Figures

Un freaking believable. Been here 10 minutes and its pouring.
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On the way to Lake Placid

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Next Stop, Lake Placid

Well early tomorrow morning it's off to Lake Placid, NY and the I Love BBQ Festival. We are really looking forward to getting up there. Before many contests, I'm frantic getting ready, but for some strange reason there is an unusual calm.

I figure there are a few reasons for this. One, we just competed less than two weeks ago, and for the most part everything is still packed. Many times, I leave things to the last possible second, including securing the load in the trailer, dumping the tanks, etc. All that stuff is already done. All I really need to do is throw a couple of coolers into the trailer, hook up and go.

Also, there is very little pressure. We are not in contention for any team of the year honors, so no pressure there. My brother is cooking the midnight grilling bash, so I don't have to worry about that. We are doing the buck a bone contest, but there is no real pressure there either. Regardless, we make a few dollars there, whether we win any awards or not.

Then there's the KCBS contest. I am really looking forward to this. New Hampshire was a bit of a wake up call for me, and I don't plan on making the same mistakes this time around. I'll probably make some new ones though. There are obviously no guarantees of doing any better but I feel pretty good going in.

Lake Placid is just such a great place. Just knowing we are going to be there for a few days is enough alone to lift my spirits.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that the weather is going to cooperate, again. I'm beginning to think that we are turning into "Black Cloud BBQ" again. Why the heck can't we just have a couple of contests where it is 80 degrees and sunny all weekend? This was supposed to be the summer of George!

Ribs for a friend's party

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Merrimack, The Rock-n-Ribfest

Had a great time at the New Hampshire Rock-n-Ribfest last week in Merrimack, New Hampshire. The contest went off exactly as I thought it would, very large crowds, tough competition from great teams, and a lot of fun, and my good friends Mike and Kris Boisvert won their first grand championship. But for me, there was no shortage of chaos.

The drive up and set up were largely uneventful, although as usual it took me forever to get out of the house and I left two hours later than planned. But I got to the site well before the four p.m. cutoff, as they would not let any teams drive in or out once the gates open to the public. Mike from Lakeside Smokers was able to save a spot for us next to them, which was great.

Friday night brought what I hope will become a regular thing, "Friday Night Movie Night." Brendan of Transformer BBQ brought his projector, and the night's screening on the side of Mike's RV was "Best in Show," which was extremely funny.

We also had a great potluck dinner Friday, which was highlighted by Mighty Swine Dining BBQ's paella.


Saturday was the grilling contest, which was supposed to be very easy for me. The plan was for four of my family members to each cook one category, and I was going to hang out with Max. However, my Mom forgot a key ingredient to her dish, so I had to run off to the supermarket, which entailed a mile walk to the car and a mile walk back. Usually it is me sending someone to the store to get something that I forgot, so I guess this was a taste of my own medicine.

Then when I got back, I ended up starting charcoal, doing dishes and other stuff for the event. It's what I love doing, but was not according to the plan.

The first category was shrimp, handled by my sister Jenny. Not sure of the exact recipe, but it was an Asian style grilled shrimp. I thought it was really good and the box looked great, but the shrimp was a little overcooked, 24th place.

Next was the ribeye steak. My brother Cristiaan handled this category, grilling the ribeyes with some kind of alcohol reduction. It was good, but missed by a little bit and came in 12th.

Next was the sausage category. With this being an open garnish contest, my Mom cooked her sausage bread, which is loved at family functions. It was really good, but we just kind of ran out of time. It would have been much better if we were able to cook it for around 5 minutes longer, then rest for 10 minutes before slicing. My hopes for this to do well rose when the contest reps said they were bummed that they didn't get to try it when it came through the tent. However, it finished somewhere in the 20's (score sheets are in the camper).

The last category was Sheila's, chicken wings. The good part of her having this category is that she cooked wings numerous times in the weeks leading up to the contest. That made me happy.

She settled on a grilled Buffalo wing in the end. They came out really good, and got a nearly perfect appearance score (all 9's and one 8), but just missed a call by coming in 6th.

Saturday afternoon and evening was prepping for the BBQ contest Sunday, and more hanging out. Between our site and Lakeside Smokers next door, there were a lot of people around. Things turned messy when my barefooted brother stepped on a BBQ tool that I use to mess with hot charcoal was stuck in the ground next to one of the cookers. He badly cut his toe, but decided that it was not bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, against the advice of a paramedic at the scene.

The prep and overnight cooking progressed fine. Even though I hadn't cooked a KCBS contest in nine months, I felt the timing of everything went great.

But clearly something was wrong.

Throughout Sunday morning, I just felt like something wasn't right. My optimism came back a little while cooking the chicken. The process I have been developing is really starting to work, and the cook went really well. It just missed the mark, taking 6th place, our best finish of the day.

The ribs were just uneven. I cooked four racks, and only two of them were any good. The box didn't look that great, and I just was not blown away by the way the ribs turned out. Neither were the judges, the ribs were 25th.

The pork, well this was my disaster. I am not going into detail, but I ruined the pork and could not save it. 32nd place, right where it belonged.

The brisket was probably the only place I am a little bit disappointed. I cooked two briskets, one was a little overdone, but the other was better. Tenderness was right on, but it was a little dry. Came in 14th, not awful but it confirmed that we would be shut out of the awards completely for the weekend.

So in the end, we were 16th overall. Having Lakeside Smokers win their first grand championship and what appears to be an auto qualifier for the Jack, really made up for it. I could not be more proud of Mike. He has worked so hard, practiced, learned, practiced some more and now has achieved a grand championship, winning a contest that was cooked by pretty much all of the best teams in the region. Hey Mike, congrats again!

Also, Max was on hand all weekend. He really was great, but came down with an ear infection. Not sure whether being at the contest had anything to do with it, as he has had them before, but it couldn't have helped.

The weather held out for most of the weekend, but Sunday afternoon it got messy. There was some moderate rain, our breakdown took forever, and the awning on the camper broke. Then, when I finally got everything ready to go, I discovered that one of the doors to the truck was ajar, and the battery was dead. Two jump starts later, I was finally on my way home.

I'm just going to chalk it up as a bad weekend, cooking wise. But it was great in so many other ways. Now, a week from today, Max, Sheila and I will be heading up to Lake Placid for the I Love BBQ Festival. It's a great event, and I hope to improve on the weak finish in New Hampshire for sure. Can't really do a whole lot worse.

Back From Merrimack

Got back from Merrimack Sunday night. A bittersweet contest for me, as my good friends Mike and Kris Boisvert of Lakeside Smokers won their first grand championship, but I did really poorly in the BBQ contest. I'm so happy for them, it was truly a great moment. Congrats Mike, I told you it would happen!

I'll post a complete recap soon, but for now I'm just trying to block it all out :-) The weather held out most of the weekend, but there was no shortage of chaos and at times a complete comedy of errors.

Here are a bunch of pictures frfom the weekend, which really was a great time. Click for pics.

And if someone can tell me why I cannot separate paragraphs when posting on here with Vista, that would be great.

Movie night

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Julie of Transformer

Chillin
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Rock-n-ribfest

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Off to New Hampshire

Everything is packed an in a little while I'm off to compete in the New Hampshire Rock-n-Ribfest in Merrimack, New Hampshire. I'm excited to get out there and compete after so long.

Saturday will be a blast, as several members of my family are cooking the grilling contest. I detail this more in a previous post. Sheila will assuming the role of pit boss, as she will be the one charged with holding it all together.

The weather doesn't look all that great for the weekend, but I really don't care. It cannot be any worse than 2006, when it poured all day Friday and Saturday and turned the competition area into a muddy disaster area. Pictures below from that mess....

Unlike 2006, we have the camper now, so if it really gets bad we at least have somewhere to ride it out in comfort.

We will also have Max with us, I can't wait to see how he reacts to being at a contest now, I think he will love it!

I'll also be trying to send updates and/or pictures from my Blackberry during the weekend.

Lake Placid

Q Haven will be cooking at Lake Placid this 4th of July weekend after all.

When we were figuring out our schedule for this season, Lake Placid was a big question mark. This contest has both big pros and big cons. The biggest pro is the event itself, which is great. We went to Lake Placid in 2006 and 2007, and just had great times both years. It issuch a unique little town and the people there just embrace the BBQ teams and the event.

Another pro is Dmitry Feld, the attentive, highly caffinated organizer of the contest. The guy always has a million things going on and always seems to have it all under control.

The biggest con is the location. While it is in a beautiful town, it is far away and hard to get to. Towing the camper through the mountains is not my idea of fun. But more than that, we really were thinking ofdoing just one contest a month this year, and we had already penciled in New Hampshire and Harpoon. So I reluctantly crossed this one off the list.

But my brother Cristiaan gets credit for administering the nudge that got us thinking seriously about going. He mentioned a strongdesireto goback this year, and Sheila and I started talking about it. As we talked, the memories of those two contests started flowing back, the calendar came out and we started figuring out how to make it happen.

It's not going to be easy but we are going to make it happen. I have a feeling that once we get there, it will be worth it.

It's Getting Close

A week from tomorrow, I will be heading to Merrimack, New Hampshire for the Rock-n-Ribfest. It has been a looong time since our last KCBS contest, which was Westport in September. Wow, that's almost 9 months ago. Sheila could have cranked out another kid in that time.

So with all that time off, I really will have no excuse for not being ready. That is combined with the fact that I started working from home almost two weeks ago. rather than going out into downtown Hartford and getting panhandled on my lunch break, I can go down and organize my spices, cooking utensils and other competition stuff.

Later I will be heading over to the trailer and start getting things ready. Tomorrow I'll head over to my brisket guy, and Ill be set.

The good news is that I have pretty much all of the rubs and sauces I will need for this contest. I personally will not be cooking the grilling contest at all, so I don't even need to worry about that.

I'm really looking forward to 2009. I plan on having a cleaner, leaner operation this year, with the plan being to cut down on trailer weight, along with set up and break down time.

While it helps to prepare in advance, the most important thing is executing on game day. We've had some success at this contest in the past, hopefully the good karma will continue.

NASCAR Tailgate Party

Catered my first tailgate party Sunday, which was for a bus trip to Dover, Delaware for the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race. Cooking an event like this is very difficult logistically, as everything needs to be packed in the lower compartment of the bus.

The planning and preparation has been going on for weeks. The menu was relatively straightforward. Pulled pork, burgers, hot dogs, sausage and peppers were the main food, with sides of cole slaw and potato salad. Sheila made her salsa and chips as well, and I also served cookies, soda and water.

While there was a lot of prep work to be done, the thing I was most worried about was getting the setup done. It would not have been a problem, but I had no help. My brother had agreed to come and help me months ago, but apparently lacks a calendar and a pen, because about a month ago he scheduled a BBQ at his house for the same day. Said he couldn't move the date, so I knew I was going solo. Most people I know would rather be waterboarded than go to a NASCAR race, so I knew it would be me going it alone.

Fortunately, my friend Brendan Burek of Transformer BBQ came down Saturday and helped with the prep, which was awesome. As it was, I didn't get everything finished and packed into the SUV until around 10 PM, so I probably would have been up all night without his help. He pretty much made the sausage and peppers, which everyone loved.

Sheila helped a great deal Saturday too, and the salsa got numerous compliments too.

The good news was that the weather was perfect, and we got a great bus parking spot with plenty of room to set up, and for the 46 guests to enjoy themselves.

So as soon as the bus parked I swung into action. The bus driver helped me get the pop up tent up, so by the time everyone got off the bus I had much of the setup done.

I had cooked the pork butts Saturday, and they were holding hot in the Cambro with the Italian sausage. Backing up, as I was unloading the SUV into the bus at around 4:30 AM, the packed Cambro slid out of the truck and landed door side on the ground. I was worried that I had ruined the food, but it ended up being fine, with barely a drop leaking from any of the pans. Love that Cambro.

Anyway, I heated up the pork and sausage, fired up the gas grill to start the burgers and hot dogs, and basically was going berserk getting everything done. I knew people wanted to get inside, which I I never really have been able to understand. We were there at around 10:30 AM, and the race didn't start until after 2 PM. But that's how NASCAR fans are.

Fortunately Sheila's salsa and chips gave people something to snack on while I got everything ready. When the buffet opened things went pretty smooth for the most part. Regardless, people were understanding and saw how hard I was working to get everything done. Many offered to help, but I didn't want to have paying customers having to work.

The food itself was a success. People just raved about the pork and sausage, with some less adventureous types sticking to the burgers and dogs. I got through about 2/3 of the people before I ran out of cooked burgers, so a few had to wait for the second batch to finish.

So by 11:30, everyone had eaten and most of them headed into the track. It was so great to decompress. When it was all said and done, I had one pan each of pork and sausage left. I put them back on the stove and got them really hot, then put them back in the Cambro. When the race was over, I rushed back and put out the leftover pork and sausage, rolls, slaw, chips and salsa and cookies. Everything was devoured except the salsa and slaw, which I brought way too much of anyway.

So in the end, everyone seemed to enjoy the trip. The whole day just went extremely well, with virtually no traffic the whole way down, a great race (neither Busch brother won), food afterwards, and really no problems.

Ok, those who know me are aware that at every BBQ contest, I forget something. Small, random things. So I really tried to be prepared this time, because Mike from Lakeside Smokers would not be there to lend me whatever I forgot. And of course, I forgot stuff. Here's the short list: apron, salt and pepper, and knives.

I learned a bunch of things too. I'm doing another race tailgate party in September for a bus trip up to the NASCAR race in Loudon, New Hampshire. For more information click HERE.

Plan B

I've been hearing buzz about the burgers at this place called "Plan B" in West Hartford for some time. With this being my final week working in downtown Hartford, I'm glad I was able to get over and check them out. Went with a friend at lunch today, and they lived up to the hype.

Not going to do a full review or anything....but I had a burger with bleu cheese, carmalized onion and BBQ sauce. They ask you whether you want it with "some pink" or "no pink." I responded " "plenty of pink," and they obliged with a very rare burger. It was delicious.

The place is small but has the feel of an upscale restaurant, even though burgers are the featured food. I know a lot of you out there are burger fans, and if you're in the Hartford area I recommend that you check out Plan B. You won't regret it.

Also, for you beer fans, they have 12 beers on tap, including some local Connecticut brews, Hooker and Farmington River Blonde.

Competition Cooking Class

Went up to Maynard, Mass for the New England Barbecue Society competition BBQ class. This was a two day affair, but I only came up Saturday. I did a short talk on finding information about competition BBQ on the Internet, and teamed up with Mike Boisvert of Lakeside Smokers for the brisket prep demo. Overall, it was a fun day. Click the link below for pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tedlorson/NEBSCompetitionBBQCLass#

New BBQ Toy

Picked up my new Cambro 300 yesterday. I've wanted one of these for a long time. I've been cruising Craigslist and Ebay for some time looking for a used one, but the right offer never popped up. It turns out it was less to buy it at Restaurant Depot than new from one of those Ebay "discounters" anyway. And new is always better.

I love BBQ toys. I looked long and hard at the larger Cambro 400 model, but in the end I felt it was just too large for me.

Tomorrow, I'll be up at the New England Barbecue Society cooking school. It's being held at the Maynard Rod and Gun Club in Maynard, Massachusetts. It's a two day class, but I will only be up there Saturday. I'm doing a short talk about competition BBQ on the Internet. I do have some insight here, as before I first competed I learned a ton about competition BBQ online. In fact, the first contest I cooked was the first contest I had ever even been at. We took 3rd place out of 21 teams at that event, and it wasn't luck, it was because I had absorbed so much about competing online.

NASCAR Tailgate Party 5/31

Hey you NASCAR fans out there, our tailgate party at the Dover International Speedway is approaching fast. On May 31st, Q Haven is cooking the tailgate party for TLG Travel's motorcoach trip for the Sprint Cup race in Dover, Delaware.

The bus picks up guests in Norwich and Waterford, CT, and has also added a stop in the Bridgeport area. There are still some spaces left on the bus.

Click HERE for more information.

Max

Without much to write about these says, I'll post a few pictures of Max for those of you who are not on Facebook. The little fella is doing great and told me yestereday in baby talk that he can't wait to see all of you out on the BBQ trail this year!

The Lorson Grilling Challenge

I'm doing something a little different with the NEBS Grilling Contest at the New Hampshire Rock-N-Ribfest in late June. I'm calling it the "Lorson Grilling Challenge."

Each of the four categories of the grilling contest will be cooked by a different member of my family. Here's the line-up:

First is my Mom, Sandy Lorson, pictured above. She has years of cooking experience, with her own small catering company and with a commercial one, not to mention having to deal with cooking for myself and my four complaining siblings for years. That's a lot of experience. Mom will be handling the sausage category.

Next is my sister Jenny Ramos, pictured above with her daughter Evie. Jenny is a 2001 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and has worked as a pastry chef at several top restaurants, including Zinc in New Haven, Mohegan Sun Casino and the Four Seasons in Dallas, Texas. Jenny will be cooking the shrimp category.

Next up is my lovely wife Sheila. Not only is Sheila an integral part of the team, my top adviser and our primary garnish queen, she is also no slouch when it comes to grilling. She has taken several awards for categories she has cooked on her own, including the first place dessert she had just won in the picture above. Sheila will be cooking the chicken wing category.

Last but not least is my brother Cristiaan. He is my assistant pitmaster and has plenty of cooking experience on his own. He has worked as a restaurant sous chef in the past, and currently is a part owner, manager and waiter at Le Jardin du Roi, a French brasserie in Chappaqua, NY. Cristiaan will be cooking the rib eye steak category.

I expect that this will be a fun day for all the cooks, as they will each have complete creative control over their dish. I fully intend to stay out of it completely. This is the hardest part for me, because I have issues relinquishing control, especially when it comes to the team. That is why I am calling it the "Lorson Grilling Challenge" because the challenge will be for me to stay the heck out of the way. But I expect to look like the picture below when the cooking is taking place.

First Place Fish And Other Stuff

I have to admit I was very surprised to take 1st place fish at the Snowshoe Grilling Challenge last month. The main reason is that I very rarely even eat fish at all. But a few people have asked what I cooked so I am posting the recipe, based on what I did at the Snowshoe.

Grilled Salmon With Maple Mustard Glaze

-Salmon fillet, cut into 2 inch sections.

-Lightly brushed with olive oil, then lightly dusted with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

-Cook indirect on a hot grill, only turn once. I cooked them for around 7 minutes on each side.

-When they were almost done cooking, I lightly brushed them with the maple mustard mix.

The glaze:

- Equal parts Vermont Maple Syrup and Grey Poupon Harvest coarse ground mustard.

Once they were removed from the grill, I put them in the turn in box and brushed them with a little more glaze. That's it. Very simple.

What's really funny is that we didn't take a single picture of the fish while it was cooking. In fact, the only pictures we have at all are these, which were taken by Gary of Pigtrip.net.

Of course we did take pictures of our other entries, including the horrible presentation on the burger turn in, which was embarrassing to look at afterwards.

I did practice fish a few times before I settled on this recipe. First I tried grilled salmon with a blood orange buerre blanc, it came out ok but I was not blown away by the flavor. I did love the color though.

But in the end I was inspired by a similar dish at one of my favorite restaurants, Jack's American Bistro in Old Saybrook, CT (which is now called Jack's Saybrook Steak) and came up with the maple mustard recipe. I was especially proud of the first place finish because I didn't work directly off someone else's recipe, and even though I was inspired by someone else's menu item it was something I came up with on my own.

Unfortunately I didn't fare as well in the other three categories at the contest and finished in the middle of the pack.

I've decided that I am going to start posting more recipes, especially grilling recipes. I have decided that competition wise, I am going to just have fun with the grilling and focus on the BBQ. That will be clear when you see what I am planning to do at New Hampshire in June.

Another Backwoods Party

Well, not for me specifically, but my brother Cristiaan has purchased the one above that I'm sure will get some action on the competition circuit this year.

I spotted that someone in upstate New York was selling a lightly used Backwoods Party on the BBQ Brethren forum, and I immediately contacted Cristiaan, who has been talking about getting a Backwoods for months. I told him that this was a great deal and would not last, and he immediately jumped on it and closed the deal.

It's in great shape. He picked it up Monday, and is already cooking on it today!

Judging at Grilling on the Bay

Last Saturday, I judged the Grilling on the Bay contest in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY. Sheila and I cooked this contest in 2007 and had a great time. I wanted to cook it this year, but I knew Sheila would be in Wyoming for the entire weekend, and it would have been extremely hard to pull it together. I knew that judging, I could just drop Max off at my parents house on the way and pick him up on the way home, no planning, prep, etc. So judging made the most sense to me, I was still supporting the event without the stress of cooking it.

So I left home at 7:15 AM, dropped Max off with my parents in Orange, CT and made it to the contest site right at 11AM, just in time for the judge's meeting. I ended up at a table with a chef from a restaurant in NYC, and with a food blogger. It was an interesting mix.

I took good notes, so I have been able to associate most of the teams with the foods I tried. I will leave out the names for the most part to protect the innocent.

The first category was chicken breast. I had one entry that was really good, one which was just awful, and three that were OK. Nothing really stood out here, a coupe of the entries were stuffed. One was just horrible....a large, skinless boneless, dry breast.

Next was fish. The best entry I had at my table, after some investigating after the contest, turned out to be iQue's. It was a striped bass with a nice sauce that I couldn't exactly place. It took 2nd place and deserved it. One fish entry was really unusual, it was a whole fish stuffed with a bean mixture, and presented with the head in the box. I did not like this at all, but did not punish the cook with really low scores because I am not much of a fish eater, so it would not be fair.

Pork was next, and cooks could turn in any kind of pork they wanted, ribs, loin, tenderloin, etc. We only got 4 entries at our table for this one, and all were quite good. One entry were excellent spare ribs, one was I believe a grilled bone in shank that was my favorite entry of the day. Really different and had just great flavor and texture. The other great entry was a pork tenderloin that appeared to be marinated and grilled. Pork was the best category of the day for me.

The final category was chef's choice. I was disappointed that I didn't get a lobster tail. I figured someone would throw money at the category and submit a whole lobster tail stuffed with hundred dollar bills or a gold bar, but that didn't happen.

We did get a couple of nice entries. One was a short rib slider, which tasted really good but I'm sure it took a hit in appearance, as all you could see in the box was the tops of the buns. Another entry was burgers, and this was the only 9 I gave in appearance the whole day. Just a really nicely prepared box. Another was a stuffed shrimp, which was OK. Somebody turned in six huge, grilled portobello mushroom heads, which I scored very low because of the complete lack of originality and the ugly box.

Overall, it was a great time, until of course the ride home. The Belt Parkway is a disaster, stop and go for ten miles. Between that, getting lost in Queens and later backups on I-95 and the Hutch, the ride home was extremely frustrating. But I was glad to be able to support the only cook-off of any kind this year in New York City. Some day, there will be a BBQ contest in NYC. Some day....

Harpoon

Q Haven's application has officially been accepted into the 2009 Harpoon New England BBQ Championships in July at their brewery in Windsor, VT. We did well last year at Harpoon, so I was pretty confident we would get in, but I am still really happy to get the official word. We are so excited for our third trip to Harpoon, and can't wait for the contest!

Grilling On The Bay

Judged at Grilling on the Bay yesterday in Brooklyn. I had some really good food, some not so good food and overall it was a good time.

I'll put up a detailed post about my judging experience in a couple days. Congrats to Brendan and Julie Burek of Transformer BBQ who won grand champions of the event!

The Snowshoe

For the 3rd straight year, Q Haven cooked the Snowshoe Grilling Challenge in Abington, Massachusetts. We have never done well at this contest, but it always proves to be a great time, and this year was no different.

The temperatures were cold but the sun was shining bright when we arrived at the contest site Saturday morning. I'm getting better at thinning out what I bring to grilling events. They pose a challenge, as I do not bring the camper, which is packed with all our BBQ gear. There is no reason to bring it, as it is not really a kitchen trailer like other teams have. It is more for comfort during overnights, so I don't bring it.

We brought two cars, because Max would be joining us. We were on the fence about bringing him, as we were worried that he could get sick because of the cold. But we decided to bring him anyway, knowing we could always bring him inside the VFW hall if he got cold.

So we were one of the last teams to arrive, and got set up towards the back of the contest area. We were next to Lakeside Smokers, so it was all good. We were also next to the Porkaholics, who live very close to us in Eastern Connecticut and are a really nice group of people.

The first category was fish, steak or fillet. We did a couple of practice cooks leading up to the contest, and the recipe I settled on was a grilled salmon with a maple mustard glaze. The prep and cooking went well, and the fish was cooked just right as the turn in time approached. While I liked the entry, I never thought it would have a chance to take first place. But it did. Go figure.

This is the only picture we have of the fish, courtesy of http://www.pigtrip.net/.

Next was pork tenderloin. I thought that turning it in as a BBQ type entry may do well, as many of the people who judge grilling contests are BBQ judges. I hit the tenderloins with BBQ rub and smoked them for a few hours, then finished them with a vinegar based BBQ sauce (three guesses).

I overcooked the tenderloins and they were dry. The entry overall was just blah. Finished 13th out of 19, probably right where it belonged.

Next was sausage fatty, which also came in 13th. This was disappointing to me, as I really thought the fatty came out great. I will just assume that either I hit a lower scoring table, or that there were some really great fatty entries and mine just didn't stack up. Either way, I was disappointed, as I felt that this was our best entry of the day.

The final category was burger. I decided after kicking around some ideas to make it with bacon, smoked cheddar and scallion mayo. This is a burger we have made at home and really liked. However, I decided to use Omaha Steak burgers, which may not have been the best idea. They are thin, and I overcooked them trying to get a perfect melt of the cheese. I'm sure the judges thought they were just pre-made frozen crap burgers, and scored them accordingly. 16th place, probably right about where it belonged.


So we finished 10th overall. A disappointing finish for sure but I was really happy to take the 1st place fish. Taking 1st in any category is an accomplishment, especially with the stout list of teams that were on hand. One of those were the guys from Wildwood BBQ NYC, who won grand championship honors.

Max had a great time with his BBQ friends too.

Thanks to Gary and Michelle Taft for running the contest. They run it with the cooks and the community in mind, a complete volunteer effort. They charge low entry fees and came up with some awesome trophies, one of which we are proud to now own. Awesome job guys!

Now it looks like we will have a little bit of a layoff. I have decided not to cook Salisbury, Maryland, and there are no BBQ contests in the Northeast until New Hampshire. We may cook the Oyster Bay grilling contest in May, but childcare logistics may make that impossible. Kind of a bummer in the short term, but the Summer schedule looks great, and it is not that far away!

Back From Snowshoe

Cooked the Snowshoe grilling challenge yesterday. Got a great call, first place fish, but otherwise tanked with a 10th place finish out of 19 teams. Despite the finish, it was good to be out there again. I'll post a full recap in the next few days.

The 2009 Schedule

Our 2009 season is starting to take shape. These are the contests we are definitely doing:

March 21: Snowshoe Grilling Challenge, Abington, MA
June 19-21: New Hampshire Rock-n-Ribfest, Merrimack, NH
July 24-26: Harpoon New England Championship BBQ, Windsor, VT (if application is accepted)August 7-9: Mainely Grillin and Chillin Country BBQ, Eliot, ME

These are the possible ones:

April 16-18: Pork in the Park, Salisbury, MD
August : Hudson Valley Ribfest, New Paltz, NY

We will probably cook one of the two Connecticut contests in September as well.

In addition, we have some other public events that are not competitions.

We will be cooking the pre-race tailgate party at both of these events:
Sunday, May 31: TLG Travel/Bokoff Kaplan Travel trip to the NASCAR race at Dover.
September 20: TLG Travel/Bokoff Kaplan Travel trip to NASCAR race in Loudon, New Hampshire

Saturday, June 6: We may also vend at the Norwich Riverfest, an annual event in the city where we live.

Wow, the year is filling up fast....should be a fun summer!

The BBQ Bailout

We had planned to cook the Freeze Your Butt Off contest when it was initially scheduled for February 14th and 15th. That was a weekend we had free, as this is the time of year when Sheila travels for work a lot. However, the contest was moved to February 28-March 1, and I was out, as Sheila would be away and I would have baby duty.

Then, the FYBO collapsed and was cancelled. While I was bummed for my friends who I know were excited to cook it, I wouldn't have been going anyway, so it was no big deal for me personally.

Then, the bailout came.

It wasn't in the form of the federal government stepping in and handing a blank check to those who mismanaged things like the current financial industry bailout. In this case, it was three like minded individuals who decided that they wanted a contest to happen to shake off the winter doldrums, and didn't understand why it had to be so difficult.

So Steve Farrin, Brendan Burek and Mike Boisvert stepped up and pulled together a contest in a little more than two weeks. They booked the Maynard Rod and Gun Club for March 1, set up a web site, laid out a loose set of rules and ordered trophies.

And the BBQ Bailout was born. It would be a one day, BBQ/grilling hybrid event, with the categories of chicken, sausage, flank steak and ribs. Unlike the overpriced, disorganized FYBO, this contest was for fun, with an entry fee of only $50. That's why 13 teams cooked the Bailout, while you could count the number of people who signed up for the FYBO on one hand.

Since Sheila would be away, we had arrangements for a friend to watch Max until Sheila got home Sunday. She caught an earlier flight and was home Saturday night, which was even better.

Another wise move by the organizers, they pushed the turn in times back, with the first one at 2 PM. This allowed me to get a good night's sleep before the contest, as I didn't even get up until 6:30 AM. Left at 7:30, was on site at 9.

I decided to make this a real practice cook. I decided to cook small amounts of food, leaving little room for error. I only cooked two racks of spare ribs and one sausage fatty. I also decided to try something different with the chicken, cooking whole birds and turning in white meat instead of the usual competition thighs. My brother Cristiaan was going to cook the flank steak category.

Chicken was first. I decided that I didn't want to cook thighs, as I usually do for a contest. I personally prefer white meat chicken, and decided to do whole chickens in the Backwoods. I hadn't smoked whole chickens in a long time, so I was a little worried about getting them fully cooked. The thermometer said they were done, and I turned in chunks of breast meat with a little sauce. The meat was very moist and juicy, but this entry was not a hit with the judges. 13th place out of 13 teams, dead ass last! Consider that experiment over.

Next came sausage. I retired my old sausage fatty recipe at the end of last season and have been working on a new one. So far, so good, 4th place. This was the only turn in that we have a picture of. We all forgot cameras, this is courtesy of Kim's cell phone.

Flank steak came third, and my brother Cristiaan handled this category. He made small flank steak sandwiches with a cheese mixture and sauteed onions. I'd list all the ingredients but I have no clue what they are. Whatever they were, it was good enough for a call, 5th place.

Ribs were last. I decided to challenge myself and only cook two racks of spares. The timing worked out just right, and the tenderness was almost exactly where I like it to be. All but two of the ribs came from the same rack. New sauce. 3rd place.

Overall, we were 5th for the contest. I haven't crunched the numbers to determine how much the last place chicken hurt us overall, but it couldn't have helped.


This contest was a good time. Just positive vibes all around. Let's do it again next year. Or next month...

A Good Start

Cooked the BBQ Bailout, a one day contest in Maynard, Massachusetts today and got the 2009 season off to a pretty good start. 3rd place ribs, 4th place sausage and 5th place flank steak, 5th overall. Might have been even better if we hadn't come in DEAD ASS LAST in chicken! That's a first for me, I had never come in dead last in a category before. Long story short, I tried something different and it failed miserably.

Overall, it was a great time. Thanks to Steve Farrin, Mike Boisvert and Brendan Burek for slapping this together on late notice and making this a fun event for all!

I'll put up a full wrapup of the contest in the next day or two.

Photo shamelessly stolen from BBQ Bailout web site. Visit that site for more photos.