This past weekend I competed in what is the only BBQ context that I compete in every year. The Atlanta BBQ Festival (http://www.atlbbqfest.com/home.php). It is, as the name suggests, in its 3rd year and I have entered the contest all three years. I only do the one contest because….dammit it is expensive to do more than one a year! We showed some progress this year and we are back in the top 10! The Department of Porks and Rumpreation have had a top ten finish in 2 of the 3 years we have been in the competition….now it is time to break through! I need a win in Ribs and or Chicken…..OR BOTH!
The final results for The Department of Porks and Rumpreation were:
- Anything Butt (Flank steak) – 11th of 30 teams (pro and backyard teams mixed)
- Sauce – 4th of 30 teams (pro and backyard teams mixed)
- Chicken – 7th of 11 Backyard teams (our best finish in chicken)
- Ribs – 5th of 11 Backyard teams (score of 471 out of possible 500)
- Best Booth – 1st Place!! Pics will be below…..
- We finished 7th overall (and got a ribbon for it!)
So overall I am encouraged. We fought the wind and the colder temps all day and that seriously affected the outcome of the products we turned in. True everyone was fighting the same elements but not everyone cooks on a trashcan! Since we are so poorly insulated, I think we had it harder than anyone else. That is the price you pay though for the choice we made to use trashcans as our cooking vessels. I just so badly want to win and know that everyone else is thinking, "DAMN! We got beat by the guys on the trashcans!!!"
It is only 3 days past the competition and the wheels are already turning to figure out how to combat this next time and how to produce more consistent results. I think we will move to Kaowool to insulate the cans and we will rebuild the smoke station to be more efficient….you will be seeing pics of this in the future I am sure!!
Our tent space was by far the best in the house! We had a love seat that had two built in recliners, a lazy boy, a coffee table and an old claw foot cast iron bath tub in the corner that was filled with ice and beer!! There was even an over sized rubber duck floating in the tub and an area rug for that warm homey feel. The tub will certainly return next year but we will have to turn this up a notch to hold onto our 1st place in Best Booth in 2012….I will let my partner worry about that though….I will be concentrating on the cooking! We are so close!
Chicken box getting ready for turn-in:
Pics of the Booth now.....
Bathtub cooler.....
What we smoke on
