First comp of 2013....

[bruno994]

After a 3 month layoff from competition cooking, I kicked off the 2013 season cooking in the Jasper County Go Texan Cook Off in Silsbee, Texas this past weekend.  21 cook teams setup on the grounds of a local nightclub, Honky Tonk Texas starting on Friday morning until late Saturday evening.  The cook off was a benefit for the Go Texan Committee to help their scholarship fund for local students as they prepare for college.  The weekend was a big success for Go Texan as they raised over $17,000 through the cook off, silent auction, t-shirt sales, Super Bowl squares and the owners of the Honky Tonk Texas donated all proceeds from the $10 cover charge from the dance held on Friday night to Go Texan as well. 

My little helper (youngest son, Evan) and I got setup Friday afternoon about 2:00, everything in it's place and ready to cook:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 002.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Jasper Co. Go Texan 004.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Meat inspection wasn't until Friday evening around 5:30, so I could not do any seasoning, brining, injecting or trimming until after that, so we walked around and visited with a few of the other cooks.  There is one thing you will find at all BBQ Cook Offs, lots of good people.  Here is a couple of pics from the other cook sites:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 013.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Jasper Co. Go Texan 014.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

And another shot of the Hale of a Good BBQ Camp as the evening nears:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 020.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

 

[rasimmo]

We want to see the groceries too!

 

[bruno994]

At all the comps I did last year, my wife and kids typically showed up about mid morning on Saturdays' to give me a hand when the crunch time of turn ins and assist in putting the finishing touches on all the meats, but this weekend, they all had previous committments, so I had a few friends from work come over on Saturday to give me a hand and some input on my turn ins. 

Jasper Co. Go Texan 031.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

It's always nice to have a variety of taste testers around before deciding on what to turn in and of course lots of help once it's all over, to help get loaded up.  Pictured are: Paula, Robert, Kim and Ron, John had came over earlier Saturday morning and gave me a hand until the rest of the folks got there.  Although my friends helped out quite a bit and I greatly enjoyed their company, I really did miss the family and the time we have during these events. 

 

[jarjarchef]

Looks like a good time..... keep playing with the recipe, you will get it nailed down....

 

[bruno994]

Last year, the one category I had consistent success with was chicken.  5 comps, 5 Top 10 calls.  I brine, rub, cook in a butter bath and smoke for about 2 hours to an IT of 180, so the meat is always juicy, super tender and a bit spicy.  Going in to this first event of 2013, I have been practicing brisket like nobodys business, but left chicken alone since I seemed to be doing fine with it, but I did make a few small changes to my brine with the addition of apple juice and brown sugar, mistake.  My chicken has always had a good salty, spicy flavor to it and when the judges are taking 1 bite of your food, you gotta hit 'em with all the flavor you can in that one bite.  Unfortunately, I think the juice and added sugar, dulled down the salt and cayenne more than I anticipated and left with me juicy, super moist chicken as always, but just chicken, that's it.  So the juice and sugar have now been scratched off my recipe card for the brine.  Here is my chicken turn in (we cook chicken halves in Texas comps):

Jasper Co. Go Texan 028.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

I over heated the sauce as well and it got a bit goopy, hurting my appearance I'm sure.

Ribs were the next turn in at 1:00 and I wanted them to be tender to the point they were fall off the bone, so instead of the usual 1 1/2 hours of foil, I went the full 2 hours.  And they were super tender, but another change I have made with little to no experimenting was trying a new rub on my ribs, second mstake of the day!  Ouch...you think I would have learned last year, stick with what you know and roll with it.  I was hesitant to really give the ribs a good coating of the new (commercial) rub, since I did not want to overpower the pork and ruin 3 racks of spares.  What I was left with was tender, good pork tasting ribs, with little to no pop.  Apparently the tenderness was at least good enough to snag a ninth place finish among the teams, now if I would have just had some flavor there, what could I have done?  Here is my turn in:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 029.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Here I am after the rib call, happy to be recognized, especially after being shut out in chicken, but not satisfied with my cook so far.

Ribs 9th place.bmp

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

 

[tennsmoker]

Hey Bruno,

Looks like you and your team done a great job for a good cause 

Al

 

[bruno994]

Like I mentioned earlier, I spent the winter working on briskets...tough job, but someone had to do it, huh?  In the 5 comps last year, I made final table 3 out of the 5 times, but never got a Top 10, I was not going to let that continue this season.  I tried several commercial rubs, blended several of my own mixtures as well.  Rubbing, smoking, cooking for anyone and everyone that could come over and try the stuff.  Coming into the week, I had still yet to fully decide on one of 3 rubs, so, I cooked three 10# briskets for this comp, to give me and my friends several choices for turn ins.  After all the taste testing as I was slicing the rested briskets, the overwhelming vote was for the one with my rub that I have worked on the past few months, so in the box it went:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 030.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Sorry for the picture quality, the brisket was much better in person, trust me.  It also felt good that out of 8 people taste testing, it was MY rub (heavy salt and pepper with a mix of numerous other spices) that everyone said just blended all the flavors together and worked really well with the brisket.  So, did my hardwork payoff and were my testers right????....

Brisket 3rd place.bmp

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Yes...3rd place..Woo hoo!  $25 and a very nice embroidered apron.  Finally got a call in brisket, you know you're never a true Texas BBQ man until you have placed in brisket, now I have done it.  Both first and second places were waygu brisket, mine was just a ten pound, $22 USDA select from Sam's!  Obviously my next goal is first place brisket, but for now 3rd made me a happy man.  My wife was overjoyed for me, but sad at the same time since she had to miss my biggest moment yet.  I told her hopefully this will become a habit and next time she could walk with me, we'll see. 

Thanks for looking!

 

[bruno994]

Here is the new logo I debuted at this cook off as well.  My wife Julie designed it with my input, can't thank her enough.  It is on the back of my shirts, we kept it simple, 2 colors to keep screen printing costs down as well.  And yes, my last name is Hale, Jeff Hale. 

LOGO.JPG

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

 

[roller]

Nice set up and everything looks GREAT !

 

[rasimmo]

Congrats, I know you are proud. I like the logo too.

Maybe if you keep getting a little cash from your turn ins you can add some color to it for some shirts. The outline of the state in the background colored with the state flag like your burner cover would add to it nicely. Just a thought to make it stand out a little more, but you have already thought of that I am sure.

 

[kathrynn]

Congrats!!!!!  So proud of you!  Do it again...and win more!  

 

[bruno994]

Here are a few more shots from the weekend:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 025.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Jasper Co. Go Texan 021.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Jasper Co. Go Texan 007.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

Oh yeah, great use of a bungee and great location for paper towels, 1 on each side of my canopy:

Jasper Co. Go Texan 009.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 5, 2013

 

[zahlgren]

  Awesome Job Jeff!

 

[jarjarchef]

Great job! Congrats on everything.......

 

[pgsmoker64]

Congratulations!  Everything looks great.

Bill

 

[bruno994]

Here is a pic I forgot to post yesterday, it's the logo from above, but printed on the back of our shirts. 

Jasper Co. Go Texan 033.jpg

• bruno994
• Feb 6, 2013
• 1

 

[roper33]

That's awesome! Good job Mr Hale! I plan on entering my first BBQ comps this summer, I cant wait. Congrats on the brisket call!

 

[vtmecheng]

Congrats, that's a great accomplishment. Just think how you will do next time with your tried and true chicken and rib products! Then your wife will get to walk up with you multiple times.

 

[dblbogey]

Congrats. Looks like your hard work paid off!!