1st Competition on New Smoker (Raquel)

Well, after a long 12 week wait, Raquel has arrived,was seasoned and cooked on twice before her first competition. She was a little nervous standing there, ready to be fired up and loaded up with a full complement of meat for the "Pork in the Park" competition at Salisbury, MD. This is always the first competition of the year for this region and legions of BBQ teams were chomping at the bit after a long, cold winter to get back in the swing of things.

We arrived Thursday night to pick out a prime spot, as the majority of teams wouldn't be showing up 'till sometime on Friday. Salisbury is a first come first served competition, meaning there aren't assigned sites. You pick out what you consider to be the best site for you. There are as many different criteria as teams when it comes to picking out the ideal site. Some teams vie for closest to the judges tent, so you don't have to walk far to turn in your entries, some look for ease of entry and exit and I'm sure that some look for as much privacy as possible in a crowded field that was to hold 132 teams from around the country. We picked a site close to the electric and water hook-ups and in the middle of the pack so we could socialize. Or at least that's what we intended to do. It seems we never get around to doing as much as we would like.

Friday morning, we finished setting up our site and after having our meat inspected, we began to trim and prep the meats. Since we wouldn't be putting on the big cuts (brisket and butts) 'till midnight or later, we had a pretty leisurely pace going and enjoyed not being rushed. Our families came down Friday afternoon and we took the kids to the festival for the rides and enjoyed the comraderie of it all. The family went to a nearby hotel for the night and our activities began to pick up the pace getting ready to do our first cook of the season and the first serious cook on Raquel. Just about midnight, I lit the charcoal in the chute, set the guru and waited for Raquel to come up to temperature. Around 12:30AM the briskets and butts were placed inside and we were excited. It got down into the high 50's to low 60's and we settled in for the long night. Raquel hummed along throughout the night, holding at a steady 250 degrees. We couldn't have been happier about her performance.

Early Saturday morning, about 6:30AM, the ribs were loaded in and only chicken waited it's turn to be cooked to perfection. We were in a zone and things were progressing as we hoped and had high hopes for the results. The chicken turned out tasty, but alas the skin wasn't where we wanted it to be. The ribs were a tad overdone, having cooked a little faster than we were used to. The pork was good and the brisket was pretty much where we wanted it to be. Now it was in the judges hands.

So by now, I'm sure you're wondering how we did. Well, lets just say that Raquel, the newest member of the team is sueing the rest of us for non-support. She did her job, but somehow we didn't. The judges didn't like our chicken, ribs or pork and just tolerated our brisket. Not exactly the finished we envisioned. In fact, we were downright depressed. I guess we need a few more cooks on Raquel to learn her enough to correct our mistakes, but then isn't that the way with most new relationships? We will grow together, learn together and progress together. This is just the beginning of the season and we're not giving up. Look out for Pigheaded BBQ, we're fired up!!

Red Hot Steady Raquel...

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Raquel's 1st Comp Practice Cook

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Raquel is Home!!

Welcome home Raquel. The newest member of Pigheaded BBQ is Raquel, our Stumps Stretch Smoker. In the midst of a cold rain, a large 18 wheeler pulled up in front of the house. I rushed out to greet the driver and oversee the delivery. There, tucked in the farthest corner, sat the 800lb crate that was Raquel's temporary home. The driver muscled the crate with a pallet jack to the back door and out onto the lift gate. I almost had a heart attack when the front wheels of the pallet jack rode off the end of the lift gate and I instinctivley reached up to prevent it from falling off the back of the truck. Oh yea, I can just see the headlines: BBQ'er crushed by smoker. Maybe Norma, my wife could just curl my cold, lifeless body into a fetal position and stuff me into the smoker for burial. Can't you see the irony in that?

Enough with the negative thoughts, it's time to get to work. With the help of the driver, we got the crate into my garage and he helped me uncrate her. Raquel was free!! After a careful inspection, I signed the adoption papers,OK OK, the delivery paperwork and she was officially mine. Ron v2.0 and Mike showed up shortly afterward and helped me install the wheels on her. We had 2 extra racks, a slam latch and a Guru adaptor added to her to customize her to our specs. She weighs in at a svelt 575lbs without the crate and is as solid as a tank. She is truely built to last.

Tomorrow, I will season her. I will liberally spray her with Pam, add the charcoal and get her up to at least 350 degrees for 3-4 hours. It would be a shame to waste the charcoal and time, so I might as well throw on some meat while I'm at it. I haven't decided on just what kind of meat, but over the next 2 weeks, she will get a lot of use. You see, I only have 'till April 16th to learn her charastics before our first competition of the year. Salisbury, MD has over 125 teams signed up and we must be ready. Stay tuned for more updates and pics sure to follow in the very near future.

New Smoker

After much consideration and begging of the wife, I pulled the trigger and ordered a new smoker. I had been mentioning to my wife that a new smoker would be nice over and over and finally she said, why don't we get one.

We took a trip to Georgia, just after Christmas and visited Stumps Smokers Inc. There, I looked at two models that I had been considering: A Classic and a Stretch. I was like a kid in a candy store and couldn't make up my mind, so I had to see them up close and personal. I poked, prodded, kicked the tires and decided on the Stretch. Stumps himself was there and after numerous questions and information gathering, I decided on the Stretch. My wife just shook her head and smiled. Stumps and his wife Tab were a pleasure to deal with and patiently put up with all my questions and they provided me with the information with which to make an informed decision.

Now the hard part comes. I was told that it would take at least six weeks for it to be built and shipped to me. How am I ever going to wait that long. Those that know me, know that I will probably be a basket case by the time it arrives. I will go over every detail in my mind and cook who know how many imaginary butts, briskets, ribs and yes even chicken in it before it finally shows up crated in my driveway. My poor wife is already steeling herself for the hell I'm about to put her through, 'till it gets here. Did I mention that she was a saint?

For those of you wondering, yes my new baby has a name. Her name is Raquel and she weighs 575 pounds and is 44.5 inches long. She will have a shiny "Eagles Green" color.

After BBQ Season Musings

Well, it's been just about a month since our last competition of the season. I've been thinking about a lot of things, but specifically BBQ classes and smokers. Let's examine these thoughts.

BBQ Classes:

Why take a class, don't I already know how to BBQ? Well yes I do thank you, but there are always new techniques, methods and recipes to learn. Doesn't it make sense to take a class from someone who consistently wins on the circuit. Why not pick the brains of people who've been doing this a lot longer than I and speed up the learning curve so to speak. There are only two drawbacks that I can see.

One is cost. You see it's typically costs about $500 for these classes, not counting the travel expenses and possible time off work. I know that sounds like a lot of money, but I think that a lot of the costs can be made up with prize money that the new knowledge will help you win. Wishful thinking?, maybe but it doesn't hurt to dream.

Another drawback is deciding which course to take. There are about 4 - 5 highly skilled cooks out there who are currently giving classes. I suppose you could choose the one who's giving the closest class, or you could take the cheapest one, or the one whose accomplishments you respect the most. You could always pick the one that cooks on whatever is closest to your own cookers, or go in a totally new direction and take someones class that cooks on something drastically different than you.


Smokers:

This leads me to the other thoughts I've had so far this off-season. If I got a new cooker, which one would I like to get. Do I make that decision on cost or what I see as the best suited cooker for my needs. It's no wonder I have sleepless nights. It's not only the competitions, but all aspects of BBQ that have taken over my life. My wife just shakes her head and mutters when she sees that far away look in my eyes. As of now, I think I'm leaning to a Stumps "Classic" cooker. It's a gravity fed smoker with 5 shelves that would give me plenty of cook space for both competitions and catering. Here's a link to their website: http://www.stumpssmokers.com/about.html
Now can"t you just see me cooking on that beauty? I know I can. Oh well, let me get back to daydreaming. I'll let you know what if anything I decide to do.

Dover Recap

Dover Downs, we came we saw we got SMOKED!!! I’ve been trying to put this competition out of my mind, and with my sieve for a mind I truly hoped I could forget it. Well, I can’t. This one will be in my mind the entire winter. The weather was typically Dover. In other words “Dover Blows”. In fact, I had tee shirts made up last year stating just that. They sold like hotcakes. The rain, chill and winds lasted most of the competition.

Despite the weather, the cook went very smoothly. The smokers hummed along all night through the wind and rain, without so much as a hiccup. Our meats turned out like we planned with the possible exception for chicken. We thought they were a little too spicy. We had high hopes for at least the ribs and brisket. We went to the awards ceremony hoping for a top 5 call in at least one category. Alas that was not to be. We weren’t even close in any of the categories, in fact we were in the bottom half of the 81 teams for all four categories. The dismal results are as follows:
Overall: 61 out of 81, Chicken: 54th, Ribs: 48th, Pork: 72nd, Brisket: 43rd
We can’t blame the weather, we can’t blame the judges, we can’t blame anything because we don’t know why we finished so low. We can only chalk it up to the old saying: “On any given day…”. On April 16-17, 2010 in Salisbury, MD we will try to redeem ourselves. Yes it’s going to be a long cold winter for Pigheaded BBQ.

Thanks guys for a very good season. We had our ups and downs, but all in all, this was our best season yet and despite Dover, we are improving. Keep your heads up and keep on smokin’!!