Well, Minnesota in May is a little less than two weeks away. My wife, daughter, and I spent the day Saturday running a full mock competition in our driveway. We made our turn in times and I was happy with the current flavor profiles we have going on. I’m not 100% satisfied with the appearance of the chicken thighs yet, need to figure out a better sauce consistency. All in all, I feel ready to put my best foot forward. I’m looking forward to seeing how I stack up against the other competition and I’m ready to be humbled.
I should add; this is possible because of the support and encouragement I've received from this site and some of it's members. Cheers!
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Last edited by DoubleUpOrQuit; April 29, 2019, 11:05 AM.
The food looks awesome . doing a mock competition and getting the timing right is important . We have one in June . I would like to wish you and daughter good luck .
Lang 48 inch Deluxe Patio Model (burns hickory splits)
PK 360 (burns premium lump charcoal with wood chunks)
28 inch Blackstone Griddle (propane)
Rubs I love:
Yardbird by Plow Boys
Killer Hogs by Malcom Reed
AP Rub by Malcom Reed
Meat Church (any)
Three Little Pigs Memphis Style for ribs
Would love to try Meathead's commercial rub
Sauces I love:
Gates'
Joe's
Pa & Ma's
Killer Hogs Vinegar Sauce
Disposable Equipment I use:
Disposable cutting boards
Tumbleweed chimney starters
Aluminum foil
Aluminum pans (half and full)
Latex gloves
Diamond Kosher Salt
Vice-President of BBQ Security, Roy
He's a pure-bred North American Brown Dog
He loves rawhide chewies
My wife calls me "Teddy" and I call her "Princess" and that's where "mrteddyprincess" comes from.
Retired, living in Western Mass. Enjoy music, cooking and my family.
Current cookers Weber Spirit 3 burner with a full insert griddle added. A 22" Kettle with vortex, SnS and a Smokey Joe. The most recent addition is a Pit Barrel Jr with bird hanger, 4 hooks and cover. ThermoWorks Smoke 2 probe, DOT, 2 ThermoPops and a Thermapen MK4. A Thermoworks RFX Gateway 2 probe meat thermometer.
If you really want to prep for competition, you need to practice in an unfamiliar setting. You should probably haul your gear out to Virginia and set up shop in my backyard and get cookin'. Turn in time is 6pm when I get home from work. My 20-month-old son can be a judge. It's easy to tell how much he likes what he is eating by tracking how much food ends up in his mouth before he starts trying to share with the dog.
Looks like you Are as ready as your going to be.. the family and I are going to check it out .. I will try to stop by and see how ya did.. could I get a tour of the cooker and your set-up??
Minnesota in May is now past and we officially have one competition under our belt; the experience was fantastic. We rolled into the event on Friday afternoon at 4PM, just in time to meet up with our assigned pro team for a one-on-one mentoring session; this was the first year the MN BBQ Society did something like this. We had an hour to hang out with them and ask any questions about bbq or the competition that we had. It was nice having an opportunity like this to help settle some jitters, plus it was nice knowing we had a place to turn during the competition if we needed anything or ran into an issue. I hope they continue to do something like this for future new backyard teams.
Friday night I learned my family and I are not tent campers. As we were setting up I noticed there was only one other tent in sight. It appeared all the other backyard teams arriving on Friday night were planning on sleeping someplace other than at the event. My first thought was, "man, they are going to miss out on all the evenings festivities". Well, turns out they were the smart ones in this story. Early May in Minnesota can still be pretty cold. Long story short, I ended up giving my sleeping bag to my wife so she could double bag. I just stayed up and wandered around the event grounds and watch the cookers come to life at various times throughout the night. I haven't been that cold in a long time. I think it was around 2:30 in the morning I found myself making hotel reservations for our next competition.
Saturday, the day of competition started out chilly but once the sun came up things started getting better. The air was filled with bird songs and barbecue smells. Our cook of ribs and chicken started around 8AM, with turn in times of 1:25 and 2:25. Going into this competition our only solid goal was to make our turn in times. Beyond that, I didn't really have any idea what to expect as far as being competitive with our product. I was just cooking what I thought was making good eating bbq. I'm happy to say that we did make both of our turn ins without any issues. In our minds, this was already a successful comp. Once everything was turned in we started cleaning up the site and getting everything packed up; we had an hour and a half before the awards were announced.
The icing on the cake for us came at the awards presentation. We did not get any awards but we were fortunate enough to get a 12th in chicken, 8th in Ribs, and 7th overall. This was out of a field of 37 backyard teams. We are blown away to say the least. I was just hoping we wouldn't be dead last.
All in all this was an awesome experience and we're looking forward to another event in a couple weeks. Our next event is a whole different kind of beast. We'll be cooking the usual ribs and chicken but we're also expected to cook 25lbs. of pork loin to hand out to the public as well as cook a 'surprise category' for judging. I'm a little nervous about this one...
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
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