So we just had our local fair this past month and every year they have a BBQ Competition. Team Refuze 2 Luze (my team) entered as always.. Now this comp is all for charity and my charity of choice is our local Boys and Girls club... They like to try to keep everything equal by supplying the meat and charcoal... Back in the day they had a sponser that would supply each team with a new 22" Weber Kettle to cook on and after it was over you got to keep the kettle... Entry fee was $100 then...
A $50 entry fee gets you your choice (after drawing numbers) of meat and a bag of charcoal (20lb Kingsford Blue)... A lighter and a bottle of lighter fluid (which I have about 5 bottles of from previous comps)... I don't use it ... So it's pretty much the same fellers every year and they bring the Kettle they got from previous comps... No pellet poopers or electrics allowed... Only charcoal and/or wood... My opinion, that's the way all comps should be...
This years meat was Boston Butts... We had pick number 8 which really didn't matter as all the butts were pretty much the same... The only advantage of drawing a high number is that you got to cook longer... #1 turned in at 4pm and then every 5 minutes after that... Our turn in time was 4:35 ... I used on of my mini WSM's for the comp meat... Just left vents wide open to let it get as high as possible... Ended up running between 280 and 300 degrees.. Meat was handed out at 8:30AM and we had ours on by 9 AM ... Smoker was preheated... At about 1:00 i checked IT with my thermaspen and it was reading around 170... I said damn.. It pushed through the stall already.... So now do I wrap or keep going nekkid and hope it gets done by turn in time... I didn't chance it and wrapped...
Now we also do appetizers and pass them around to other teams... Gives us something to do while Comp meat is cooking... I brought my 22" kettle to cook the apps on... We did Bacon wrapped scallops, Bacon wrapped Italian meatballs, And Bacon wrapped stuufed dill pickles... All the bacon was homemade... And then everybody votes for the app. they like best for a winner...
So around 1pm they tell us all to gather around... He says remember last year we discussed maybe doing a 2nd meat... well... Guess what ... He throws everybody a pack of chicken wings and says they have to be ready to turn in at your normal turn in time... Fortunately I brought the wing cooking machine with me.. The Vortex ... So I was really eager to do these since I knew my chances were good with the Vortex... I ended up putting them on to early and they were done like 20 minutes before turn in... So I took the lid off the kettle and covered the wings with an aluminum pan to try and keep them warm...
He said that they were not going to score meats seperatly but that both meats will be combined for an overall score... Highest wins... But he did tell us top 3 in each meat and I'll be damned if we didn't win (so to speak) the wings... Well... The pulled pork ended up being overdone and a little mushy... So that hurt our chances for any kind of overall total and we didn't make the top 3...
But all in all.. We had fun and damned if there wasn't some killer food being passed around.. My grandson and his buddy (seperate team) won the appetizers... something so simple but pretty damn good... They took something like a potato bread (yellow), took the crust off... spread some cream cheese on it...sprinkled with shredded sharp chedder rolled it up and wrapped a piece of fully cooked bacon around it and cooked it...
Sorry for the post being so long... Also as most of you know I don't own a cell phone so therefor I didn't take any pics... Sorry...
A $50 entry fee gets you your choice (after drawing numbers) of meat and a bag of charcoal (20lb Kingsford Blue)... A lighter and a bottle of lighter fluid (which I have about 5 bottles of from previous comps)... I don't use it ... So it's pretty much the same fellers every year and they bring the Kettle they got from previous comps... No pellet poopers or electrics allowed... Only charcoal and/or wood... My opinion, that's the way all comps should be...
This years meat was Boston Butts... We had pick number 8 which really didn't matter as all the butts were pretty much the same... The only advantage of drawing a high number is that you got to cook longer... #1 turned in at 4pm and then every 5 minutes after that... Our turn in time was 4:35 ... I used on of my mini WSM's for the comp meat... Just left vents wide open to let it get as high as possible... Ended up running between 280 and 300 degrees.. Meat was handed out at 8:30AM and we had ours on by 9 AM ... Smoker was preheated... At about 1:00 i checked IT with my thermaspen and it was reading around 170... I said damn.. It pushed through the stall already.... So now do I wrap or keep going nekkid and hope it gets done by turn in time... I didn't chance it and wrapped...
Now we also do appetizers and pass them around to other teams... Gives us something to do while Comp meat is cooking... I brought my 22" kettle to cook the apps on... We did Bacon wrapped scallops, Bacon wrapped Italian meatballs, And Bacon wrapped stuufed dill pickles... All the bacon was homemade... And then everybody votes for the app. they like best for a winner...
So around 1pm they tell us all to gather around... He says remember last year we discussed maybe doing a 2nd meat... well... Guess what ... He throws everybody a pack of chicken wings and says they have to be ready to turn in at your normal turn in time... Fortunately I brought the wing cooking machine with me.. The Vortex ... So I was really eager to do these since I knew my chances were good with the Vortex... I ended up putting them on to early and they were done like 20 minutes before turn in... So I took the lid off the kettle and covered the wings with an aluminum pan to try and keep them warm...
He said that they were not going to score meats seperatly but that both meats will be combined for an overall score... Highest wins... But he did tell us top 3 in each meat and I'll be damned if we didn't win (so to speak) the wings... Well... The pulled pork ended up being overdone and a little mushy... So that hurt our chances for any kind of overall total and we didn't make the top 3...
But all in all.. We had fun and damned if there wasn't some killer food being passed around.. My grandson and his buddy (seperate team) won the appetizers... something so simple but pretty damn good... They took something like a potato bread (yellow), took the crust off... spread some cream cheese on it...sprinkled with shredded sharp chedder rolled it up and wrapped a piece of fully cooked bacon around it and cooked it...
Sorry for the post being so long... Also as most of you know I don't own a cell phone so therefor I didn't take any pics... Sorry...
