Thanks everyone! :-D
While I've cooked with quite a few teams over the years this was the first time that I was the head cook. It was quite a bit different, to say the least! First, a word of warning - if you're in your mid to late sixties, a hundred pounds overweight and in lousy health you might want to rethink this competition idea. Or maybe not, I had a BLAST!!!
Herb Kane (BBQCritic.com) decided to help me out on my wild ambition to compete at the Sam's Club local contest in Des Moines, IA this past weekend and we didn't do too awful shabby for a first-time team: 29th chicken; 2nd ribs; 13th pork; 24th brisket. Our goals were:
Everything turned in on time - Check! (one was pretty close)
No DQs - Check!
No DALs - Check! (again, one was pretty close)
Have Fun - Check!!!
We ended up 22nd out of 30 against some of the top teams in the Midwest and overall we're happy with that. Do we wish that we could have done better? Sure! But at every contest there's only one person that doesn't wish that they would have cooked just a bit better.
With the heat and a few mechanical SNAFU's it could have been a recipe for disaster but we managed to pull off a fairly acceptable showing in a tough crowd. I think that almost every team managed to stop by and wish us well on Friday evening and a lot of the judges wished us good luck on their way to the tent. It was a real thrill hearing the cheers when Mike McD called out Judge Number 6 for second place ribs - that's something that I'll remember for a long, long time. :grin:
A few shout outs are in order on this, also:
First and foremost is to all of you farkers (and farkerettes) who have shared your knowledge over the years;
Eric Burkhart for teaching me how to properly use a trashcan;
Mark Hunsacker and his Vortex charcoal basket - getcha one of these!
