First comp in the books. Thanks to the BBQ community.

[Bamabuzzard]

We competed in our first comp this weekend in Marshall, TX (IBCA). We didn't place in anything but learned a wealth of knowledge from those around us. They were gracious to recognize that we were "newbies" and came over and offered advice and tips on future comps. Sampled our food and gave honest opinions of what it lacked (and what was good about it) and what we needed to do to fix it. I thought that was very gracious of them.


I also want to apologize to anyone that was there and had to experience one of our now FORMER team members the Friday night after the cook's meeting. His behavior and actions are not in agreement to what we do or what we stand for. He was dismissed from our team immediately after competition. He would have been dismissed earlier if we weren't using his smoker for the bulk of our cooking. I sincerely apologize to anyone he offended or embarrassed. :tsk:

Overall though we had a blast, learned a TON and met some new friends in the BBQ community. Hope to do it again real soon.

 

[Porcine Perfection]

:grin: Great that you had a good time. Sorry to hear you had a "John Rutsey" (The first drummer for the band Rush that was almost immediately replaced by this guy named Neil Pert). Glad you rectified the situation.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

:grin: Great that you had a good time. Sorry to hear you had a "John Rutsey" (The first drummer for the band Rush that was almost immediately replaced by this guy named Neil Pert). Glad you rectified the situation.

We did have a blast. I was taken back at all the unsolicited advice we got once our neighbors found out we were newbies. They were very helpful and seemed very genuine in their help.

 

[Icekub]

We did have a blast. I was taken back at all the unsolicited advice we got once our neighbors found out we were newbies. They were very helpful and seemed very genuine in their help.

You will find most of the BBQ competitors are more than willing to help someone just getting started, or anyone for that matter. We had a very similar experience in our first comp, but won 2 categories and finished 5th (we didn't receive quite as much advice at our 2nd comp :-D ). LOL @ your ex teammate. We like to toss a few back while cooking because that's how we've done it our entire lives. Most of us have been pretty good at being responsible. It's too expensive a cover charge to treat it like a party, though. And it's definitely not the time get rowdy, you're there to cook and maybe sleep a little. Hope you compete again and continue to improve. :thumb:

 

[Pole D]

I also want to apologize to anyone that was there and had to experience one of our now FORMER team members the Friday night after the cook's meeting. His behavior and actions are not in agreement to what we do or what we stand for. He was dismissed from our team immediately after competition. He would have been dismissed earlier if we weren't using his smoker for the bulk of our cooking. I sincerely apologize to anyone he offended or embarrassed. :tsk:

First time can be intimidating. Awesome to hear you enjoyed it.

Out of all the advice we were given for our first comp, two stand out:

1. You know how to cook so go in with a plan, stick to it and have fun.
2. Don't drink too much. It makes sticking to the plan a challenge!