timzcardz
Babbling Farker
My first competition.
Well for the last few years I have been asked by many of The Brethren if I was going to try competing. My response was always that I had no desire to compete, and therefore had no intention of competing. Part of the reason was that I very rarely smoke the standard BBQ fare. There is so much that you can do with a smoker why should I limit myself? I am always looking to try different things.
Then last October, my younger son, 14 years old at the time, went with me to visit some friends at the Battle of the BBQ Brethren in Sayville. Well after a spending a couple of hours there he was hooked and said “Dad, we have to do this!”
We had a discussion about what he had to accomplish with regards to things outside of BBQ, and if he did that this would be the reward. After a couple of months he had not lived up to his end and this was taken off the table. Well it went back on the table back in June, and he did what was expected of him, so off to Sayville we went.
When we started planning my son was all geared up to win! I explained to him that we weren’t going in this to win, 1) because in all likelihood we wouldn’t, and 2) because we were doing this to have fun. He finally relented and agreed that I could choose the team name: Grim Reaper Smokers, BBQ To Die For. Everything else would focus around that, especially considering that this, our first competition, was to be the weekend before Halloween.
Then came the logo that we worked up a concept for and had Patrick develop for us.
Then of course came the prerequisite tee shirts and sweatshirts, the coffee mugs and beer steins, and of course the team banner. Have to have these to have fun, don't you?
Then it was a few hours together to fabricate the tombstones that would form our graveyard.
Then there was actually cooking to do. I figured that we stood a more competitive chance at the grilling competition, so we worked up a few dishes together for that and tried them ahead of time.
Along the way we added one of my brothers and his son to the team. That left me the outsider with my son, brother and nephew all being named Mike! Who would of thought that might get confusing at times?
Also, I figured if we were going to do the competition, I should at least try cooking some pulled pork before the competition. I had never done pulled pork before, so two weeks before the competition we did our first pulled pork.
Then it was back to the really important things like getting Halloween candy to hand out to children and getting the right decorations for the onsite judging table setting and presentation.
Then 6am Saturday morning, we headed out the door, drove 10 miles to the east, and arrived in Sayville.
Set up went smoothly, and soon we looked like we actually knew what we were doing!
Willie B, a great friend who just recently had to close his BBQ place down, appreciated my tribute to him and upon seeing it immediately laid down and yelled "Take my picture!"
He then got up and spit on the grave!
Shortly thereafter, I hear someone say "That looks like a Brethren hat you are wearing." and turn around to see two men, and say "Jay (Spicewine) and Jimmy (Smokincracker), it's nice to meet you!" It never fails to amaze me that you can meet people face to face for the first time, and feel like you're old time friends. These guys exemplify what the Brethren is all about, and it was great to meet them.
The son and I hit the cook’s meeting and before we knew it we were off to prepping and cooking for the grilling competition.
First up was the sausage . . . uh . . . Fatty. We went with Fatty Wellington. Cooked the Fatty first, stuffed with some roasted red peppers and cheddar cheese, then sliced about 1” thick, wrapped in puff pastry and then back to the grill to bake. This was out first fatty ever, and we liked them. It got us 15th place.
Up next was the pizza. Tried going with a different dough than we’ve used in the past and it just didn’t cook the way we had hoped. We needed more time but just didn’t have any left, so into the box it went, with a gooey dough, and it looked like a mess. Not our finest moment. Didn’t get any pics of it, but if I did I sure wouldn’t share them here. I‘d say “no pics, it never happened,” but the DAL score would indicate otherwise, and I thought that score was generous!
Then came the hot dog. Here was a place for us to shine. In advance we had worked up a grilled hot dog egg roll recipe that we absolutely love. Includes grilled hot dog marinated in soy sauce, Dijon mustard, honey, sauerkraut, red cabbage, red onion and zucchini, and finished with a honey dijon glaze. They came out very nice. We were a little short on time and cold have used another minute or two on the grill, but we did get a 7th place with them.
Then came the on-site part of the competition, where we presented the iron-chef and dessert entries.
The secret ingredient ended up being apples. We incorporated them by making a slight change to another grilled dish that we like. We wrapped roasted red peppers and grilled sliced apples in thinly sliced chicken cutlets, and then wrapped that with bacon and grilled them. These were served with roasted red potatoes prepared with some olive oil and finely diced red onion.
For the dessert, we had created a recipe in advance that has quickly become one of our favorite desserts. It is a grilled apple and brie cheese quesadilla topped with a caramel sauce. First the Granny Smith apples are thinly sliced and grilled with brown sugar while flour tortillas are cut into thirds (120 degree arcs). Then the grilled apples are place in the middle third of the tortilla piece, topped with a slice of brie and then another layer of apple. The ends of the tortilla piece are folded over the filling and then the individual triangular pieces are grilled.
Now for the presentation. We are the Grim Reaper Smokers after all, so in keeping with our theme, we had a black table cloth, assorted skulls and tombstones (all different) with burning tealite candles, and a bubbling smoking black cauldron (Hot water and dry ice) at the end of the table upon which the spider platter with dessert was placed.
At the awards we got a check in the amount of $8.63 for 5th Place Dessert!
The chicken dish that we did for the Iron Chef entry got us 10th place.
Then came the rain, or rather what seemed like a monsoon. Thunder, Lightning, Wind, Pouring Rain. All the while I’m sitting under our 2 10x10 canopies thinking “I must be crazy. Here I am 50 years old, tired, sitting out here in this crap with my son, while I could be home sitting comfortably."
Finally around 10:30 pm I bit the bullet and said we have to get started cooking for tomorrow’s entries and I got wet dragging one of our smokers in under the canopy so that we could get going. Got it fired up, got the pork prepped and into the smoker.
Shortly after midnight, the rain stopped and we got the second smoker going and loaded in the brisket. About 1:30 am, my son said that he wasn’t really tired and he was just gong to hang, so I headed into the truck to take a nap for an hour. I woke up, looked at my watch and saw 4:30. When I checked on my son, he had zipped up the canopy and was asleep in a recliner, so I checked on the meat in the smokers and went back to sleep in the truck for 2 more hours.
About 7am I was up and back to cooking. My son got up and complained that he was cold so I sent him to the truck and in about 2 minutes he was back to sleep.
A couple hours of dry sunlight and I was back to enjoying myself rather than cursing the weather and questioning my sanity.
We finished out the cooking and were happy that we got everything turned in on time.
Our best finish in the BBQ categories was 26th place chicken, but more importantly, my son thinks that this is the best time that we have ever had together and is looking forward to doing more competitions next year.
Here is what we turned in for the BBQ competition.
Chicken
Ribs
Pulled Pork
Brisket
And finally, The Grim Reaper Smokers at the end of the competition. From left to right, are Mike, Mike, Mike and me.
In the end we donated an extra rack of baby back ribs that we had cooked up along with a smoked 8 lb pork butt to the Island Harvest collection. We had told our family and friends to stop by and we would feed them, we only requested that they feed someone else by donating canned goods. As a result my son and nephew carried over about two cases of canned goods to where they were being collected for the Sayville Food Pantry.
My brother, the good guy that he is, stopped by my house to help us unpack the truck.
Then I found a comfortable seat, kicked my shoes off, and relaxed with some Absolut on the rocks. The perfect ending to a perfect weekend with my son.
Well for the last few years I have been asked by many of The Brethren if I was going to try competing. My response was always that I had no desire to compete, and therefore had no intention of competing. Part of the reason was that I very rarely smoke the standard BBQ fare. There is so much that you can do with a smoker why should I limit myself? I am always looking to try different things.
Then last October, my younger son, 14 years old at the time, went with me to visit some friends at the Battle of the BBQ Brethren in Sayville. Well after a spending a couple of hours there he was hooked and said “Dad, we have to do this!”
We had a discussion about what he had to accomplish with regards to things outside of BBQ, and if he did that this would be the reward. After a couple of months he had not lived up to his end and this was taken off the table. Well it went back on the table back in June, and he did what was expected of him, so off to Sayville we went.
When we started planning my son was all geared up to win! I explained to him that we weren’t going in this to win, 1) because in all likelihood we wouldn’t, and 2) because we were doing this to have fun. He finally relented and agreed that I could choose the team name: Grim Reaper Smokers, BBQ To Die For. Everything else would focus around that, especially considering that this, our first competition, was to be the weekend before Halloween.
Then came the logo that we worked up a concept for and had Patrick develop for us.
Then of course came the prerequisite tee shirts and sweatshirts, the coffee mugs and beer steins, and of course the team banner. Have to have these to have fun, don't you?
Then it was a few hours together to fabricate the tombstones that would form our graveyard.
Then there was actually cooking to do. I figured that we stood a more competitive chance at the grilling competition, so we worked up a few dishes together for that and tried them ahead of time.
Along the way we added one of my brothers and his son to the team. That left me the outsider with my son, brother and nephew all being named Mike! Who would of thought that might get confusing at times?
Also, I figured if we were going to do the competition, I should at least try cooking some pulled pork before the competition. I had never done pulled pork before, so two weeks before the competition we did our first pulled pork.
Then it was back to the really important things like getting Halloween candy to hand out to children and getting the right decorations for the onsite judging table setting and presentation.
Then 6am Saturday morning, we headed out the door, drove 10 miles to the east, and arrived in Sayville.
Set up went smoothly, and soon we looked like we actually knew what we were doing!
Willie B, a great friend who just recently had to close his BBQ place down, appreciated my tribute to him and upon seeing it immediately laid down and yelled "Take my picture!"
He then got up and spit on the grave!
Shortly thereafter, I hear someone say "That looks like a Brethren hat you are wearing." and turn around to see two men, and say "Jay (Spicewine) and Jimmy (Smokincracker), it's nice to meet you!" It never fails to amaze me that you can meet people face to face for the first time, and feel like you're old time friends. These guys exemplify what the Brethren is all about, and it was great to meet them.
The son and I hit the cook’s meeting and before we knew it we were off to prepping and cooking for the grilling competition.
First up was the sausage . . . uh . . . Fatty. We went with Fatty Wellington. Cooked the Fatty first, stuffed with some roasted red peppers and cheddar cheese, then sliced about 1” thick, wrapped in puff pastry and then back to the grill to bake. This was out first fatty ever, and we liked them. It got us 15th place.
Up next was the pizza. Tried going with a different dough than we’ve used in the past and it just didn’t cook the way we had hoped. We needed more time but just didn’t have any left, so into the box it went, with a gooey dough, and it looked like a mess. Not our finest moment. Didn’t get any pics of it, but if I did I sure wouldn’t share them here. I‘d say “no pics, it never happened,” but the DAL score would indicate otherwise, and I thought that score was generous!
Then came the hot dog. Here was a place for us to shine. In advance we had worked up a grilled hot dog egg roll recipe that we absolutely love. Includes grilled hot dog marinated in soy sauce, Dijon mustard, honey, sauerkraut, red cabbage, red onion and zucchini, and finished with a honey dijon glaze. They came out very nice. We were a little short on time and cold have used another minute or two on the grill, but we did get a 7th place with them.
Then came the on-site part of the competition, where we presented the iron-chef and dessert entries.
The secret ingredient ended up being apples. We incorporated them by making a slight change to another grilled dish that we like. We wrapped roasted red peppers and grilled sliced apples in thinly sliced chicken cutlets, and then wrapped that with bacon and grilled them. These were served with roasted red potatoes prepared with some olive oil and finely diced red onion.
For the dessert, we had created a recipe in advance that has quickly become one of our favorite desserts. It is a grilled apple and brie cheese quesadilla topped with a caramel sauce. First the Granny Smith apples are thinly sliced and grilled with brown sugar while flour tortillas are cut into thirds (120 degree arcs). Then the grilled apples are place in the middle third of the tortilla piece, topped with a slice of brie and then another layer of apple. The ends of the tortilla piece are folded over the filling and then the individual triangular pieces are grilled.
Now for the presentation. We are the Grim Reaper Smokers after all, so in keeping with our theme, we had a black table cloth, assorted skulls and tombstones (all different) with burning tealite candles, and a bubbling smoking black cauldron (Hot water and dry ice) at the end of the table upon which the spider platter with dessert was placed.
At the awards we got a check in the amount of $8.63 for 5th Place Dessert!
The chicken dish that we did for the Iron Chef entry got us 10th place.
Then came the rain, or rather what seemed like a monsoon. Thunder, Lightning, Wind, Pouring Rain. All the while I’m sitting under our 2 10x10 canopies thinking “I must be crazy. Here I am 50 years old, tired, sitting out here in this crap with my son, while I could be home sitting comfortably."
Finally around 10:30 pm I bit the bullet and said we have to get started cooking for tomorrow’s entries and I got wet dragging one of our smokers in under the canopy so that we could get going. Got it fired up, got the pork prepped and into the smoker.
Shortly after midnight, the rain stopped and we got the second smoker going and loaded in the brisket. About 1:30 am, my son said that he wasn’t really tired and he was just gong to hang, so I headed into the truck to take a nap for an hour. I woke up, looked at my watch and saw 4:30. When I checked on my son, he had zipped up the canopy and was asleep in a recliner, so I checked on the meat in the smokers and went back to sleep in the truck for 2 more hours.
About 7am I was up and back to cooking. My son got up and complained that he was cold so I sent him to the truck and in about 2 minutes he was back to sleep.
A couple hours of dry sunlight and I was back to enjoying myself rather than cursing the weather and questioning my sanity.
We finished out the cooking and were happy that we got everything turned in on time.
Our best finish in the BBQ categories was 26th place chicken, but more importantly, my son thinks that this is the best time that we have ever had together and is looking forward to doing more competitions next year.
Here is what we turned in for the BBQ competition.
Chicken
Ribs
Pulled Pork
Brisket
And finally, The Grim Reaper Smokers at the end of the competition. From left to right, are Mike, Mike, Mike and me.
In the end we donated an extra rack of baby back ribs that we had cooked up along with a smoked 8 lb pork butt to the Island Harvest collection. We had told our family and friends to stop by and we would feed them, we only requested that they feed someone else by donating canned goods. As a result my son and nephew carried over about two cases of canned goods to where they were being collected for the Sayville Food Pantry.
My brother, the good guy that he is, stopped by my house to help us unpack the truck.
Then I found a comfortable seat, kicked my shoes off, and relaxed with some Absolut on the rocks. The perfect ending to a perfect weekend with my son.
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