Golden City's Cook-off

The Chain Gang completed it's 2009 KCBS Competition BBQ tour by going to a wonderful event in Golden City, Missouri.

The weather on Friday was terrible. Rain by the bucket fell which actually prevented three or four teams from making the cook-off; flood waters in southern Missouri literally kept them homebound. Once the rain, mist and drizzle left, the clouds remained and the cold air came in.

By early evening, temps were in the upper 30's as the northwest winds continued to howl. However, the show must go on.

Our team hardly ever participates in "Peoples Choice" contests at these cook-offs. Not sure why except for the added prep and work added on top of the KCBS aspect of things. But, this being our last for the year, hey, why not. So we entered the PC contest with our homemade BBQ sauce and I'll be darned if we didn't take 2nd place. Now I'm thinkin' we should've entered a few of these Peoples Choice things earlier. But it was nice to see what the folks liked versus BBQ judges.

We did good in Chicken. I gotta say that our half-chickens were as moist and juicy as they've been in a long time. One of the greatest things about Golden City was being located right next to the team Munchin' Hogs at the Hilton, based out of KC. Just like everyone on the circuit, I knew of these guys, but for me, I'd never met them before. These guys are wonderful people. Friendly would be an under statement and they made the cook-off special for me; not only because they thought my chicken would take first, but because they were true BBQ ambassadors. Our chicken came in in the top 15. That's good for chicken breast because everyone and I mean everyone turns in thighs for judging. I've covered that on previous posts though.

In the Anything Goes category, the Chain Gang finished in the top 10 with our homemade hot link sausage. It is good - a tad bit warm maybe, but hey, they are hot links.

One of the funniest things happened when my two daughters decided to pass the time using my iPhone and a window in our pick-up truck. Instead of posting a picture of an entry, a cooker or all the smoke in the air at the cook-off, I threw this in. My younger daughter doing a pressed pig impression under glass.

Well, at least kids can have fun at these cook-offs too.