Contest number two of 2010 is in the books! Brian, Matt, and I made the seven hour trip to Jefferson City Missouri last weekend. We cooked very well, had a great time, and managed to return home unharmed.
This contest is well known for having a big purse ($26,000 total), for attracting some of the best teams in the country, and for being very cook friendly. Bruce Ring and his group of volunteers came through on all counts.
Unlike our cook in Little Rock, everything seemed to click in Jefferson City. The Backwoods Smoker's performed flawlessly and we hit our marks consistently. We aren't in mid season form by any means, and it still seems like we are working too hard at this, however, we are getting closer :). After turn in's we began the clean up and I think we all felt pretty good about what we had turned out. We made an adjustment to a couple of flavor items on chicken and the chicken was much improved over Little Rock. We were also trying out a new rib supplier and switched up the rub used on them. Like the chicken the ribs were far improved over the last couple of attempts.
As we headed into awards I think we all had high hopes for the day. As it turned out we were not to be disappointed:
Chicken 3rd
Ribs 5th
Pork 6th
Brisket 35th
Overall 3rd
We finished just over a point out of 2nd - Iowa's Smokey D's, and over 12 points out of first - Great Grills O' Fire. As it turned out we could have finished 4th in Brisket and still not finished better than 2nd. Needless to say, Becky and Mark with Great Grills O' Fire cooked their butts off and earned that victory! Our Friends Ryan and Sonya of Big T'z Q Cru finished in a strong 5th position to make it three Iowa teams in the top five!
All in all, we had a great time, filled the BBQ account for the next several contests, and really feel good about how we are cooking heading into the meat of our schedule. The long drives are over for a while and we are looking forward to contests a little closer to home. Next up is the Minnesota in May event held at the Mower County Fairgrounds in Austin on May 14th and 15th.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
USA Barbecue Championship Recap
The first one is in the books. It appears as though North Little Rock and the team survived the event. Although we didn't finish as well as we had hoped, we had a great time and enjoyed cooking against the best of the best.
I left Wednesday morning for the trek down the the trailer and made it all the way to Joplin Missouri before calling it a night. I found a lovely Super 8 that was a bit dirty and a little scary looking, however, for $39.99 I couldn't complain. I killed a little time Thursday morning in Joplin, bought some ribs, had some breakfast and was on to the final leg to North Little Rock. The rest of the ride was uneventful and I arrived unscathed at about 2:30.
Matt and Brian were driving separate and wouldn't be arriving until Friday afternoon, so I was on my own for setup. Check in at the event went fairly smoothly, especially considering the number of teams they were trying to direct. I found my spot and spent the afternoon setting up. A group of us from the BBQ-Brethren went to supper at The Flying Fish, I ate way too much and was fast asleep by 11pm.
Friday morning it was finally time to go into official contest mode and the day went fast trimming and prepping. It was at the cooks meeting that it really set in that this event really was the who's-who of BBQ. 226 teams and a large percentage of them could win this event.
The big meats went on as usual Friday night and we stayed up way too late drinking and carrying-on. As a result of that Saturday morning came very early, but like usual everything went on in time and before we knew it it was time to turn in chicken. We were a little out of sync (I'm sure Friday night had nothing to do with that) but we figured it out and all in all the turnins went smoothly. As usual we placed our guesses as to where each category would finish. Also, as usual we were all over the board. Here are a couple of pictures of our chicken and brisket boxes, very good looking boxes in my opinion.
The weather had been really nice the entire event but after turnin's it began to cloud up and it began to rain and got very windy about the time the awards ceremony started. Due to the size of the event and the large purse the organizers decided to payout the Top 40 in each category. We were disappointed as the chicken category passed without our name being called. I really thought we had earned a call in chicken, as they started ribs I knew better than to have hope for a top 40 and I was correct. On to pork, again I thought we had earned a Top 40 with some of the best pork we have turned out. This time the judges agreed and TippyCanoe BBQ Crew got a call for 9th place Pork. Generally 9th place pork wouldn't be all that impressive, but in this event I was thrilled. Brisket also passed without a call. At this point I was very interested in seeing our overall scores. In the end I would be very happy with Brisket, satisfied with the ribs, and scratching my head over the chicken,Chicken 215th place (ouch)
Ribs 137th place
Pork 9th place
Brisket 57th place
Overall 99th place
They hated the chicken and it really hurt our overall score. All in all, it was a great time and that one good call always makes it worth it and has us coming back for more. I think I have diagnosed the chicken problem and I'm looking forward to giving it another go in a couple of weeks at the Capital City Cookoff in Jefferson City Missouri.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Hang on to your hat...
Here goes...the 2010 season it FINALLY here! It has been the longest winter of my life and I am ready to get the smoke rollin' for 2010. I am headed out sometime Wednesday and Brian and Matt will be joining me sometime on Friday.
We will be competing in the USA Barbecue Championship, considered the worlds richest BBQ competition with $100,000 in prize money. http://www.smokeonthewaterbbq.com/2010-events/nlr-home.html
I got the camper out of storage last weekend and have spent this weekend cleaning, shopping, and loading. Should be all set to go for the year.
Looking forward to getting back out there and seeing a bunch of the best teams in the country (and one coming all the way from Japan to compete). I wouldn't mind bringing home a little cash as well!
We will be competing in the USA Barbecue Championship, considered the worlds richest BBQ competition with $100,000 in prize money. http://www.smokeonthewaterbbq.com/2010-events/nlr-home.html
I got the camper out of storage last weekend and have spent this weekend cleaning, shopping, and loading. Should be all set to go for the year.
Looking forward to getting back out there and seeing a bunch of the best teams in the country (and one coming all the way from Japan to compete). I wouldn't mind bringing home a little cash as well!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
2010 Schedule Update
www.tippycanoebbq.com has been updated with the first half of our schedule for 2010. Please go on over and check it out!
With everything else going on in life outside of BBQ we decided to try to limit contests to two weekends per month. As a result we are going to miss several events I had really hoped to hit in 2010. As a side note, I really wish the Iowa events were a bit more spread out. Its seems as though they are all in June and July and the months really get crowded.
We will start the year with a long haul to North Little Rock Arkansas. The event should have 200+ of the best teams in the nation competing for a piece of $100,000 in prize money. It is said to be the richest KCBS contest ever had I hope we can get our hands on some! They are doing a good job of spreading the 100k around by paying the top 40 spots in each category. Really looking forward to getting back into competition mode!
I promise many more blog posts, videos, and pictures to come as we get into the competition season. It's just to hard to think about this blog and the website about BBQ with 3 feet of snow on the ground!
With everything else going on in life outside of BBQ we decided to try to limit contests to two weekends per month. As a result we are going to miss several events I had really hoped to hit in 2010. As a side note, I really wish the Iowa events were a bit more spread out. Its seems as though they are all in June and July and the months really get crowded.
We will start the year with a long haul to North Little Rock Arkansas. The event should have 200+ of the best teams in the nation competing for a piece of $100,000 in prize money. It is said to be the richest KCBS contest ever had I hope we can get our hands on some! They are doing a good job of spreading the 100k around by paying the top 40 spots in each category. Really looking forward to getting back into competition mode!
I promise many more blog posts, videos, and pictures to come as we get into the competition season. It's just to hard to think about this blog and the website about BBQ with 3 feet of snow on the ground!
Friday, November 27, 2009
New Website
I appologize for not keeping this up for the past couple of months. We had so much going on with our trip to the Royal, a trip to Libertyville, and our crazy life in general. Overall we had a great fall getting 13th in the Royal Invitational, a 9th place Brisket call in the Royal Open, and 3rd overall in Libertyville. I really hated to see the season end, however, it was nice to finish on a high note getting top ten calls in all four categories in our last run. It could be a long winter with over five months without a BBQ competition. Already looking forward to our trip to Little Rock for the "richest" BBQ contest ever ($100,000 prize fund) in March.
One of my projects for the winter was to create a real Website for our team. You can now find this blog and other things at www.tippycanoebbq.com. Other than the blog the main focus of the Website will be my BBQ Video Journey project in 2010. I purchased a new camcomder and I plan to chronical our BBQ adeventures in 2010 via video on the Website. I figured if Pitmasters on TLC wouldn't have me, I would make my own show :)
I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
One of my projects for the winter was to create a real Website for our team. You can now find this blog and other things at www.tippycanoebbq.com. Other than the blog the main focus of the Website will be my BBQ Video Journey project in 2010. I purchased a new camcomder and I plan to chronical our BBQ adeventures in 2010 via video on the Website. I figured if Pitmasters on TLC wouldn't have me, I would make my own show :)
I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, September 4, 2009
It's a long drive to Tennesse anyway right?
Well, we didn't get drawn to go to the Jack Daniel's World Championship. A lot of very deserving teams did get selected and we will have more chances at it in the future. I think I will just try to get one of those automatics next year...this draw crap is hard on a guys heart :-) It was fun just to be involved in the process and to have a shot. Now, back to work to try to get in for 2010!
You can find the results of the draw here : http://kcbs.us/news.php?id=172
You can find the results of the draw here : http://kcbs.us/news.php?id=172
Big Island BBQ, Albert Lea Mn Recap
We had a great time in Albert Lea with some good weather, a good party, and good food. This contest is held at the Freeborn County fairgrounds. This was our fourth or fifth event held at a fairgrounds and I'm really starting to appreciate these venues. They almost all have excellent power, are on grass, and have water available...three things that make the events much more enjoyable for us.
Matt and I make the forty five minute trek Friday morning and got everything setup and the meats prepped. This contest had a peoples choice chicken wings contest that we participated in. It was important to get everything else done Friday afternoon as we knew we would be messing with the wings most of the evening. Brian, Jeff, and their families along with several of Kim's co-workers joined us Friday night for supper and a drink or two. Everyone had a great time Friday night and we even managed to kill most of a $50 bottle of Jack that belonged to our neighbor Tony. He was a good sport about it and probably had a shot or ten out of it as well.
The meats cooked without incident overnight and the ribs and chicken went on as scheduled Saturday morining. The turnins went very well, we really have this process down at this point in the year. The chicken was some of the best I had made in a while as far as tenderness went but we were a little concerned we had overdone the pepper a bit. We scrambled to attempt to sweeten them up. As you will see below it either worked or the judges like pepper :-). The ribs looked great with about an hour to go but by the time we got them off the smoker and into the turn in box the had overcooked considerably. This is something like the third time I have done that this year, and I am changing our timing up a bit for the rest of the year. The pork was pork like usual. When we sliced the brisket I knew it was money. I got to the "sweet spot" for slices and they were some of the prettiest and moistest slices I have ever seen. The flavor was spot on and the burnt ends melted like butter...it was going to be a good brisket day!
At the start of the awards ceremony they announced that there had been two perfect scores that day. A perfect score is all 9's in all three judged categories from all five counted judges resulting in a 180 point score. This is a somewhat rare feat (I have heard about twenty are given out a year with many coming from categories other than the main four meats). There were several "other" categories at the event and I assumed the 180's we in those events as that is the only place I had ever seen the perfect score. Sure enough they get to dessert and 1st place had a 180 perfect score. I was a bit suprised when they got to brisket without the other 180 (I think everyone was). They go throught spots 10-2 and no TippyCanoe BBQ Crew...I will be honest, I was starting to get upset, how could that not have been a top 10 entry? They really built up the 1st places and when they finally got to brisket they again mentioned that 1st place brisket had received a perfect score...I nearly fell over when we heard our name for that 180 point first place brisket! It will be one of the highlights of our rookie year and something I will never forget. After the awards I was told that this win will get us an invite into the Chest to Chest Invitational Brisket only contest to be held in Great Bend Kansas in July of 2010. Kansas in July may be a bit tough but I think we can handle it! After the event a representative from KCBS told me that this was only the second 180 given for Brisket in 2009 in the entire Country!
Big Island Barbeque - Aug 29, 2009
Albert Lea, MN
Out of 49 Teams
4th Place - OVERALL
3rd Place - CHICKEN
35th Place - RIBS
16th Place - PORK
1st Place - BRISKET
Our overcooked ribs really killed us but that is that way it goes and why it is so hard to win in this game. I guess it gives me something to work on in September! The guys and I are headed to Vermillion South Dakota next weekend and I can't wait to get back in and try again.
Joe
Matt and I make the forty five minute trek Friday morning and got everything setup and the meats prepped. This contest had a peoples choice chicken wings contest that we participated in. It was important to get everything else done Friday afternoon as we knew we would be messing with the wings most of the evening. Brian, Jeff, and their families along with several of Kim's co-workers joined us Friday night for supper and a drink or two. Everyone had a great time Friday night and we even managed to kill most of a $50 bottle of Jack that belonged to our neighbor Tony. He was a good sport about it and probably had a shot or ten out of it as well.
The meats cooked without incident overnight and the ribs and chicken went on as scheduled Saturday morining. The turnins went very well, we really have this process down at this point in the year. The chicken was some of the best I had made in a while as far as tenderness went but we were a little concerned we had overdone the pepper a bit. We scrambled to attempt to sweeten them up. As you will see below it either worked or the judges like pepper :-). The ribs looked great with about an hour to go but by the time we got them off the smoker and into the turn in box the had overcooked considerably. This is something like the third time I have done that this year, and I am changing our timing up a bit for the rest of the year. The pork was pork like usual. When we sliced the brisket I knew it was money. I got to the "sweet spot" for slices and they were some of the prettiest and moistest slices I have ever seen. The flavor was spot on and the burnt ends melted like butter...it was going to be a good brisket day!
At the start of the awards ceremony they announced that there had been two perfect scores that day. A perfect score is all 9's in all three judged categories from all five counted judges resulting in a 180 point score. This is a somewhat rare feat (I have heard about twenty are given out a year with many coming from categories other than the main four meats). There were several "other" categories at the event and I assumed the 180's we in those events as that is the only place I had ever seen the perfect score. Sure enough they get to dessert and 1st place had a 180 perfect score. I was a bit suprised when they got to brisket without the other 180 (I think everyone was). They go throught spots 10-2 and no TippyCanoe BBQ Crew...I will be honest, I was starting to get upset, how could that not have been a top 10 entry? They really built up the 1st places and when they finally got to brisket they again mentioned that 1st place brisket had received a perfect score...I nearly fell over when we heard our name for that 180 point first place brisket! It will be one of the highlights of our rookie year and something I will never forget. After the awards I was told that this win will get us an invite into the Chest to Chest Invitational Brisket only contest to be held in Great Bend Kansas in July of 2010. Kansas in July may be a bit tough but I think we can handle it! After the event a representative from KCBS told me that this was only the second 180 given for Brisket in 2009 in the entire Country!
Big Island Barbeque - Aug 29, 2009
Albert Lea, MN
Out of 49 Teams
4th Place - OVERALL
3rd Place - CHICKEN
35th Place - RIBS
16th Place - PORK
1st Place - BRISKET
Our overcooked ribs really killed us but that is that way it goes and why it is so hard to win in this game. I guess it gives me something to work on in September! The guys and I are headed to Vermillion South Dakota next weekend and I can't wait to get back in and try again.
Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
