2012
NJ State BBQ Championship Recap
Pigheaded BBQ had a great time at the 14th
Annual NJ State BBQ Championship. This is one of the few 3 day competitions and
we treat it like a mini vacation. We booked a room at a hotel right across the
street from the BBQ venue. What a luxury to be able to just cross the street
and have a nice hot shower or a quick nap, not to mention take a dip in the
pool if you like. We also enjoyed some pretty nice weather over the three days.
We did have a couple of quick showers, but nothing of consequence.
We arrived early Friday morning and were signed in, before
the usual 10:00AM time. We wasted no time to start setting up our site and by
noon, we just chilled the rest of the day ‘till the 7:00PM cooks meeting. At
the cooks meeting, we found out that the Iron Chef ingredient was bluefish this
year. While many of the teams had let it be known that they would like the
secret ingredient to be seafood, I doubt if bluefish was the first choice of
anyone. Ron v2.0 immediately began planning his entry and he and Mike wasted no
time heading out to the grocery to pick up some additional items. Some of us
spent Friday night at the hotel, while others manned the site for the night.
Saturday morning brought a brief bout of sprinkles,
but no big deal. After taking most of the morning off, we stared prepping our
Iron Chef, Sauce and Dessert entries, the first of which had a 3:00PM turn in
time. The bbq meats were trimmed, injected and or rubbed later that day for the
Sunday turn ins. Late Saturday night saw the pork and briskets put on the pit
before settling in for the night.
Sunday morning brought the high humidity and it
turned out to be a very warm day. Ribs and chicken hit the pits in the morning
and the usual turns in times were met with no problems. It was all in the
judges hands now and after enjoying a celebratory libation, we starting
cleaning up and putting away our equipment whilst waiting for the awards
ceremony at 4:30. It was pretty hot out by that time and we walked the 4 blocks
to the stage where the awards were to be announced.
The Iron Chef, Sauce and Dessert categories were
announced and we didn’t hear our named called. Next up were the BBQ entries and
chicken was the first announced. They started at 10th place and we
didn’t hear Pigheaded BBQ until they called 1st place. Wow, that was
an exciting start for us. We finished 2nd in chicken last year and
this year we won that category. Next up was ribs and we again heard Pigheaded
BBQ, this time for a 3rd place finish. Not a bad way to start, but
alas we didn’t hear our names called again for either pork or brisket. Now on
to the top 10 overall and we heard Pigheaded BBQ for 7th place
overall out of 66 teams. Not too bad, in fact it was the second year in a row
that we finished 7th overall. The bright side was our good friends
Finn’s Finest were announced Grand Champions, their first time wining overall.
We all yelled and congratulated them because even though we’re all competing
against each other, BBQ teams are like a big family and we support each other.
Congrats Ferg, Megan and crew for your great cook.
As usual, it was great seeing our BBQ friends,
family and old acquaintances and thank you all for your support. Next up for us
is New Holland, PA the last weekend of August then Tracey’s Landing and Laurel,
MD the first two weeks of September. If you’re in the area, stop by and say
hello.
