aawa
Babbling Farker
Well I finally broke down and competed in my first comp this weekend at the Virginia BBQ Championship in Hampton, VA. I was nervous about the event and planned, replanned, and replanned more as well as practice, practice, and practice even more leading up to it.
We got there about 10am Friday and setup. This humble little abode would be home for the next day and a half.
After looking around at the other teams that were there, our little site with 2 beat up canopies a UDS and 18.5n WSM seemed inadequate compared to the other teams that had Jambos, Cookshacks, Langs, Stumps and other big name cookers along with RV's and such. We was a little intimidated but we weren't going to let that stop us from having a good time!
After setting up i wrote out the timeline on the whiteboard that I had come up with. Picture is from Saturday morning and Matt wrote down things on there that happened during his watch in the early morning.
After that we kicked backed, relaxed and met a bunch of great people. Maureen from Belmont House of Smoke and TheresaB of Big Dog BBQ are some of the most gracious and friendly people we met at the comp. There were a bunch of other people we met (I am terrible with names though) and just wow everybody is super friendly. I forgot HolySmoke77's team name or I would of stopped by and said hi to him, but I did get a pciture of his setup.
We built our parsley boxes once it cooled down and we ate dinner. These things are pretty much the devil. I don't want to see parsley for a long while.
The nite rolled in and it was go time! 4:15AM is when this picture was taken. Pits were fired up early, meats on and all prep done. I finally remembered to take a picture. It was probably my favorite picture out of all my friends and I had taken.
The morning came and the big meats were off the smoker. Had a couple hours to kill so walked around and took more pictures. I felt like a creeper, but I snapped this one. I would of asked for a regular picture but he was busy.
Everything starting at about 10 or 1030Am turned into a blur. Had lot of friends stop by to support us and they sent m a bunch of pictures they had taken while we had our game faces on. They also walked around and got a lot of great shots. I'll throw up a bunch of random ones taken.
Ran out of gloves to use during the brisket turn in!!!!!! We did make sure to wash our hands very well before and after.
Turn in times went by fast and furious. I remember getting game face on and there wasn't very many people at the event yet. By the time I looked up and looked around there was a massive crowd! I asked my friends, when the hell everybody got there. They all just laughed and commented on how focused I was on getting all of it done and looking as good as possible.
Here are my turn in boxes with where we placed and the scores. I was happy with some components, others I wasn't happy with. But first time out, I definitely wasn't going to beat myself up too much.
Chicken turn in box. Placed 34 out of 43 teams.
Scores : 898 878 966 766 877 977
I know we blew this one because the chicken got over cooked. We had to add more fuel to the WSM and temps shot up past 375 degrees before we knew what happened.
Ribs turn in box. Placed 16 out of 43 teams
Scores: 986 888 798 976 986 896
I knew the tenderness was going to be an issue. The racks cooked much faster than I expected and we were forced to hold them for 30minutes instead of going straight from the pit to the box.
Pork turn in box. Placed 16 out of 43 teams.
Scores: 989 977 988 977 877 999
I was happy with the money muscle, but it took me a lot of time to find pieces that I was happy with. Overall I was happy with the way the box turned out and happy with our final product.
Brisket turn in box. Placed 10 out of 43 teams. WE GOT A CALL ON OUR FIRST COMPETITION!!!!!!!!!! This was super surreal.
Scores: 989 899 887 878 788 898
The first brisket I sliced into was too tight, and I immediately went to the second one. That one was cooked well and we used all the pieces from it.
Overall Finish - 16 out of 43. I was very happy with where we placed considering this was our first time out!
Holy crap was this weekend a blast. Lots of hard work, very little sleep, and I was a zombie during/after awards ceremony. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. There is something about trying to make your best food and you are up against the clock and up against other great cooks! Add in the comraderie and friendliness of the other people and it makes for a great time.
From Sublime Smoke to everybody. Thanks for looking.
Oops that was matt mean muggin something lol.
Really from Sublime smoke to everybody at the competition and this forum. Thank you for everything. This site has taught me all I know about bbq and how to prepare for a competition, I couldn't of done it without the Brethren. Thank you to the other teams that welcomed us to the competition scene and the great atmosphere of it all.
And congrats to
Chix, Swine, & Bovine on Grand Champion
and
Wolf's Revenge on Reserve Grand Champion and VA State BBQ Champion
We got there about 10am Friday and setup. This humble little abode would be home for the next day and a half.
After looking around at the other teams that were there, our little site with 2 beat up canopies a UDS and 18.5n WSM seemed inadequate compared to the other teams that had Jambos, Cookshacks, Langs, Stumps and other big name cookers along with RV's and such. We was a little intimidated but we weren't going to let that stop us from having a good time!
After setting up i wrote out the timeline on the whiteboard that I had come up with. Picture is from Saturday morning and Matt wrote down things on there that happened during his watch in the early morning.
After that we kicked backed, relaxed and met a bunch of great people. Maureen from Belmont House of Smoke and TheresaB of Big Dog BBQ are some of the most gracious and friendly people we met at the comp. There were a bunch of other people we met (I am terrible with names though) and just wow everybody is super friendly. I forgot HolySmoke77's team name or I would of stopped by and said hi to him, but I did get a pciture of his setup.
We built our parsley boxes once it cooled down and we ate dinner. These things are pretty much the devil. I don't want to see parsley for a long while.
The nite rolled in and it was go time! 4:15AM is when this picture was taken. Pits were fired up early, meats on and all prep done. I finally remembered to take a picture. It was probably my favorite picture out of all my friends and I had taken.
The morning came and the big meats were off the smoker. Had a couple hours to kill so walked around and took more pictures. I felt like a creeper, but I snapped this one. I would of asked for a regular picture but he was busy.
Everything starting at about 10 or 1030Am turned into a blur. Had lot of friends stop by to support us and they sent m a bunch of pictures they had taken while we had our game faces on. They also walked around and got a lot of great shots. I'll throw up a bunch of random ones taken.
Ran out of gloves to use during the brisket turn in!!!!!! We did make sure to wash our hands very well before and after.
Turn in times went by fast and furious. I remember getting game face on and there wasn't very many people at the event yet. By the time I looked up and looked around there was a massive crowd! I asked my friends, when the hell everybody got there. They all just laughed and commented on how focused I was on getting all of it done and looking as good as possible.
Here are my turn in boxes with where we placed and the scores. I was happy with some components, others I wasn't happy with. But first time out, I definitely wasn't going to beat myself up too much.
Chicken turn in box. Placed 34 out of 43 teams.
Scores : 898 878 966 766 877 977
I know we blew this one because the chicken got over cooked. We had to add more fuel to the WSM and temps shot up past 375 degrees before we knew what happened.
Ribs turn in box. Placed 16 out of 43 teams
Scores: 986 888 798 976 986 896
I knew the tenderness was going to be an issue. The racks cooked much faster than I expected and we were forced to hold them for 30minutes instead of going straight from the pit to the box.
Pork turn in box. Placed 16 out of 43 teams.
Scores: 989 977 988 977 877 999
I was happy with the money muscle, but it took me a lot of time to find pieces that I was happy with. Overall I was happy with the way the box turned out and happy with our final product.
Brisket turn in box. Placed 10 out of 43 teams. WE GOT A CALL ON OUR FIRST COMPETITION!!!!!!!!!! This was super surreal.
Scores: 989 899 887 878 788 898
The first brisket I sliced into was too tight, and I immediately went to the second one. That one was cooked well and we used all the pieces from it.
Overall Finish - 16 out of 43. I was very happy with where we placed considering this was our first time out!
Holy crap was this weekend a blast. Lots of hard work, very little sleep, and I was a zombie during/after awards ceremony. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. There is something about trying to make your best food and you are up against the clock and up against other great cooks! Add in the comraderie and friendliness of the other people and it makes for a great time.
From Sublime Smoke to everybody. Thanks for looking.
Oops that was matt mean muggin something lol.
Really from Sublime smoke to everybody at the competition and this forum. Thank you for everything. This site has taught me all I know about bbq and how to prepare for a competition, I couldn't of done it without the Brethren. Thank you to the other teams that welcomed us to the competition scene and the great atmosphere of it all.
And congrats to
Chix, Swine, & Bovine on Grand Champion
and
Wolf's Revenge on Reserve Grand Champion and VA State BBQ Champion
