On October 5-6 Pigheaded BBQ competed at the Keystone BBQ Classic. This is our first time at this competition. It was held at the huge PA Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA. We were told that the whole complex is 1,000,000 sg ft under roof. We only saw a fraction of it, more on that later.
Norma and Ron arrived at 7:00AM Friday morning and met with Morgan, the organizer who gave us our assigned spot. Since we were among the first on site, it was pretty easy set up. The sites were a very nice size. By 9:00, we were done and headed over to the farmers' market accross the parking lot. I must say that I haven't seen such nice produce in quite a while. Norma just had to have 2 nice sized pumpkins, of course this meant that I had to carry them back to the site. Oh, did I say one at a time? Another venture was into the complex building where the restrooms were. The building closest to us, housed the large horses. Clydsdales, Belgians and Percherons. Magnificent animals bred to pull carriges and wagons.
After sight seeing, it was time to start prepping some of the meats. I injected the brisket and trimmed the ribs abd put them away 'till later. Norma started prepping her Pecan Bars for dessertI must say that it was nice being able to do this so early, as there would be more time relaxing. Mike, Trina and the kids arrived soon after and he prepped the butts. Ron v2.0 came awhile later and he started right in prepping for the "Bologna and Ground Beef" categories that were to be turned in Friday evening. Chicken legs would be handed out at the cook's meeting for a Saturday turn in. Friday turn ins went pretty smoothly and we did the final prep for the KCBS meats before settling in for the night.
Saturday morning was a bit chilly and went about the final cook. I have to say that everything went very smoothly and we had high hopes that the judges would agre with our assesment. It was all in their hand now and we started the task of cleaning and stowing all of our gear. We would have 2 1/2 hours until the award ceremony and everyone pitched in and we were done in record time and finished in an hour. I was very impressed with the whole crew. Thanks everyone. Now into the main lobby to find out the results of all our preperations and hard work. First up were the ancillary categories and we did not hear our name called once. Not a great start, but now for the KCBS categories: 4th Chicken, 24th Ribs, 38th Pork, 29th Brisket, 9th Dessert and 18th Overall. Not the results we were hoping for, but it is what it is. We havent done to well in pork and brisket this year, so we changed injections and rubs for this competition. Oh well, I can see a lot of practice cooks this winter.
I want to thank everyone on the team, because despite these results, we had a very good year. Everyone contributed to help the team improve and we most certainly did. Thank you also to all our friends and family who supported us and cheerted us on. We will be back next year and hope to improve even more. How many days 'till Pork in the Park?
