Aside From That Mrs. Lincoln, How Did You Enjoy The Play?

Oh, my. What a disaster the GAB in KC was. Obviously we had no WiFi, otherwise I would have sent out a distress signal.

First of all, the entire cook-off was on asphalt. Second, there were 161 cookers fired-up and the humidity was sky-high. Teams complained all weekend how their cooker's temperatures were all over the map; I had the same problem.

I guess when I read the small print I had NO idea there was an "invitational" and an "open" BBQ contest all rolled into one. So, we rolled in Friday AM and set up and that's when we found out about the two cook-off's; I couldn't get meat inspected until Saturday morning. In addition to that the KCBS meat turn-in times were a half-hour later than normal.

Once again upon arrival we discovered our trailer-slash-kitchen had no electricity. Every time

we plugged in the cord, POP, went the GFI and we had nothing. So, in 90+ degree heat on asphalt we had to run extension cords to plug in a mini-fridge, box fan and a light. It was miserable, to say the least.

I knew this trip was head shot before we left. The week before I had ordered 2 CAB briskets for the cook-off; these CAB briskets are almost top drawer briskets. Certified Angus Beef briskets are not carried by all markets, so I had ordered two 13-14 lb. briskets to be picked up the day before we headed out to the GAB. After a 78 mile round-trip to pick them up, the frickin' butcher had failed to order them. NO BEEF BRISKET??? Well, it's time for a back-up plan. The next day, I had things under control with two 13 pound whole briskets; they weren't CAB, but they were briskets.

Anyway, to make a short story long we bombed. We flopped. It sucked.

Now it's on to Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Keep you posted. 

The GAB in Bonner Springs, Kansas

We arrived late this afternoon, Thursday. Tomorrow we, and 159 other teams will set up for the cook-off. Aside from the usual KCBS entries, we will also be competing in the "sides" category with our wonderful, sinfully sweet, baked beans.

I plan to blog from the cook site, if there is WiFi at the site. My youngest daughter brought her camera, but forget the download cable. So, if all goes well, perhaps blogging in the wee hours of the morning will keep me awake.

So, until Sunday, we're still in Kansas, Toto.

The 2009 American Royal

Last night I sat before my computer and completed the entry form for the 2009 American Royal BBQ contest in Kansas City. Now granted, this isn't the invitational contest reserved for winners of the various State Championships, but nonetheless, it's still the Royal.

They call this contest the "World Series of Barbeque" because 500+ teams compete for the honors of winning or coming in somewhere two through whatever.

We're jazzed. We're pumped and we'll be ready. KC, WOW!

Chain Gang BBQ's Logo

I guess it's official now, we're a BBQ Team. I have absolutely zero artistic talent, so when it came to a logo for our team, I turned the work over to a professional.

This is a cool logo and sums up what being chained to your work really means. 

We will put this on T's and our trailer currently undergoing a restoration process; a real make-over.

In my last post I told you the Bonner Springs cook-off would be bigger than our first in Bixby, Oklahoma and it will be. As of now, 160 teams are due to compete in the KC area BBQ competition. 

Will keep you posted.

Bixby In The Rearview Mirror

All went fairly well for our first Competition BBQ contest in Bixby, Oklahoma this past weekend. When we first signed up for Bixby's cook-off I thought we were going to compete in a somewhat small competition; you know 35 to 40 teams. Boy, was I wrong. Ends up, Bixby became the biggest cook-off in Oklahoma's history with 90+ teams competiting.

Our space was adjacent to the Royal Oak Championship BBQ team. These guys have won more competitions including the American Royal Invitational in KC, Memphis In May and the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BBQ Contest in Lynchburg, Tennessee. After scouting the scene out I also saw other championship teams at the Bixby cook off. Teams like Butcher BBQ, Little Pig Town, Caveman Cuisine, Spicy Spitfire and probably 10 more big-time competitors. To say the least I thought we could maybe finish in the top 50- maybe.

Since it was our first cook-off, and encountered some snags in setting up, teams near-by were all too happy to help. They introduced themselves to us, asking us if they could help, offering advice and so on; there was never a feeling of "sorry kid, we went through the same thing, good luck though" attitude. You felt welcomed right away.

Even though I hate quoting a damned Democrat, like Hillary Clinton, "I was in it to win it." The night before I had back timed my meats based on entry times the next day including the time it would take to be in its marinade, allowing meat to rest, preparing it and eventually the submission to the KCBS judges. By the way, rumors spread though the competitors that the percentage of Certified BBQ Judges was less than 50%. You have to keep in mind Certified BBQ Judges, or CBJ's must be certified by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. They're instructed to judge the entry strictly based on appearance, flavor and tenderness; no personal biases are to get in the way, and that's a tall order. I later learned on the KCBS website, the CBJ percentage was 100%.

A lot of teams partied. Some invited friends and family to the Friday night opening to enjoy BBQ and drinks. Some teams kept partying until 3, 4am without their competition meats being on the smoker. For example, at 3:25pm Friday my brisket was on the smoker for turn in at 1:30pm Saturday. Some teams near me said they would put their brisket on a 4am or 6am. Others went to bed without firing up their cookers until 6 or 7am Saturday morning. Knowing it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours per pound to cook a brisket or pork butt, I thought, "what are they thinking?"

My Mom and oldest daughter made up the team for Bixby and I couldn't have done it without them. My youngest daughter can't wait to go to a competition, so my team is going to expand. We all monitored the temp on the smoker all night adding charcoal, wood and spritzing meats to keep them juicy. I maintained a vigil on the marinading meat, watched the clock, cooker dampers and sometimes the inside of my eyelids. Then the meat was ready for submission - one by one and turn in times were 30 minutes apart. Yikes, here we go. The first was chicken.

Everything turned out perfect. Chicken was juicy and flavorful, ribs were spot-on, pulled pork simply fell apart and the brisket was perfect. We made it to the submission table right on time and then we waited. The last meat turned in was at 1:30 and the awards weren't until 4pm. Best way to kill that time and keep your mind off the possible outcome is to pack everything up.

We went to the awards ceremony and sat there waiting to hear the name Chain Gang BBQ announced, but it was not. At this point you begin to think, "well just how far down the ladder did we finish?" I'll tell you.

Overall we finished 23rd out of 90

Chicken we finished 31st out of 90

Pork Ribs we finished 28th out of 90

Pulled Pork we finished 28th out of 90

Brisket we finished 28th out of 90

I must say the judges liked our BBQ, just not as much as the others they selected to win. Our chicken no score less than a 7; many judges gave us 9's and 8's. Ribs were 8's and 9's, except for one 6. The pulled pork received 8's and 9's and one judge gave us a perfect score of 9-9-9; the brisket was given 7's, 8's and 9's.

That's not too bad for the first cook-off in a state that had its biggest cook-off in history with a huge percentage of championship teams. Heck, in Brisket, we even beat the Royal Oak team. And I thought I would never ever be able to say that.

Next stop? Bonner Springs, KS which promises to be even bigger than Bixby.

Competition BBQ Schedule

This has been a busy two weeks getting ready for our first BBQ Competition. Aside from the new smoker, we also purchased a 19' foot long trailer in which to prepare meats, marinades and to sleep (if we're lucky.)

Getting all the things together for a cook-off is no little thing; it's a lot of work with a lot of details. Even though we've been getting things together for a few weeks now, you can't help but thinking you've waited until the last minute. We'll see soon enough, I suppose. Thankfully, there's always a Wal-Mart near-by just in case we've over looked anything.

I've already decided that good quality meat is everything. Having ordered my meat a week in advance, I have selected the best meat available simply because CBJ's base their decision on taste, or flavor and tenderness. Higher grade meat will always have better flavor and tenderness and you want to leave nothing to chance.

Our competition schedule is as follows:

May 8 & 9: Bixby, Oklahoma

May 15 & 16: Claremore, Oklahoma

May 22 & 23: Bonner Springs, Kansas

June 5 & 6: Sallisaw, Oklahoma

June 19 & 20: Sedalia, Missouri

Other dates remain open as once you get further out than this, most Cook-off's don't have their entry forms available. But our plans are to compete two to three times per month through October.

We hope we encounter "Chamber of Commerce" weather where ever we go, oh and a ribbon or trophy now and then would be nice too.