Contest Review, BBQ Jamboree – Fredericksburg, VA
Comments Off on Contest Review, BBQ Jamboree – Fredericksburg, VABy Brian Walrath, MABA Secretary and Pitmaster for Brown Liquor BBQ
Fredericksburg has quickly grown into one of the marquee events on the east coast for KCBS competition barbecue. Contest organizers, James Sharon and Jeremy Bullock do a great job for the teams and have grown this event every year since their first in 2010. This year would again be the most teams for this event as 72 top notch teams would battle it out for the $12,500 purse! And, this event is the official MABA state cup for the state of Virginia – extra incentive for teams from the Commonwealth!
The weather forecasts for Friday and Saturday were to be laced with periods of thunderstorms and some rain. Friday afternoon was mostly a beautiful day with mild temps, but the storm we were promised by weather forecasters came to fruition and about 2pm or so, we were hit with a big thunderstorm and a good soaking of rain for about a half hour. Teams dried out from the rain blast and settled in.
The cooks meeting went as most do, but this one would be interrupted by a special presentation. Jerry and Roxanne from Redneck Scientific presented newly minted MABA President Luke Darnell with the new president’s jacket and sash bearing the title, “El Presidente.” Thanks to previous President Mike Fay, for several years of service building and running MABA into the great organization it is today!
Speaking of Mike Fay, he spearheaded a couple of noteworthy events and cooking challenges. The “Cheesy Beer Challenge” was first – teams wanting to participate, brought a case of inexpensive, or “cheesy” beer (under $20) and the winner of the chicken category would be awarded all the beer! Second was the Whiskey-A-Go-Go – this would be for the highest brisket entry and entry into that was a bottle of good whiskey. Congratulations to Aporkalypse Now for winning all the beer and to 270 Smokers for winning all the whiskey! One last thanks to Mike for also organizing a MABA potluck dinner after the cook’s meeting. Many delicious offerings were brought and shared and the group had a nice time eating and drinking together!
One last thunderstorm after turn-ins and before awards would pass through and wreak havoc on teams who didn’t quite finish their packing. Awards came and saw 3 Eyz BBQ taking the grand champion position, congrats to Dan and Rick for a great cook. Don and Sandy Wallace from Life is Good But BBQ is Better would land their best finish to date with an impressive reserve grand champion AND the Virginia State Cup…way to go everyone who heard their name on this day in a deep and tough field!
First place winners:
Chicken – 3 Eyz BBQ
Ribs – 270 Smokers
Pork – Life is Good But BBQ is Better
Brisket – 3 Eyz BBQ
Grand Champion – 3 Eyz BBQ
Reserve Grand Champion – Life is Good But BBQ is Better
Check out the full competition results here.
From the Judges Table
Comments Off on From the Judges TableWhat’s in the Box??
By Bill Jones, MABA Board Member and KCBS Master Judge, Table Captain, & Life Member
In the movie, Se7en, you already know what’s in the box, (Spoiler Alert) “her pretty head”. If in a KCBS clamshell for turn in, a totally different set of items and thankfully so. As a judge we anxiously await each and every box to see what’s inside.
I recently attended the National BBQ Conference in Jacksonville FL. If you ever get a chance to attend one I highly recommend it. Some of the greats of BBQ come and share their passion from marketing sauces, to competing, to selling product, to running a catering business or restaurant. One of the several classes I took this year was titled “Inside the Minds of Competition Cooks and Judges”. Since my wife will sometime ask the same thing – “what were you thinking,” I figured I would attend and maybe see if they could tell me.
The panel was made up of a few names you may be familiar with – Tuffy Stone, Myron Mixon, Jim Elser, Chris Lilly, Carolyn Wells, and Will Cleaver.
What I wanted to share with you was a couple of the topics that came up in hopes this may help some of you with your turn-in boxes. If it does, checks can be sent to my home address.
Sauce. The issue of over saucing meats and presenting sweet on meats was discussed heavily. Cherry flavored brisket is not the way to go. Chicken that is so thick and gooey one needs to take a knife and scrape off the excess before tasting to see even what kind of meat it is. Ribs like candy bars. Pork so sweet dentists are opening offices just for the judges to visit for a cleaning after contests. The entire panel pushed for teams to get back to BBQ. As Tuffy said – “a LITTLE heat and a LITTLE sweet go a long way in limited amounts.”
Areas of the country. Those that travel know they need to sometimes adjust what they serve in the boxes. Knowing ahead of time what regions of the country look for in taste is crucial to scoring well. However, you must practice that and know what the changes do to your entries. Jim Elser commented on how he changes when he goes to Kansas versus Florida or Arizona. Hard to fault him with that when he has won 7 GCs already this year alone.
But the best box commentary was this one…one team asked Myron a direct question regarding their burnt ends and they were not scoring well when they included them. After a few back and forth comments and questions with that team and Myron, it became clear that the team had turned in boxes WITHOUT burnt ends and had actually scored higher in those comps. But when they did turn in burnt ends their scores dropped. Now maybe you may see where this is going – that team sure did not. They continued to ask what did they need to do. Myron finally got their attention when he said. “G _ D _ n son, your burnt ends suck, stop putting them in the box”. The whole room erupted. We all know what needed to be done. But that team just did not see it the same way. The old definition of insanity comes to mind – doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
As a KCBS Master Judge, I have seen all sorts of things. I have had boxes where I wish the team had only put one item in as that cut were 9s all day long. But they went the extra step and put something else in that just was not good. This past weekend I had two identical brisket entrees – slices and their rendition of burnt ends. Slices would have received 9 and 9 for taste and tenderness. Burnt ends…let’s just say one was a 2 as I had to spit it out (as did two other judges) and the other was a 3 as I was able to get it down. And somehow it stayed down. KCBS does not direct us how to adjust our scores in these cases. So it is left to the judges to mark as they see fit. Those two teams had no chance at Brisket with the scores I gave them, as did my table mates. Had they only given us slices, they might have won, or at least gotten a call.
And yes, I am well aware of the preconception of judges who expect certain items in the boxes. I will admit there are such judges out there. I will apologize to each of you now for those few judges. In talking with the judges at my tables, I find the overwhelming majority are not those type of judges. So you maybe want to consider only putting your best in the box and letting the chips fall where they may. Because I believe a bad judge who is looking for certain items to be in the box, even if you put what he or she may want to see in the box, is going to kill you on score if it’s not good.
Good luck to each of you and I hope this will be of some help.
Smoke in the Valley, Greenlane, PA
Comments Off on Smoke in the Valley, Greenlane, PA|
By Megan Ferguson, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster of Finn’s Finest BBQ Team |
Smoke in the Valley – Mud Fest There was no sugar coating it in Green Lane, PA this past weekend. There was cold, wet, sloshy, deep brown stuff everywhere. No, not poop…MUD! And it never went away. Let’s start with the smart teams. Ya know, those that pulled in Thursday before the rest of us got there and tore up the field. These guys pulled into the field, parked their rigs and unloaded, no problems! The rest of us learned quickly how lucky those smart Thursday arriving teams were. Thankfully, the Green Lane Fire Company volunteers had our backs and were ready with a tractor to pull all the teams with trailers in on Friday. Many of us didn’t even bother driving our trucks into the area. However, those that did might wish they hadn’t as we saw several of them being pulled out Saturday evening. |
Mud everywhere!
Nasty weather can be expected at a BBQ competition, but I don’t think anyone was really prepared for the amount of mud that the valley would produce. When I say we were up to our ears in mud, I’m really not that far off. If you didn’t bring a good pair of boots with you, you were in a bad spot for the entire weekend. Many times throughout the weekend, you would catch some of the kids swimming through the trenches or engaging in a good old fashioned mud ball fight. It certainly helped lighten the mood watching them parade around, covered head to foot in thick, brown, sloppy wet stuff. They were having the time of their lives. The mud didn’t stop anything. On Friday, meats got inspected as teams rolled in. The volunteers were very visible throughout the contest, riding around on four wheelers, delivering straw to each site to soak up as much of the wet stuff as possible, dropping off ice, and picking up trash. If anyone needed anything, they didn’t have to wait long for a volunteer to round the corner. There were a variety of food vendors, just in case you didn’t plan your dinner. Unfortunately, the huge Friday bonfire was postponed due to the pile being pretty much soaked. |
Deep mud tracks!
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The kiddos enjoying the mud!
Tractors were needed to pull trailers in and out of the competition|
Saturday morning, we were greeted with even more rain. But a hot breakfast including scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, French toast, and all the fixins’ was served in the firehouse. They even had pitchers of Bloody Mary’s ready at the firehouse bar. Well prepared indeed! Turn-ins went as planned and all teams made it to the table in all four categories without incident. The rain finally let up early afternoon and a few rays of sunshine started to beam through the clouds. Fire company volunteers went right to work pulling teams out of the valley as soon as they were ready. Awards were held in the pavilion at 4:45 with Shawn Tucker getting down to business on calling out the winners. Big shout out to Shawn and his team of volunteers for all of their hard work and efforts during this contest! |
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Finn’s Finest BBQ takes GC in Green Lane!|
First Place Winners: Grand Champion – Finn’s Finest BBQ Check out the full competition results here. |
Jiggy With the Piggy, Kannapolis, North Carolina
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by Jerry Stephenson, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster of Redneck Scientific |
Stop number two on the Old North State Series brought everyone to Kannapolis, NC and the fourth annual Jiggy with the Piggy competition. Set in the middle of The North Carolina Research Campus, Jiggy is one of North Carolina’s best contests. Loading in and out is a breeze and there is plenty of space for large teams and their setups. The cooks area is a large, well-mowed field. Eddie Smith, his staff and the town of Kannapolis go above and beyond to take care of each and every team. The weather was cool on Friday night, but the Anything Butt dessert contest and People’s Choice wings got things heated up. After turn ins, the people of Kannapolis joined the teams and their families for an outdoor movie on the lawn. This annual event at Jiggy always pulls in a crowd. After the movie, fireworks lit the sky, as teams started to light their smokers and turn in for the night. |
Jerry Stephenson from Redneck Scientific
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After a breezy, chilly start on Friday night, Saturday morphed into beautiful skies and 70-degree temperatures. The weather was perfect for the 77 KCBS BBQ teams that turned out. Saturday morning dawned crisp and clear with Cook’s Church led by Tommy Houston (Checkered Pig) and Kevin Gary (K&D Smokers). And if anyone is looking for a reason to attend Cook’s Church, the 2016 Jiggy’s GC and RGC attended. After the devotional, teams got a full pancake breakfast hosted by the Kannapolis YMCA. As thousands of people began funneling into the event just before noon, teams began their KCBS turn ins. After KCBS turn ins ended, the People’s Choice Pork event began and lastly the team awards. As anyone has ever been to Jiggy with the Piggy knows, Eddie Smith doesn’t mess around calling out team awards. In individual categories, Checkered Pig won chicken (with a Perfect 180 score), Lady of Q in ribs, and Prime in pork and brisket. Overall, the Reserve Grand Champion went to The Smokehouse Mafia and Grand Champion went to Sauced! BBQ. Not only did Sauced! BBQ Team earn a GC, they did it with 702 points, and only two other top ten calls. Well done fellows and congrats to all who heard their name called! |
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Grand Champions, Scott and Jolene Adams from Sauced! BBQ Team
Andrew Rasmussen and David Williams of The Smokehouse Mafia take RGC!|
First place winners: Grand Champion – Sauced! BBQ Team Check out the full competition results here. |
