As I stated in another post we had went from hoping for a top ten in 2 catagories to hoping we made it home alive. The Sunday prior I had loaded the smokers on the trailer so I would not have to do it later. I used the trailer to go get a FREE deep freezer with the smokers on board. I have a Char-Broil cabinet--just like the Bandera and a Brinkmann PitMaster Deluxe--much like the SNP just a little smaller. Well, while coming to a stop the wheel popped off the CB and with it being top-heavy it came crashing over the front of the trailer--the Brinkmann was tied to it. The damage seemed minimal and I did not sweat it, too much. Well, we got home on Thurday and finished loading the trailer and came home to no power--wife forgot to pay the bill. So that was just another thing. We got down there Thursday evening and got set up. We stayed up late(2 am) meeting people and trying to re adjust our hours, since we usually get up at 3 am and are in bed around 8 pm or so. Friday I started cooking Turkey for the anythingbut.(should have turned in the Turkey alone like the wife said, but I did a sandwich instead) Anyway, Friday was HOT as HELL so I started drinking beer about 12. Remembering that we/I have been working pretty much 7 days a week 12-14 hours a day for the last ten months I got side tracked and started concentrating a LITTLE too much on having some fun and not so much on cooking. I fired up the CB about 11 pm and got the meat(Butts/Brisket flats) on around 11:30. Well, I had an excellent fire and was getting ALOT of attention about the sweat smelling smoke from surrounding teams.(Remember, we ONLY use red-oak) Well, having been drinking for over 12 hours straight at this point, about 2 am I noticed that the smoker was ROCKING but the temp was only saying a little over 200--that is where I like it early in the smoke. The funny thing was that the fire was so hot that I could not get within 5 feet of the smoker with out saying "Damn! That sure seems hot." Well, I kept faith in the thermo until about 2:30. At that point I was sure there was a Thermo malfunction--so I checked it out. I inserted another Thermo----375 degrees! SOB! 375 early in a smoke = VERY little smoke--that is our signature flavor. The trailer incident had REALLY screwed up the Thermo.
Well, on top of this a team member across the way showed up at 3:30 am with a 1/5 of Crown and I just Had
to indulge--again, I haven't kicked back and had ANY fun since last August. Well, this should be a good indicator of how my cooking of Pork and Brisket went. I made all of my rubs in advance and all was well until I tasted the ribs--after they cooked. I must have made a mis-calculation in my math(made a bulk run) The black pepper was VERY stought and the cayenne got the back of my throat immediatly--welp, too late now. The upside is that they were some of the BEST LOOKING ribs I have ever done. We never practiced presentation before we went so that is something we were very concerned about. Well, let me tell you something--my wife did an EXCELLENT job!! Five 9's and one 8 for the presentation. Again, they were really good looking ribs and my wife made them look REAL nice---just tasted like shit and needed another hour on cook time---got up late ten till 7(went to bed at 5:15---remember the Crown. Still beat some of the top 40 teams though--we'll take it. CHicken---sheesh! We had a recipe that we had been cooking and working on for a while that involved whole chickens and breasts. We were just having trouble figuring out how we were going to present it. So, at the last minute we change EVERYTHING about the chicken--it sucked. I was really dissapointed in my efforts. I would have NEVER served ANY of the crap that I cooked in my place! The sad thing is that we still beat some good teams.Bottom line: WE had a GREAT time met some GREAT people!(Especially the Rubba Butta Que Gang--they are Awesome!) We learned quite a bit and probably the best thing is that 2 weeks ago I bought the wife a WSM and started showing her how to smoke and that is when I handed the chicken over to her--I was tired of messing with it and I thought it would be a good way to get her alittle more invlolved. After one Comp--she is hooked, even obsessed. We are going to compete in the 2nd Annual WNC BBQ Fest in Maggie Vally, NC and have EVERY intention of fully Redeeming myself.
Well, there it is!
Zeb
