Was going to try and keep this short, but it is a little long.....
Well after starting my competition bbq obsession in 2011 and after 52 competitions (combined backyard and pro if I count correctly) we finally got our first GC this weekend at the Cornelia Apple Blossom Festival. Seems like a lot of competitions to go without winning, but I am a slow learner. And by slow learner I do mean idiot :becky:.
The last few months have been pretty nuts with leaving my previous “corporate” job to cook bbq full time at a new restaurant and working a ton of hours on helping to get that going. Then getting a wedding planned (though Erin did most of that) and having the wedding added a lot on my calendar. We actually had to drop out of a contest we entered a few weeks ago and I wasn’t even sure if I could compete this last weekend because the restaurant has been so busy. Luckily after the first few weeks of opening we hit a good stride and I was able to actually not be there and trust other to cook the que for a couple days.
With the whirlwind of life happening I hadn’t practiced since our last competition in Pensacola back at the beginning of March where we had pretty good food, but didn’t score well. I normally practice a lot because of my slow learning curve. There were a few tweaks I wanted to make, but no time to try them. So I just tried them at the comp :clap2:. Though it wasn’t anything crazy, just minor tweaks.
There wasn’t anything super crazy different about the cook. Things went pretty steady and we turned in food like we always do. I did like most all of what we turned in, but have had those thoughts many times before. Pork has been our latest struggle and is the thing that will shoot us in the foot if anything does.
When awards came around I was hoping for a call or two. Heck at worst I thought Erin would win dessert because she crushed it last year winning what seemed almost every time. But they announced dessert and no dice. Fellow brethren Craft BBQ (PekingPorkers) took it home on their first dessert try! I attempt to give Erin crap about not winning, but then she gives me crap right back asking me where my 3 180 pins are and I go to my corner and cry :becky:. Then the main meat calls started. I’ll break each down…….
Chicken: Our chicken was pretty good last year and we actually got 1st place in chicken here in 2013. The funny thing is on Saturday Erin liked the chicken I didn’t think it was our best. It was still solid, but I thought a tad overdone and not the juiciest it has been, but flavor was there. The top 10 countdown started and when they got to 5th I wasn’t sure they would call us out, but go figure……….1st Place Chicken! Go figure. I was happy to know we would get some gas money :thumb:.
Ribs: This was the only potential dumpster fire moment I had during the cook. After the ribs came out of the foil (big secret here about foiling :doh
I had 2 racks that each had 2-3 bones completely blown out in the back that seemed totally shot and 2 racks that seemed a little overdone, but probably salvageable. The only issue here is they still had an hour to cook using my current method. So I dropped the smoker to “warming mode” and held them. When it came time to slice the 2 decent racks ended up being almost perfect. Not our absolute best that we turned in a lot last year, but I was still happy. When the ribs calls started I was very happy with 6th Place Ribs and the thoughts started about a possible good overall finish. Mad props to J&B’s on their 1st place ribs!
Pork: Ok so our problem child is Pork. In 2012 it was our best category, but last year we struggled a little with pork and was hoping for some better luck this year. We did tweak a few things for our pork at the contest, but nothing crazy. I was as happy as I could have been with our turn in. I couldn’t think of one thing I wanted more. As they read through the top 10 our name wasn’t there. I was just hoping it wasn’t awful and is that “shoot us in the foot” category.
Brisket: I never thought I would like cooking brisket more than pork, but it has transitioned to that. And not in the sense that I like brisket (by far my least favorite meat in terms of taste), but in the sense that we seem to do better in brisket than pork so I like it more :-D. The brisket cook went well and nothing crazy happened. This was probably the first time ever I had both briskets be nearly identical in taste. The only deciding factor of which went into the box was the one with the larger flat. Erin concurred on the decision. For me when we have gotten brisket calls it is when I feel we hit tenderness. Flavor matters, but (I’ve said this before) I’m a big believer that especially in brisket if your tenderness isn’t there flavor gets dinged in scores no matter what the flavor. So I thought we had a shot at a call. When they started the top 10 I was simply hoping to be in the top 10 even just 6-10. We don’t get a lot of top 5 brisket calls though it has happened. So when they hit 5th I wasn’t sure, but……….3rd Place Brisket!
So of course the wheels start turning about overall. There were at least 3 other teams with 3 top 10 calls with fairly interchangeable positions. So I of course figured our pork will shoot us in the foot again. But it would all come down to who's non-call is the least worst.
Overall: When the top 10 started and we kept not hearing our name I was happy, but when they got to 3rd I wasn’t sure how awful our pork was and thoughts of “maybe it is such a dumpster fire that we didn’t even get in the top 10 and I will go home and cry in the fetal position listening to Poison’s ‘Unskinny Bop’ again” started in my idiot brain. But to make a long story short, TOO LATE (“Clue” anyone?), they didn’t say our name for 2 more places. We got the GC and I kissed my new wife who supports my passion with reckless abandonment and loves every minute of our BBQ Competition madness. Oh and Pork ended up being 11th :shock::clap:.
It was pretty magical and even more special to happen when so many awesome friends we’ve made were there to celebrate. Too many to name, but from the reps we’ve come to know to the teams we hang with and the judges who always stop by to say hello. I will say that some of the weird things that happened with The Pig Lebowski on Friday night may or may not have contributed to pushing us over the top and winning………..
Hopefully we get to compete a bunch this year. With the new job a lot of weekends are taken up and we probably won’t come close to the 22 comps we did last year, but we’ll be out there.
Congrats to everyone who got called and the Brethren here. J&B’s got 3rd overall with 1st in ribs and we just snuck by them and Wicked Que who won there last year and got RGC this year. Oh and Randy with Naked Que for turning in some dumpster fire 1st place brisket :clap2::boxing:. Dave and Matt had a solid showing too cooking with Pots BBQ.
Now off to try and figure out how we can squeeze in another comp before Sam’s Club at the end of May.
-Jason
Here are some pics............
Amazed by butts
Brought some bourbon over to Lebowski for us to drink
Ribs action
Close up
Always great when Dave brings over the morning tequila shot
Erin and I
And us again
Drank some bourbon last night to celebrate
Then Erin drove us to get mexican which is our normal go to after competition food
I beat up on brisket a decent amount because normal smoked brisket and competition brisket just isn't great for me, but I do love it when it is in other dishes. I got their brisket taquitos and they were awesome!!
Well after starting my competition bbq obsession in 2011 and after 52 competitions (combined backyard and pro if I count correctly) we finally got our first GC this weekend at the Cornelia Apple Blossom Festival. Seems like a lot of competitions to go without winning, but I am a slow learner. And by slow learner I do mean idiot :becky:.
The last few months have been pretty nuts with leaving my previous “corporate” job to cook bbq full time at a new restaurant and working a ton of hours on helping to get that going. Then getting a wedding planned (though Erin did most of that) and having the wedding added a lot on my calendar. We actually had to drop out of a contest we entered a few weeks ago and I wasn’t even sure if I could compete this last weekend because the restaurant has been so busy. Luckily after the first few weeks of opening we hit a good stride and I was able to actually not be there and trust other to cook the que for a couple days.
With the whirlwind of life happening I hadn’t practiced since our last competition in Pensacola back at the beginning of March where we had pretty good food, but didn’t score well. I normally practice a lot because of my slow learning curve. There were a few tweaks I wanted to make, but no time to try them. So I just tried them at the comp :clap2:. Though it wasn’t anything crazy, just minor tweaks.
There wasn’t anything super crazy different about the cook. Things went pretty steady and we turned in food like we always do. I did like most all of what we turned in, but have had those thoughts many times before. Pork has been our latest struggle and is the thing that will shoot us in the foot if anything does.
When awards came around I was hoping for a call or two. Heck at worst I thought Erin would win dessert because she crushed it last year winning what seemed almost every time. But they announced dessert and no dice. Fellow brethren Craft BBQ (PekingPorkers) took it home on their first dessert try! I attempt to give Erin crap about not winning, but then she gives me crap right back asking me where my 3 180 pins are and I go to my corner and cry :becky:. Then the main meat calls started. I’ll break each down…….
Chicken: Our chicken was pretty good last year and we actually got 1st place in chicken here in 2013. The funny thing is on Saturday Erin liked the chicken I didn’t think it was our best. It was still solid, but I thought a tad overdone and not the juiciest it has been, but flavor was there. The top 10 countdown started and when they got to 5th I wasn’t sure they would call us out, but go figure……….1st Place Chicken! Go figure. I was happy to know we would get some gas money :thumb:.
Ribs: This was the only potential dumpster fire moment I had during the cook. After the ribs came out of the foil (big secret here about foiling :doh
I had 2 racks that each had 2-3 bones completely blown out in the back that seemed totally shot and 2 racks that seemed a little overdone, but probably salvageable. The only issue here is they still had an hour to cook using my current method. So I dropped the smoker to “warming mode” and held them. When it came time to slice the 2 decent racks ended up being almost perfect. Not our absolute best that we turned in a lot last year, but I was still happy. When the ribs calls started I was very happy with 6th Place Ribs and the thoughts started about a possible good overall finish. Mad props to J&B’s on their 1st place ribs!Pork: Ok so our problem child is Pork. In 2012 it was our best category, but last year we struggled a little with pork and was hoping for some better luck this year. We did tweak a few things for our pork at the contest, but nothing crazy. I was as happy as I could have been with our turn in. I couldn’t think of one thing I wanted more. As they read through the top 10 our name wasn’t there. I was just hoping it wasn’t awful and is that “shoot us in the foot” category.
Brisket: I never thought I would like cooking brisket more than pork, but it has transitioned to that. And not in the sense that I like brisket (by far my least favorite meat in terms of taste), but in the sense that we seem to do better in brisket than pork so I like it more :-D. The brisket cook went well and nothing crazy happened. This was probably the first time ever I had both briskets be nearly identical in taste. The only deciding factor of which went into the box was the one with the larger flat. Erin concurred on the decision. For me when we have gotten brisket calls it is when I feel we hit tenderness. Flavor matters, but (I’ve said this before) I’m a big believer that especially in brisket if your tenderness isn’t there flavor gets dinged in scores no matter what the flavor. So I thought we had a shot at a call. When they started the top 10 I was simply hoping to be in the top 10 even just 6-10. We don’t get a lot of top 5 brisket calls though it has happened. So when they hit 5th I wasn’t sure, but……….3rd Place Brisket!
So of course the wheels start turning about overall. There were at least 3 other teams with 3 top 10 calls with fairly interchangeable positions. So I of course figured our pork will shoot us in the foot again. But it would all come down to who's non-call is the least worst.
Overall: When the top 10 started and we kept not hearing our name I was happy, but when they got to 3rd I wasn’t sure how awful our pork was and thoughts of “maybe it is such a dumpster fire that we didn’t even get in the top 10 and I will go home and cry in the fetal position listening to Poison’s ‘Unskinny Bop’ again” started in my idiot brain. But to make a long story short, TOO LATE (“Clue” anyone?), they didn’t say our name for 2 more places. We got the GC and I kissed my new wife who supports my passion with reckless abandonment and loves every minute of our BBQ Competition madness. Oh and Pork ended up being 11th :shock::clap:.
It was pretty magical and even more special to happen when so many awesome friends we’ve made were there to celebrate. Too many to name, but from the reps we’ve come to know to the teams we hang with and the judges who always stop by to say hello. I will say that some of the weird things that happened with The Pig Lebowski on Friday night may or may not have contributed to pushing us over the top and winning………..
Hopefully we get to compete a bunch this year. With the new job a lot of weekends are taken up and we probably won’t come close to the 22 comps we did last year, but we’ll be out there.
Congrats to everyone who got called and the Brethren here. J&B’s got 3rd overall with 1st in ribs and we just snuck by them and Wicked Que who won there last year and got RGC this year. Oh and Randy with Naked Que for turning in some dumpster fire 1st place brisket :clap2::boxing:. Dave and Matt had a solid showing too cooking with Pots BBQ.
Now off to try and figure out how we can squeeze in another comp before Sam’s Club at the end of May.
-Jason
Here are some pics............
Amazed by butts
Brought some bourbon over to Lebowski for us to drink
Ribs action
Close up
Always great when Dave brings over the morning tequila shot
Erin and I
And us again
Drank some bourbon last night to celebrate
Then Erin drove us to get mexican which is our normal go to after competition food
I beat up on brisket a decent amount because normal smoked brisket and competition brisket just isn't great for me, but I do love it when it is in other dishes. I got their brisket taquitos and they were awesome!!
