backyardchef
Babbling Farker
I Smell Smoke won the griller.
Congrats to Steve and the gang.....
Congrats to Steve and the gang.....
-
working on DNS.. links may break temporarily.
Hudson Valley RibFest (NY State Championship)
- Thread starter backyardchef
- Start date
I Smell Smoke is unbelievable, they seem to win every contest they enter.
Sledneck
Full Fledged Farker
Top five
Grand champion Daisy Mays
Reserve grand champion Hill Country
3rd I Smell Smoke
4th Purple Turtle
5th 3 Beer Guts and a Longhorn
Grand champion Daisy Mays
Reserve grand champion Hill Country
3rd I Smell Smoke
4th Purple Turtle
5th 3 Beer Guts and a Longhorn
Bigmista
somebody shut me the fark up.
Congrats!
MilitantSquatter
Moderator
Hey Guys...
Just got back and unpacked...Great contest... very well run team and speactator friendly... very good crowd... Only bad thing was the horrible rain last night from mid evening through the night.... and lots of flies...
Here's the results - my personal results and the contest
Grilling Contest - Took 2nd place in steak !!! Overall 16th out of 24.
KCBS Contest - Took 3rd place in Pork, 6th in Chicken, 15th in Brisket and 30th in Ribs. 7th place overall !!!
Ribs were very fresh this time...I liked them.. Just got average scores nothing really bad...Will change to a new rub for next weeks contest @ New Holland.
Overall KCBS Top 10 (42 teams)
Daisy May's BBQ - Total Score 634.8574
Hill Country BBQ
I Smell Smoke
Purple Turtle Catering Co.
3 Beer Guts and a Longhorn
Dirty Dick & The Legless Wonders
Bad Bones BBQ Crew
Hog Heaven BBQ
Vinegar Hill BBQ
Fat Boys BBQ
Top 5 by Category
Chicken
Big Dog Barbeque
Someken' Dudes Barbeque
Dirty Dick & the Legless Wonders
Cork n Pork
Smokeadelic
Ribs
Better BBQ Bureau
Purple Turtle Catering Co.
Vinegar Hill BBQ
Hill Country BBQ
I Smell Smoke
Pork (Check out the difference in Pork scores for 2nd & third !!!
Dirty Dick & The Legless Wonders
3 Beer Guts & a Longhorn (162.8572)
Bad Bones BBQ Crew (162.8570)
Purple Turtle Catering Co.
Fat Boys BBQ
Brisket
Daisy Mays
I Smell Smoke
Yankee BBQ
Smoke on the Water
Hill Country Barbeque
Some other brethen in attendance in various capacities ... Lost Nation, Brooklyn Q, Q Haven, djmarko, charlie beasley, Smoke in da eye & the primal meat smokers....
Just got back and unpacked...Great contest... very well run team and speactator friendly... very good crowd... Only bad thing was the horrible rain last night from mid evening through the night.... and lots of flies...
Here's the results - my personal results and the contest
Grilling Contest - Took 2nd place in steak !!! Overall 16th out of 24.
KCBS Contest - Took 3rd place in Pork, 6th in Chicken, 15th in Brisket and 30th in Ribs. 7th place overall !!!
Ribs were very fresh this time...I liked them.. Just got average scores nothing really bad...Will change to a new rub for next weeks contest @ New Holland.
Overall KCBS Top 10 (42 teams)
Daisy May's BBQ - Total Score 634.8574
Hill Country BBQ
I Smell Smoke
Purple Turtle Catering Co.
3 Beer Guts and a Longhorn
Dirty Dick & The Legless Wonders
Bad Bones BBQ Crew
Hog Heaven BBQ
Vinegar Hill BBQ
Fat Boys BBQ
Top 5 by Category
Chicken
Big Dog Barbeque
Someken' Dudes Barbeque
Dirty Dick & the Legless Wonders
Cork n Pork
Smokeadelic
Ribs
Better BBQ Bureau
Purple Turtle Catering Co.
Vinegar Hill BBQ
Hill Country BBQ
I Smell Smoke
Pork (Check out the difference in Pork scores for 2nd & third !!!
Dirty Dick & The Legless Wonders
3 Beer Guts & a Longhorn (162.8572)
Bad Bones BBQ Crew (162.8570)
Purple Turtle Catering Co.
Fat Boys BBQ
Brisket
Daisy Mays
I Smell Smoke
Yankee BBQ
Smoke on the Water
Hill Country Barbeque
Some other brethen in attendance in various capacities ... Lost Nation, Brooklyn Q, Q Haven, djmarko, charlie beasley, Smoke in da eye & the primal meat smokers....
Last edited:
Sledneck
Full Fledged Farker
MilitantSquatter said:
COngrats! 7th place,wow!!
Congrats to ALL--for sure!!!!
I think I know the answer but.....3 Beer Guts and a Longhorn ?
Was Jorge in town???:lol:
TIM
I think I know the answer but.....3 Beer Guts and a Longhorn ?
Was Jorge in town???:lol:
TIM
S
Smoker
Guest
"Was Jorge in town???"
YUP
YUP
Q Haven
is one Smokin' Farker
We didn't score well (no calls, 13th overall) but had a great time and enjoyed meeting some of the Brethren.
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Messages
- 22,930
- Reaction score
- 16,163
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 64
- Location
- Long Island, NY
ok..
3 Beer guts became 4 actually.. Me, WillyB, Barfly(Chris) and Fred.. all with a bit of overhang over the belt buckle.... and Jorge flew up from TX, he was the longhorn.
so, our surprise team was "4 Beer Guts and a Longhorn."
We each took a a catagory to cook, Willy did ribs, jorge did brisket, chris did chicken and I did pork.
We placed and 9th in chicken, 2nd in pork and better than midpack for the brisket and ribs. with a 5th overall with some bigwigs taking 1 thru 4.
Bad bones??? We gotta watch out for him..he was right on our tails the whole time. Congrats to Militant Squatter.!!! Your make a brethren proud!!!
Just got home.. a great, side splitting time.. much less stress when you take on just one catagory. Details tomorrow.. we be tired.
3 Beer guts became 4 actually.. Me, WillyB, Barfly(Chris) and Fred.. all with a bit of overhang over the belt buckle.... and Jorge flew up from TX, he was the longhorn.
so, our surprise team was "4 Beer Guts and a Longhorn."
We each took a a catagory to cook, Willy did ribs, jorge did brisket, chris did chicken and I did pork.
We placed and 9th in chicken, 2nd in pork and better than midpack for the brisket and ribs. with a 5th overall with some bigwigs taking 1 thru 4.
Bad bones??? We gotta watch out for him..he was right on our tails the whole time. Congrats to Militant Squatter.!!! Your make a brethren proud!!!
Just got home.. a great, side splitting time.. much less stress when you take on just one catagory. Details tomorrow.. we be tired.
Yakfishingfool
Babbling Farker
I spent friday evening and sunday turn in times with Qhaven and his team. What a great group of people. As I see the results I see they didn;t get where they wanted, but they felt confident about what they were doing and put some serious time and action into it.
Ted, thanks for taking us in, it was a great learning experience and a real joy to spend time with your team. Best of luck on your next adventure and if you're ever in need of a substitute member for your team.... Scott
Ted, thanks for taking us in, it was a great learning experience and a real joy to spend time with your team. Best of luck on your next adventure and if you're ever in need of a substitute member for your team.... Scott
Vinny,
Absolutely outstanding! Get some rest because we both take the field of battle this weekend at New Holland. You did everyone proud!
Absolutely outstanding! Get some rest because we both take the field of battle this weekend at New Holland. You did everyone proud!
backyardchef
Babbling Farker
Keep the roll going, Vinny! Congrats! and congrats as well to I Smell Smoke and Hill Country, way to go fellas!
YankeeBBQ
is Blowin Smoke!
Congrats Vinny and the rest of the brethren teams. Jorge it was a pleasure meeting you and hopefully I'll make it out your way sometime to compete. Thanks for the Tequila and Beer. And thanks for showing me I don't want to get on Jack McDavids bad side.
Steve
Steve
S
SmokeInDaEye
Guest
Congrats again to Vinny, I Smell Smoke Q Haven, Purple Turtle, Four beerguts and Jorge, and all the other brethren. It was a really amazing time despite getting absolutely killed in my first competition yesterday (37 out of 42).
It was a pretty depressing ride home but I am in much better spirits today and am ready to regroup and come back smarter and stronger. Maybe I'll make a list for the "competition lessons" thread but here's my thoughts post-slaughter.
The good:
* Fifth overall in the grilling competition after doing 17th at my only other grilling competition, Grill Kings.
* Getting to watch Jake McDavid take over Will's rib demo
* Placing 14th overall in shoulder with underdone meat, enabling me to tell Jack McDavid (15th place) that I beat him next year (that's the plan, right Will?)
* Finishing 8 categories and not getting DQ'd in any of them
* Amazing experience. I rushed to throw a team together and had no practice with them but survived every possible obstacle.
The bad:
* Inexperienced team. 2 of our 4 members from Grill Kings weren't available so I had to bring in last minute help. They wanted to do whatever they could but without some knowledge of what was happening, I ended up carrying most of the load from trimming meat to presentation.
* Poor temperature control. Our smokers well below 225 until I realized the stock gauges were messed up from the rain or something (any suggestions for accurate gauges I could drill into the smokers?) and pumped the heat at 5am when the brisket was still stuck at 120 but just ran out of time, hitting the low 170s 30 minutes form turn-in, giving it zero time to get tender. I had allocated 18 hours for shoulders and briskets which should have been fine if we had decent heat. I thought the flavor, bark and smoke rings were good, just needed more time.
* Trying to do too much (thanks, Phil). Making rubs and sauces from scratch was probably stupid. I'll save the sauces for sauce competitions!
* Setting up on dirt. It looked great in the sun, next to the bathrooms and turn-in station, but the downpours turned it into a swamp.
* Not putting the smokers under or near a tent. Moving loaded smokers and a tent in a storm is a mess.
* Losing our main tent. Again, we set up on the end and had no buffers from the wind. At about 2am it lifted up and took off like a 12x12 foot kite, breaking a couple legs. Luckily we were able to bend them enough to put it back up, otherwise it would have been an even nastier night.
* Wet charcoal and newspaper. Trying to get chimneys lit in the rain when the paper is wet, the ground is mud and your underwear is soaked is some sort of lesson in how to do things better next time, right?
Anyway, after almost calling it quits last night, I know I can do much better then how we placed. All of the problems above are easily fixed and if I decide on 3-4 competitions for next year soon, I'll have time to get a regular team set, DIVIDE RESPONSIBILITIES, and get some more valuable insight from all of you. And thanks to Phil, Will and the guys for helping me see straight yesterday afternoon.
- Clint
It was a pretty depressing ride home but I am in much better spirits today and am ready to regroup and come back smarter and stronger. Maybe I'll make a list for the "competition lessons" thread but here's my thoughts post-slaughter.
The good:
* Fifth overall in the grilling competition after doing 17th at my only other grilling competition, Grill Kings.
* Getting to watch Jake McDavid take over Will's rib demo
* Placing 14th overall in shoulder with underdone meat, enabling me to tell Jack McDavid (15th place) that I beat him next year (that's the plan, right Will?)
* Finishing 8 categories and not getting DQ'd in any of them
* Amazing experience. I rushed to throw a team together and had no practice with them but survived every possible obstacle.
The bad:
* Inexperienced team. 2 of our 4 members from Grill Kings weren't available so I had to bring in last minute help. They wanted to do whatever they could but without some knowledge of what was happening, I ended up carrying most of the load from trimming meat to presentation.
* Poor temperature control. Our smokers well below 225 until I realized the stock gauges were messed up from the rain or something (any suggestions for accurate gauges I could drill into the smokers?) and pumped the heat at 5am when the brisket was still stuck at 120 but just ran out of time, hitting the low 170s 30 minutes form turn-in, giving it zero time to get tender. I had allocated 18 hours for shoulders and briskets which should have been fine if we had decent heat. I thought the flavor, bark and smoke rings were good, just needed more time.
* Trying to do too much (thanks, Phil). Making rubs and sauces from scratch was probably stupid. I'll save the sauces for sauce competitions!
* Setting up on dirt. It looked great in the sun, next to the bathrooms and turn-in station, but the downpours turned it into a swamp.
* Not putting the smokers under or near a tent. Moving loaded smokers and a tent in a storm is a mess.
* Losing our main tent. Again, we set up on the end and had no buffers from the wind. At about 2am it lifted up and took off like a 12x12 foot kite, breaking a couple legs. Luckily we were able to bend them enough to put it back up, otherwise it would have been an even nastier night.
* Wet charcoal and newspaper. Trying to get chimneys lit in the rain when the paper is wet, the ground is mud and your underwear is soaked is some sort of lesson in how to do things better next time, right?
Anyway, after almost calling it quits last night, I know I can do much better then how we placed. All of the problems above are easily fixed and if I decide on 3-4 competitions for next year soon, I'll have time to get a regular team set, DIVIDE RESPONSIBILITIES, and get some more valuable insight from all of you. And thanks to Phil, Will and the guys for helping me see straight yesterday afternoon.
- Clint
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2003
- Messages
- 22,930
- Reaction score
- 16,163
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 64
- Location
- Long Island, NY
**we may need a split if this re-routes the conversation****
Clint..
Quitting is not allowed here!!
heres some history lessons from when others of us were just getting started.. There are 3 posts.. The link is followed by the text of the post I was looking for, all talking about the "art of competing". Your can just read the post, or use the link and go thru the complete threads.. but im trying ot stress that we all have rough starts, but with a few hundred of us backing ya up... that podium aint that far away.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=177175&highlight=learn+compete#post177175
I'm gonna preach for a minute.
Go For it! Don't go to win, it will just stress you out, but go to learn, do your best, stick with what you know and if you win, thats gravy on the potatos.
Before i started to compete last year. I knew how to cook. I did NOT however know how to compete. That will only come if u get out there under a tent and start competing. Who cares if its the East Gibip BBQ Hoedown or the American Royal. Go to a competition and do as you would in your yard. Relax, breath, stay focused. Make your ribs, your chicken, your brisket and butt. That will be easy. You have done it a boatload of times for family and friends. Now its just unknown guests. What you have NOT done is timed your best A-game product to come out of the beast in a 10 minute window, 20 minutes apart. That is your challenge. The art of competing. Getting a 12 hour brisket or 10 hour butt so its done, but not dry, and just enuf cooler time. Being able to find 6 perfect thighs out of 24, trimmed, glazed and formed, and to the presentation artist just short of the 10 minute window. Moving from ribs to butt and pulling, glazing and seasoning then having enuf time to slice a brisket. All of this is preceded by timed intervals of marinading, brining, rubbing....... drinking
Thats what competing is all about. Its all timing. We can all produce good BBQ at our leisure..... but no matter how good you can cook, at a competition it aint no good if its a minute late, or undercooked when that 10 minute window opens up.
So go to the AR. Any one person can win a competition on any given day. If you can manage to get 6 judges 4 times that love your Q, your a GC and the subjectiveness under the judging tent can be in your favor that day. You may or may not walk away with a trophy, thats a crapshoot, but its a guarentee that you WILL walk away with experience that you can use your next time out.
Go forth and conquer.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=167341&highlight=learn+compete#post167341
My team only did 3 events last year, but everyone of them was fun. I say it all the time, any one person can win a contest at any one time.
Jason, get your ass out there and compete, regardless of the competition. Go out there a few times to learn how to compete. You know how to cook allready, but competeing is an art in itself. The hours from 6AM to 1:30PM is an entire world away from the backyard. Thats the stuff you have to experience. Cooking the food is the easy part but the art of competing is the hard part. Getting your timings right, rapid fire turnin of 4 meats at their best point exactly at a 10 minute window... that is the trick. You will never get that practice in the backyard. So go compete, who cares where you place the first few times. First time out you may be tripping all over yourself just to get the stuff done at the right time.
On a different issue..... heres where I differ from chad....
Personally, I can't take it that seriously becase then it aint fun, its work. But i'm not(yet) trying to make a living out of it either. Only thing i get out of competing is personal satisfaction and exposure for our group. Of course you prep for winning, you get the best of what you can and do your best with it. But friday night is a party,..... in betweeen prep work. If you time stuff right, you have between 6 and midnight while stuff is brining, absorbing rubs, marinating, etc to kick back and schmooze. You need an hour or so in the middle of the party to get the butts and briskets in around 11-midnight and after that its tend pit and party some more.. or s;leep if u can. Come 6AM, party is over and its time to get to work. Timing is always what your learning here.
heres a little scenario starting at 5-6 am.
Brisket and butts have been in all night and its time for chicken and ribs to go in. Gotta hope the butts or brisket don't "hang" at 175 for the next 6 hours. It happens,.... they get stuck and your 12 hour planned pork butt takes 14. Same for brisket. That is weighing on you as you prep for ribs and chicken, every 10 minutes checking meat temps to make sure they are climbing. Time the chicken to come out and be at the most perfect point of the process......... at 11:55, no later than 12:05. Time the ribs to be KCBS perfect at 12:25, no later than 12:35. Time that pork butt to finish and have some coolered rest time, then start pulling it or slicing it at 12:36 for a 1:00 turnin. No sooner, you dont want it to get mushy. Start slicing brisket, timed so they stay perfect and dont keep cooking, or dry out while they sit in a box for 15 minutes.
Decisions decisions, when do u turn in? at the beginning of the window?, midway? the last minute? each has advantages/disadvanteges. When do you start slicing, start pulling, which ribs look best, which pieces fit best in the box..
This is competing. Dont master this stuff, and you will crash and burn even if you produce the very best food on the planet.
Only way you will get that experience is to go to the contests. Even if it the American royal open. You need to start somewhere. And if you get your arse handed to you, put some rub on it, let sit overnight and cook it up.. A butts a butt.
Even with all this, and the huge stress level around turnin time, competing to me is fun, meeting the people in the circuit and that Friday night party. i come prepared with food and booze specifically for friday night. To be able to meet those people you see on FoodTV is a thrill, shake hands, get a picture with Chris lilly, get some pointers from Byron, and have a few shots with Dirty Dick.. and every time, let them know who "The Brethren" are. Sooner or later, maybe one day, like our splash page says, they will :twisted: "Fear the Pig". Yet, Its nice to "take the walk" to get that trophy, but its not all consuming.. not yet anyway. Going into a contest with nothing(no wins), you have nothing to loose, and all to gain. It will be harder down the road when your trying to keep a streak going, or trying to regain your place in KCBS rankings. But for now, who cares? go out and have some fun and learn a whole bunch while your doing it.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=140841&highlight=learn+compete#post140841
Without readin every post in here, i'll interject my .02. IMHO.. its way to early to hang it up. Your competitions are in the single digits!!! Geez... boys.. lower your standards to just going and learning and having a good time. Then after having some competition experience under your belts then make the call. POOPIE, I only did 3. I never expect to win, just hope to. Ask Greg, the first time out i didnt even get up to go listen to the announcments. Was too tired.. Was there to learn and compete and have some fun.
The only thing we are guarenteed to take home from a competition is experience. The rest is a crap shoot. As far as affordability, any endevor we take in life requires and investment, and you can never get any job worth its salt without education and experience. That education or experience is going to cost $$. How much is college.? But that job after you graduate sure aint gonna be flipping burgers at 5 bucks an hour. Each one of our competitions adds to our education, and one day will be graduation day.
In Conneticut State Ch, i turned in inedible chicken just to turn it in and it took 1st place. In NY, I turned in crap/brisket that tasted like onion soup and it took 5th out of 26. No matter if your Chris Lilly of Dave Little , You can only do your best and the judges are blind. You NEVER know what a judge will do. We are new to the circuit. In the eyes of some "experts", we shouldnt even be expecting to place, never mind win. If ya ask these experts, if we do win.. Its only luck. At various events, I have tasted the Que from some of the(so called) best and its no better than any of our stuff... and some was downright mediocre. So I say bullshit, they are just as lucky when they win.. cause a judge is just the guy next door who may or may not like our stuff on any given day.. we're out there doing it.. and one of thse times out there will be yours.. we do our best, hope for the best and will always walk away better off than when we got there. Maybe a trophy, maybe a check, but always an experience. Not to sound preachy.... Believe me, I know the frustration, but ya gotta hang in there.. Brethren don't give up. How many competitors out there have a backbone like this one?
Clint..
Quitting is not allowed here!!
heres some history lessons from when others of us were just getting started.. There are 3 posts.. The link is followed by the text of the post I was looking for, all talking about the "art of competing". Your can just read the post, or use the link and go thru the complete threads.. but im trying ot stress that we all have rough starts, but with a few hundred of us backing ya up... that podium aint that far away.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=177175&highlight=learn+compete#post177175
I'm gonna preach for a minute.
Go For it! Don't go to win, it will just stress you out, but go to learn, do your best, stick with what you know and if you win, thats gravy on the potatos.
Before i started to compete last year. I knew how to cook. I did NOT however know how to compete. That will only come if u get out there under a tent and start competing. Who cares if its the East Gibip BBQ Hoedown or the American Royal. Go to a competition and do as you would in your yard. Relax, breath, stay focused. Make your ribs, your chicken, your brisket and butt. That will be easy. You have done it a boatload of times for family and friends. Now its just unknown guests. What you have NOT done is timed your best A-game product to come out of the beast in a 10 minute window, 20 minutes apart. That is your challenge. The art of competing. Getting a 12 hour brisket or 10 hour butt so its done, but not dry, and just enuf cooler time. Being able to find 6 perfect thighs out of 24, trimmed, glazed and formed, and to the presentation artist just short of the 10 minute window. Moving from ribs to butt and pulling, glazing and seasoning then having enuf time to slice a brisket. All of this is preceded by timed intervals of marinading, brining, rubbing....... drinking
Thats what competing is all about. Its all timing. We can all produce good BBQ at our leisure..... but no matter how good you can cook, at a competition it aint no good if its a minute late, or undercooked when that 10 minute window opens up. So go to the AR. Any one person can win a competition on any given day. If you can manage to get 6 judges 4 times that love your Q, your a GC and the subjectiveness under the judging tent can be in your favor that day. You may or may not walk away with a trophy, thats a crapshoot, but its a guarentee that you WILL walk away with experience that you can use your next time out.
Go forth and conquer.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=167341&highlight=learn+compete#post167341
My team only did 3 events last year, but everyone of them was fun. I say it all the time, any one person can win a contest at any one time.
Jason, get your ass out there and compete, regardless of the competition. Go out there a few times to learn how to compete. You know how to cook allready, but competeing is an art in itself. The hours from 6AM to 1:30PM is an entire world away from the backyard. Thats the stuff you have to experience. Cooking the food is the easy part but the art of competing is the hard part. Getting your timings right, rapid fire turnin of 4 meats at their best point exactly at a 10 minute window... that is the trick. You will never get that practice in the backyard. So go compete, who cares where you place the first few times. First time out you may be tripping all over yourself just to get the stuff done at the right time.
On a different issue..... heres where I differ from chad....
Personally, I can't take it that seriously becase then it aint fun, its work. But i'm not(yet) trying to make a living out of it either. Only thing i get out of competing is personal satisfaction and exposure for our group. Of course you prep for winning, you get the best of what you can and do your best with it. But friday night is a party,..... in betweeen prep work. If you time stuff right, you have between 6 and midnight while stuff is brining, absorbing rubs, marinating, etc to kick back and schmooze. You need an hour or so in the middle of the party to get the butts and briskets in around 11-midnight and after that its tend pit and party some more.. or s;leep if u can. Come 6AM, party is over and its time to get to work. Timing is always what your learning here.
heres a little scenario starting at 5-6 am.
Brisket and butts have been in all night and its time for chicken and ribs to go in. Gotta hope the butts or brisket don't "hang" at 175 for the next 6 hours. It happens,.... they get stuck and your 12 hour planned pork butt takes 14. Same for brisket. That is weighing on you as you prep for ribs and chicken, every 10 minutes checking meat temps to make sure they are climbing. Time the chicken to come out and be at the most perfect point of the process......... at 11:55, no later than 12:05. Time the ribs to be KCBS perfect at 12:25, no later than 12:35. Time that pork butt to finish and have some coolered rest time, then start pulling it or slicing it at 12:36 for a 1:00 turnin. No sooner, you dont want it to get mushy. Start slicing brisket, timed so they stay perfect and dont keep cooking, or dry out while they sit in a box for 15 minutes.
Decisions decisions, when do u turn in? at the beginning of the window?, midway? the last minute? each has advantages/disadvanteges. When do you start slicing, start pulling, which ribs look best, which pieces fit best in the box..
This is competing. Dont master this stuff, and you will crash and burn even if you produce the very best food on the planet.
Only way you will get that experience is to go to the contests. Even if it the American royal open. You need to start somewhere. And if you get your arse handed to you, put some rub on it, let sit overnight and cook it up.. A butts a butt.
Even with all this, and the huge stress level around turnin time, competing to me is fun, meeting the people in the circuit and that Friday night party. i come prepared with food and booze specifically for friday night. To be able to meet those people you see on FoodTV is a thrill, shake hands, get a picture with Chris lilly, get some pointers from Byron, and have a few shots with Dirty Dick.. and every time, let them know who "The Brethren" are. Sooner or later, maybe one day, like our splash page says, they will :twisted: "Fear the Pig". Yet, Its nice to "take the walk" to get that trophy, but its not all consuming.. not yet anyway. Going into a contest with nothing(no wins), you have nothing to loose, and all to gain. It will be harder down the road when your trying to keep a streak going, or trying to regain your place in KCBS rankings. But for now, who cares? go out and have some fun and learn a whole bunch while your doing it.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=140841&highlight=learn+compete#post140841
Without readin every post in here, i'll interject my .02. IMHO.. its way to early to hang it up. Your competitions are in the single digits!!! Geez... boys.. lower your standards to just going and learning and having a good time. Then after having some competition experience under your belts then make the call. POOPIE, I only did 3. I never expect to win, just hope to. Ask Greg, the first time out i didnt even get up to go listen to the announcments. Was too tired.. Was there to learn and compete and have some fun.
The only thing we are guarenteed to take home from a competition is experience. The rest is a crap shoot. As far as affordability, any endevor we take in life requires and investment, and you can never get any job worth its salt without education and experience. That education or experience is going to cost $$. How much is college.? But that job after you graduate sure aint gonna be flipping burgers at 5 bucks an hour. Each one of our competitions adds to our education, and one day will be graduation day.
In Conneticut State Ch, i turned in inedible chicken just to turn it in and it took 1st place. In NY, I turned in crap/brisket that tasted like onion soup and it took 5th out of 26. No matter if your Chris Lilly of Dave Little
, You can only do your best and the judges are blind. You NEVER know what a judge will do. We are new to the circuit. In the eyes of some "experts", we shouldnt even be expecting to place, never mind win. If ya ask these experts, if we do win.. Its only luck. At various events, I have tasted the Que from some of the(so called) best and its no better than any of our stuff... and some was downright mediocre. So I say bullshit, they are just as lucky when they win.. cause a judge is just the guy next door who may or may not like our stuff on any given day.. we're out there doing it.. and one of thse times out there will be yours.. we do our best, hope for the best and will always walk away better off than when we got there. Maybe a trophy, maybe a check, but always an experience. Not to sound preachy.... Believe me, I know the frustration, but ya gotta hang in there.. Brethren don't give up. How many competitors out there have a backbone like this one?
S
SmokeInDaEye
Guest
Thanks, Phil. Great stuff. And don't worry, I'm already planning for round 2. Nothing a quick viewing of the Will & Jack "Best Ribs on the Planet" video couldn't cure!
- Clint
- Clint
SmokeInDaEye said:
If anybody has the entire thing, or even a good portion of it I'd love to hear from you:grin: :grin: :grin:
I have part of it on my phone. The quality isn't the best, but it's a keeper.
S
SmokeInDaEye
Guest
rbsnwngs said:
I have some footage but shut it off mid-way through to take pictures.
Plus I was laughing so much it was hard to hold the camera steady. "Wiiiilllll, whyyyy do you use paprika in your rub?!!" "Wiiillll, whyyyy do you cook at 225?!!"
I'll get you copies of what I have and can download pix from my camera tonight. That was a once in a lifetime experience. Congrats on handling it so well, Wiiillll.
- Clint
