What A Bummer

Another competition goes by the wayside.

It was revealed this week what I had expected, that the BBQ contest Memorial Day weekend at Lime Rock park here in Connecticut has officially been cancelled. That followed news that the East Hartford contest would not be happening this year, and there will be no state championship in Maine and Rhode Island either.

That means that out of the six New England states, only Vermont and Massachusetts are certain to have qualifying contests for 2008. New Hampshire may have one too, but ongoing venue problems and a weak prize pool have made it possible that the June event in Merrimack may not be able to attract the minimum of 25 teams it needs to be a qualifier.

Fortunately, some outstanding events have developed in nearby New York. The I Love BBQ Festival in Lake Placid, the Hudson Valley Ribfest in New Paltz and the Battle of the BBQ Brethren were all huge successes in 2007 and are returning in 2008.

But what can we do to get Jack Daniel's qualifiers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine? I wish I had the answers, but I don't. But it is a shame that those states have no qualifier, as I would love to see more New England teams have a chance to go to the Jack. Unfortunately, there will probably only be three or four New England teams heading to the 2008 Jack. That's a shame.

I personally pledge to do whatever I can to get an '09 qualifier in Connecticut. Even if it means holding a contest in a vacant lot.

Chicken Skin

The one thing I have never been able to get right when BBQing is chicken skin. I have had varying degrees of success in achieving both crispy and tender skin. I have struggled with whether to go for crispy or tender. I'm beginning to think crispy is the way to go.

Chicken skin is the source of a lot of debate among BBQ cooks. It is such a difficult thing to get right. I envy some of the teams in New England that seem to really do well with chicken, Dirty Dick and the Legless Wonders, Lunchmeat and QWannabees to name a few. I have no idea what they are doing, but I haven't been able to figure it out.

Well maybe not until now.

I think all the practice is starting to pay off, and I'm finally starting to get good crispy skin without burning it. I used to smoke our chicken, but in the last few months I have changed everything, the entire recipe, and we're grilling and not smoking. The last few test cooks have been really good. I can't wait to try it out on the judges later this month at the Battle of the BBQ Brethren in Sayville, NY.

In the meantime, several New England teams are jetting off to the American Royal in Kansas City this weekend. I really wish we had qualified for the invitational like we did last year. Unfortunately, we had booked a vacation for that week last year, so we couldn't go. We could go and cook the open, but that is always more than 400 teams and I have told myself that we will not go unless we are qualified for the invitational. Good luck to the New England teams in KC this year!

Hopefully next year we'll be there! Instead, I'll be working Friday and Saturday, and watching football on Sunday.

Battle Of The BBQ Brethren

After a long layoff, Q Haven will be returning to the competition circuit October 2o and 21, cooking at the "Battle of the BBQ Brethren" in Sayville, NY. This has been a long layoff, with our last event the Hudson Valley Ribfest in mid August. Since then, we have gotten some practice in, and I'm really starting to get the competition bug again.

After the Hudson Valley Ribfest, that bug was nowhere in sight.

This is our second year of competition BBQ. The first year, we only did five events. This year, we did five events in the span of eight weeks. This would have been fine, if I didn't have a full time, supervisory position with my company, and a part time bartending job. After the Hudson Valley Ribfest, I was burned out.

Burned out, and frustrated that I hadn't achieved the success that we did in 2006. We won our second ever competition, and went to the Jack Daniel's invitational. No wins in 2007.

Now that I have taken a few weeks off, it has given me a chance to really evaluate the season, and I have a very different view.

First, I looked at our overall finishes in the KCBS BBQ events: 7th in New Hampshire (34 teams), 4th in Lake Placid (36 teams), 7th at Harpoon (40ish teams) 6th in Maine (21 teams) and our only really bad finish, 22nd in New Paltz (57 teams). We dramatically improved our grilling program, almost taking reserve grand champions at Maine and getting numerous grilling calls. In fact, we got calls at every contest we attended. And I can't forget that we took reserve grand champions at the Winter Sizzler back in January.

Looking at everthing, it has been a pretty good year. We may not be going back to the Jack Daniel's this year, but I think we established that Q Haven is a competitive team that will be a fixture in the New England BBQ scene for the forseeable future.

With those positive vibes, we begin preparing for the Battle of the BBQ Brethren. The team list is growing, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Big Bubba's BBQ Update

Last year I reviewed Big Bubba's BBQ at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. Since then, they have made some changes to the menu. The menu is somewhat scaled back, but there are still tons of choices, both BBQ and otherwise. Overall, I stand by the previous review, as the BBQ choices have remained pretty much the same, and the good quality is still there.

The first noticable change is that the prices have gone up pretty much across the board. The menu has not been updated on line, so it does not reflect there yet. However, the two meat combos and the rib, brisket and pork platters that come with two sides are now $19.95. They were $16.95 on the old menu.

One positive addition is that of baby back ribs, which were not offered on the previous menu (but were available sometimes as specials). We've been to Bubba's three times since the new menu came out, and I've had the ribs twice. I give them a thumbs up. They do not remove the membrane from their ribs, but they are tender and smoky.

They have removed the Kentucky lamb from the menu too. I always told myself that I would try it, and never did. Some that I talked to really liked it.

I can also recommend the Bubbarita, which is a margarita the way it is supposed to be, served in a pint glass.

I still stand by my previous comments that Big Bubba's is the best Q I have found in Connecticut. Better than the Cookhouse in my opinion, although I know many disagree with me on that one. Maybe it's because I can actually see Mohegan Sun from our perch where we live overlooking Norwich Harbor.

I recommend that you try Big Bubba's if you are at the casino. Hitting a slot jackpot too will make the high prices a lot easier to stomach.

Spare Ribs

Ever since I started cooking BBQ, I have always used baby back, actually loin back ribs instead of spares. I have always preferred the backs. It probably goes back to my first experiences with ribs.

Some of you may remember a baseball player named Rusty Staub who used to play for the Mets. He wasn't just a pretty good hitter, he was also a gourmet chef. His specialty was "Canadian Baby Back Ribs." When I was in high school, I worked for my father in the summers in Manhattan. One of my favorite treats was when we would go up to Rusty's Restaurant on 3rd Avenue and 73rd Street. His ribs were true baby backs and fall off the bone tender, unlike any I had ever had in my life. While I have no idea how they were prepared, that was where I developed my initial love for BBQ ribs.

I wish he still had a place. However, he has been raising tons of money for the firefighters and police who died September 11th, 2001. He has raised over 100-million-dollars, which is awesome.

Now that I have been competing for a while, I have started learning more about spare ribs. They are the choice of many of the top scoring competition teams, so I have decided that I should try and start cooking them too.

I did cook them once before, a couple of years ago, with average results. This was before I started competing. Sunday was my first real spare rib cook.

I started with a two pack of spare ribs from BJ's.

I did my best to trim them down to St. Louis size. One of the racks I ended up trimming too muchand they were a lot smaller than the other. I rubbed both racks with my homemade competition rib rub.

Next, they went into the WSM for three and a half hours at 225 degrees with lump charcoal, a couple of large apple wood chunks and a big chunk of hickory.

Next, they went into foil for an hour and a half with apple juice and honey. Then, back into the smoke for another hour.

Sauced for the final 15 minutes, turned and basted a few times before I pulled them for slicing.

Here is the finished product.

Overall, I thought they came out pretty good. The tenderness was not quite there, might have needed a little more time in the foil. But they really held the smoke flavor, and had a nice smoke ring.

I didn't slice them very well either. I'll work on that for next time. Spares clearly would present a lot better in competition, but I have to say that for me personally, I still prefer the backs. But I will do a few more cooks before I decide whether to make the switch for competitions.