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.