2014 Smoke in the Valley

Pigheaded BBQ competed for the first time at Smoke in the Valley BBQ Fest in Green Lane, PA on May 8-9 this year. We had heard many good things about this event and they were all true. This event is run by Shawn Tucker and what seems like the whole Green Lane Fire Dept. along with many volunteers. What a first class event. Everyone went out of their way to ensure that your every need was fulfilled.

Norma and I decided to head up on Thursday because we had heard stories of what the field was like when it was wet and the forecast was predicting potential heavy rain and winds and we wanted to pick an easy in and out site. When we arrived we met Shawn and he let us pick a site that was convenient. We then started putting up the big canopy that we use for inclement weather with some help from the good folks @ Pequea Pullers. After the canopies were up and the site situated, we settled in for the evening. It was an eventful night, sleeping on two stacked air mattresses and Norma with a bad hip. Let's just say that we would have easily won America's Funniest Home Videos if someone had a tape of it. If you want further details, you have to ask in person because it probably doesn't translate well in writing. Anyway, the weather held out Thursday, Friday and Saturday 'till after we left, so we had a lot to be thankful for. Pigheaded BBQ was going to be a much smaller team as Ron v2.0, Trina and kids as well as Brian couldn't make it, so we decided to skip the ancillary categories and relax Friday, taking in the bonfire and visiting with new friends. I have to say, I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. After the prep was done for the KCBS meats, we had some dinner, a sample of what was to be the winning dessert entry and a few adult beverages. The pit was fired up, the big meats put on and then we retired for the evening.

Early Saturday morning is my favorite time at a competition. After ribs are put on and we have breakfast, the quiet and calm with a cup of coffee is so relaxing. The pace will pick up shortly thereafter and the turn ins go pretty smoothly. We have high hopes for the outcome, as we feel we had a good cook. After the last turn in, we have another beverage and discuss how we think we did, then start cleaning up while waiting for the awards time.

We carry our chairs to the pavilion, find a spot and hope that the judges agree with us. People's Choice is called, then Chef's Chooce and Dessert. Our friends from Feeding Friendz who gave us some of their dessert won that category. Even though we weren't at the judges table,we did have to agree with them because we did get to taste it and it was delicious, congrats Wendy!!
Chicken is the first of the KCBS categories and 1st place with a perfect score of 180 was.....Pigheaded BBQ. This was quite an honor and I must say I don't remember everything that went on then because I was in a daze. Thank you judges and all who cheered us on. I wish I could say that ribs, pork and brisket was a hit with the judges also, but that was not the case. Far from it, it seems that not much was thought of these categories because we finished 38th, 34th and 20th in that order and 20th overall out of 56 teams. Oh well, back to the drawing board. I must say that we're consistently inconsistent.
Thanks to all who showed up to support us, and as usual it was good to see our BBQ family and add some new friends to the group. Next up for us is Que for the Troops in Levittown, PA on June 6-7, hope to see you there.

2014 Triple Threat

Pigheaded BBQ started our 2014 BBQ season this past weekend in Harrington, DE at the "Triple Threat BBQ Festival". We would like to thank Sandy Fulton and the staff at the Fairgrounds in Harrington for hosting all of us and congratulations for setting a new record for the largest inaugural event in KCBS history (109 Teams). We would like to congratulate two of our friends Aporkalypse Now for their GC and automatic entry to "The Jack" and Finn's Finest BBQ a fellow Middletown, DE team for their RGC, Best of Delaware and MABA DE TOY for their great finishes. Great job guys!!!
I would also like to thank the powers that be for the beautiful weather that we enjoyed. Historically, April hasn't been too kind to the BBQ in these parts in the past, so even though the forecast wasn't promising, we had great weather. Who else has a job where you can be wrong 50% of the time and enjoy success?


With the large number of teams registered and no pre assigned sites, Norma and I decided to head down a day early to stake a claim to some prime real estate. Upon arrival, Sandy showed us to a very nice grassy site. Needless to say we were happy we arrived early. Mike met us on arrival also and help with the site set up. It sure is nice to have some extra hands helping with the heavy work, thanks Mike. We were set up between two very nice neighbors, Dizzy Pig and M&E BBQ. You couldn't ask for better neighbors. Due to Norma's recent hip replacement, we decided to spend Thursday night in a hotel across the street where we had a nice suite and view of the venue from our window. Bright and early Friday morning, the full compliment of teams were streaming in and they and us wasted no time putting the final touches on the sites and Norma prepping the Dessert entry due that night. New neighbors including close friends Slower Lower BBQ were greeting each other after the long winter hiatus and sharing drinks and pleasantries with each other and settling in to begin our new season.


The rest of the team arrived and we were visited by new friends and old ones who stopped by to support us. Thank you Levi from Stoltzfus BBQ for taking time away from your busy work schedule to show your support and encouragement. After prep work was done and ancillary categories were turned in, it was time to enjoy the numerous quantity and flavors of Jello shots provided by Slower Lower BBQ as well as other beverages of choice. The camaraderie between friends and competitors in the BBQ world is in my opinion unmatched in most other competitive venues.


At midnight Friday night, the big meats (Pork & Brisket) hit the pit and we were in full swing! With a wary eye on the sky, we settled into our routine and our cook was underway. Saturday morning waned with clear skies and attitudes and we all had high hopes. Ribs and chicken went on early and final prep work done. We made all of our turn in on time, started our clean up and waited for the awards ceremony. This is my least favorite time at a competition, we're all exhausted and anxious and the time drags. The mind is a terrible thing at times, did we do everything right, did the judges like our entries etc. Nothing to do but wait.


Well, the time is here and all questions will be answered, but will they be the answers we want. The field is so large with 109 teams, anything can and usually does happen. First KCBS category is chicken and we get a 7th place call. We're very excited and happy, this is usually our strongest category and we'll take a top 10 call anytime. Ribs and pork categories come and go with no calls. Is this how it will end? The Brisket category is next and is not one of our strong suits, but we cooked one if not our best briskets ever and were rewarded with another 7th place finish. We're extremely happy for our calls and all of our friends call and can't wait to get our hands on the final score sheets.
We were very happy with our overall finish of 19th out of 109 teams which included 3 former World Champions and included teams from as far away as California, Louisiana, New England and all along the East Coast. This is one of the strongest starts to a season we've had and feel there's no stopping us now. Watch out world, Pigheaded BBQ is on it's way!!

2013 Do AC Smokin Hot BBQ Recap

Pigheaded BBQ just finished our last competition of the year. We competed at the DO/AC Smokin’ Hot BBQ Championship in Atlantic City, NJ. This was a first year event organized by Ronnie Cates of Smoke on the Water Productions. This event had 85 teams and had to turn away 57 others due to space limitations, The total prize purse was $50,000 and we just had to try our hand at it. We were told by the organizer and sponsors that next year the purse will increase to $100,000. I think they’re going to need a bigger venue. Speaking of venues, this event was held in a very large parking lot across from the Showboat Casino/Hotel. It was very convenient for hotel rooms.

Norma and I arrived at 7:30AM on Friday, as the sites were first come, first served and we got a very good site that was close to the judges’ tent. What was a little unusual was that check in was on Friday and this was a Saturday/Sunday event with nothing going on Friday. That being said, we had plenty of time to set up our site, check into the hotel and relax. Due to their schedules, the rest of the team would be arriving later on Friday and Saturday. We had outstanding neighbors in the adjoining sites and that just makes the whole event more pleasurable. I want to thank Aporkalypse Now, Must Be Smokin Something, and Reel Nauti BBQ for their company and making it like a BBQ family, and not just competitors.

Saturday was a bit more relaxed than a normal comp as we were already set up. We had the cooks meeting at 10AM and meat inspection shortly after that. After the meats were prepped, we prepped some food for dinner and visited the other teams and shared food with each other. We also fed some of the local police and security personnel and just had a good time. A little later, we got down to business and started the competition cook. I know, I know, you not supposed to experiment during a competition but we were trying out two different meats. Since the prize money was so big, we decided to try some very upscale meats for this event. Stephanie procured a SRF Waygu brisket from Huntspoint for us and Mike arraigned to get us a Compart Duroc Pork Butt from BBQ Guru. We were “All In” as they say in AC. We hadn’t cooked either of these meats before and decided it was time to gamble a bit. We were however hedging our bets a bit by also cooking our regular Creekstone Prime brisket and pork butt along with the newbies. The brisket and butts went on at midnight and the cook was on. As usual, ribs and chicken were put on the next morning. After the cook was done, we decided our Waygu brisket turned out better than the Prime and turned it in, but decided our usual pork butt turned out better than the Duroc and turned that one in. It was all in the judges hands now.

After cleaning up, have a few cold beverages to celebrate a pretty smooth cook we went to the awards ceremony hoping to hear our names called and be able to cash in. This event paid down to 20^th place in the categories and 10^th overall. In the chicken category we heard Pigheaded BBQ for the 3^rd place call. That was a great start.  In the ribs category we heard Pigheaded BBQ for the 13^th place call. So far so good. We didn’t hear our name called in the pork category. In the brisket category we heard our name called for 18^th place. So in summation we finished as follows: 3^rd Chicken, 13^th Ribs, 64^th Pork, 18^th Brisket and 15^th overall out of 85 teams. Yes we did have a good cook.

Well our 2013 BBQ competition season is over. We had an up and down year, ending on an up note. A big thanks to all the team, family and friends that supported us all year. We would also like to thank our sponsors, without whose help we wouldn't do as well as we have. Thanks to:
Fordham Brewing Co., Haines Pork Shop, Oakridge BBQ, Pat LaFreida Meats, Stoltzfus BBQ, The BBQ Guru and The BBQ Equipment Store.

Next up for us is Oct 30th. We are the guest chef at World Cafe Live in Wilmington, DE from 6-10PM. Would love to see you there.

2013 NJ State BBQ Championship Wildood, NJ

Well, the NJ State BBQ Championship started out as a wild, wild Wildwood day. Norma and I arrived early Friday morning and were greeted by a light rain. The canopies were quickly put up and the necessary equipment was brought out trying to beat the heavy stuff that was called for due. Stephanie arrived with help in the form of our good friend Billy and they helped complete the set up. Mike, Trina and kids caught the ferry over and Ron v2.0 arrived in the afternoon after conducting some business. It got progressively worse as the day wore on. It ended up quite the deluge with approximately 3.5 inches of rain falling on Friday. Some of our canopies are aging as are we and they weren’t the most watertight shelters. We spent the day diverting water and trying to stay dry, which wasn’t always successful. By the time the 7:00PM cook’s meeting came around, the rain had stopped and we didn’t really have any more weather issues.

The cook’s meeting brought two pleasant surprises. The Iron Chef’s mystery ingredient was Jumbo Shrimp. I know, that’s an oxymoron but we were happy nonetheless. Another surprise at the cook’s meeting was the announcement that the new KCBS scoring system was in effect as of this weekend.   Ron v2.0 and Mike put their heads together and ran out to the store to get more ingredients for the Iron Chef category and Norma got busy cooking for the dessert category. I on the other hand pretty much had the day off as meat inspection and prep for the KCBS categories wasn’t until Saturday. After a long day, Stephanie and Ron held up the fort, while the rest of us retired to our hotel rooms at Flip Flopz, just across the street.

Saturday brought the usual prep work and I must say it felt a little weird.  This competition is a bit of an anomaly in that it is a 3 day event and the KCBS portion is on Sunday. Usually our competitions are held on Friday and Saturday. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it does mess with your mind a bit, at least it does mine. There was prep for the 3 ancillary categories as well as the 4 KCBS categories. Anyway, Saturday was a gorgeous day weather-wise and all went smoothly. Iron Chef turn in was 3:00PM, sauce was 3:30 and Dessert was 4:00PM. We had a number of friends and family stop by and all had fun. Then we got down to business with final prep work and putting the big meats on the pit at midnight. Mike, Ron and myself stayed back at the site and the rest of the crew retired once again to the hotel rooms.

Sunday morning brought about the normal hectic ballet of coordinating of the 4 meats and we felt we had a pretty good cook. Of course no one mentioned that as it usually is a “Kiss of Death”. Whenever we think we had a great cook, we don’t fare well and when we think the cook was so-so, we do better. So while we may say, that tastes pretty good,  no one will predict how it will score. The usual turn in times applied and chicken turn is was noon, ribs 12:30, pork at 1 and brisket at 1:30. All turn ins were on time and now it was time to start cleaning up and waiting for the awards ceremony at 4:30.

It was blazing hot by 4:30 and we waited out in the sun for the ceremony to start. We didn’t hear our name called for either Iron Chef or Sauce, but did have a top 10 call for dessert (7^th). The chicken category was next and we heard Pigheaded BBQ called for 6^th place. A 3^rd place Ribs call was next, but alas no calls in Pork or Brisket. We did feel that we had a good cook and finished as follows:

Iron Chef 18^th, Sauce 39^th, Dessert 7^th, Chicken 6^th, Ribs 3^rd, Pork 15^th and Brisket 34^th. Overall we finished 10^th out of 65 teams. No bad, but not as good as we’d hoped. Congrats to Local Smoke for their GC, Rib’s Within for RGC and one of our sponsors BBQ Guru who finished 3^rd. WTG guys, congrats on your good cooks. We also want to give a shout out to our friends and neighbors, Slower Lower and Finn’s Finest for putting up with our crowds and antics. You guys are the best. Thank you also to all the friends and family that showed up to lend their support. It means a lot to us. Our next competition is in Laurel, MD for the Sam’s Club local event in August 16-17. Hope to see you there.

 

2013 Que For The Troops

On 5/31, Pigheaded headed out to Levittown, PA to participate in the Que for the Troops BBQ competition. This is the first year we competed here. We had a choice of two different competitions this weekend, but the fact that the proceeds from this one would benefit the Liberty USO, hence the troops was the deciding factor. The venue for this event was the Falls Township Park, which was very nice. Large level grass sites made the hot weather tolerable and we would definitely do this event again. We decided to leave very early Friday morning to get through Philly before the rush hour traffic. We actually made very good time and it only took an hour and a half to get there. After getting our site, the game plan was to set up as early as possible to avoid the heat of the afternoon. We had a set of extra hands in the guise of Linda Lucas helping us at this event. Linda is a CBJ and wanted to experience what the competition teams did to see how the product is produced that ends up on the judges table. We benefited greatly from her enthusiasm as she totally immersed herself in every aspect of the weekend from setting up and prepping, to cleaning up and taking down the site after all the categories were turned in. We sincerely hope she isn’t permanently scarred from the exposure to our family’s antics, as we put the Fun in dysfunctional. One thing that was different about this competition was the fact that due to the hot weather, we decided to forego the Chef’s Choice and Dessert categories and take Friday afternoon as easy as possible. While we didn’t know what to do with ourselves during this normally busy time, we believe we made the right decision. The normal prep work went pretty smoothly and we settled into our normal routine as Friday evening wore on. After the prep work and the butts and briskets were put in the pits, we sat back and enjoyed a very pleasant evening and even had to pull up a light blanket as the weather cooled for the night. Saturday morning brought about the usual activity and after the provided breakfast we went about the business of trying to wow the judges with our offerings. Well, almost!!! Just about the time that chicken was due to be turned in, Trina made a dramatic exit from the trailer. She stepped onto the step wrong and took a header onto the ground. Lucky for her that the lush grass field softened the blow somewhat. After scaring the hell out of us and cleaning up her cuts, scrapes and icing her neck and hand we found that no major damage was done, except for her pride. It’s a good thing we had 2 nurses onsite. Some people will do anything to get out of clean up. Just kidding Trina, see I told you we’re a dysfunctional family. Despite the drama, turn ins took place as normal and we were pretty happy with our cook. It was now time to clean up, feed friends and some of our country’s finest Marines and wait for the judges’ verdict. We decided to carry a canopy to the awards ceremony to escape the hot rays and settled in to hopefully hear our name called. After the two ancillary categories called, chicken was next and 1st place went to…..Pigheaded BBQ. Wow, what a way to start the awards and the trophies were huge. Alas, we didn’t hear our names again and eagerly poured over the score sheets to see how we fared. Well, we didn’t fare too well. After the 1st place Chicken, we placed: 17th in Ribs, 30th in Pork and 31st in Brisket for a 17th overall finish out of 46 teams. Not the way we had hoped, but at least we did get 1 call. Congrats to Wilbur's Revenge for their GC and Fire & Spice for RGC. We would like to thank our brave service men and women whom we were here to support and wish them all the best of fortune and the safe return to their families. God bless all of America’s service members, as they are our true heroes. Thank you also to the friends and family who continue to support our crazy passion that is competition BBQ. Our next scheduled competition is on July 12-14 in Wildwood, NJ. Pigheaded BBQ is also cooking a pop up “ABC Dinner” at Cantwell Tavern in Odessa, DE on June 17. Cantwell Tavern will supply the sides, beer and cigars and we will cook the brisket.

2013 Middletown Recap

The 2013 Middletown BBQ Cookoff has come and gone, but left us with indelible memories. This competition holds a special place in our heart, as it's our hometown competition and we usually have a lot of guests that stop by. Sorry to our neighboring teams if the throngs (LOL) posed a problem. This competition changed venues last year to Frightland, a local favorite during the Halloween season noted for it's scary haunted tours. Another use for this land are the 2 Mud Runs held annually. The charity supported for all events held here are The Leukemia Research Foundation, a truly deserving charity indeed. What didn't change was the great organizers for this event: Mose Zook& Benuel Riehl from the Middletown Farmer's Market and the Middletown Area Chamber of commerce. As someone mentioned on Facebook following this years event, these folks could give classes on how to organize a BBQ competition. Thank you for all your hard work.We had an eye on the ever changing weather forecast because this venue is a large section of open farmland which could be interesting in the event of a heavy rain. The forecast seemed to change daily and indeed, we seemed to dodge a bullet. Norma and I took the trailer over on Thursday. We took advantage of the whopping 3.6 mile drive and decided to set up early because I had a small catering job that included a Friday pick up and wanted to get set up and prep during the daylight as the power wouldn't be turned on 'till Friday morning. Thursday was an absolutely perfect weather day and the prep and cook went very smooth. I stayed onsite while Norma spent the night at home. At least she didn't have to listen to the rumble strips at the toll booths on Rt. 1 which was just on the other side of Rt. 13 which fronts Frightland.Friday arrived and was another beautiful day. The rest of the team arrived throughout the day and preparations went on for the Chef's Choice and Dessert categories which was due to be turned in at 7:00 & 7:30PM respectively. Meat inspections were held and the prepping the big meats also took place. I would like to thank one of our sponsors, Fordham Brewery for their generous donation of assorted brews. Not only ourselves, but numerous other competitors and judges enjoyed them throughout the day and evening. They really helped to keep us in the mood and enjoy ourselves in the midst of all the prep work and evening socializing. Our site was situated on the end of a row and we had 2 great neighbors, 3 Eyz to one side and Hawg Nation to the rear of us. You can't ask for better neighbors. After the ancillary category turn ins, we had dinner at the site. Trina made the Jambalaya this time along with numerous other morsels and if you were hungry, it was you own fault. Friday evening brought the clouds and the cooler weather and we settled in for the night after putting the big meats on the smokers and had a few more beverages.Saturday morning brought about the usual prep and cooking of the chicken and ribs as well as tending the big meats. The organizers had a breakfast for the competitors, but most of us skipped this for a very nutritional breakfast of donuts from the Farmers Market and a couple of us had scrapple, cheese and egg sandwiches. Thanks to the 2 Annie's for these treats. Aside from a minor (we hoped) mistake with rib timing, (my fault), the cook went pretty smoothly and offered our entries to the judges. We hoped they would be kind and we went about the task of cleaning up. We weren't in a big hurry to break down the site as we usually do, because of the lack of a long drive home. As awards time neared, we grabbed our chairs and ambled over to the stage area and listened to the last few songs sang by a local group "No Strings Attached". We enjoyed the group and waited.At last, the KCBS Reps took the stage and the awards ceremony started. The first category was Chef's Choice and 1st place was won by............. PIGHEADED BBQ. After much whooping and hollering, we waited for the next category, Dessert. This category was won by.......PIGHEADED BBQ. Needless to say we were thrilled at how the awards were starting. The KCBS categories were next and Chicken was announced first. 7th place Chicken was......PIGHEADED BBQ. We didn't hear our name called for Ribs. Pork was next and again we heard PIGHEADED BBQ, this time for 4th place. We were very excited and waited with baited breath for the Brisket category, but alas we didn't hear our name called for that. The final categories were GC, RGC and Best Delaware team. They started out calling the top 5 teams from 5 up and when they got to 3rd Overall they announced PIGHEADED BBQ as "Top Delaware Team" and 3rd overall out of 56 teams. We went a bit nuts as we really wanted the Best Delaware Team award after missing out on it the last 3 years and this is only the 2nd time we finished as high as 3rd overall. Even the rain that fell during awards couldn't dampen our joy at the results. Congrats to our good friends, Dave Marks of Wilbur's Revenge for his first GC and Mike Richter of Chix Swine and Bovine for RGC. Couldn't happen to 2 nicer guys. As usual, thanks to all our sponsors, friends and family who came out to support us and again, thanks to the organizers for another great event. Next up for us is "Que for the Troops" in Levittown, PA on 5/31-6/1. Hope to see you there.

2013 Pork in the Park

Our 2013 BBQ season officially started in Salisbury, MD at the 10th Annual Pork in the Park Festival. We have always looked forward to Salisbury as it historically kicks of the Mid Atlantic BBQ Competition season. This year there were 106 teams competing, down from 133 teams last year. This is the largest BBQ Competition west of Kansas City, or so we’re told. One of the major changes at PITP this year was the absence of the original organizer and good friend to all, Sandy Fulton. This is a long story in itself and I won’t go into the details here. Right up front, I will say that the weather forecast for Friday was anything but inviting. Though Salisbury has had its fair share of bad weather, the forecast had a tornado warning in it. Norma and I arrived around 3 in the afternoon on Thursday. We had heard that the layout of the festival was changed and we wanted to get a good spot, as in “The early bird gets the worm”. When we arrived we requested a spot towards the back, after looking over the site map and seeing that the judges’ tent, Porta Johns and parking were all close to this area. We were shown to a spot that fit this criteria and to top it off, we were right behind Broke Bob’s BBQ. After parking the trailer and setting up the canopy I hooked up the electric and looked for the water connection. It was then that I was informed that there was no running water for the whole section that we were located in. This was not the way I wanted to start our season. You see the team had pitched in and bought a new instant water heater to make it easier to heat water for dishes and whatever. The catch is you can’t use the heater without running water and we didn’t bring our turkey fryer to do that chore as we’ve always done. I was about to request another site when our good neighbor and friend Bob from Broke Bob’s BBQ offered us the use of his turkey fryer. We gratefully accepted and stayed put. It would have been nice to know that only about half the teams would have running water even though we all paid the same amount for our sites. Oh well, moving onward. Thursday night Norma and I stayed in a local hotel and arrived early Friday morning to resume setting up the site. Trina & Mike along with Michael and Maddie arrived soon after and the site quickly took shape. Since the forecast was so bad, we decided to set up with as minimum amount of equipment as possible. Pat, Bertie and Stephanie arrived a bit later and after meat inspection, we went about prepping the meats, then had the afternoon to relax. This gave us time to walk around and visit friends we hadn’t seen since last year. It’s always fun to catch up and see what everyone did over the winter and what comps they planned on doing this year. Around 7:30PM or so, most of the crew went back to the hotel for the evening and myself, Mike and Stephanie settled in for the evening. The band on stage made an announcement about 8:30 or so that under the direction of the Sherriff’s Dept, the festival was closing for the night due to the impending storm. Nothing makes you feel quite as good as know that you’re about to spend the night under a canopy in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. We got the pits lit and the butts and brisket on before the storm hit and tried to relax. When the storm did hit it hit with a vengeance and we scrambled around securing equipment, duct taping canopy sides that ripped away from the supports and kept our finger crossed. The worst of the storm was from 2:30-5:30AM Saturday morning and after a very long night we emerged. A bit wet and very tired, but thankful that no major damage occurred and nobody was injured, though a few canopies did not survive the night. Despite battling the storm and pit temperatures we were in pretty good shape. Saturday morning brought calm skies, hot coffee and we went about our prep for chicken and ribs. The cook went pretty well and we thought we turned out some pretty good BBQ. The whole clan was back by now and we boxed up our entries and turned them into the judges. It was all in their hands now. After relaxing for a bit and going over the cook in our heads, it was time to start cleaning up and breaking down the site. Awards were scheduled for 5:00PM and we carried our chairs to the stage and listened to Smokin Gunzz for awhile before awards started. We didn’t cook any of the ancillary categories because we didn’t know when the weather was going to hit and instead concentrated on the 4 main categories. Chicken was the first of those announced and we didn’t hear Pigheaded BBQ called for an award. Alas we did not hear Pigheaded BBQ called for any of the awards. Score sheets were to be passed out after the Grand Champion was announced and with baited breath I went up and received ours. The results were: 28th overall out of 106 teams. Chicken-12th, Ribs-42nd, Pork-69th and Brisket 49th. While these were certainly not the results we hoped for, we realized that that it was definitely better than the last 2 years here. We generally consider Salisbury our test comp before the season begins and hope to get better from here. I want to congratulate Jay from 4:20 Q for winning GC and Bob & Kenny from BBQ Guru for RGC. Great cook guys. As always it was good to see our BBQ friends and thanks for the support from all of our family and friends. Next up is our hometown competition in Middletown on May 17-18. Hope to see you there.

Operation BBQ Relief - Brick, NJ

It was my privilege and honor to volunteer my time at Brick, NJ on November 10th. Brick is one of the staging areas for Operation BBQ Relief, a 501C3 non-profit organization that provides hot meals for victims and first responders at natural disaster sites. This organization was founded in Missouri after severe tornadoes devastated that area. As you are aware, parts New Jersey and New York City was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. The site is located at the Brick PAL center which has a full kitchen and hall set up with tables and chairs. I arrived early on Saturday morning and met with Rob Marion, the OPR organizer for this area. Rob paired me with Bob Berrettini (BBQ Bandit) from Mechanicsburg, PA who has been on site since the relief effort here started. In addition to him I saw Rich Decker from Vermont who I hadn’t seen for 3 or 4 years. Rich has also been on site for the past week. My hats off to these three and all the other dedicated volunteers from all over the country who have made it their mission to help others in these times of need. Audrey, from the Pork council was here with pig farmers from Iowa, Indiana and other states. Their large trailer provided space to cook vast quantities of pork loin, bratwurst patties, rolls and other items. Also on site were KC Masterpiece, Jersey Joes BBQ and others that I did not get their names. About 8:30 or so we started unloading a Southern Pride smoker loaded with pork butts that had been cooking all night. Bob started cooking chicken. Rich and crew started slicing pork loins. My job was pulling these butts for serving later. Man, can that smoker hold a lot of pork butts. By now, most of you who read this blog are aware that pork butts are part of the shoulder of the pig, not the other end where hams come from. After hours of pulling pork, some of it was delivered to the kitchen, along with chicken and pork loins. Even more was delivered to the island to first responders manning the check points along with loads of chicken, pork loin and sides. I helped Rich and crew with more pork loins and then it was time to rub and place another load of pork butts on the smoker. This concluded my only day here, but Bob, Rich, Rob, Audrey and others were staying for more days. I was exhausted after one day and can’t imagine how they are doing it. Another function of the site was is a drop off point for donations of clothing, blankets, water and just about anything else that the victims can use. A steady stream of donations and recipients occurred all day, many of them stopping by to ask where we came from and thank us for our time. I have to say that this was a most humbling experience for me and I have the utmost respect for those who put their own lives on hold to spend days on end volunteering to help others. Some may say that this is a divided and even a dysfunctional country that we live in, but in times of need, this country always comes together to help our own. God bless OBR and other organizations that pitch in to help others and God Bless America! For pictures of OBR, click here: OBR Pictures

Keystone BBQ Classic

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?

Chesapeake, VA Sam's Club Regional

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Well our 4 week BBQ marathon is over. The bad news is we didn't qualify for Bentonville, AR. The good news is we didn't qualify for Bentonville, AR. Yes we really wanted to qualify and go to the Sam's Club National in Bentonville, but we were not looking forward to the drive. We could sit and lick our wounds and wonder about what could have been, or we can get back in the saddle and do another competition. Well, I hope you guessed the latter, we have signed up for the Keystone Classic Barbecue at the Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa being held on October 5-6. Hope to see some of you there. Now, let's get back to the Sam's Cluc event in Chesapeake, VA. This was by far the farthest we've travelled to compete. Have I mentioned that I hate to drive? Driving puts me to sleep and I've gotten some of my best naps while driving. That's not a fact that I'm not proud of, it's simply a fact. It took us a little over 5 hours to get there and while it was a long trip for me, it wasn't as bad as I though it would be. We met Trina, Mike and Stephanie at the Hampton Inn when we got there and a nice soak in the hot tub did wonders for the tired old body. Sam's Club events don't let you onto the site until 8:00AM on Friday morning as the events are held in the parking lot of Sam's Club stores that are open to the public, and they rightfully so want as little disruption to their members as possible. This gave us a whole night to relax and unwind. A little room service sushi didn't hurt either. It was very good. Friday morning saw us in line and the 2nd ones to be assigned their spots. Myself, Norma and Mike set up the site while Trina and Stephanie joined us later along with Ron v2.0 who drove down straight from Atlantic City, NJ. Whew, 5 states in one day, I'm glad I didn't have that drive. Meats were inspected, site set up and prep work done in a pretty efficient manner. This was afterall, our 4th competition in as many weeks and we had settled into a nice routine. Maybe there was something to this marathon business afterall. I honestly expected it to be much harder than it was. It really is true, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. There were some pretty big names at this competition. For the 2nd week in a row we had Hog It Up for next door neighbors, nice to see Michele & Mike again. Our other next door neighbor was Finn's Finest, who are our neighbors at Wildwood every year. Many other BBQ friends were there as well: LO-N-Slo, BBQ Guru, Wilburs Revenge, Pork Barrel and many others and some new friends. It was very nice meeting Fatback Joe's, Herding Smoke and Q' Haven and others. Friday night we had a very nice dinner, as Sam's Club provided each team with some very nice Ribeye Steaks and Finn's Finest shared their extras with us. Ron v2.0 made a very nice dinner with the steaks with chimichurri sauce. After dinner and the final prep work, the big meats went on as usual without any surprises and I actually got more sleep that night than at any other competition. Saturday morning brought about the usual behive of activity as the ribs and chicken were added to the mix. We were happy with our cook and felt reasonably confident that we did a good job and hoped that the judges would agree. Alas, it was not to be. Our results were: 12th place Chicken, 6th place ribs, 20th place Pork, a dismal 27th place Brisket and 10th Wings. This resulted in a 21st place Overall finish. Far from the 10th or better that we needed to qualify for the Nationals. All we can do is hold our heads high and learn from the experience. We will be back next year.

2012 Sam's Club Laurel,MD

On September 7th & 8th we traveled to Laurel, MD to compete in one of the 5 locals in Region 5 of the Sam’s Club National Tour. Sam’s Club has partnered with the Kansas City BBQ Association (KCBS) to form a national championship tour. They split the country into 5 regions, with 5 local events of 30 teams and 1 regional final with 30 teams in all 5 regions. The top 6 teams from each local go to that region’s final. From each regional final, the top 10 teams or 50 total go to the national championship in Bentonville, Arkansas which is the birthplace of WalMart. All of these competitions take place in a Sam’s Club parking lot except for the one in Bentonville, which is held in the corporate headquarters parking lot. All of these events are run by Troy Black who has this down to a science. Pretty much each one is identical with the exception of maybe the parking lots. We arrived in Laurel around 7:15AM for an 8:00 load in. Usually there is some leeway in load in times, but not here. There were teams who spent at least part of the night parked on another section of the lot, but not allowed into the competitor’s site ‘till 8:00AM. We actually got out first choice in sites, as we were the second team in line for entry. Norma & Ron went about setting up and were joined later by Mike, Trina and the kids, then Stephanie, Pat & Bertie. We were also joined by Bob Hess who is a judge going for his Master Judge certification. Part of the qualification for this is to cook with a team to see what goes into our side of an event. Bob was a very good addition to the team, as we learned a lot from him and hopefully he learned something from us, at least an appreciation of the time and effort put forth by the teams. Bob’s welcome to cook with us anytime. Friday afternoon prep went as planned and the evening and Saturday morning cook went fairly smoothly with the exception of brisket. Let me say that there is a lot of truth in the saying that the meat is done when it’s done, not when you want it to be done. Nothing was late, but the brisket had a mind of its own. An additional category at this competition was sponsored by Tyson wings. It was the Tyson “Best Wings on the Planet” competition and this was prepped and cooked by Mike. All turn in went as planned and we started breaking down the site while waiting for the awards ceremony and trying to beat the rapidly approaching storm headed our way. The awards were scheduled for 4:00PM and we were notified that they would be early and actually were held at 3:30PM. This is a testament to the efficiency of the organizers as well as the wish to be done before the storm hit. First category called was the Best Wings on the Planet and Pigheaded BBQ took 2nd place in this. Great job Mike. Next up was our best category, chicken but we didn’t hear our name called for that. We did get a 3rd place call in ribs, no call in pork and a 9th place call in brisket. Our final places were: 2nd Wings, 20th Chicken, 3rd Ribs, 11th Pork, 9th Brisket and……………7th Overall. Did I mention that the top 6 teams move on? Oh yea, I thought I did. Needless to say, we were crushed and this would make a long drive home even longer. To add insult to injury, we actually tied in the 4 KCBS categories and lost 3 of those tiebreakers. To sum up, all was not lost. One of the 6 teams who finished above us, couldn’t commit to the regional event in Chesapeake, VA so guess who was contacted to take their place??????????? PIGHEADED BBQ. We will be at the regional this weekend, so if any of you are in the area, stop by. Great seeing our BBQ friends and we met some very nice new ones. Thanks for all the support.

2012 Smokin on the Bay Recap

Pigheaded BBQ just finished the 2nd leg of our BBQ Marathon. We competing at Smokin on the Bay located in Tracy’s Landing, MD. This was our first time at this venue, which was the 2nd annual Smokin’ on the Bay. This is a Saturday/Sunday event and was held over the Labor Day weekend. We decided to arrive a day early in anticipation of a high volume of holiday traffic. We arrived around 10:00AM Friday morning and saw that there were a few teams already there. We had arraigned for an extra large site so we could spread out and enjoy the extended stay. The venue was a large gravel covered lot at Herrington Harbor North, one of the largest marinas on the Chesapeake Bay. I must say that we were impressed with the facilities. This was a first class marina. Norma, Ron, and Mike, Trina and Michael & Maddie all arrived within minutes of each other and went about setting up the site. It didn’t take much effort to work up a good sweat in the hot and humid climate. Temperatures got up to the high 90’s on Friday and Saturday with a heavy surprise downpour late Saturday evening. Sunday brought slightly cooler temperature and lower humidity. Friday night, the organizers had arraigned a boat to take the competitors across the water to Skippers, for a “Welcome Reception”. This was a very nice gesture, appreciated by those who chose to attend. Saturday brought about the usual meat inspection and prep work of the four meat categories. This went pretty smoothly until 10:30 or so Saturday night when the storm hit. The team frantically went about re-arraigning the site, trying to keep everything dry. It’s a little difficult moving our smoker (Raquel) around on a large gravel surface. We may have to look at replacing the front swivel wheels with swivel inflatable ones. After much scrambling, cursing and laughing we were ready to fire up the cookers and get down to business. The big meats went on and the usual routine was restored. Sunday morning meant ribs and chicken were to see final prep and into Raquel. We had a smooth cook and felt good about all our entries. This is usually the “Kiss of Death”, but it was all in the judges hands now. There weren’t any ancillary categories, however there was to be a “People’s Choice” category of pork. Each team who chose to enter, would receive (100) 1oz cups to be handed out to the public who purchased tickets to the event. We were a little apprehensive about participating, because it was to take place after the last turn in and we’re usually very tired and starting to pack up to go home. We actually enjoyed the experience, largely due to the “shilling” of Ron v2.0 who whipped the crowd up into a feeding frenzy, or at least our version of one. How that man’s mind works is anybody’s guess. After cleaning up and packing the trailer, it was time for the awards ceremony and we eagerly walked over and set up our chairs. Chicken was the first category announced and we heard “1st Place Chicken…Pigheaded BBQ”. What a great start, now we wanted to hear our names called again. “4th Place Ribs…Pigheaded BBQ. Now we’re really excited, could this be our time? Alas, we didn’t hear our name called again. Our pork placed 23rd and our brisket 17th. Not the way we wanted to finish, be we did place a respectable 6th overall out of 47 teams. We’re always happy with a top 10 finish, but we’re not satisfied. We are in search of our first Grand Champion and won’t quit until we get it. Next up is the Sam’s Club local in Laurel, MD next week. Hope to see you there. In wrapping up, we would like to thank our great neighbors. JD’s Smokin Misfits on one side, Southern Maryland Smokers on the other and Taste of Grace behind us. We couldn’t ask for nicer BBQ neighbors. Thanks to all the friends and family who travel to see and support us.

2012 New Holland Recap

2012 New Holland was a fantastic experience for Pigheaded BBQ. Great weather, venue and organizers made this an almost perfect competition. Norma and Ron arrived very early (6AM) on Friday morning and started setting up. We had two great neighbors again with Hidden Fire on one side and a brand new team, Holy Smokers on the other. We couldn’t ask for better neighbors. Thankfully, in New Holland you get the same site year after year unless you ask for a change. Norma started prepping her Chef’s Choice entry as this entry required a very early prep. The rest of the team arrived a bit later and we all set about our prepping of the meats. This is a large spread out venue and during the day most of us had a chance to wander, visiting other teams and getting our yearly fix of Lapps Ice Cream as well as other food vendors. The cooks’ meeting was at 7PM and final prep work was done right after. The overnight cook went smoothly and a beautiful Saturday morning saw the final prep for chicken and ribs and sausage. Sausage was the first entry and Ron v2.0 worked his magic with the Pat LaFreida sausage used for this category. A huge thanks to our sponsor (Pat LaFreida Meats) for the fantastic sausage and Creekstone briskets. The usual KCBS order for Chicken, Ribs, Pork and Brisket was next and Chef’s Choice was out last category. All went as planned and we turned in all our entries on time. This is always somewhat of a juggling act, but we seem to have our timing down. All was in the judges hands now, nothing to do but clean up, pack and wait. Out whole entourage walked down for the awards ceremony with baited breaths hoping for a good outcome. We were very happy with the results because we walked in every category we entered, taking 6th place in Chef’s Choice, 2nd Sausage, 13th Chicken, 4thRibs, 12th Pork,12th Brisket and 4th Overall out for 72 teams. We had a very consistent cook which is all you can ask for and hope to keep this up in our BBQ marathon. We are cooking 3 weekends in a row with a possible 4th one if we qualify. Next up is Smokin’ on the Bay in Tracy’s Landing, MD on Labor Day weekend, then the Sam’s Club event in Laurel, MD the following week. Hope to see some of you there. As usual, thanks to all our friends and family for their support.

2012 NJ State BBQ Championship Recap

Pigheaded BBQ had a great time at the 14^th 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 10^th place and we didn’t hear Pigheaded BBQ until they called 1^st place. Wow, that was an exciting start for us. We finished 2^nd 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 3^rd 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 7^th place overall out of 66 teams. Not too bad, in fact it was the second year in a row that we finished 7^th 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.

2012 Swinetastic BBQ Festival Recap

Pigheaded BBQ competed in the 2012 Swinetastic BBQ Festival in Frederick, MD on June 15-16. This was our first year here and the second year for the event. Let me begin by saying that we haven’t set the world on fire or pleased the judges with anything we’ve cooked so far this year. Since we were coming off our best year ever, this had been a matter of concern, for us. We had high hopes of bucking that trend and having a good cook this weekend. Things didn’t start out too good for us. We left the house at 4:00AM on Friday, heading south for hopefully greener pastures. It was apparent from very early on that the truck and trailer wasn’t handling like it should and it was a long 2 ½ hour drive trying to keep the rig from swaying. I’ve seen the trailer sway before and have learned how to distribute the weight properly, but wasn’t used to the truck swaying also. That turned out to be an easy fix, the right rear tire was low on air pressure, something I should have seen before we started out. You can bet that I won’t do that again.

We arrived at the Frederick Fairground around 6:45AM and were shown to our site. We were the 5^th team to arrive that morning it seemed and we set up next to the “5 Pigs” team. I have to say that between them and our neighbors on the other side, we couldn’t ask for better neighbors. I hope they feel the same. Norma and I arrived and set up the site. We had plenty of room and leisurely went about our chores in a pretty efficient manner. What did strike us as a little different was the fact that we were right in with the vendors. Florida Skin & Bones and a radio station were directly across from us. The rest of the team showed up  throughout the day and we settled into our routing of prepping the meats for the night cook. Ron v2.0 started on the “Anything Crab” entry, as this was a Friday 7:00PM turn in. After some miscommunication, we received our turn in box and Ron did his magic and turned out an incredible dish of “Crabacado Towers”. See pictures of this on our website. Alas, we’re still waiting for the results of this entry. 1^st through 3^rd were mentioned at the awards ceremony, but we didn’t receive the scores and placement of our entry with the other categories as is the norm. Not happy about that!!

Late Friday night, our pork butts and brisket were put in the smokers for the Saturday turn ins. Contrary to popular held beliefs, we did experiment a little during the cook. This is usually considered a No-No during competitions, but we had some mixed results with it. Early Saturday morning, ribs were rubbed and put in the pits, followed a short time later by chicken. We were now “All IN” and hoping for a smooth cook. The brisket was taking a little longer than expected and one of the butts, part of the experiment, was dryer than hoped and none of it was used. Well we did have two others that were pretty much what we were looking for. Ribs also took a little longer than usual and just made it into the box by turn in time. Now it was all in the judges hands and we relaxed with a cold beverage for a bit, then started cleaning up while waiting for the awards.

Awards were more than a few minutes late as we sat in the hot sun, but we did listened to a very good band while waiting. Finally the awards presentation was getting underway and we anxiously waited to hear our name called. “Anything Crab” was announced first and they announced 1^st through 3^rd. 3Eyz BBQ was the winner of that category and Eric did a very good job on that. Next up was Chicken and Pigheaded BBQ was called for a 3^rd place finish. We were very happy with that because although this category was our best last year, we hadn’t had a call for chicken this year yet. Ribs and pork were next and no calls for us in those categories. Brisket which had been our nemesis as of late was next and we did hear Pigheaded BBQ called for 5^th place. We actually tied for 4^th place, but lost the tiebreaker. No matter, we were ecstatic with this call which we hope broke our brisket curse. Brisket cost us a possible RGC last year and much more, so that call was very well received. All in all, we had a very good cook, finishing up in 7^th place overall out of 69 teams. The whole team was very happy and we hope that this is a sign of things to come. As usual, it was very nice seeing old friends and we made some new ones that we hope to cook next to again. As of now, Wildwood NJ is our next competition on July 13-15. Hope to see you there.

Butts low & slow (that is the tempo).

2011 BBQ Season Recap

Pigheaded BBQ had it's best year ever in 2011. It looks like the teamwork and practice is starting to pay off. Although we ended the season on a low note at the
3rd Annual Southern York County BBQ Cook Off in Shrewsbury, we still had a very good year. Yes it's tough to end the season like we did, but we have only higher hopes for next year. In Shrewsbury, we placed 2nd in Chef's Choice, 8th in Sausage, 6th in Chicken. 26th in Ribs, 21st in Pork and 19th in Brisket for a dismal 21st overall. Oh well, enough dwelling on the bad.

We started out the season in Salusbury, MD, then cooked Middletown,DE - Wildwood,NJ- Gap,PA-New Holland,PA and Shrewsbury,PA. We had originally signed up for the Sam's Club event in Chesapeake, VA, then decided to do the event at Harrah's Casino in Chester, PA. Well, once we pulled out of Chesapeake and registered for Chester, the competition was cancelled. Our place had been taken in Chesapeake so we missed out on that one. Not one of our best decisions.

I think the team worked together very well as a unit and had a good time. Family is what this team is about and everyone seems to enjoy themselves at the competitions. Along with family, the good friends that support us and attend the events as well make the whole experience more enjoyable. We have made some good friends on the circuit as well and it's always good to see them and when we have a chance, find out what's new in their lives. I don't think there is a finer group of people competing against and willing to help each other out as the BBQ teams we've met.

You can bet that a lot of practicing will be going on over the off season, and who knows, maybe even a class will be taken. We are already looking forward to Salisbury, April 2012.

New Holland Summerfest 2011

We had a great time at New Holland Summerfest again in spite of Hurricane Irene and the dire weather forecast.
Irene was lady enough to hold off her approach until after the awards ceremony. Five teams decided to sit this one out due to the weather so instead of the usual 72 teams, only 67 teams were on hand. Norma and I arrived early Friday morning and put up the new 10 x 20 canopy and were followed by Brian, Stephanie, Bertie and Pat, then Mike and Trina and Michael & Maddie. Ron v2.0 was unable to make this one due to other commitments. Friday was actually very nice weather wise and the usual site and food preparations proceeded smoothly. For those of you familiar with this competition, you know that there are three distinct sections to the park. Once you’ve competed at New Holland, you usually get the same spot year after year. Our site is located in the Far West section. This section is the furthest from the judges and turn in location, but generally have larger sites. We are very fortunate to have this location. We have great neighbors on either side with nobody in back or front of us, so we have room to spread out somewhat.

After setting up the site and having our meats inspected, we started our meat prep and this is where our routine
set in and we go about our business in a somewhat orderly fashion. Our only hiccup was the sausage. We mix and grind our own, but for some reason the hand grinder we use wouldn’t fasten to the table firmly. This made for some pretty comical actions and we had to adapt on the fly and change our plans. We made sausage balls instead of sausage links, but we thought they turned out very good. I have to hand it to Brian for his recipe and
enthusiasm for this category. He was up to at least 3:00AM putting the finishing touches on it. The cooks on the other meats went smoothly and our turn ins were on time. Immediately after the last turn in, we started breaking down the site because we wanted to leave as soon as possible due to the approaching storm. Some of the teams decided not to stay for the award ceremony. We had mixed emotions because we heard they might close the bridges over the C & D Canal which we had to cross to get home. Mike & Trina decided to not take the chance and headed out before the awards to be our scouts.

We thought our cook went well and hoped for some good results. Well we did get some good and some not so good finishes. We placed 14th in sausage, our first entry and 9th in Chef’s Choice. The four meats were next and we waited. Chicken brought us a 5th place with a plaque and check. A 1st place in Ribs shocked me and I was in a bit of a daze while receiving the trophy and check. Pork and Brisket didn’t fare well with a 33rd and 41st place respectively. We did finish 8th overall which made us very happy. Any top 10 finish with the level of competitors that were there made us very happy.

I would like to thank the friends and family that braved the weather predictions and visited us. This is one of the reasons we do this activity. The ride home was a little stressful due to the storm, but made easier with the finish we had. We were relieved to see the bridge still open and ran into the house after removing the cold items and a few other essentials and left the rest ‘till the next day. Clean up and restocking of the trailer took longer than normal because of the high winds and we took two days to complete it. Next up is Shrewsbury, PA in 2 weeks. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello.

3rd Annual Victory BrewBQ at Twin Brook Winery

On Saturday Aug 6th, a condensed version of Pigheaded BBQ once again competed at the Victory BrewBQ at the Twin Brook Winery at Gap, PA. This is a Mid Atlantic BBQ sanctioned event and is the 3rd annual BrewBQ and there was a slight venue change. Instead of being located on one of the rear fields, the teams were situated on the front of the winery. The sites were along a tree line, just in front of the vineyard. Also competing there was 340Q which consisted of Mose & Annie Zook, good friends of ours from the Middletown Farmers Market. This was their first competition as cooks and not organizers, as they usually are at the Middletown BBQ Cook Off. There were a total of fourteen teams this year, down a little from last year. The weather called for a nice day with rain moving in late in the afternoon and the weatherman delivered as the rain held off ‘till we were pulling out of the Twin Brook Winery’s driveway after the event was over.
The cook sites were smaller this year due to the change in venue and we had requested a larger spot. We arrived early and were able to get the far end site, allowing us to spread out a bit. Ron, Brian, Stephanie, Norma and Bertie were in attendance as this was a small one day cook. Chicken and ribs were the only two categories. I had been working on a new rib recipe and was anxious to see how it would work out. We set up our site and as soon as the meat was inspected, the chicken was rubbed and set aside to chill and the prep work on the ribs was started. All was ready and we then had a little time to relax and visit some of the other teams. Mose and Annie looked relaxed and confident and everyone was in various stages of prep work. We saw some familiar teams and a few first time teams as well. It’s always nice to meet new teams and make new friends.
The cook went pretty much as expected, but the ribs were not quite as well done as we would prefer, so out of six racks cooked, only one was suitable for turn in as far as we were concerned. Keep in mind that competition ribs are not supposed to be falling off the bone as that’s considered overdone. That being said, ours were underdone in our opinion and could have used a little more time on the pit. We didn’t have high expectations for the ribs, but the chicken was done to our satisfaction and we’ve been doing pretty well with that category lately.
Off we went to the awards ceremony with mixed feelings and waited to hear if out name would be called. The first category called was chicken and Pigheaded BBQ was called for 4th place, a little disappointing, but not too bad. We had won this category the last two years and kind of expected to do a little better. Just goes to show why they call it a competition. We were happy with our chicken so that’s all you can ask for I guess. Ribs were next and once again, Pigheaded was called for 4th place. This was better than we thought we would do considering we weren’t happy with our turn in, so it all evens out in the end. For the overall, Pigheaded was called yet again for 4th place. Well, we were consistent if nothing. Our friend from RA McCoy Welding was 1st in chicken and the overall winner and we were very happy for him, as this was his first win I believe. The 1st place rib winner was Son of a Beach Junior. The younger members of the team cooked this competition and did a fantastic job. Well done!!
We had a great time and plan on being back next year. Congrats to Mose & Annie for their 7th place chicken, 8th place ribs and 8th place overall.

2011 NJBBQ Championship (Wildwood)

Pigheaded BBQ competed at the New Jersey BBQ Championship this past weekend, July 8-10.
This is always a family favorite because it’s a three day competition and we generally get a couple of hotel rooms and stay an extra night, giving everyone a little holiday. Friday was a nice sunny day and Norma started on her dessert category but as night fell so did the rain. It was a heavy drenching rain and I saw at least 2 canopies end up in the dumpster. That’s never a good thing and thankfully our new 10x20 canopy survived and held up very well giving not only our team some shelter, but a few neighboring team members as well. During the rain, the cook’s meeting was held and the Iron Chef ingredient was divulged and passed out. This year’s ingredient was a whole frozen turkey in the 11-12 pound range. I called for some helping hands and a family friend, Bill Kerns arrived to carry back the turkey while I brought back the turn in boxes, containers, cups and ID necklaces. As I stepped out of the firehouse, I saw a river flowing in the street that ran the whole 4 blocks back to the competition site. There was no getting around the deep puddles, so we just muddled through them. There was no keeping the boxes or anything else dry, so I had to wipe them all off once I got back to our site. The rain only lasted a couple of hours and the rest of the night was very nice weather wise. We tossed around a few ideas for the Iron Chef category, some of them being Thanksgiving fatties, turkey poppers, turkey tacos and a few others. Ron v2.0 & Brian who would be cooking the category promised to kick around more ideas during the night. We settled in for the night, knowing the next two days would be long ones.

Saturday was a gorgeous weather day and we were ready to get cooking. Norma finished her dessert, Mike and I experimented with a new sauce and v2.0 and Brian started on their turkey & sausage sliders with cranberry BBQ sauce. They trimmed the turkey, and used some of my rib trimmings and some breakfast sausage and ground the turkey meat. The cook and the turn ins went smoothly and prep work for Sunday’s cook got underway. After the prep work, a little socializing and resting was called for and we wiled away the rest of Saturday. As midnight approached, we shifted into gear and started putting on the big meats. Everything went according to plan and we settled in for another night at the site.

Sunday was another beautiful day and we went about the usual chores of getting ribs and chicken ready to go on the smoker. We were pleased with the results of the cook and our turn in boxes and could only wait ‘till the awards ceremony to find out who we did. We started cleaning up and did some packing up then headed down to the stage to hear the results. We didn’t hear our name in the ancillary categories (Iron Chef, Dessert & Sauce) and hoped the rest of the awards wouldn’t follow suit. Chicken was the first of the BBQ meats and Pigheaded BBQ was called for 2nd place. That was very nice and we received a nice plaque for that. Ribs, Pork and Brisket came and went and we didn’t hear our name called for any of them. We were a little disappointed and they only called the top two for overall. When we got our score sheet we saw that Pigheaded BBQ finished 7th overall out of 66 teams. That was an improvement over our 10th place finish last year and we were happy with that. Our finishes are as follows:

Iron Chef -32nd, Dessert – 18th, Sauce-44th, Chicken-2nd, Ribs-11th, Pork- 42nd, Brisket-21st. 7th Overall.