My Turn in boxes from Bay Area BBQ

[landarc]

So, this past weekend, I made a rare appearance at a BBQ comp. I would do these more often, but, phyisically, they are very hard on me. I cooked with SirPorksaLot, who let me and The BBQ Grail join in this weekend on his Inaugural California BBQ competition. Anyways, here are the boxes and some comments of my own. Feel free to give feedback. John (Sir Porks) did all the rub and sauce creation for the brikset, butts and chicken with his son Jonathon, Larry (BBQ Grail) did the ribs. I did the boxes.



Here is the pork box. We did not do all that well, in large part, I over-cooked the butts. They were smaller than I like to work with, but, no excuses, I missed the timing. I thought the flavors and color were good. The story is 30 out of 36, we missed on this one.



The texture on the chicken was very good. We did not do so well with the glaze. But, the score refelcts that the taste must not have gone as well as one might have hoped. We were lower half with this.



Larry cooked these and there were problems, I believe the meat was just not great. I botched the cutting, just could not find 6 good bones, quite frankly. They were small and curved. Texture was good, but, flavor was lacking, not even pork flavor. Just bland. Largely this cook was meant to stick to Chris Lilly's technique, but, somehow it didn't come together. It still scired better than my pork box though.



Funny enough, out best category, 21 out of 36. That staining is clear and showed up in the box as well. Too bad, as the texture and flavor were pretty good. Actually, the texture was very good. Flavor was a toss up, as Larry and John's wife Jody felt it was bland. John thought it was perfect.i found it a little salty but, within acceptable range. Injected with FAB, I think the meat was better than the cook (again, me and John). Should not have done the burnt ends.



I do not know where we ended up with this score, I think the tri-tip came out with an excellent texture and color, the meat was cooked right (John did a good job). But, the presentation was mediocre, I should have cleaned the meat (honestly, I could care less at this point, no sleep makes Bobby a sloppier cook).

Aynways, I have loads of photos for a blog post that will probably not happen. It was a good competition for the reasons that I got to cook with some friends, reconnect with others, met a Brethren from Okalahoma, met Harry Soo and of course, Donna, who is a delgihtful person. I feel my cooking was just to rusty for being in a competition setting, I hate that I feel I didn't bring even a B game to help John.

[Butt Rubb'n BBQ]

Man o man sounds like you had a tough time. I must say you have nice smoke ring. Don't get discouraged and keep on smoking. Looks like you have 9 ribs in that box. Everyone tells me to always use even numbers 6 or 8. The mm in the pork box looks real nice. The bark pieces look just thrown in the box. It's always easier to critique someone else's food. That's just my opinion and we all know how opinions are. Keep on smoking.

[landarc]

Thanks for the comments, I would agree with them all. You know, I thought I had arranged it, but, I see what you are saying and agree. Nine ribs is bad? To be honest, and this is probably flawed logic, I felt we had small, poorly cut ribs and threw a load in there to compensate. That sounds really stupid now that I have slept.

[yelonutz]

Not as easy as it would seem. Welcome to the jungle. Wanna be Druncle Bob?

NUTZ

[landarc]

When are you competing?

[fingerlickin']

I agree with the even number of ribs. But then again, I have issues. At least you had a good time. Hopefully John isn't too mad at you for farking up his entries. Seriously though, I would love to try competing at some point, I'm sure it's not easy, but it just looks like a lot of fun.

[BRBBQ]

I'd say the pork is a soild 9, the lines on the others drop for me, but hey you did a contest, So a 9 for that

[Crash]

It's a long road to figure it all out and you'll figure out more as continue down the trail. Congrats on just going all in and competing, that in itself is the most important part.

As for the chicken and ribs.....were you using a silicone brush to apply the sauce? I'm seeing corduroy striping on those two pics.

[Phubar]

Nice job Lando but would try to get rid of the brush stripes.

[deguerre]

Landarc. Competition Butt Killer. Kinda like the sound of that. Glad you guys were able to get together!

[early mornin' smokin']

pork and brisket look great, ckn and ribs I'm seeing lots of brush marks

[landarc]

The brush marks kill me, because I don't normally have a problem with that. Yes, we ended up using silicone brushes, and cold thick sauce. It would have been nice to have a bottle loaded with hot apple juice handy, but, that was not brought along, along with the missing fire extinguisher, which didn't make the trip either.

Competing is fun, and if I was not so beat up, I would do more, just for the people you meet and the conversation. I haven't seen our scores yet, but, I am betting that we did poorly on appearance.

[Fatback Joe]

Originally Posted by landarc

. It was a good competition for the reasons that I got to cook with some friends, reconnect with others, met a Brethren from Okalahoma, met Harry Soo and of course, Donna, who is a delgihtful person.

That's the idea.

As you know, comps are hard.......they are even harder when you don't do them often.

Thanks for sharing the pics and the write up.

[SirPorkaLot]

I had a good time, and enjoyed spending time with my son, Larry & Bob.

No other comments forthcoming.

[Butt Rubb'n BBQ]

Cold sauce is a killer.