BBQ Billy's Grumblings

i love barbecue, and that's just the start.

Mainely Grillin' & Chillin' KCBS Competition Wrap-up

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Our first KCBS competition is officially in the books. My conclusion? It's unbelievable so many teams pack up their lives for 2-day long barbecue festivals, 5-10 times a year, and still have families that love them. That said, the MGCB competition was an incredible time and I really loved every aspect of the event: Talkin' Que with lifetime veterans; being welcomed as newbies by the KCBS organizers; stoking fires through the wee hours of the morning; firing and withstanding one-liners for a constant 36 hours; and most importantly essentially living in meat, bbq rub, smoke and grease for those same 36 hours. Read on for more details...

I arrived on Saturday morning with my barbecue compatriot and brother-in-law Bert to find a well-populated field of competitors. Most teams arrived on Friday night to kick it and enjoy grilled lobsters amongst friends. Feeling a little behind we got to setting up our site asap:

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There were a few fun people's choice competitions during the day, but the main event was the KCBS competition on Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon. The cook's meeting was at 5pm on Saturday when they confirmed turn-in times, the official clock time, garnish rules, meat rules, etc. And by 7 or 8pm we were prepping meats, pre-making turn-in boxes with fresh parsley, and tossing back Bert's signature margaritas complete with watermelon chunks and jalapeno slices (AMAZING). 

Check out my geeked-out baseball hat rim lights: 

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But I'll tell you what, they made it mad-easy to make these turn-in boxes: 
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The beers help to press down the parsley where meat will eventually sit. But even more than that, it's just nice to see a couple cans of PBR get the royal treatment. Most of our night consisted of working under spotlights in our 10x10 tent, rocking out to various classic rock tunes, and basically pissin' in the wind throughout the night:
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Team visitors and the general public got a kick out of our "Brooklyn Barbecue" slogan. Pretty much everyone asked "Brooklyn, WHERE?" To which I returned, "There's only one Brooklyn, and it's in New York." To which they returned, "NEW YORK CITY? Are you kidding me? They know how to barbecue in BROOKLYN?" For now it's just good fun, but I'd be thrilled if we could eventually create a "Brooklyn" style of barbecue. There are several good brooklyn joints serving up outstanding 'cue, and why should they claim their offerings to be from texas, north carolina, or st louis? I say call it what it is. And it's Brooklyn! I digress. 

Back to the event... so the 13lb Brisket went on the WSM 18-inch at 10pm, and the 6lb Pork butt went on the same WSM 18-inch at 1am. Then it was time for a little sleep. I set the alarm for 3am to check temps, and barely able to stagger across our site I found the WSM 18-inch was cruising at 220. Perfect. I went back to bed (sleeping in a bag and tent that haven't seen the light of day since our national park backacking days of 1997), and set another alarm for 5am to start up the coals for the ribs. It took about an hour to get the WSM 22-inch to temp and ribs on, during which time I was inspired by the rising sun and smoke to take this shot: 
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I then went back in the tent for a few more hours of shut-eye, and arose for good at 8:30am. Bert got the percolator going for some fresh-brewed coffee (best coffee I've had in years), and we started checking meat temps and pulling things off the smokers as ready. Unfortunately my laxed attitude with the ribs (shouldn't have gone back to sleep at 6!) led to an overcooked entry, but the brisket and pork butt took very respectable scores for our first competition. Here's a final shot of our entries:
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Chicken placed 35 out of 40 (wings were a risk, next time we're doing thighs!).

Ribs placed 39 out of 40 (overcooked, and we knew it). 

Pork placed 24 out of 40 (hell yeah!)

Brisket placed 20 out of 40 (even hellier yeah!)

While exhausting and taxing on our famelies, this competition reaffirms that I totally love the world of barbecue. I don't think I'll be able to enter 5-10 competitions a year, but I'm already jonesin' for the next event and checking the KCBS calendar to see if I can swing another one before the season shuts down in October. I thought the organizers of the event did an outstanding job, and I hope to see the teams we kicked it with again sometime soon. But until then:

Go, Go Barbecue!