife block with Lamson Sharp knives that had the NEBS logo inscribed in them.

Next up we are teaching a class and then on to Maine for another competition.

That's all for now.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Not a bad weekend in NH

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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Huge is the theme of the day

I thought the airplane was big , the airport in St Paul/Minneapolis is stoooopid big ! After landing I had to walk 2 football fields ride a train for 3 stops on to 3 moving sidewalks one of which was broken and then finally at least one more football field length walk to the last gate in the A terminal. I need a nap !
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Jumbo Jet

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All aboard

I just boarded my flight to KC MO. This is the biggest plane I've been on in a long time. This thing is huge ! I guess its a 757.
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Headed to Raytown MO in the morning.

I'm headed to Raytown Missouri to compete in the Raytown State BBQ championship. This will be my first time competing on my own in the midwest where I don't have the pressure of competing in a Major competition like the Royal or GAB. That's not to say the competition will be any easier but I'm sure it will be a different experience. The Royal and GAB are invitational contests that have people from all over the country competing. In Raytown I'll probably be the only strange face in the neighborhood. It should be a little more laid back and I'm really looking forward to it.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Pictures from The Art of BBQ Mays Landing NJ

SMB placed 1st in Chicken, 6th in Ribs, 6th in Pork, 4th in Brisket and ended up 3rd overall. Pretty good results for our first time competing together. Congratulations to Lo N Slo bbq for Grand and 3 Eyz BBQ for Reserve Grand.











Hopefully these two guys came in DAL because the guy with the sour look on his face was a complete asshole.