Deal of the Century

I've been looking for a new kettle grill to replace my Weber 22 inch silver for some time. I have really wanted a grill on wheels with the table attached to make it easier to load and unload from our trailer. The grill I have had my eye on for some time is the Weber performer, which comes with the table, ash can and propane charcoal starter. However, they ain't cheap, usually around $350.

Weber Performer

So, at the beginning of the summer, I noticed that BJ's had a Kingsford charcoal grill for sale for around 130 bucks. This grill was pretty similar to the Weber Performer, without the charcoal starter. However, I didn't think it was worth that much money, so I passed.

Slowly, as the summer wore on, I noticed that the price of the grill started to come down. First it went to $99, then $79. When I went at the end of August and saw it at $49, I decided that I would pick one up. However, I only had my small Volkswagen Jetta there that day, and figured I would grab one in a few days when I could come back with the truck.

So I went in last weekend, and it was down to $29! I immediately grabbed it. It took a while to put together, but once complete, I was really happy with the end result.

While it is nowhere near as nice as the Weber Performer, I think it will be a great grill for us to use at competitions in the future. It is heavy and seems durable. Still, it was only 29 bucks. Our other kettle will now stay on my patio for grilling competition practice.

First Catering Job

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by a woman named Kristy who lives in Hamden, CT about whether we would consider catering a party for her with our BBQ. I have worked on site catering jobs as a waiter in years past, but have never actually catered myself. Since the party was only expected to be around 50-60 people, I decided to give it a go.

The menu was something I could easily do, as it was basically the four BBQ meats we cook at competitions, chicken, ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. One stipulation was that there be plenty of food left over after the party. I made sure of that....

I've talked to a lot of different BBQ teams about how they handle catering jobs. Most seem to prefer cooking the party food well in advance, then reheating for the event. I decided for a few reasons not to go that route. For one, we all know that BBQ is at its best when it is fresh. I'm not sure if anything is better when it is frozen and reheated, and for our first job I wanted to put our best food out there. Also, we do not have a whole lot of freezer space to store frozen Q.

The plan was to cook the pork butts and brisket overnight Friday into Saturday, then hold in foil, pull, slice and serve at the party. The only problem was that I was scheduled to work my part time bartending job Friday night, and there was no getting out of it. It was the annual margarita night at the club, and all bartenders were required on deck.

So Friday, I had to drive from Norwich to Hartford for my regular job, leave early, drive back to Norwich, start the fires and get the meat on at home, then drive to Hamden to bartend. Sheila manned the pits like a champ during the evening hours, sending me frequent text message updates so I could monitor the temperatures.

The party was slated to start at 3:00 PM, and I wanted to before 11:00 AM to start cooking the ribs and chicken. I got there at around 10:45 and got things started. Even though I have never cooked a BBQ catering job, I have done parties before for friends and family. So I had a pretty good plan going in.

The event went very well. The buffet was set up on the deck of the house, and that's where the chicken, pork and brisket were.

I set up a rib station at the bottom of the deck stairs near where and carved ribs to order for the guests.

The guests seemed to enjoy the food a lot. I cooked up a bunch of wings as a starter, and they were devoured by the guests. One woman complained that they were too spicy. There's always one in a crowd....

Unfortunately, I meant to take pictures of the food, but we were very busy and didn't take any. They really liked the brisket and the pork. There was a ton of chicken left over. I believe that was because we cooked thighs, drums and wings, with no white meat, and some people passed. Also, everyone cooks BBQ chicken, but how often do they get real, slow smoked brisket and pork? But the chicken came out really good, and I'm sure made great leftovers.

Overall, the experience was good. We made a nice profit, the customer was very happy, and we had a good time doing it. The guests were nice and made the event enjoyable.

We will definitely do other catering jobs in the future if they are offered. Small ones though, 100 people or less. A few jobs a year would help offset some competition costs for sure.

Rededication

Over the weekend, I started reflecting on the last two competitions we entered, Harpoon and New Paltz. While we did pretty well overall at Harpoon, we tanked royally in BBQ at New Paltz. While it would be easy to blame the judges and move on, I know in my heart that I took the fun aspect of the competitions a little more seriously than I took the cooking part, and it showed.

This has me rededicated to the cooking, practicing and overall improvement of the team going forward. This started Saturday, when I spent hours cleaning my WSM's, which were beat to hell after five competitions in eight weeks. Here's the end result below.

They're almost like new again! For a point of reference, here is what they looked like last week in New Paltz.

Leaning towards the Battle of the BBQ Brethren in Sayville, Long Island, NY for our next event. Haven't ruled Dover out completely though, but I really want to support the Brethren event if possible. I have made some great friends on the BBQ Brethren forum, and really want to try and make the contest. We'll see.