crgshum
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 19, 2016
- Location
- Ashley, OH
Entered my first wing cook-off this weekend at one of our local town festivals. I've had my stick burner for about a year and a half now, but this is the biggest cook I've ever done.. We were open from 4-7 selling to the general public, with a prize being awarded for people's choice. At 6:00pm, wings were collected from each vendor for a blind judging.
Here's a rundown of my day:
12:00pm - Made it onsite and started setting up our booth.
12:30pm - Cracked open the cases of wings and started seasoning. Put them back on ice.
1:00pm - Fired up the smoker and brought to 250
1:30pm - Health inspector showed up. She only wanted to see our meat probe, sanitize bin, and checked to make sure the wings were cold.
2:00pm - Loaded up 30lbs of wings on the bottom rack.
3:00pm - Pulled the bottom rack and tossed the wings in respective sauces/rub. Put back on top rack and loaded bottom rack with another 30lbs of fresh chicken.
4:00pm - We are open to the public. Pulled the wings from the top rack and tossed again. Internal temp read 135. Queue the freakout. Put the 'finished' wings in foil pans and placed back into my side smoke box. Tossed the bottom rack with sauce, put them back on the top rack, and loaded the bottom rack back up with 20 lbs of wings. Added a few logs and cranked up the temp.
4:45pm - First batch still isn't to temp. People are getting angry. Second batch is finished though, so we pull that and toss and start serving.
5:15pm - First batch is finally done and just in time, we've got a huge line and are already sold out of the other 30lbs of wings
5:30PM - First and second batches are now gone. Third batch is still cooking. People are angry again.
6:00pm - Third batch is done. We toss it and make a plate for the judges, put out whats left for the public
6:05pm - We are completely sold out..
I've cooked a lot of wings, but never had it loaded down like that. I wasn't anticipating the extra cook times. I also would have prepped the wings the night before had I known the health inspector wasn't checking for sealed packages. The way the contest was setup, we all bought our own meat, and if it were raining that day like they originally called for, I wasn't so sure I could have sold both cases. Next time though, I think a third case would be a good idea.
Overall, the day was a success. We got a lot of compliments on our flavors. Had one complaint that the wings were under cooked, so I'm hoping that was the only one. Need to run it hotter and longer next time for sure.
We ended up taking home 1st place from the judges with our OP Dry Rub. This is a saucy area so I think that surprised a lot of people, especially the other competitors. They were cooking with charcoal though and I was the only one smoking. We ended up 3rd in the people's choice voting.
We served 4 flavors: A sweet dry rub, a tangy BBQ, Honey Buffalo, and a Buckeye Ranch (ranch, bbq, and Franks). The dry rub and our BBQ were our strongest flavors, so I think I'll probably cut down to those for the next one.
I got so wrapped up in the day that I forgot to take pictures, so here's a shot about halfway through one of our practice cooks.
A lot of beers were drank, a lot was learned, and we still won. I'd say that was a success.
Here's a rundown of my day:
12:00pm - Made it onsite and started setting up our booth.
12:30pm - Cracked open the cases of wings and started seasoning. Put them back on ice.
1:00pm - Fired up the smoker and brought to 250
1:30pm - Health inspector showed up. She only wanted to see our meat probe, sanitize bin, and checked to make sure the wings were cold.
2:00pm - Loaded up 30lbs of wings on the bottom rack.
3:00pm - Pulled the bottom rack and tossed the wings in respective sauces/rub. Put back on top rack and loaded bottom rack with another 30lbs of fresh chicken.
4:00pm - We are open to the public. Pulled the wings from the top rack and tossed again. Internal temp read 135. Queue the freakout. Put the 'finished' wings in foil pans and placed back into my side smoke box. Tossed the bottom rack with sauce, put them back on the top rack, and loaded the bottom rack back up with 20 lbs of wings. Added a few logs and cranked up the temp.
4:45pm - First batch still isn't to temp. People are getting angry. Second batch is finished though, so we pull that and toss and start serving.
5:15pm - First batch is finally done and just in time, we've got a huge line and are already sold out of the other 30lbs of wings
5:30PM - First and second batches are now gone. Third batch is still cooking. People are angry again.
6:00pm - Third batch is done. We toss it and make a plate for the judges, put out whats left for the public
6:05pm - We are completely sold out..
I've cooked a lot of wings, but never had it loaded down like that. I wasn't anticipating the extra cook times. I also would have prepped the wings the night before had I known the health inspector wasn't checking for sealed packages. The way the contest was setup, we all bought our own meat, and if it were raining that day like they originally called for, I wasn't so sure I could have sold both cases. Next time though, I think a third case would be a good idea.
Overall, the day was a success. We got a lot of compliments on our flavors. Had one complaint that the wings were under cooked, so I'm hoping that was the only one. Need to run it hotter and longer next time for sure.
We ended up taking home 1st place from the judges with our OP Dry Rub. This is a saucy area so I think that surprised a lot of people, especially the other competitors. They were cooking with charcoal though and I was the only one smoking. We ended up 3rd in the people's choice voting.
We served 4 flavors: A sweet dry rub, a tangy BBQ, Honey Buffalo, and a Buckeye Ranch (ranch, bbq, and Franks). The dry rub and our BBQ were our strongest flavors, so I think I'll probably cut down to those for the next one.
I got so wrapped up in the day that I forgot to take pictures, so here's a shot about halfway through one of our practice cooks.
A lot of beers were drank, a lot was learned, and we still won. I'd say that was a success.
