The Barbecue Odyssey

Finding that next great bbq recipe.

2011-03-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

In today's busy world it's not always easy to find the time or money to practice cooking barbecue or find the time to experiment to get the next great marinade/sauce/rub combination. So what's a guy (or gal) to do ? My solution to this problem is to use chicken breasts. They cook quickly, they're fairly inexpensive and they really have a very neutral flavor so you can taste how your marinade, rub, injection sauce all work together.

I recommend that you try each component by itself and then mix and match your marinade, rub, sauce etc... That way you really learn to understand what each component does to flavor or enhance the meat. This will also help train your taste buds for future recipe ideas.

March 12th kicks off the New England Competition Season

2011-02-24T08:52:00.001-08:00

It's SNOWSHOE time ! Woot Woot ! The annual Snowshoe competition marks the beginning of the New England Competition BBQ season. I believe this is the 18th year for this event, and I think I've competed in at least 14 or maybe even 15 of the 18 years. While this is actually a grilling and not a bbq event it's still a way for teams to clear the cobwebs and get back into competition mode. I think there have been more disqualifications over the years due to late entries at the Snowshoe then any other contest I have attended (except maybe the Royal).

This years categories are: Strip Steak, Pork Tenderloin, Sausage Fatty and the always challenging Chefs Choice (no dessert). Believe it or not this is one of the most difficult competitions to win because teams have had all winter to practice and perfect their recipes for this contest. Of course that's not my teams style. The competition is a couple of weeks away and we haven't even discussed what we are going to cook. I guess it's time to start skimming some cookbooks and the intertube for some grilling inspiration.

If your interested in competing or just visiting the Snowshoe you can find all the info on the NEBS website.

How I used my Bacon and Pancetta

2011-02-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

I couldn't wait to try the bacon and pancetta that we just cured even though the pancetta hasn't dried for the required amount of time. That's ok it was still darn good !

Pig Candy Ice Cream

The first recipe I tried I found on David Lebovitz blog. I followed the recipe as is and even included the cinnamon since I'm a fan. The original recipe is called Candied Bacon I ce Cream but in the BBQ community we call candied bacon 'Pig Candy' , there are several recipes out on the net, Google is your friend.

The basic steps are Candy the bacon, make a custard, and throw it in your ice cream maker. Here are some pictures of our effort...

Later this week I will be making an apple crisp to pair with the ice cream.

Sweet Potato Hash with Pancetta

This Recipe came about today because this is what I had in the house and I couldn't wait to try the pancetta.

Ingredients: 1 Large Sweet Potato peeled and cut into 1/4 inch squares
1 Small Onion finely diced
dried basil (to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 inch slice of pancetta
Salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper

Place the sweet potato pieces in a bowl and season with olive oil, basil, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until fork tender. Flip the pieces after 15 minutes

In a non stick skillet brown the pancetta. When fully cooked drain the pancetta reserving the fat in the pan. Set the pancetta aside and when it cools finely chop it.

Add the onions to the pan and cook until they just start to brown. Add the chopped pancetta and the sweet potatoes to the pan. Salt and pepper to taste. I think hash is good with a lot of freshly ground black pepper.

When the sweet potatoes are nice and brown serve as a side dish with eggs or if you can't wait like me just dig in.

Bacon and Pancetta

2011-02-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

Who knew that making Bacon and Pancetta at home could be so easy ? Not me that's for sure.

Last week I purchased an eight pound pork belly from Nor theas t Fa mily Farms a division of the Dole & Bailey Company. The goal of Northeast Family farms is to provide a supply chain between local farms and the professional culinary community. All of their products are locally raised on small to medium sized family run farms. The Pork Belly that I purchased was raised by the Lucki 7 Livestock company in Rodman New York.

I cut the pork belly in half making bacon with one half and Pancetta with the other. Both recipes can be found in the book Charuterie by Michael R uhlman. The Bacon Recipe can by found on Michael Ruhlman's Blog.

BACON

The Bacon was the easier of the two. You simply rub the bacon with a basic cure and put it in a ziplock back in the fridge for seven days. Every other day you turn the bacon over and make sure the cure (which by the second day becomes a brine) is well distributed.

After the bacon was done curing we smoked it in our pellet smoker for 2 hours at 200 Degrees.

And that's it presto chango it's Bacon !

PANCETTA

While I say Bacon was the easier of the two that doesn't mean the pancetta was difficult to make. It just involved a few more ingredients and the added steps of rolling and tying the belly after it was cured and finally hanging the pancetta to dry for several days.

Making Bacon and Pancetta

2011-02-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a little preview of our Bacon and Pancetta efforts. We're cutting it close to the Charcutepalooza deadline but we will make it !

CharcutePalooza

2011-02-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to revive this blog and the pleasure of trying new cooking techniques I've decided to join a blog challenge called CharcutePalooza. The Challenge is hosted by Mrs Wheelbarrow and the Yummy Mummy. The rules or Ruhls of the challenge as they like to call them are:

Let’s celebrate the age-old talents and skills of charcuterie with contemporary takes on techniques, flavors and presentation.
Let’s agree to use humanely raised meat, sourced as close to home as possible.
Let’s write about our experiences. Not just how the charcuterie is made, but how we use it, serve it, flavor it.
Buy a copy of ‘Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing’ by Michael Ruhlman.
Cook along as often as practical. There’s no obligation.
Post about your experiences on the 15th of the month.

I hope you'll follow along and Join in on the fun.

BBQ Class

2011-01-24T09:58:00.000-08:00

Brendan Burek the pitmaster of Transformer BBQ and Steve Farrin (that's me) pitmaster of I Smell Smoke are teaming up to teach a Brisket and Pork Butt class. Two meats taught 2 different ways. The date of the class is Feb 26th and it's being held in Canton Massachusetts at our Catering and Retail bbq location. Please contact Brendan at info@bbqnewengland.com for all the details. Space is limited so sign up ASAP

American Royal BBQ

2009-09-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

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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Packing for the American Royal

2009-09-29T05:50:00.001-07:00

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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Whole hog in Norwalk CT

2009-09-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

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Scenes from New Holland PA

2009-09-01T06:29:00.001-07:00

Maine and stuff

2009-08-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

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 !

A quick update

2009-07-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Scenes from Wildwood NJ

2009-07-22T15:50:00.001-07:00

Not a bad weekend in NH

2009-06-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

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Huge is the theme of the day

2009-06-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

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All aboard

2009-06-11T04:45:00.001-07:00

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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Headed to Raytown MO in the morning.

2009-06-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

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.

Pictures from The Art of BBQ Mays Landing NJ

2009-06-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

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.

Danville-GAB-Etc...

2009-05-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

Our results in Danville were not all we hoped they would be. We ended up 15th overall and only got one call for 4th place pork. I would like to thank Bill McMann the contest organizer for making it possible for us to compete. We used Bills personal FEC100 and he arranged to get us the rest of the equimpment we needed. It rained, it was muddy and our site was far away from the teams we normally socialize with. We still had a good time and I'm sure someday we will do it again. Congrats to my good friend Tuffy Stone on his Grand Championship and the Dizzy Pig Team on their RGC.

The week following Danville I competed in the Great Americ an Barbecue contest in Bonner Springs Kansas. I cooked on borrowed equipment and relied on my friends from The Slabs to help me through the weekend. Thank you Steph, Kyle, Val, Brent, Jerry and Pam for all the help. I could not have done it without you. Thank you Rod Gray and Todd Johns for lending me the bbq pits to cook on. Thank you Andy for getting the Pit to me. The judges at the GAB hated all my food with one exception, Pork which took 1st place.

The next contest I'm doing I'll be competing with some of the young talent in the New England area. I'm really looking forward to cooking with these guys and trading stories (and stealing secrets...shhhhh) it should be fun.

Time to do some traveling.

2009-05-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

The weekend of May 15th I'll be flying in with Richard Westhaver AKA Dirty Dick to compete in Danville Virginia under the team name Dirty Smoke. This will be the second time Dick and I have competed together, last year we went to Chesapeake VA and got a first place call in Ribs, a 7th place call in Brisket and ended up 11th overall. Not too bad on borrowed equipment but we hope to do better this time around.

The organizer of the event was kind enough to gather up all the necessary equipment and meat for us to be able to compete. It's always a challenge cooking on borrowed equipment and you never know what your going to forget to bring with you, last year Dick forgot the chicken rub. I don't think Dick wants to forget anything this year because he keeps sending me lists and asking me to add to them. Hey Dick don't forget the Vodka !

Wish us Luck !

Salisbury Maryland Pork in the Park

2009-04-29T15:46:00.001-07:00

I'm going to keep this post short. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we did very well. There were two highlights to the awesome weekend. The first was a catered breakfast given to me as a birthday present by my girlfriend Steph and of course the second was hearing my team name called for Grand Champion and going up to accept the trophy with my parents.

Breakfast is being served.

Grand Champion Trophy

Salisbury MD awards

2009-04-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

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KCBS Fires New England Area Reps

2009-04-14T11:44:00.001-07:00

The KCBS Board of Directors made the determination to remove Ken and Kathy Dakai as KCBS Reps and Ken as a CBJ instructor. The reason was listed on the KCBS Quick Notes from the Board 4/8/09 and was stated as: The Board discussed the conduct of Contest Reps and made a determination to remove the Contest Reps involved for conduct unbecoming the best interest of KCBS. This info can be found on the KCBS web site. Hopefully the upcoming minutes from that meeting will shed more light on the situation. Because, for the moment, it’s a decision that is leaving many in the dark.

The art of recovery and the importance of Teamwork

2009-04-06T11:26:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I competed in the Grillin' On the Bay event with Dave and Nancy Peterson. I'm about to explain to you the disaster and recovery of our chefs choice Entry.

The chefs choice category for this event was pretty wide open which meant we knew we would be competing against things like lobster and filet mignion. We had to decide if we wanted to attempt to make the best lobster or filet dish or try to come up with something different. If you knew anything about the 3 of us you would realize that we tend to buck the trends and go our own way. Our first thought was beef ribs which is something I cook with I Smell Smoke on occasion and we do very well with, but hey been there done that right ? Then we thought about beef shanks and again I felt that was too similar to the short rib recipe. Finally we decided to do a classic Veal Osso Bucco in the dutch oven, remember everything for this event had to be cooked over wood or charcoal.

If you've had Osso Bucco in a restaurant then you know the portions tend to be pretty large and it would be very difficult for us to fit 6 pieces in the 9x9 styrofoam container that we are required to use for competition. A quick phone call to my friend Doug who is in the food service business and we had some 3 oz portions of Veal shanks on order. This plan was starting to come together.Osso Bucco is a pretty involved dish to make, not difficult but somewhat time consuming. Tie the meat, Season the meat, brown the meat, chop the veggies, saute the veggies, deglaze the pan with wine, add stock as needed during the braising process, etc. And to top that off you have to add in the effort it takes to keep the dutch oven hot enough to keep the liquid simmering but not so hot that you burn what's inside. This is done by adding a few lit pieces of charcoal over a 3 hour time period. We had to do this and work on 3 other categories that we were cooking.

I won't even mention how Windy the weather was that day because it really wasn't a factor. We were able to go through all the steps and had a great Veal Osso Bucco ready to go a little over 1 hour before the turn in time for the chefs choice category. We tasted the veal and the sauce and it was outstanding, melt in your mouth meat with a rich flavorful sauce. The fact that we were early was not a big deal. We removed the dutch oven from the fire and set it aside to cool and planned to reheat the dish shortly before serving.

The category before Chefs Choice was pork and we had the fire pretty hot to quickly grill some Pork chops. After we grilled the chops we spread out the charcoal in the grill so it would cool somewhat. There were 45 minutes between categories so we figured the coals would die down enough for us to put the dutch oven in the fire to reheat the veal and sauce. Twenty minutes before it was time to turn in the Veal we put the dutch oven on the grill to reaheat. Literally 3 minutes later when I went to check to see how it was doing I opened the lid to find a burnt mess ! A lot of the liquid in the sauce must have evaporated while it was resting for that hour off of the fire, the cast iron does hold heat well. First I tasted the sauce.....yuck the burn totally permeated it. Then I tasted the meat.....double yuck, I couldn't get that burnt taste out of my mouth. The dish was ruined, there was no point in even turning it in...........or was there ?

I'm sure my team mates could see the look of frustration on my face. All that work for nothing. Nancy suggested maybe we could come up with a sauce that would work with the veal, we did have some tomato sauce and other ingredients. I was doubtful, at this point I think I was ready to just throw in the towel. Then Dave suggested we seek out Brendan from Transfomer BBQ and see if he had any of the bbq sauce we loaned him earlier in the day. I perked up a little at that suggestion. Bbq sauce can hide a lot of mistakes but that burnt taste was still in my mouth so I was still very skeptical. Then it came to me...maybe we could wash some of that burned taste off the meat, maybe it hadn't penetrated the meat and it was just from the sauce that was still covering it. I asked Dave to start heating some chicken stock while I went over to Brendan's to see if he had any bbq sauce left.

I think Brendan sensed that I was stressing a bit and I explained to him I destroyed my chefs choice entry. He handed me the sauce and I moped back to my site convinced I was wasting my time but resigned to produce something we could turn in.

When I got back we took each shank and swirled it in the heated chicken stock to rinse them trying to get as much of the osso bucco sauce off as we could. We were running out of time. I asked for a brush for the sauce but both of our brushes were in dishwater waiting to be cleaned, we were going to spoon the osso bucco sauce over the meat not brush it on. So I just poured some of the sauce out and applied it to a piece of meat with my gloved hand. Here was the moment of truth...do or die time.... put up or shut up time....I had to taste the meat, I wasn't looking forward to it. I broke off a small piece I really didn't want any more of that burnt taste in my mouth. I placed it in my mouth..... began to slowly chew....hmmm....ummmm...err hey this isn't bad. I took a bigger piece.... not bad at all. We had something I wasn't totally embarrassed to turn it. I figured at least we won't get last place......I hope !

We filled the turn in box with the wonderful truffle risotto that Dave cooked and carefully added 7 veal shanks that we were able to save. I don't have any pictures but someone from SeriousEats.com snapped one just before we closed the box for turn in. We joked that we hope the picture doesn't show up on his website and we place DAL with it. I dusted the meat with an orange gremalata I had made for the osso bucco, I figured what the heck I took the time to make it so I might as well put it on there then I gave the box to Nancy to turn in to the judges. Phew that was intense.

When Nancy returned to the site and we were cleaning up we started joking about what if it does well we won't be able to keep a straight face. While I wasn't very happy with the entry I was pretty happy how we dealt with the whole situation. We didn't give up and we all worked together to get something turned in and at least not get disqualified. I had a real feeling of pride and satisfaction at that point, it's hard to explain but it was really an uplifting experience. I think these are the moments that real competitors live for. It was a real challenge, we faced it head on and we persevered.

When the Chefs Choice category was announced I figured we didn't stand a chance of hearing our name called. I'm not saying what we turned in was horrible but it was a far cry from what I envisioned us turning in. They were also announcing the last place team in each category and I even feared if we did hear our name it would be for that. To my amazement and Nancy's hysterical laughter we were called for 4th place in Chef's choice. Unbelievable ! There were some pretty skilled competitors there that we beat.

So what's the moral to this whole thing ? To me it's this... First, when you start a team make sure you surround yourself with good people that will lift you up when things go bad, people you can count on during a crisis(I've been pretty lucky in this regard). Second...Never give up. Always do your best to turn something in. It may not be your best but it will be the best you could come up with in that situation.

Next stop Salisbury Maryland....

Grillin' On The Bay 4/4/09

2009-04-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

I'm headed to Sheapshead Bay NY this weekend to compete in the Grillin' On the Bay competition. Dave and Nancy Peterson of Petey's Crispy Critters will be joining me and we'll be competing as Team Agave. The categories are Chicken Breast, Pork, Fish and Chefs Choice. We had a little team meeting on Tuesday night, sampled a little Agave and came up with a pretty good plan of action in my opinion. Wish us luck.

2009-03-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Everything is off the cooker and looking great. First up is pulled pork. Here's a picture of the butt Before I pulled it. There is a little sauce painted on it.

Here is a picture of the pulled pork. I add seasonings and sauce to the pulled product to give it that special something that the judges seem to like.

I didn't take any pictures of the whole brisket but here's a picture of one sliced. The new marinade was a tad on the salty side but I think I'm headed in the right direction. The briskets came out moist and tender.

Here's a picture of a sandwich made from the scraps that are left on the cutting board after slicing. Mmmm mmmm Good !

I'm working on my photo skills trying to improve my composition. I'm pretty new to the world of photography and I know I have a lot of room for improvement. I must say though the ribs were very tasty and I would be proud to turn them in at any competition.

The salad in the background is broccoli slaw. I first had this at the Harpoon competition at the Meddling Kids site. Very tasty and a nice change from regular coleslaw.

All in all a very successful cook. I was able to compare some rubs and sauces side by side which is not something you really want to do at a competition. You should always go in with a plan and try to stick to it.

Yes I'm really cooking

2009-03-29T06:35:00.001-07:00

Barbecue is a long slow process (at least the way I cook it is). The weather started out Warm and sunny yesterday when I was running around purchasing meat, then it turned cold and foggy as I was preparing to put the meat on the cooker. Now it's cold and rainy and the meat is chugging along.

I put the ribs on at 7:15 and wrapped the Butts and Briskets around 9:00 am. I'm working on a new brisket marinade loosely based on Rick's Sinful marinade that I put in the foil when the briskets are wrapped.

More Later...

Practicing

2009-03-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

Practicing is just not something I do on a normal basis or at all really. Not that I don't see any value in it, but it's hard to set aside the time to cook bbq for 10 to 12 hours. I'm usually too busy or too lazy to commit the time.

This weekend I need to cook some bbq for a party so I'm going to use the cook as a contest practice run. I've been struggling with brisket a little lately so I will pay particular attention to that. I'll use a couple of different rubs and sauces and hopefully come up with a winning combination.

In Arkansas my brisket ended up being overcooked. When I took the meat off the cooker and put it in a cambro (insulated box) to stay warm, the brisket was definitely not overcooked. I think it overcooked in the cambro because I had it loaded with more meat then I normally do. The Arkansas contest had $50,000 in prize money so I thought it was worth cooking extra meat to try to get an edge on the competition. I think my decision to do that cost me in the end. I don't think cooking the extra meat was a bad decision but loading it all in the same cambro was, it may be time to invest in a second one.

I'll try to post some pictures of my progress this weekend but don't expect to see a lot about my recipes or techniques. The team is looking at schduling a class sometime this spring so if your interested in attending keep an eye on our website www.ismellsmoke.com

Snowshoe Results

2009-03-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

We got one call at the Snowshoe for 2nd place fatty and ended up coming in 3rd overall losing by 3.5 point or so. There was only a .5 point spread separating the first and second place teams ! It was a little cold and windy all day but the sun made up for it. I forgot to bring my camera so I thought I would post some pictures from an old Snowshoe that was held at the Concord Junction Brewing company, the original site of the contest. It was fun to see that several of the teams that competed this year were also there back in the day. I hope you enjoy them.

Re

2009 Snowshoe Results

Grand Champion
Wildwood BBQ-NYC

Reserve Grand Champion
IQue

3 - I Smell Smoke!!!
4 - Transformer BBQ
5 - Porkaholics

Fish

1 - QHaven
2 - Uncle Jed
3 - Wildwood BBQ-NYC
4 - Insane Swine BBQ
5 - Shoe City Smokers

Pork Tenderloin

1 - Transformer BBQ
2 - IQue
3 - Wildwood BBQ-NYC
4 - Dr. Frankenswine
5 - Lakeside Smokers

Fatty

1 - Smokey O's
2 - I Smell Smoke!!!
3 - IQue
4 - Transformer BBQ
5 - Insane Swine BBQ

Burger

1 - Porkaholics
2 - Wildwood BBQ-NYC
3 - Garden State Porkway
4 - Boneyard Smokers
5 - Transformer BBQ

Grilling vs BBQ contests

2009-03-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend we will be competing in the Snowshoe Grilling Challenge. Grilling contests are popular here in the Northeast but they are a whole different beast from a barbecue competition. The entry fees are normally much lower but the cost of the meat and spices are higher. If the category is steak do you want to be the guy cooking bottom round when the competition is cooking filet migon ? Of course not so that's going to drive the price of competing up. But then you have to think if 8 teams are cooking filet do you want to try to cook the best filet or try to stand out a little by cooking a ribeye. Now for your ribeye to stand up to their filet it may be necessary to purchase prime beef so again the cost jumps up.

Since the entry fees are lower then it follows that the prize money is also lower. Your mindset going into a grilling contest has to be that your doing it for the plastic trophy. Your not going to come out ahead money wise and you may even be lucky just to break even. So why do we do it ? Some say it's a sickness others a passion for competitions but I like to think it's for the enjoyment. We like the people that come to these contests and we enjoys spending time with them. Most of us also share a passion for cooking, and grilling let's us show that bbq is not the only thing we can do.

In a bbq competition there is a lot of time spent waiting. You put your meat on the cooker and just let it do it's thing for x amount of hours. That leaves a lot of time for socializing and hanging out. In grilling there is a lot more prep and a lot less time to do it in. We arrive at the contest site, set up, prep meat and then start grilling. That doesn't mean we don't socialize. I like to use a hit and run technique. With my trusty camera in hand I'll try to visit all the teams, sometimes before we start grilling and sometimes between categories. I've even caught a team prepping their box for the wrong entry and tried to save them from a dq. We also like to shout friendly jabs from our site to a neighboring team, it's all in fun afterall.

I like to joke around with people that grilling competitions are too much like stir fry and there's way too much jumping around but the fact is I have a lot of fun at these contests. Oh and I also happen to enjoy Stir Fry.

Arkansas continued...

2009-03-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Charlie put the ribs on earlier in the morning and they were looking good, the briskets seemed to be cooking on their normal schedule. At this point it was my job to get the chicken ready to go on the cooker and prep some sauces and marinades/flavorizers we use during our cooking process. Things were going smoothly after I prepped the chicken so I decided it was time to start rattling the neighbors.I find a camera always helps to put people on edge. I hit the Pellet Envy site to our left and the Transformers to the right. Poor Julie and Brendan had a number of people pushing their buttons during one step of their rib process. It was pretty funny from my vantage point.

Brent Richardson volunteered to help us out for the day so I put him on Garnish duty with Carmen and Carlotta. Appearance doesn't count as much as taste and tenderness but it can be the difference between winning a contest and coming in second place. I knew I could trust Brent because he's been cooking bbq with his mom and The Slabs since he was knee high to a grasshopper. He's even competed on his own and has a very distinguished record in Kids Q events.

The next couple of hours of the event are a blur. Chicken on, ribs wrapped, brisket off, ribs off, chicken turn in etc... Brent was a big help in doing the box presentation. He helped us strategically place parsley to get the best look, and he even helped Charlie and I with the tasting of the entries and the adjustment of spices. I was happy with 3 out of our 4 entries, the brisket I knew was a bit overcooked. Maybe I should have taken them off the cooker when I took the Butts
off but they didn't seem done to me at that point. Oh well live and learn. I had 3 briskets, maybe I should have taken them off in stages. In the early part of the season you need to get a feel for things, your instincts get a little rusty. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it)

After turn in it's time for cleanup. I Smell Smoke is usually one of the last teams to leave an event but we had early flights in the morning and Charlie and Carlotta needed to get back on the road so we bucked up and got the job done in record time. In fact the wait for awards seemed to take forever.

At the awards ceremony we ended up next to the Illinois contingent of cooks. The night before they had stopped by our sight for a drink and the Smack Talk was rolling. The subject of Jack Qualifiers came up and they seemed to be of the opinion it was easy for a New England team to qualify because we had and I quote "Little contests with only one qualifier in a state". I'm not really big on the Smack talk thing before I've even cooked my food and turned it in so I just let their comments roll off my back. I figured we'd see who had the right to talk Smack after the award ceremony.

We placed 14th in Chicken ($150), 19th in Ribs ($100), 18th in Pork($100) and 8th Overall ($700), so the bulk of our expenses were covered. If we can break close to even on a big contest like this we are very happy. I overcooked the Brisket and it placed 47th, if I had not done that we were definitely in the running for Grand champ being one of only a few teams that got 3 calls to the stage. We only got beat by 1 Illinois team and I don't remember them talking smack at my site, at least not to me.

We had a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll make the trip again next year (if I can get Charlie and Carlotta to drive again).

This weekend we will be competing in the Snowshoe Grilling challenge in Abington MA.

Little Rock Arkansas

2009-03-18T05:49:00.000-07:00

When I Smell Smoke travels to a distant contest there is usually a whole lot of planning involved, not so for Little Rock Arkansas. On February 2nd I received an ad for the contest in my email and forwarded it to the rest of the team thinking I'd get a reply along the lines of "Yeah Right". Instead I get reply from Carlotta saying "Are you driving ?" and then one from Charlie saying "I'll Drive !". A few emails and a few days later the next thing I knew I was sending in the $350 dollar entry fee for a contest 1446 miles from home. Charlie, Carlotta and Carmen driving and me flying. Somewhere along the line we talked Transformer BBQ into making the trip too, I think their decision was even more spur of the moment than ours was. Rather than having two vehicles drive almost 1500 miles from New England to Arkansas we agreed to take their equipment in our trailer so they could fly out.

The flights to Arkansas were uneventful, the drive on the other hand was a mix of rain sleet and snow all the way from Fitzwilliam NH to Little Rock Arkansas. Even so there were no complaints from our 'Drive Team' when they hit the hotel. We all hit a Mexican Restaurant called Cozy Mels (I know Cheesy name) that turned out to be a great place to eat. We were joined by The Slabs and Smoke on Wheels bbq teams and a good time was had by all.

The weather for the weekend was rainy and in the high 30's to low 40's for the entire weekend. If the contest was a week earlier we would have been cooking in 80 degree sunny weather. Oh well that was out of our control so we just bundled up and dealt with it. Friday night The Slabs organized a St. Paddy's themed potluck which ended up being held on our site due to space constraints. Smoked Corned beef, cabbage with smoked sausage, bacon explosion potatoes, Reuben dip, steak soup, Irish stew, Baileys and Cream, Pizza, Green desserts, Green Soda, lots of beer and some beef sandwiches from Chicago made for a great spread. Thanks to all who attended we enjoyed your food and your company.

I slept through my alarm the next morning and woke up just in time for the potluck breakfast. Steph from The Slabs made Italian Strata and Grit Bake Casserole and there were some Krispy Kreme donuts that they were giving away somewhere on the contest grounds. There may have been more food but I was a little out of it and couldn't really say. I checked on my BBQ and my Pork Butts were done ! Uh oh. I was a little embarrassed pulling my meat off the cooker that early with so many eyes around the site but I had to get those Butts off before they cooked any further. I put them in the cambro but left the door open for a little while so the internal temp on the butts would drop and they would not continue to cook.

to be continued...

Little Rock Arkansas

2009-03-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

Fresh off a win and heading to Little Rock Arkansas

2009-03-10T10:13:00.001-07:00

(Steve not shown was the official photographer that day)

The team competed at the BBQ Bailout March 1st and walked away with the title of Grand Champion. It was a small event organized by 3 cooks jonesing to get out there and compete after a long snowy winter. 13 teams competed in the categories of chicken, sausage, flank Steak and Ribs, making it a grilling and bbq hybrid contest. We placed 2nd in chicken, 1st in sausage, 3rd in flank steak and 7th in ribs.

Our next stop on the 2009 bbq tour is Little Rock Arkansas, where130 teams will be competing for $50,000 in prize money. The last time we competed in Arkansas we placed 10th overall. We're hoping to top that this time around, wish us luck.

Results

2009-02-06T05:59:00.001-08:00

We ended up 21st overall which was a bit disappointing but sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. While the end result was not the best I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Waiting for awards

2009-01-31T14:07:00.001-08:00

All the cooking is done and the cleanup is well underway. The judges are done sampling now we just have to wait around for the awards ceremony.
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Lakeland FL

2009-01-31T06:25:00.001-08:00

It got pretty darn cold last night. Around 38 to 40 degrees, not exactly what I was hoping for in florida. Luckily I brought my winter hat and coat and not just some shorts ! The big meats are looking pretty good and the ribs went on the cooker just a little while ago. The sun is up and the temp is slowly climbing hopefully we will have a good day both weather wise and contest wise. Ill try to check in later.
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Lakeland

2009-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

Pop's Que lent us his trailer to use in Lakland. Thanks Pop it sure is coming in handy. We had some rain this morning but its cleared out now and the sun is shining bright.
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Lakeland Florida

2009-01-27T05:20:00.001-08:00

I'm headed to Lakeland Florida this weekend to compete with Hawgeyes Nation in the Lakeland Pigfest. The team will consist of myself, Stephanie Wilson from The Slabs and Mike Tucker from Hawgeyes BBQ. Mike is towing down a Horizon smoker from Iowa and we are borrowing the rest of the equipment. The meat is being supplied by Oklahoma Joes BBQ. I'm looking forward to getting away from the cold and snow for a few days. With any luck (and a little effort) I'll post some updates about the contest here on the blog.

Check out Transformer BBQ

2009-01-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hey check out Transformer BBQ's website. They were kind enough to let people know what sites they like to visit but strangely they don't seem to know how to insert a link. They do actually update their site once in a while, we'll see how long that lasts!

An achievment worth writing about.

2008-09-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend I Smell Smoke won it's 5th straight Massachusetts Championship in a row. Overall the team has won 7 Massachusetts State Championships. I can't make any grand claims about this being the biggest streak or anything because I haven't done the research but I'll bet it's right up there near the top.

The team won it's first Massachusetts State Championship in 1997 at the Pig in Pepper Festival in Westford Mass. This was actually the first Grand Championship the team had ever won. We had a dry spell for a few years and did not win our second Mass State Championship until 2001 which was also the Pig and Pepper Festival.

In 2002 there were two Mass State Championships, one in Lowell and one in Acton. The Yahoos managed to win both of those events but I Smell Smoke was Reserve Grand in the Acton event and this marked the rise of our teams success. We placed Reserve Grand in several contests that year.

From 2003 to 2007 the Massachusetts State Championship was held in Lowell Massachusetts. I Smell Smoke did not compete in 2003. I Smell Smoke was Grand Champ of the Lowell event from 2004 to 2007.

That brings us to the present. This years Massachusetts State Championship was held in Harvard Mass at the Harvard fall festival and 35 teams competed in the event. The team was short 2 founding members and the weather posed some problems as well. Doug and Charlie were not able to make it due to other commitments but the rest of the team was up for the challenge. It rained during the night and our site became a mud bowl. The rain also knocked out the power several times forcing us to move our meat from the Cookshack pellet smoker (requires electricity) to our Backwoods Smoker. In the end we persevered placing 8th in chicken, 7th in ribs, 2nd in pork, 2nd in Brisket and Grand Champion for the 5th Year in a Row. BaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhBaQue !

New Paltz aka Hudson Valley Ribfest

2008-08-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well I picked the wrong time to start blogging again. Our results in New Paltz were less than steller, we didn't get a call all weekend in the Grilling Contest or the BBQ Contest. We ended up 16th overall in the grilling and 18th overall in the barbecue. I thought all of our food was good this weekend but the judges just didn't agree. We spent a few minutes behind the trailer crying about it and then we did the Hampster Dance to cheer ourselves up.

I'm headed to New Holland Pennsylvania this weekend to cook in the New Holland Summerfest. I've had some success there in the past but didn't do great last year. I'm not changing a thing so we'll see what happens this weekend. Wish us luck.

Heading to New Paltz NY this weekend

2008-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a pretty successful season so far. In New Hampshire we won both the grilling and barbecue contests and a couple of weeks ago we won the bbq contest at the Harpoon Brewery. Harpoon is one of those special events. We vend and have a lot of friends and family around so its a crazy weekend and winning is just icing on the cake.

This weekend is New Paltz. We've done pretty well there the past few years and it's a great family friendly event. There's a public swimming pool next door with showers which I wish all contests had. Saturday we'll be grilling fish, steak, sausage and pork chops. Sunday is the 4 KCBS categories and an apple category. Last year we did cinnamon apple jello shots for the apple entry. They didn't do great but I think Doug had a blast making them. If your in the New Paltz area this weekend stop by the Ulster County Fairgrounds and say hi.

Peter's Pond

2008-06-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

We competed at the Peter's Pond Rib and Brisket festival in Cape Cod this weekend. We took 1st Chicken (no it's not a mistake), 6th ribs, 1st pork and 1st brisket. Oh and we were the Grand Champions !

Great Pork BBQlossal...Des Moines Iowa

2008-06-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

It was hot, it was windy and it was a lot of fun. The BBQlossal is a unique contest in that all of the categories are pork. Ribs, Loin, Whole Hog and Shoulder. We got a call for 8th place Ribs and 5th place loin and ended up 7th overall out of 61 teams.

A little Update

2008-06-04T12:12:00.001-07:00

The bbq season has started off a little slow but it's about to kick into high gear. I'm headed to the Great Pork BBQlossal in Des Moines Iowa this weekend to cook under the team name of Hawgeyes Nation. I'll be teaming up with Scottie Johnson of CancersucksChicago.com and Mike Tucker of Hawgeyesbbq.com. After that we have the Peter's Pond Rib and brisket festival in Cape Cod, The Rotary Ribfest in Merrimack NH, a rib cookoff at Jakes in Waltham, a bbq class in Warminster PA, a contest and bbq class in Lake Placid New York and then a contest in New Jersey. Things are about to get very, very busy ! I'll try to post after each event but no Promises....

Making Pastrami from Commercial Corned Beef

2008-03-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm making my first attempt at pastrami today. I'm using store bought corned beef that I've been soaking in water for a couple of days to remove some of the salt. I bought points because they were half the price of the flats and I like the point on a brisket better anyway. I rubbed each corned beef with 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper, 1 tablespoon cracked white pepper, 1 tablespoon cracked coriander seeds, 1 tablespoon coarsely ground freeze dried garlic, 1 tablespoon paprika for color and 1 teaspoon onion powder. If you've ever wondered what makes pastrami uniquely pastrami it's definitely the coriander. It has a very pastrami like smell.I'm cooking on the FE100. Cooked the first 2 hours on smoke setting which fluctuates between 160 and 180 on my cooker. Just turned it up to 240. That is all...
The picture above is the Pastrami after 4 hours in the cooker. It's starting to look pretty tasty !!
Six hours 151 degrees and humming along.After 8 hours the Pastrami was 175 Degrees. I removed it from the smoker let it cool and refrigerated overnight. On Easter Morning I steamed the brisket for 3 hours to complete the process. The end product was moist, tender and very flavorful. This was my first try at making Pastrami and other than pressing the rub into the meat more so it will adhere better I can't really think of any way to improve it.

Cost Update

2008-02-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

Entry Fee $135
2 bone in pork butts 20.65 lbs @ $1.19/lb = $24.57
2 All Natural briskets 18.95 lbs @ $2.95/lb= $55.90

We still have to purchase ribs and chicken.

About the briskets. I'm sure that price seems high and the weight low but it's an all natural grass fed product that has worked very well for us.

About the pork. Boneless butts are going for .90 some odd cents but we definately prefer the bone in variety. You would think bone in would be cheaper but they're not. Go figure.

Grand total so far $215.47. We still have a lot of shopping to do and this doesn't include rubs, sauces, injections, marinades, charcoal and wood. We have sponsors for several of those items but if your planning to get into competition bbq you'll have to purchase them.

Let's get this season started !!

2008-02-25T11:55:00.001-08:00

Well we're ready to start off the new bbq season here in good old New England. It's currently 43 degrees outside and the weekend forecast calls for rain and snow with a low of 24. I feel bad for anyone that doesn't have an insulated pit, our Backwoods should do just fine in this weather.

I thought I might try to track our expenses a little better this year and share some of those figures with you. The entry fee for this contest is $135 dollars. The contest was originally supposed to take place in Hancock MA which is 160 miles from my house but it's been moved to Maynard MA which is less than 30 miles. My truck gets about 9 miles to the gallon towing my trailer so that's roughly $40 dollars of fuel savings. We were going to get 3 hotel rooms in Hancock which were $97 each so that's another savings of $291 dollars. This move of venue has saved us a bunch of money.

Well with all that savings I started thinking about the possible 20 degree temps and ordered a propane heater online. It was only $60 dollars and it lasts 6 hours on 1lb of propane. It was a no brainer to me, I just hope it gets here before the contest.
I'll let you know what our meat costs are when I find out. Now I just have to remember how to cook competition bbq.

Edit: 10 seconds after hitting submit for this post I got an email saying the heater has been shipped. Oh boy oh boy. That's good news.

This is going to be fun

2007-12-10T06:27:00.001-08:00

Now I can't wait for the bbq season to start. This blog is going to be active when it does. I love modern technology!
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How about a picture?

2007-12-10T06:21:00.000-08:00

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Test post

2007-12-10T06:20:00.001-08:00

Just testing to see if I can post to this blog from my blackberry.
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Images from the Jack

2007-10-26T13:07:00.001-07:00

Interesting Conversation

2007-10-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well we're sitting here at the Nashville airport waiting for Sully from the Lunchmeat bbq team. He's hitching a ride with us to Lynchburg, the rest of his team are driving. I'm sitting here minding my own business surfing the web and the conversation turns to Glory Holes. I don't know why ? This group I'm with is a little out there but I didn't know they were that far out there ! But I guess it beats talking about the weather. We're going to go try a local bbq chain called Bar-B-Cutie. Hopefully it's glory hole free. I'll check in later.

Arrrrgh the FLU

2007-10-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

We're supposed to leave tomorrow at 6:00 am for Lynchburg Tennessee to compete in the Jack Daniels Invitational but instead of getting ready I'm lying in bed fighting the FLU. My throat is killing me but my fever has finally broke so hopefully I'm on the mend.

The Royal Invitational Prep Day

2007-10-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

We lounged around the hotel until 11:00am and then headed over to the Kemper Arena to get our site set up and our meat inspected. When I woke up I had a craving for chicken fried steak(Steve Steaks) and I put Carlotta in charge of finding someplace that had it. She hit the jackpot ! Papa Lew's Soul Delicious had some great chicken fried steak and fried okra. Carlotta and Carmen hit the Soul food buffet that included fried chicken, greens, chicken necks and other assorted goodies. On the way out we got a big hug from the restaurant owner.

We got a site big enough to park the truck on. I'm glad we did because the truck served as a barrier to one side of the site as well as the porta John. If you've never been to the Royal then you don't know how important it is to have your site blocked in on all sides and your Porta John hidden from the public. If you don't then 30,000 spectators will be using your site as a shortcut and the Porta John will last about 2 hours before the stink gets so bad you want to vacate the area.

I was impressed this year with the availability of Ice and Water, two things that have been an issue at the Royal in the past. There were so many people riding around on carts with ice asking if you needed it that it almost became annoying. The meat inspectors were also easy to contact and we were inspected and ready to go in no time.

Now it was time to trim the meat. This is something I usually drag my feet on, but I was motivated by the fact I wanted to visit with all my friends who were also at the Royal. People from sea to shining sea were in attendance and that's one of the things that makes the Royal so special. While I was busy trimming Jorge from the BBQ Brethren stopped by and gave me some great smoked sausages from his home state of Texas. After trimming the meat I had to cook some chocolate chip cookies and the sausages Jorge gave me for a party we were attending.

At 7:00pm The Slabs hosted a party for members of The BBQ Forum an internet forum where many of the top teams in the KCBS hang out and share their knowledge. It was a potluck and there was lots of great food to munch on, from bbq pizza to tasty dips and deserts. There was also an Ice Luge and a huge Margarita machine set up. The Slabs gave away door prizes that were donated from forum members and advertisers. It was a lot of fun to see old friends from the forum and to meet some new ones.

Travel to the Royal

2007-10-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

The trip to the Royal was fairly uneventful. Charlie and Carlotta's ride to the airport never showed up so they had to drive themselves and put their jeep in the airport parking garage. They had Pat pick it up so they didn't have to pay the $48 dollars a day. At the curbside check in I dropped one of the coolers, knocked my ice coffee on my shoe and spilled 3 briskets out into the street. The Briskets were in cryovac and I had a change of socks so it wasn't really a big deal. We checked in the coolers with no problem and 5 hours later we arrived in Kansas City where our ride was waiting for is.

Steph from The Slabs took us to dinner at Los Corrals. This place has great Margaritas and Mexican food. I had the carne asada and it was excellent. It seems every time I'm around the Slabs I'm eating or cooking some kind of steak so Kyle has nicknamed me Steve Steaks. From there we went to Sams Club to buy our ribs, chicken, Jack and Tequila then picked up our trailer and dropped it off at the contest site. There were a lot of teams already set up by the time we got there but our space was a pull through so it was easy to get in. We did some visiting and I ended up drinking a little more than I planned. Man was I feeling it. We didn't get to the hotel until after 11:00 and I was wiped out.

Our Royal Results

2007-10-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Invitational Results:

44 Chicken
34 Ribs
2nd Pork (tied first place)
67 Brisket

20 Overall

Open Results:

283 Chicken
51 Ribs
32 Pork
71 Brisket

48 Overall

American Royal Time !

2007-10-03T05:49:00.000-07:00

This is the weekend of the American Royal Barbecue competition in Kansas City MO, aka the Super Bowl of Barbecue. On Friday night we will start coking for the Invitational event that will be judged on Saturday. To qualify for this event teams had to have won a Grand Championship sometime during the year. It's a battle of Champions. Last year we got 3 top 15 calls and placed 19th overall. Our brisket tanked and took us out of contention.

On Saturday night we will cook for the open contest. Last year there were 475 teams competing in the open and we placed 4th overall ! The odds of doing that well again are against us but we're gonna give it all we have and let the cards fall where they may.

Our trailer and gear are already in Kansas City so we are all flying in for this contest. We're bringing two coolers full of meat on the plane with us (we hope). Back in 1998 we did the same thing but post 9/11 things are a little more complicated. Wish us luck folks.

Pine Bluff Pictures

2007-09-18T17:37:00.001-07:00

The agony of De Feet....

2007-09-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yes de feet not defeat. We didn't win but we did respectable. 10th place out of 78 teams some of them the top teams in the country. But my feet are killing me. It was a long walk to the awards ceremony and it seemed like a longer walk back to the site.

We placed 39th in chicken...not good, 18th in ribs, 16th in pork..one away from getting a call and 19th in brisket. Like I said respectable. Would we do it again ? Ummm I don't know ask me next weekend and I'm sure the answer will be yes. We're leaving all our equipment in Kansas City and flying home and we'll be back for the Royal.

Post Turn in Head Scratch

2007-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Anyobody that's ever cooked in a barbecue competition knows about the time between the last turn in and when the awards are announced. It's a time where you talk about what you thought was good and what you thought could have been better and your always cautious about saying something was great because that will just be the curse that makes it your worse category. Every team does it. I'm at a point where I just don't know if my stuff was good or not. It's as good as it's been when I've placed really well and as bad as it's been when I've done really crappy.

Here's how I'll break down our entry's. The chicken was ok the skin wasn't quite where I wanted it but the flavor was pretty good. The ribs were dark and not the prettiest ribs we've ever produced but again I thought they tasted pretty good and the texture was decent. Pork is something we do really well in and the category I'm never satisfied with. I just don't know what good pork is...or do I ? Anyway the pork is what it is I won't make any judgements on it. The brisket was tender and moist but didn't have the best smoke ring. I know that they say the smokering doesn't count but I don't buy that. I got the chance to taste a top competitors brisket and I thought his tenderness was dead on but it was salty. Maybe judges like that, we'll see.

I'll post our results when I know them, keep your fingers crossed for us we need gas money !!

Oops

2007-09-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well I've been taking a bunch of pictures but I forgot to bring the cable for the camera with me so I can't download them until I get home. Yesterday it was hot and humid here and today is cool and breezy. There are over 100 teams and many of the 'big names' in bbq are close by. The contest site is in this beutiful park next to a lake. The teams next to the lake may be getting a little more breeze then they bargained for but I'm sure it will warm up soon enough.

My butts were done a little earlier than I'd like but I'm sure they'll be fine in the Cambro. The briskets are looking good and the ribs are on the cooker. Well my bloody mary is getting warm so I gotta go. I'll check in after awards.

Uneventful flight

2007-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Other than a crying kid the trip was uneventful. No delays and no turbulance. I actually landed 5 minutes early and when I got down to the baggage claim area my bag was there waiting for me. I walked outside, gave Charlie a ring on the cellphone and heard a horn and saw flashing lights. Jumped in the truck and 14 minutes later we pulled into the Marriot parking lot with the help of our trusty Garmin GPS. I don't know how we ever got around without the GPS it just makes things so easy and enjoyable.

I'm gonna hit the sack and get a good nights sleep so we can be on top of our game tomorrow and put out the best bbq we know how.

On my way to Pine Bluff Arkansas

2007-09-13T10:32:00.001-07:00

Yeah I know it's been awhile... But hey you know sometimes life gets in the way(that and laziness). I'm headed to Pine Bluff Arkansas to cook in the Smoke On the Water BBQ Championship. There is $50,000 in prize money and over 100 teams competing. Most if not all of the top teams in the country will be there. I'm looking forward to see how my food stacks up against theirs.

Charlie, Carlotta and Carmen left on Monday afternoon to drive the gear down and the last I heard from them they were at BB Kings in Memphis Tennessee having a grand ole time. That's less than 200 miles from the contest site so things are looking good. I have a 4:00pm flight and if the weather doesn't get in the way I will land in Little Rock around 10:00pm. We'll all get a restful nights sleep at the Marriott and head to Pine Bluff in the morning.

I have my camera and batteries and laptop and I'll do my best to keep you posted on what's going on. Wish us luck.

Steve
I Smell Smoke !!!

Mmmmmmm Cinnamon Apple Jello Shots

2007-08-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

2007-08-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

Just for Scottie

2007-08-08T12:39:00.001-07:00

Memphis

2007-05-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Here I go again

2007-05-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in Saint Louis waiting for a connecting flight to Memphis Tennessee. I'm headed to Memphis in May one of the worlds largest barbecue contests. This will be my first time in Memphis and to tell you the truth I'm a little intimidated. I normally compete in KCBS competitions and I'm very comfortable with the rules and regulations. Memphis in May is a whole new ballgame. There is onsite judging and you have to try to impresss the judges that visit your site. I better drink some extra tequila to calm my nerves !

I'll be cooking with Jack's Down Home bbq and we are entered in the Whole Hog category. Jack is a great hog cook and he has experience in Memphis in May. I'll be helping out with some of the ancillary categories such as Peoples Choice Pork Shoulder and beef. I'm not even sure what types of garnish are legal in these categories but I guess I'll find out when I get there.

Our bbq class was a complete success and we've gotten nothing but positive feedback from the 25 students that attended. We are planning on doing a beginner bbq class within the next few months. We probably won't even cover competition at all in this class. We will teach the novice how to make some tastey ribs and other bbq delights in their backyard.

I competed in Salisbury MD last month with my father and my friend George. We got a couple of calls but ended up 5th overall out of 60 teams. My ribs just didn't want to cook and ended up placing 43'rd. Ouch ! Oh well you can't win them all.

The team now has two new trucks so hopefully we won't suffer through the breakdowns of last year. I purchased a 2007 Silverado Crew Cab. Charlie purchased a 2003 Silverado with a diesel engine. We'll have to win a couple of categories just to pay for our gas this year ! I Smell Smoke will be competing in Connecticut on Memorial day weekend. Wish us luck.

I'll take some pictures in Memphis and post them soon.

14th Annual Snowshoe Grand Champs !!

2007-03-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'll let the food speak for itself.

Cooking this weekend

2007-03-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

We'll be competing in the Snowshoe grilling challenge in Abington Massachusetts this weekend. The categories are Fish, Sausage, beef, and vegetable. It's 2 days away and we're still up in the air on what we are going to cook. I'll take some pictures.

Competition BBQ Class 4/14/07

2007-02-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

I Smell Smoke will be teaching an advanced competition bbq class on April 14th, 2007 at the American Legion post 77 in Ashland, MA. This is the real deal folks! We will show you how we prepare Chicken, Ribs, Pork and Brisket for KCBS competitions. The class is intended for people with at least some competition experience. Class size will be limited so sign up early. Visit www.ismellsmoke.com to download an application

Winter Sizzler

2007-01-24T09:27:00.000-08:00

Well the first contest of 07 is in the bag and I'm thrilled with the results. We competed against 14 other hardy teams at the First Annual Winter Sizzler in Lincoln NH where temperatures reached a low of about 15 degrees which is pretty warm for the White Mountains in January.

All the teams set up camp on Saturday and started prepping their meats for the contest which would be judged Sunday afternoon. We also cooked up a bunch of wings for a contest Saturday Night. A panel of 12 judges sampled all the entries and all of the leftovers were shared with the general public.

After all our contest meats were prepped and turned in it was time to wander around and socialize with the other teams. The Lunchmeat crowd had a 200,000 btu propane heater under a 10x20 tent and it was like a sauna in there. There were a many types of heating devices from propane burners to outdoor fireplaces and everybody was prepared for the cold weather. If you live in New England you know how to protect yourself from the cold. One of the people that we talked with told us when he first started competing he was very intimidated by us and wasn’t sure if we were approachable. That gave me a good chuckle. We’ve had quite a bit of success in the past few years but we’re still just a bunch of knuckleheads out to have a good time. Anyone should feel free to come on up and say hi. We won’t bite your head off and we love talking Q with anybody and everybody. It may take a few times for me to remember your name but it’s not because I’m stuck up it’s just I’m bad with names.

The night went smoothly and we actually had a motel room close by and we snuck back there for a few hours of warmth and sleep. We’ve reached a point where we can really trust our Backwoods to just chug along all night and do what it’s supposed to. It’s a wonderful thing to get a shower the day of the contest. It doesn’t happen often so you really appreciate it when it does.

Charlie got up at 5:30 am and put the ribs in then grabbed a couple of hours sleep out in the trailer. We had a small propane heater in there and it warmed the trailer up enough to make it bearable. We stumbled back to camp one by one after our turn in the shower. Doug and Carlotta had coffee and donuts ready for us by the time I made it back. We got about a half inch of snow overnight and it really made the contest sight very scenic. I think I would have felt robbed if we didn’t get snow for a contest in January.

This contest was different from the normal contests we compete in because there were five categories that counted towards Grand Champ instead of the normal four. We had the usual Chicken, Ribs, Pork and brisket and the fifth category was Red Chili No beans. We’ve all cooked chili before but never in a contest. Doug brought along a killer recipe and I brought some excellent chili powder that I purchased in Texas earlier in the year. When I sampled the chili I knew it was good but maybe a little spicy for the judges. But hey it was cold and snowing, a little spice might make the day more comfortable. Here’s how we placed in each category:

5^th Chicken
3^rd Ribs
3^rd Pork
1^st Brisket
2^ndChili

And yup you guessed it Grand Champion. Last year was an awesome year for us and I can only hope that this contest is a sign of things to come for this year. Win or lose we’ll try our best and always have a good time. If you can’t have fun why do it right ?

Preparing for the Winter Sizzler

2007-01-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

The team will be competing in Lincoln NH this weekend at the first annual Winter Sizzler Barbecue Competition. When the event was first planned we were expecting temperatures in the 5 degree range but it looks like we could end up with temps in the mid 30's. It's been a strange winter or is that non-winter.

Our large cuts of meat have been purchased and trimmed. Doug is shopping for Garnish, miscelaneous seasonings, snacks for the weekend and possibly something to make for dinner and breakfast. Charlie is gathering firewood to keep us warm, loading up tables and a grill, a gas burner to light charcoal, make chili, and heat water. Hopefully Carlotta is making jello shots. Pat will do some shopping at the package store for us. I have to go to Costco for Ribs, Chicken thighs, Chicken wings, paper towels and aluminum pans. I need to make some injections and gather up all the rubs and sauces that I removed from the trailer for the winter. Clean my cooler and cooker load charcoal and pellets. It's a lot of work getting ready for a bbq competition. This is about the time I put my hands on my head and say why am I doing this.

Ribs 2 ways

2007-01-08T06:34:00.000-08:00

I cooked 7 racks of ribs for the Pats game this past weekend. 4 racks of spares and 3 racks of baby backs. I cooked the spares the way I would cook competition ribs which I'm not going to post on this blog, however my team and I will be offering competition bbq classes sometime in the spring if you want to learn how we make them.

I set out to cook the baby back ribs using a recipe I found on the Minnesota Pork Board website, it's the one titled Asian Spiced Baby backs with Honey-Miso Glaze. I made the rub as directed and put the ribs on the cooker then headed out to the Super 88 Market to find the rest of the ingredients. Big mistake. I guess it's always wise to get the ingredients together before attempting a recipe. Since I normally don't follow recipes this was a lesson for me. So what's a guy to do in this situation ? Buy some of the ingredients and hope it tastes ok or buy a commercial sauce that just might do the trick ? I chose the latter. I bought Lee Kum Kee Korean bbq sauce for $1.99 and boy am I glad I did.

I cooked the ribs at 275 degrees in my FE100 pellet cooker. I cooked them for three hours and then wrapped the ribs in foil with some apple juice and Honey and cooked them for one more hour. I then finished the ribs on a hot grill flipping and saucing them several times to get some nice camelization of the sauce. I gotta tell you these were some of the best ribs I've ever had. I'll be making these again in the near future I'm sure.

Pork Butt Report

2007-01-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yes you can cook 150lbs of pork in an FE100. No it's not the wisest thing in the world to do especially if you have other cookers you can use in conjuction. I loaded 5 butts per shelf and staggered them so I had some airflow in the cooker. The large mass of meat took several hours longer then a normal butt cook for me. I had to move the shelves around several times to get the butts to cook evenly and in the end I had to wrap the butts in foil to get them done in a reasonable amount of time. The end product was excellent but it took a lot of work to get them where I wanted them.

150 lbs of pork, one FE100 and a bottle of Tequila

2006-12-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

I'm going to attemp to cook 150lbs of pork on my FE100 this weekend. Should be interesting. Hmmm I might need more Tequila.

The show was fun to watch

2006-11-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

The show was both fun and painful to watch. We came out of the gate very strong with a 25 point lead. Our pork couldn't have come out better and the cracklins we included just put us over the top. It was all down hill from there though.

We made our sauce for the tenderloin in a cast iron pan and the sauce started picking up some metalic flavors from the pan. We transferred it to a different pan and thought we were alright. Obviously we were wrong. That must have been the burnt taste the judges were complaining about. Maybe the longer the sauce sat the more pronounced the flavor got, we'll never know since we didn't taste it after turning in the venison. We also had other issues with the tenderloin. We originally wanted to turn in kabobs with cherries bet were informed it was against the rules. We also wanted to use a rub as a garnish but that was nixed too.

I won't even go into the crab. Let's just say it was not the freshest seafood on the planet.

Tonight's the night

2006-11-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well the episode of the Barbecue Championship series that I participated in will be on tonight at 10:00pm on the versus chanel. I hope it's enjoyable.

Going to get my trailer

2006-11-18T12:10:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at a rest stop on Route 2 in Leominster MA waiting for Charlie to drop off my trailer. I have my fingers crossed that he doesn't have any problems and that I don't have any trouble on my way home.

It's been a long time since that trailer has been home. I'm looking forward to having it back in the yard so I can do some Holiday cooking. Maybe I'll bone out a couple of Turkeys and roast them in the FE one day this week. I also have a new larger firebox for my Caldera sitting in the trailer that Fred dropped off for me at the Jack. I'm curious how long of a burn time I will get with the larger firebox.

It looks like I have a lot of playing to do.

Winter Q

2006-11-16T06:44:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with my fellow New England bbq'rs on the NewEngland BBQ Yahoo list last week and made the following post: "We need to organize a contest for December. Not just grilling but Barbecue. I'm Jonesing for a contest. I don't want the season to end" Well that little comment blossomed into a fullblown Barbecue contest that will be held in Lincoln New Hampshire on January 14th and 15th at the Inn Seasons Resort. There will be more info posted on the NEBS website if your interested.

Home Sweet Home

2006-11-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Charlie and crew made it home safely last night. We're glad to have them home safe and sound. I'll have to give him a call tonight so we can plan our next roadtrip..........NOT.

Some Random Pictures

2006-11-05T08:33:00.000-08:00

On the road again

2006-11-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well the 2nd transmission has been installed and the gang is on the road again 200 miles closer to home. Keep your fingers crossed !!

The Saga continues

2006-11-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Charlie called me around 4:00pm. The good news is they traveled around 450 miles. The bad news is the new transimission just crapped out. He's somewhere in Virginia waiting for another transmission to arrive which probably won't be until sometime Friday. I'm at a loss for words.

Jack Continued

2006-11-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

With a belly full of Southern delights it was time to prep the meat for competition. We trimmed our butts and briskets at home but we still had to trim Ribs and Chicken. Doug worked on the ribs and Charlie trimmed the chicken while I made up our injections for the pork and brisket. Once the meat was injected we put it in Zip Lock bags and then back into the cooler to rest before it was time to cook. We discussed when we would put the meat on the cooker and had to take into consideration that turn-in times were one hour later than a normal KCBS competition. We also discussed how we would present our meat in the boxes because the rules stated we had to have at least 7 pieces as opposed to the normal 6.

After the meat was prepped it was time to join the parade which is led by the Lynchburg High School band. While waiting for the parade to start I got to spend some time with Guy Fieri from the food network. We met at a bbq class in Houston before he bacame famous. I really enjoyed talking to him and hearing about all the exciting things he has coming up. The parade goes from the contest site through the center of town and over to the Visitors center where there are busses waiting to take people up the hill to a reception party. To be honest the reception was a bit of a disappointment this year. They served chili which was very good but really not up to par with the fried chicken and sides that were served last year. But it was good meeting and chatting with people from all over the world. There was plenty of free Jack Daniels and Lynchburg lemonade to go around.

I left the reception around 9:00pm because it was time to light the pit and get ready to cook some meat. I loaded up my Backwoods smoker with Wicked Good Charcoal and BBQr's Delight Pecan Smoke Stix and waited for it to come up to temp. It was somewhere around this time that I found out about my Friend Scotties Father passing. I tried to offer what comfort I could but knew there was really nothing I could do for him except let him know I was there for him.

At 11:00 pm I loaded the Butts and briskets into the Backwoods. A couple of people from the Qhaven bbq team stopped by for a visit and to share a drink. The wind was kicking up pretty good at times but it didn’t seem to affect the smoker. We had several visitors during the night.

The weather was much improved in the morning. Charlie got up at 6:00 am to season the ribs and put them on the smoker. He also added more charcoal, wood and water to the smoker. I got up around 7:30 to get ready for the day. The Chicken went on the smoker around 11:00 am and the brisket and butts came off to get some rest time. The ribs needed a little more time. Everything was looking pretty good. We had some visitors at this time but regrettably I really couldn't spend much time with them, we had too much to do. Doug spent most of the morning prepping his dessert. Charlie cooked our chefs choice entry.

The one entry I didn't like was our Pork. Of course pork is what we did best in. We did spend extra time on it trying to improve it's taste and texture. I guess it paid off. Between turn-ins and awards I got a visit from drbbq and Lee Ann Whippen who have both been on the television show The Barbecue Championship series. I have known both of them for awhile. I attended a drbbq cooking class a few years ago and I consider us friends. I have competed against Lee Ann several times and we have become friends. They both wanted to sample my ribs and brisket and I thought that was a real compliment in itself. I didn't really ask them what they thought because I didn't want to put them on the spot. My good friend Garry Howard from the smokering.com also stopped by.

After that we started breaking down camp and getting ready for the awards ceremony.

Our vehicle problems continue

2006-10-31T07:34:00.000-08:00

Charlie picked up his truck and our trailer in Indy and made it 400 miles to the Jack with no problems. He kept saying he loves it when a plan comes together and I had to agree. Our luck would not hold out though. On the way from Lynchburg to Nashville after the contest his truck started making a horrble grinding noise coming from the rear of the truck. Yup you guessed his rear end is messed up. The truck is in the shop today and hopefully he'll be back on the road and headed home this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed.

Jack Daniels World Championship Barbecue Contest

2006-10-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most prestigious events in the world of competition Barbecue. Teams from all over the country dream of being able to compete in this event. To qualify for the contest you need to win a State Championship or a contest with 50 teams or more. If there is more than one qualifying contest in your state you then go into a draw with any other teams that qualified in that state.

We qualified for the Jack by winning the Massachusetts State Championship and the Vermont State championship. Both States only have one qualifying contest.

We flew out of Boston on Thursday morning at 9:40 am and arrived in Nashville at 11:30 am. The flight was uneventful and actually enjoyable thanks to the flight attendant who was friendly and proficient at her job. We rented a 12 passenger van which we picked up right at the airport terminal and drove to downtown Nashville to check into our hotel. Charlie, Carlotta and Carmen showed up at the hotel about an hour later and the staff of the Marriott was very helpful in finding us a place to park our trailer.

Bye the time we were all checked in it was time to get some dinner. It was pretty cold and rainy outside but we decided to walk to Demos Steak and Spaghetti house, a restaurant where we had eaten when we were in Nashville in 2002. The waitress was trying to teach us how to speak like a Southerner. She told us she knew we were from out of town because not one of us had said y’all while ordering our meals. It was pretty funny. The food was good and we were all set for a night out on the town.

We hit several bars on Broadway including Tootsies and Robert's and got to listen to some great music. By 1:30 am I was ready to hit the sack. A couple of our team members stayed out and headed over to Bourbon Street blues and Boogie Bar and said the house band was awesome. They strolled back to the Hotel around 3:00am. I'm told Joe ordered some food and proceeded to fall asleep. Doug heard a knock on the door around 4:00 and had some choice words for the delivery guy who woke him out of a sound sleep. Sorry delivery guy it wasn't your fault.

We got up around 7:00 am and had some breakfast then it was off to Lynchburg to set up camp in the rain. Upon arriving we were informed that we were the last team to get there. Mark Deleshaw the man ushering the teams to their sites told me were DAL (dead ass last) not something a competition team wants to hear. I told home that's ok that we planned to be the last to arrive and the last to make the trip to the stage. Some of the sites were mud bogs but we lucked out and got some high ground. The rain let up just as we were setting up but it was still pretty darn cold.

We got set up and I took my Parents to lunch at the famous Miss Mary Bobo's. The food was excellent and we made friends with the Hostess who visited with us the next day at the competition. If you’re in Lynchburg you should make reservations at Mary Bobo's. The wait staff is made up of Students working for a college scholarship. It's really a great thing.

More later

Some thoughts

2006-10-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

I don't have time to make a full report on the Jack but I will fill you in later. Right now I'm just a complete jumble of emotions. I'm so happy for my friend Scottie Johnson because he won Grand Champion at Jack Daniels. I'm also so sorry for Scottie who lost his father to Cancer just two days ago. I can't imagine how he must feel at this time. His father wanted him to go to the Jack and I think it was meant to be. He was there with him.

I also have mixed feelings about our performance at the Jack. We took 22nd chicken, 22nd ribs, 12th Pork and 19th Brisket which put us 12th overall. We never heard our name called once but we actually finished better overall then we have in years past. Really a pretty good showing but not as exciting as last year when we won first place ribs. I guess I should be happy about that but I came into the Jack this year with a confidence I've never had in the past. Well I guess we'll see what happens next year.

More later.

Jack Daniels here we come

2006-10-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

Charlie, Carlotta and Carmen hoppped on a jet today and are headed for Indiana to pick up their newly repaired truck and our trailer full of bbq equipment. From there they'll drive to Nashville and meet up with us tomorrow afternoon. Chris Hart and the iQue bbq team are bringing our meat and some other assorted stuff to Lynchburg. Thanks guys.

I just found a blog from another New England team that will be competing in the Jack. The name of the team is Qhaven and this is their rookie season. To earn a spot at the Jack in your rookie season is quite an accomplishement and one they should be very proud of. If you want to see the Jack through the eyes of a rookie check out Ted's blog.

Show #1

2006-10-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

Well the first show of the Barbeque Championship Series aired on Versus last night. So what didn't you see ?

The Woodchicks were late getting a start on their Lobster because Lee Ann wanted to wait and time here Lobster perfectly. The only problem was she had to go up front for the Chicken Judging. Something she didn't plan for. It completely through her timing off and ultimately lost her the battle.

Darrell made the comment to Fast Eddy that he should smack the guy that gave him his stuffing recipe. What you didn't see was Eddy explaining to the judges beforehand that a local gentlaman that he did business with gave him this wonderful family recipe for the stuffing.

On the show the judges looked like it was all just fun and games but in reality they took the judging very seriously. They sampled each entry seperately and judged them for apperance taste and tenderness. It was a very long process, not something you could show on a one hour television program and keep the viewers attention.

The order that the shows are being aired is not the order that they were filmed in.

I've seen comments by some people on the net that they were dissapointed that more cooking was not shown. I'm afraid that some of that can be blamed on the cooks themselves. We were all told that if you are about to do something interesting grab a camera crew and we will film it. Maybe we didn't do enough of that or maybe what we thought was interesting didn't make it past the cutting room floor. This is all pretty new territory and both the cooks and the producers are learning as we go along.

Barbeque Championship Series

2006-10-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Versus the television network showing The Barbeque Championship Series has launched a website for the show. Be sure to check out the Sneak Peek video for a preview.

Click here to see the website.

Tribulations

2006-10-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

Well we’ve been driving around the country for the last several years and other then a few minor instances we’ve never had any trouble. I guess we were due. Pat broke down in Cloverdale Indiana on his way back from Kansas City. We crossed our fingers hoping it was a minor mechanical issue but no such luck. The transmission and possibly the transfer case on Charlie’s 1999 Chevy Silverado is shot. Pat was stranded! After a call for help on the BBQ Forum I found someplace safe in Indiana to bring my trailer so Charlie and I hit the road in my pickup truck at 4:00am Tuesday morning with the intention of towing his truck home. We arrived in Cloverdale around 7:30 pm and picked up the trailer and delivered it to Old Dave. Thank you very much Dave for helping out. It’s people like you that make BBQ great.

After dropping the trailer we were off to meet up with Pat who had been stranded in a motel for the last couple of days. The plan was to get some shuteye and pick up the truck in the morning. We picked up a car dolly early in the AM right across the parking lot from our Motel. When we got to the truck and tried to get it on the dolly we found out it wasn’t big enough. Major bummer! There was no way we were going to be able to tow the truck home. Luckily we were able to return the dolly for no charge. The shop where the truck had been towed originally quoted Charlie a price of $5000 to $7000 to repair the truck. I think they really didn’t want to deal with it so they quoted a high price. After meeting with us face to face they said they could install a Transmission for way less than that. We decided to leave the truck and have them repair it. We finally got back on the road around noon time.

We drove about 500 miles in pouring rain that night and decided it would be wise to stop and get a room. On the news we saw reports of Tornadoes and Snow all along the path we had driven. When we drove out to Indiana we took a westerly route directly through Buffalo New York. Luckily for us we decided on a more easterly route on the way home. Buffalo had almost 2 feet of snow. We finally made it back to NH around 2:30 pm on Thursday. That’s three vacation days I really didn’t want to use but sometimes we don’t have a choice.

Now we have to figure out how we’re going to get Charlie the truck and the trailer to Tennessee for the Jack Daniels contest at the end of October. We’ll work it out.

Barbecue Championship Series Schedule

2006-10-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

Oct. 22 10:00 p.m. ET Ray Lampe vs. Ed Maurin and Lee Ann Whippen
Oct. 29 10:00 p.m. ET Mike Davis vs. Joe Davidson and Hillard Pouncy
Nov. 5 8:00 p.m. ET Bryon Chism vs. Adam Perry Lang and James Britt
Nov. 12 10:00 p.m. ET Johnny Trigg vs. Mike Wozniak and Mike Zofchak
Nov. 19 10:00 p.m. ET Bart Clark vs. Ernie Mellor and Emma Feigenbaum
Nov. 26 10:00 p.m. ET Myron Mixon vs. Jack McDavid and Sara Horowitz (I'm in this one)
Dec. 3 10:30 p.m. ET Semifinal Round One
Dec. 10 10:30 p.m. ET Semifinal Round Two
Dec. 17 10:30 p.m. ET Final

Wow what a weekend !!

2006-10-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm still tired and I'm finding it hard to write the words to express what a great weekend we had. Not just because we did well in the competition but because it was just an awesome time. From our next door neighbors to the neighbors across the street to all the freinds I got to spend time with it was just amazing.

We were also able to redeem ourselves in the Brisket category. We took 37th out of 475 teams. I was very happy with that after how it scored the day before. I cooked the same recipe. We placed 8th in chicken officially making it our best category for the weekend. That's quite an accomplishment considering chicken has been a weekness all year long. The ribs placed 118th not great but not bad considering the amount of teams entered. Pork was 29th which I thought was great in that field. So if you add them all together where did that put us overall ? 4th place my friends. That's right !! Oh yeah !! Wooo Hoooo ! 4th out of 475 teams. WOW !!

I just got some bad news. Pat our team member that's doing all the driving is having some mechanical problems with the truck. He's stuck somewhere in Indiana but he sounds like his spirits are high. Hopefully it's nothing major and we'll see him home soon. Pat did all our meat presentation for the Open Contest. He was a big part of our success.

I need to thank all my team mates. Charlie who trimmed all the chicken and kept the fires burning and got up at 5:30am after partying all night to put our ribs on. Carlotta who does all the box prep and dish washing and runs all the boxes to turn in. Carmen that just looks cute when she goes up with us to receive our ribbons. Pat who did all the driving helped us set up and break down and did some first class boxes for the open. Doug who couldn't make it out to the Royal but he trimmed all the butts and briskets before we left and got us some super cheap nice hotel rooms at the Marriott.

It was a blast and we'll be back next year to do it all again.

It's a bright new day

2006-10-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining and it's getting close to crunch time. Things are looking pretty good and we hope to have a good day. With close to 500 teams we know it's a crap shoot but we're still hoping for the best. Time to Rock and Roll.......

Ok so I'm a horrible blogger

2006-10-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry no posts but there is just too much to do, too many people to see. I did pretty good in the comp yet I'm bumming out. We got 12th Chicken, 13th Ribs, 14th Pork and no call in Brisket which we thought put us in the running for Reserve Grand or Second reserve but no such luck. Our Brisket ended up 73rd out of 83 entries. Man that hurts. I thought it was our best entry today, I really did. No way did I think it was 73rd place brisket. NO WAY !! Oh well I'll get over it.

Congrats to Mike and Debbie Davis for winning Grand and the Smokin Clones for their Reserve Grand. Both teams difinately earned it !! They're great cooks.

Allot of my friends also got calls today and I'm syched for them. Pellet Envy, Cancer Sucks Chicago.com, Dizzy Pigs, Philly Pigs, The Slabs, Carcass Cookers, Cool Smoke I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. Don't hold it against me the Agave has been flowing.

Time to put the meat on for tomorrows cook. Ther are thousands of people and whole bunch of parties going on. The music is cranking and the bodies are swaying and it's a damn good time.