Whellllll they finally posted the results and we didn't do too terribly bad. there are obviously some issues on what tastes good with some judges. in quite a few categories we got great scores and plenty of perfect scores from all but one or two judges which is plenty to keep us from getting an award. we came in 30th overall and last year we were either 34th or 36th I cant remember. I tried to call them just now to ask about the chicken wing scores to see how I did and they said they didn't keep any of the information on that category since it was a winner takes all event so ill never know how I did :( but in my heart and my customers eyes my wings are #1. here is a picture of them :)
as well as both of our bbq pits, the black one went with us since we thought we couldn't use the newer one. they snuck in a rule change this year and didn't tell anyone (or at least not us lol) and quite a few people had one like the big silver one. computer controlled temperature, convection oven style smoker that is weather resistant and mostly ran by propane instead of wood (wood is used as a smoke source instead of a heat source) with a ton of insulation and a working thermometer (thermometer on our black smoker needs to be replaced). the one we took, the black one, that is 8 years old now, no insulation, a heavy drizzle of rain could cause traumatic problems (last year was cold steady winds of 10mph all weekend and rained half the time (still came in 35ish place overall hehe) by putting out its only source of heat which is a few logs on fire controlled by me to be kept between 215-225 degrees, wind also has to be accounted for, too much wind can pull air through the pit feeding excess O2 to the fire causing the temp to go up, no wind can stall the fire out by suffocating it of O2. Incorrect dampner settings can also cause a stall or excess heat situation and you also have to adjust the smoke stacks so wind doesn't pull air out or push the smoke back into the pit and out through where the wood is on fire causing a blowout.
Needless to say running the black pit takes a lot more talent, thinking and understanding how fires work (HEY just like our wonderful hobby here :). the bigger silver pit you just put the food on, set the temp, throw a few logs in the ignition chamber and go take a nap until your food is done. makes it great for the restaurant but really makes me mad when those kindve pits are used in competitions. it really takes all the talent out of cooking a good cut of meat in my opinion. plus propane is for grills, wood is for smokers.
okay sorry had to rant. I just wanted to express to you guys my thoughts on that.
im sorry you went through that, have some Salmon :)
that was our Chefs Choice plate. can you believe it came in 35th place instead of the top 10??? with 2 out of 5 judges giving us perfect scores. we were marked a point down by the other 3 judges for taste (I told my boss beforehand it needs a little zest).
unfortunately I was too busy to get any other pictures besides those. so here are the rest of the scores.
scores were scored down to the 0.0000 number
Ribs as you know were 3rd with 3 perfect scoring judges and about .76th of a point off of 1st place, one judge marked off for appearance and taste and another marked off for taste and tenderness
77th for brisket (I noticed when I went to wrap the brisket in foil when it reached 160 degrees they were upside down. I blame this on myself for not double checking everyones work and whomever put the briskets on upside down -.-)
our chicken plate (this is always a tricky one) came in 55th with great scores coming from 4 judges and 2 judges just completely bombed us. had only one judge bombed us and the other one givin us a good score we would've been in the top 20
chili was next with another high place of 61st, 3 judges thought it was very good and 3 didn't think so. its hard to please everyone in these trickier categories
Our Food Supply guy joined us this year to do dessert, he did better then any desert entry we have ever had coming in 18th with 2 perfect scores, it was his first time doing anything like this, combined with the pressures of his companies name contributing and not knowing anyone he was there with besides me and my boss (there are always about 10-15 friends and family we invite to help since were basically competing in a competition AND running a restaurant at this event) and because of the stress's and being his first time his desert didn't come out quite perfect. the other 4 judges marked only one point off for appearance and he got perfect scores for everything else, had his pie had a few more minutes to cool and set correctly before cutting it he would have gotten 1st or 2nd place from the way the scores are, poor guy... we will definatly have to bring him back next year so he can get his redemption! (plus it was a butter sumn or other pie with CANDIED BACON! C A N D I E D B A C O N, bacon that tasted like candy!!!! )
we took 21st place in the pork category with 2 perfect scoring judges and 2 judges that just didn't like us. had one more judge givin us a better score we would've been in the top 10
and last but not least is porksteaks! this one was 34th place with 1 judge giving us a perfect score 3 other judges gave us excellent scores and 2 judges didn't like the taste. this is another one of those if one more judge would have givin us a better score we could've easily been in the top 10.
Well there it is! except for the brisket mishap and judges just not knowing what good chicken tastes like it was a pretty solid year for us (not to mention we beat our new competition that just opened up 3 bbq joints impeding on our business... the owner of that place also owns the Imo's Pizza franchise in st.louis). ill be sure to monitor how stuff goes on the grill more closely next year and hopefully our chicken guy can come up with something new and schnazzy next year. our chili came from the main owners best friend and I have some in my fridge so I plan on eating it for dinner tonight to see if my mom can make better chili lol.
the hardest categories are chili, chicken and chefs choice, for some reason my boss keeps going with salmon and I don't know why... I mean it tasted great and everything, I even had one a few nights before the competition and I even told him it was good but it wasn't wow I need more right now good. i made a steak marinade recipe last year that tastes pretty good, maybe i can cook one for him and experiment with it on the smoker and get him to pull away from the salmon. or maybe use an exotic smoked game. i just know it needs to be something that tastes great, looks like a pile of diamonds and is not a common item to win any type of prize for that category. we are pretty much helpless with the chicken and chili tho as none of our mates are any good with either one. but maybe i can change that. perhaps something providing a little spice and something to keep everything juicy stuffed into a chicken tenderloin wrapped in candied bacon and smoked could sway the judges opinions... hmmm that sounds pretty good.. I just thought of it :) (why cant I get these ideas before the competition -.- as for the chili, someone said they had a good chili recipe so we will see. Saturday night while i was practicing making my wings (my wing turn in was sunday morning) i took my delicious hotsauce and mixed it with the sauce we put on the ribs and it turned out all kinds of sweet and spicy delicious so maybe ill smoke the wings next year instead of deep fry em and put that sauce on em and maybe inject them with a little lemon to top it off. actually im going to try that Thursday when i return to work and see how it turns out.
well i think that's about it for the BBQ talk this year, there might be a little more next year as we were invited to another competition so we might do 2 next year instead of one, but the one we were invited to isn't as big of a deal as the one we just did so maybe that will be a chance for us to really try out some different things, tastes and other meats like wild game or even some smoked eels like the alaskians love hehe.
everyone enjoy the rest of their day and feel free to contact me if you would like to share a secret or not so secret recipe. if we do use it in a competition and it wins i will do everything in my power to make sure any contributors are recognized and thanked, but that is in no way a advertisement, I just love cooking and having someone taste something only see see their face light up in amazement (I swear my wings should've won, my hotsauce does this to anyone that tries it)
ta-ta, and watch out for my Tank update as ill be taking some nice pics in a little bit and updating my build thread on how things are going. and they are going great!
