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.
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