Memphis In May Report

My wife surprised me with 3 nights in Memphis for a valentines day present. We left Ankeny about 9:30m and got here about 9pm. Stopped for lunch in Hannibal, MO. Checked in, freshened up and took off for the contest site. We tried to make the rounds of the brethern. First was the Bastey Boys, no Sully he was off somewhere else. Next was Pellet Envy, no one home either. Stopped to visit the Resivour Hogs only to find out it was a different team with the same name. Once we started talking and they knew we weren't there to freeload off them, they were real cool and offered us food and drink. I was carrying around a bottle of rye whiskey so we had a couple shots. Our next stop was the Danish national team. A friend of a friend type deal. We hung out with them for a good 2 hours, they were really friendly. We talked a lot of barbeque and they fed us brisket sandwiches, that were very good. They are sponsered by Weber, so they had all kinds of cool toys. A guy from the next spot comes over and sat with us, by this time the whiskey, beers and wine were flowing. He really liked the whiskey. We were talked pits and my buddy on the Danish team wants to show me the one next door (team Norway). Man, it was nice. Sinks, storage, insulated, dish receiver and flat screen mounted to it. I walked around the back of it and see it's a Klose pit. I tell him its damn nice and Klose makes good pits. He says you know the owner, don't you. i reply nope never met him. He grins and says you've been drinking with him for the last hour. Wow, its a small world, I didn't recognize him, no cowboy hat. I got my pic with him and we taked some more. All in all a great evening. We plan to go back tomorrow.

Pictures

That's why he brought me. Sherry (aka the wife)

Day 2

got to MIM just after lunch. had a goodie bag(rubs, sauces, shirts and champange) for the Danish team, so went there first. Decided to walk around a bit, met up with Anne from Iowa with the National Pork board. Stopped to say hi to Rod and Sherry gray(Pellet Envy) had to show my wife what a FEC-100 is. Planting the seed. It was hot and humid so made our way back to the Danish camp, they had just turned in brisket. We gladdly accepted their hospitalilty and had brisket, shrimp, pulled pork, lamb, and hot wings and many cold ones. Hung out with them till after turn ins were over. They are a well oiled machine. 8 cooks(most a chefs) about a dozen support staff(runners, coach, media, and helpers) they left the team psychologist at home. About 1200 people applied to be on this team and they had to compete to be selected. They even have their own media guide with bios and recipes, know I just need to learn Danish.

at 4 we went to a rib demonstration put on by the natonal pork board, they had Chris Lilly present. the only secret I got out of him was to use big Bob Gibson's rub. Got to me him after he was done, really a nice guy.

We found a table in the shade to watch the awards and still within distance of the Danish bottomless coolers. They made their trip worthwhile by taking 3rd in the lamb category. Royal Oak out of Oklahoma tore it up with 4 top 3 calls.

One last stop at the Danish camp to offer congrats, one of their head guys was preparing a lobster team meal for them. We decided not to wear out our welcome so we took off towards the exit. The sun was setting over the Mississippi river so we walked the path beside it up river. We saw a team having a riverside memorial and throwing someones ashes in the river( i get goosebumps thinking about it, I hope I am lucky enough to have the type of friends who would do that for me). Just 300 yards futher upstream we wittnessed a couple getting married on the bank. How many of us could talk your spouse into getting married at a BBQ contest?

We headed for Beale St to have dinner and caught some live music at O'sullivans. It was a great day, no real agenda, but enough to keep us entertained.

Here's some pics. My favorite is Rod Gray taking a picture of Chris Lilly.

tboneld said:

See, leave it to your old buddy Lou to hook you up!!!!:-D

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Lou, I'm hooking you up to. I got you a copy of the Danish teams CD. Yes music cd with their own BBQ song.

TN_BBQ said:

Brisket?

Huh?

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Yeah, I was surprised to. The have a contest for meats, seafood, beans, wings, best booth, best tshirt. Then today is the big events with the onsite judging ribs, shoulder and whole hog.