If you've never been, try to go. This is one of the "big four" as I call them. Jack Daniels Invitational, Memphis in May, American Royal and HLSR. Now, I've been to all four.
In talking with Bill Milroy (Texas Rib Ranger) he stated "this is the toughest BBQ contest to cook" that there is.
WHY you ask?
Because you get one chicken, one brisket or one slab of ribs. That's if. IF you're lucky enough to make the finals, you have a 2nd one. But they have these metal tags and you're tagged and you only get that one to turn in. Screw it up, and you're out of luck.
First, I have to get a shoutout to Carl Triola for inviting me to join his group. This man is an exceptional guy and if you get the chance to meet him, you've made a friend for life. Thanks Carl, you treated me like one of your crew and I had a LOT of fun.
Overall, there are 300+ sites which get purchased by teams and they they build these AMAZING booths and then it's one LONG party until late Saturday. I'll post some photos below. If you've been to the darkside at the Royal or MiM, you'll know the kind of booths and partying going on.
HLSR is a unique contest, that sort of uses IBCA rules, with some LSBS rules thrown in. We had a lot of fun getting the official word, but we did find out that chicken could be parted into individual pieces with enough for 6 judges. I'll post our entry photos below with some comments.
Entries could be chicken, ribs or brisket.
The number of entries you have is based upon how many sites your team has.
DAMNIFINO owned four spots, so we got four entries. DAMNIFINO was one of the four original teams:
Here's the four "official" head cooks (each entry gets one head cook with the rest of us supporting cast)
L to R: Michael (Carl's son, Carl, Bradon, some other guy)
Went down for set-up day on Wed. There's basically a front and back half of this team site. Front is for the partying and drinking (full service bar) and the back is where the work happens.
So Thursday, Friday, Saturday Carl's group provided food each night. The MOST important thing to know is that this team is LEGEND amoung the HLSR crowd. As any of the movers and shakers and they'll tell you that you have to stop by this team for one thing
Fried ribs
Brett, Carl's other son is the master chef behind this. As Brett describes them, "Pork Chops on a stick". Tasty stuff. I'll definitely do this for a group some time, they were addictive (and the fact my seat was sitting next to a full pan of them helped)
Here are some team sites. I didn't take a lot of shots inside, for SOME reason they didn't want me shooting photos of their parties... LOL
