QansasjayhawQ
is Blowin Smoke!
Besides being one of my favorite recordings of all time by Herbie Hancock . . .
Wow - competing as our own team at Parsons, Kansas was one helluva lotta fun!
It was also one helluva lotta work!
As it turned out, the entire team consisted of myself . . . and my wife Nancy. We competed under the name of my brother's business, Many Hats Creative. (Long story, but let's just say I owe him one.)
At one point (it was Saturday morning at 1:25AM), I was awakened by the sound of rain falling on my hat as I was sleeping in my chair outside, next to the smokers. I had an alarm set for the top of every hour to feed them with fuel. Getting wet in 35 degree weather with sustained 15 mph winds out of the north . . . that was too cold! But that was the worst point in the entire weekend.
The field of competitors was top notch with many of the 15 teams having been invited in the past (one year or another) into the American Royal Invitational.
Our best finish was tenth in brisket and 11th in pork. The ribs were 12th and we came in dead last in chicken. Well, except for the ringer they threw in, in order to make it an official competition. (Must have 15 teams.) She cooked ONLY chicken and she was the ONLY team we beat in chicken.
One of the high notes is that not one of the 100% certified judges gave us anything lower than a 6 on any of our elements. (I felt really good about that, also being a regular judge and knowing and respecting the judges.) We were within 22 points of the grand champion team (that's a fairly tight field!) and we finished 13th overall beating out a rookie team from Texas in the final analysis.
The best lessons I learned were: Do NOT take an unknown piece of equipment into competition and try to use it. I failed to grasp the (simple, easy) concept of how to use The BBQ Guru that Todd (HawgsNHeifers) insisted would make my life easier . . . I forgot to close the unused vents on the Weber Smoky Mountain. I wound up roasting the brisket within about four hours. Nancy tried to tell me that I should have cooked the brisket just like I have been at home, using the Brinkmann offset. She was right and I will heed her advice next time. I have been producing totally kick-arse brisket at home lately.
Secondly, I tried a new chicken recipe during testing earlier in the week - an herb/garlic marinade with BBQ rub which produces a complex bouquet of flavors that I was sure would just knock the socks off the judges. Fact is - most of the judges are looking for the best, simple, traditional BBQ chicken. So, even though I (and Nancy and my daughter and her husband and my son Michael) LOVED the new recipe - the fact is I should have remained true to my normally simple recipe - 'marinade' in sea salt, freshly ground pepper corn melange and EVOO overnight - then lightly sprinkle with rub before grilling on the Weber kettle with a very small amount of cherry chips on the fire.
So . . . bottom line is that competition is no place for experimentation with either equipment or recipes.
We were so tired by the end! I am still stiff and sore today from loading and unloading everything (canopy with walls, three cookers, tables, chairs, tent and etc., cooking utensils, four coolers with ice, food, groceries, and so forth and so on) using our two small Toyotas, filling every nook and cranny . . . and then repeating the process when we were on our way home . . . only brief catnaps over night Friday into Saturday . . . well, we were absolutely toasted physically and mentally by the time we got back to the house in Lawrence Saturday night.
But the bottom line is that it was great fun and I enjoyed working on it with Nancy there with me! And that's what is important.
I must at this point send out huge amounts of love and mad props to HawgsNHeifers who let us borrow a lot of his equipment! That made it about ten times easier than it would have been without the water heater, the kitchen, WSM and other items!
We will definitely compete again . . . and it's only a matter of time before we get it all under control and predictable and . . . heh heh . . .
Wow - competing as our own team at Parsons, Kansas was one helluva lotta fun!
It was also one helluva lotta work!
As it turned out, the entire team consisted of myself . . . and my wife Nancy. We competed under the name of my brother's business, Many Hats Creative. (Long story, but let's just say I owe him one.)
At one point (it was Saturday morning at 1:25AM), I was awakened by the sound of rain falling on my hat as I was sleeping in my chair outside, next to the smokers. I had an alarm set for the top of every hour to feed them with fuel. Getting wet in 35 degree weather with sustained 15 mph winds out of the north . . . that was too cold! But that was the worst point in the entire weekend.
The field of competitors was top notch with many of the 15 teams having been invited in the past (one year or another) into the American Royal Invitational.
Our best finish was tenth in brisket and 11th in pork. The ribs were 12th and we came in dead last in chicken. Well, except for the ringer they threw in, in order to make it an official competition. (Must have 15 teams.) She cooked ONLY chicken and she was the ONLY team we beat in chicken.
One of the high notes is that not one of the 100% certified judges gave us anything lower than a 6 on any of our elements. (I felt really good about that, also being a regular judge and knowing and respecting the judges.) We were within 22 points of the grand champion team (that's a fairly tight field!) and we finished 13th overall beating out a rookie team from Texas in the final analysis.
The best lessons I learned were: Do NOT take an unknown piece of equipment into competition and try to use it. I failed to grasp the (simple, easy) concept of how to use The BBQ Guru that Todd (HawgsNHeifers) insisted would make my life easier . . . I forgot to close the unused vents on the Weber Smoky Mountain. I wound up roasting the brisket within about four hours. Nancy tried to tell me that I should have cooked the brisket just like I have been at home, using the Brinkmann offset. She was right and I will heed her advice next time. I have been producing totally kick-arse brisket at home lately.
Secondly, I tried a new chicken recipe during testing earlier in the week - an herb/garlic marinade with BBQ rub which produces a complex bouquet of flavors that I was sure would just knock the socks off the judges. Fact is - most of the judges are looking for the best, simple, traditional BBQ chicken. So, even though I (and Nancy and my daughter and her husband and my son Michael) LOVED the new recipe - the fact is I should have remained true to my normally simple recipe - 'marinade' in sea salt, freshly ground pepper corn melange and EVOO overnight - then lightly sprinkle with rub before grilling on the Weber kettle with a very small amount of cherry chips on the fire.
So . . . bottom line is that competition is no place for experimentation with either equipment or recipes.
We were so tired by the end! I am still stiff and sore today from loading and unloading everything (canopy with walls, three cookers, tables, chairs, tent and etc., cooking utensils, four coolers with ice, food, groceries, and so forth and so on) using our two small Toyotas, filling every nook and cranny . . . and then repeating the process when we were on our way home . . . only brief catnaps over night Friday into Saturday . . . well, we were absolutely toasted physically and mentally by the time we got back to the house in Lawrence Saturday night.
But the bottom line is that it was great fun and I enjoyed working on it with Nancy there with me! And that's what is important.
I must at this point send out huge amounts of love and mad props to HawgsNHeifers who let us borrow a lot of his equipment! That made it about ten times easier than it would have been without the water heater, the kitchen, WSM and other items!
We will definitely compete again . . . and it's only a matter of time before we get it all under control and predictable and . . .
heh heh . . .
