The Cook-Off at Laurie, MO

We, and 76 other BBQ Teams just concluded competing in the 17th Annual Hillbilly BBQ contest in Laurie, Missouri. The weather for this event was unbelievable for late July and early August in the Missouri Ozarks. Friday's temps were in the low 80's and Saturday morning it was in the low 60's with a nice breeze.

When we checked in to set-up "camp" organizers asked if we could cook wings for an event they were having later that night. They asked, with big puppy dog eyes and you had no choice but to say yes, even though I'd never smoked wings before; they're just not my cup of tea. I ended up preparing about 70 wings and handed them over later that night.

We had our cooks meeting at 8pm, that where you get your four numbered styrofoam boxes in which you place your meats and garnish at turn-in the next day. KCBS does Chicken at 12:00 noon, Pork Ribs at 12:30, Pulled Pork at 1:00 and Brisket at 1:30. If you are one second past the turn-in deadline your entry is disqualified. We managed, as with previous cook-offs to make each deadline without being DQ'ed. 

This was the first contest I used our new Ole Hickory Pit, the Convecture model. I'd cooked on it five or six times at home and loved the results, so I was pumped to use it in competition. It was a dream come true, our meats looked incredible especially the half-chickens. Our turn-in box with those six breasts I thought we would get our first call in chicken. Not so; we finished 21 out of 77. The reason we placed 21st is because I'm probably the only team at competition to cook half-chickens instead of thighs. I've always cooked half-chickens at home, so I am comfortable with them. Granted, you can't put six half-chickens in a turn-in box, but slicing off the breast meat with the skin attached makes for a beautiful presentation. With most cookers, breast meat is fairly dry, but with this Ole Hickory pit our chicken was as moist as it could be. I'm just not sure going to thighs is change I can believe in. Stubborn? Not me.

Our next event is the Cattlemen's BBQ Cook-Off at Summer's On The River, and as of now 32 teams are signed up to compete. Time to make our rubs, sauces, brines and marinades and suit up for another challenge.