Hoorenga
is one Smokin' Farker
I owe it all to you guys. This past Saturday I was entered into a Class/Competition that was the preliminary event to the Washington State BBQ Championship. It was a terrific opportunity to get my feet wet and see if I was really cut out for the real thing. I entered with a friend who has a couple of more years experience than I do. He's a Webber SM guy and a bit of an mad scientist so we took his two dolly mounted WSMs. I'm including a picture of his rig. He wants to produce them commercially but so far hasn't worked out the production and distribution details. It sure makes life easy. The center portion is bolted to a frame that has a lever that allows you to lift the upper portion of the WSM without touching it. You then can give the lower portion a kick and it swings to the side for loading more charcoal. There is even a place to hang the lid and your cooking tools. Way slick. Makes it almost too easy. When it comes time to leave you simply clean up and roll the dolly with the mounted WSM up a simple ramp and into the back of your truck. A heck of a lot easier than loading my 1/4 steel, Brinkman Stillwater horizontal.
Thanks to you all I had my BBQ techniques down fairly well. The class was my first opportunity to actually see how it was done in "real" time. It was more of a confidence builder for me than anything. I had never been around other people BBQing before and it was reassuring to see that I was doing it right.
There were about fifteen groups entered and although it was more of a class than a competition, most everyone was very serious about the competition portion and more than a few had previous experience in that area. Because of time considerations we were only being judged on chicken and ribs. As my friend and I prepared our meat for the judges we sampled some. We thought the Chicken had a chance because it was cooked properly and seemed to us to have an outstanding flavor. Something that would set it apart. The ribs we thought were done properly, looked attractive but didn't stand out. To our surprise we took second in the ribs. The chicken didn't make the stage.
I apologize for not having the names of the two instructors in the photo. I know the fellow on the right was named Doug. It was a great opportunity to learn and I want to thank the Western BBQ Association for a a fantastic experience. The event was held in Chehallis, Washington in the Wall Mart parking lot.
Thanks to you all I had my BBQ techniques down fairly well. The class was my first opportunity to actually see how it was done in "real" time. It was more of a confidence builder for me than anything. I had never been around other people BBQing before and it was reassuring to see that I was doing it right.
There were about fifteen groups entered and although it was more of a class than a competition, most everyone was very serious about the competition portion and more than a few had previous experience in that area. Because of time considerations we were only being judged on chicken and ribs. As my friend and I prepared our meat for the judges we sampled some. We thought the Chicken had a chance because it was cooked properly and seemed to us to have an outstanding flavor. Something that would set it apart. The ribs we thought were done properly, looked attractive but didn't stand out. To our surprise we took second in the ribs. The chicken didn't make the stage.
I apologize for not having the names of the two instructors in the photo. I know the fellow on the right was named Doug. It was a great opportunity to learn and I want to thank the Western BBQ Association for a a fantastic experience. The event was held in Chehallis, Washington in the Wall Mart parking lot.
