Rookie teams first event - Smokin' On Oak in Bonner Springs KS

[sincitydisciple01]

We did our first sanctioned event at Smokin' on Oak and had a blast! Big thanks to Phil and Rosemary from KCBS for checking in on us from time to time. The guys next to us, Brew N Bar-B-Que were also a huge help. Everyone we met was more than willing to answer questions or share with us. Couldn't have asked for a better first event experience!

We have a Bandera-type upright and a drum... so as you can imagine, we were a little intimidated by all of the other crews and their bigger, badder gear. But at the same time, it was also a treat to watch how the experienced teams had the whole routine down to a science. I wasn't expecting satellite dishes and flat screen TV's!!!

Now to our actual grub...

The chicken was a nightmare. I think trying to do the popular chicken thighs with the scraped skins was just too much. For the next few events, simpler is going to be better. I knew it was junk the second I put in the box. Looked bad and the skin was actually a touch burnt on the edges. DEAD LAST!

Our ribs were over cooked and too tender to cut cleanly. This was kind of a surprise, because the ribs from our most recent practice run were perfectly cooked. Needless to say, we placed 31/36.

The pulled pork was a winner! I had only recently stumbled across the whole "money muscle" thing. Having never done it before, I knew that this was not the time to give it a try. So, we did our usual pulled pork. 5th place! Woohoo!

Last but not least, brisket. We have received some nice feedback in the past on our brisket and felt that it would be one of our strengths. I'm sure it's somewhat taboo, but I ended up slicing with an electric knife because somehow we got behind and had to move quick. The slices weren't quite uniform, but it looked pretty darn good. As luck would have it, 6th place! Woohoo again!

My goal going into this was to not finish last. Our entries covered both ends of the scoring spectrum. But we knew that pork and brisket were our strongest entries. When the scores were tallied, we took 27th out of 36 teams. We couldn't have been happier! We took home 2 ribbons and a few bucks! I'm completely at ease with the notion that our scores were the result of some good luck on our end, and an off day for the other teams. As my old man used to say, the sun shines on a dogs ass every once in a while! The challenge now is to see if we can consistently reproduce what was successful and improve on what we struggled with! Our next event is in Mission KS in a few weeks. Our goal will remain the same, don't finish last. Can't wait to do it all again!

[Harbormaster]

Good job on your first comp!
I'm a relative comp neophyte myself, and had similar results to yours at my first comp.
I just completed my third comp in 3 years (tough to find the money to do more) and met the goals I have set at every comp: 1. Don't miss any turn ins and 2. Don't finish last in any category.
Stay at it as long as it's fun, you'll keep getting better.

[sharks_guy]

AWESOME!!

Two calls first time out? That is fantastic. Keep up the good work. Don't worry about equipment or anything else, great BBQ is about the cook(s) not the cooker. Just remember that.

Good luck in Mission,

[boogiesnap]

2 calls? nice showing!

[Rich Parker]

Congratulations!

[Lippy]

Great Job!