This past weekend Big T'z Q Cru had the opportunity to participate in the Iowa State Barbecue Championship held in Marshalltown, Iowa. Leading up to it there was all sorts of talk of no electricity, the park being a big mud pit, gale-force winds, and thunderstorms. None of the doom talk came to fruition and it ended up being a beautiful weekend at one of the best championships in the Midwest.
We haven't had a calm, non-windy competition this year, so leading up to the weekend I was resolved to do something to get us out of the wind. Fortunately my mother was gracious enough to bring her pop-up camper with AC, so that fixed that issue.
Once again, many of my family and friends were able to attend this contest, due to its proximity to Des Moines and Ames. My Aunt Lisa even came all the way from Peoria, Illinois, to get a glimpse of what all this barbecue stuff was all about--that was pretty awesome. She works as a dental hygienist at the Federal Prison in Pekin, IL, so she brought with her a camo hat with the seal of the prison on it for me. I proudly wore it all weekend. Mom brought her famous nine-layer bean dip, which was good, but I didn't eat much of it as before they arrived I enjoyed one of the best Philly Cheese steak sandwiches of my life made by Moe from Ponderosa BBQ. Man that was one good sandwich!
For once we had an evening in which we weren't worried about rain or wind, so I could relax a little and enjoy the evening. Once again our friends from Smokehouse 72 stopped by our site several times. Later in the evening they were nice enough to take us around and introduce us to some other teams. People who know me well know that I am a somewhat shy person, especially when it comes to meeting people, so I really appreciated them doing that.
Around midnight we arrived back to our site to find both of our cookers well above our desired temperature range. That was the beginning of a looong night as I fought to keep them steady all night. Finally around 3 am I was comfortable enough to set up a cot right next to them and fall asleep for a few hours. All night I couldn't for the life of me figure out why both were so erratic and hot, as that had never happened to me before. Once it was light out the next morning I had enough light to see why--both of the access doors had not been closed properly and air was flooding in. In the dark, because the cookers are black, I could not see it. I'll never make that mistake again.
Another moment of "fun" came when I got the ribs going in the morning and had the opposite problem--I couldn't get it hot enough. I added more hot coals I opened up all the dampers and access door, but it wouldn't get hot. Finally I found the culprit; the thermometer was bad. It was the brand new one I had just bought a week earlier and I had used it the weekend earlier with no problems, but it was reading 35 degrees colder than the actual temp. I replaced the probe with a backup I had and it still did not fix it. Luckily after I found that was the problem the reality was the cooker was a the proper temp and all was well.
Other than that everything went well. Visitors began showing up as we got closer to turn-in time, and by 11:45 I'd say there were almost 20 people in Big T'z camp--what a treat! Since wind was forecast right around turn-in time, I didn't bother to put up the walls on the EZ-Up, so everyone had a great view to watch Sonya and I do our magic. The chicken came off and was just beautiful. People watched as I picked out the best six pieces and carefully placed them in the box while Sonya fixed the greens around them and our spotter found places to spruce up. After a quick picture the box was closed and Sonya was off to the turn-in site. All our visitors were so excited watching us that they cheered as Sonya walked away and I began cleaning up and making samples for our fans--that was a lot of fun, although I am sure all the teams around us were wondering what was going on.
Then came the "fun" turn-in--ribs. I took them off the cooker and they were also very good-looking. Everyone sat there and watched me as I sampled a bone from each of the four slabs to pick out the best two. I found the best two and cut them up and began placing them in the box. We like to present ribs by creating two stacks of four or five ribs. Unfortunately after spending a lot of time making everything look pretty in the box we attempted to close it and it wouldn't close!! We have done this presentation now four times, but this time the ribs I wanted to use were just too darn big. Frantically we began trying to push the ribs down in to the box and still could not close it and in fact at one point one of the holes where the tab goes in to close it broke. I began cutting up a smaller rack of ribs to put in the box, but we were running out of time. Finally, Sonya got the thing to close, but instead of it looking like a Styrofoam rectangular cube, it looked more like a football as the ribs made the top of the box swell. Sonya carefully placed the box on the turn-in table and once again we lucked out as the box did not open (For those of you who do not know, they would not have taken the box if it did not close, and it would have meant a disqualification). The entire time I kept thinking about the wisdom imparted to me by my mentor--have a plan, but be adaptable. We had a plan that didn't quite work out, but we found a way to make it work. That and we had a little luck.
The rest of the turn-ins went smoothly and then it was time to cool off (it was wicked hot), enjoy a nice cold bottle of my favorite brew (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), and enjoy all our fans enjoying some delicious BBQ. While things didn't go very smoothly I felt everything was solid, but it was up to the judges now.
We have not had a dry contest yet, and mother nature reminded us once again that it was not yet time to break that streak. For about three minutes a light rain broke, just long enough for everyone to freak out and start scrambling to pack up.
The rain stopped and before we knew it, it was time for the awards ceremony. All the cru headed to the bandstand to get a view of the action. Our first call of the day was for 6th place chicken. That was awesome because we placed 5th in Austin, then it derailed in Owatonna, and now it was back on track. Fred Horstman of 4-Mile Smokin' Crew took home first place, which was cool as I had just met him the previous evening and enjoyed listening to his stories about his awesome experience at the Jack last year.
Then came ribs and once again we did not receive a call. Oh well. I was still happy at that point to get a call for chicken, and I was just happy that they didn't get DQ'd. Pork was next. We got the call for 4th place. It was nice to know that we picked up right where we left off in Des Moines. Then came the highlight of the weekend. Our friends Smokehouse 72 got the call for 1st Place!!! They had struggled with the category since they had started seven years earlier. Just the week before Ray was complaining that he hated the category and couldn't figure it our. Well it seems they did figure it out, and as he said they monkey is off their backs now! Congratulations guys!
Then came brisket. Our friend Joe Beland of TippyCanoe BBQ Crew got the call for 9th place, we got the call for 8th place, and our friends the Don and Bob Denner of the Boondoggle Boys got the call for 7th Place--that was way cool.
Finally the overall calls. Once again the wheels were turning in my head as I realized that we were the only team to get three calls. On the other hand, once again we had no idea how we had done on ribs. Captain Ron had got calls for 2nd place pork and 1st place brisket, so I thought he had a good chance. When they called his name for 5th place overall, my heart was pounding loudly in my chest as I realized we were in the top three. When he called Ribs-4-U for Reserve Grand Champion, it seemed everyone in there began staring at us as the group of teams to our right started saying "It's going to the left". I just stared straight ahead and tried to calm down my heart rate as at this point is was coming out of my chest. Then they called our name and I couldn't believe it. On our way up it was awesome to get a congratulatory hugs and high fives from Darren and Sherry Warth of Iowa Smokey D's, the Twyfords, and Mark Born from The Heat Is On. These are three great teams and it felt great to receive their praise.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend to spend with family and friends. The cherry on top was winning our 2nd Grand Championship and 2nd in a row. Hopefully we can keep the streak going in Waterloo and LaPorte the weekend of the 17th. Hope to see you all there!
Once again, many of my family and friends were able to attend this contest, due to its proximity to Des Moines and Ames. My Aunt Lisa even came all the way from Peoria, Illinois, to get a glimpse of what all this barbecue stuff was all about--that was pretty awesome. She works as a dental hygienist at the Federal Prison in Pekin, IL, so she brought with her a camo hat with the seal of the prison on it for me. I proudly wore it all weekend. Mom brought her famous nine-layer bean dip, which was good, but I didn't eat much of it as before they arrived I enjoyed one of the best Philly Cheese steak sandwiches of my life made by Moe from Ponderosa BBQ. Man that was one good sandwich!
For once we had an evening in which we weren't worried about rain or wind, so I could relax a little and enjoy the evening. Once again our friends from Smokehouse 72 stopped by our site several times. Later in the evening they were nice enough to take us around and introduce us to some other teams. People who know me well know that I am a somewhat shy person, especially when it comes to meeting people, so I really appreciated them doing that.
Around midnight we arrived back to our site to find both of our cookers well above our desired temperature range. That was the beginning of a looong night as I fought to keep them steady all night. Finally around 3 am I was comfortable enough to set up a cot right next to them and fall asleep for a few hours. All night I couldn't for the life of me figure out why both were so erratic and hot, as that had never happened to me before. Once it was light out the next morning I had enough light to see why--both of the access doors had not been closed properly and air was flooding in. In the dark, because the cookers are black, I could not see it. I'll never make that mistake again.
Another moment of "fun" came when I got the ribs going in the morning and had the opposite problem--I couldn't get it hot enough. I added more hot coals I opened up all the dampers and access door, but it wouldn't get hot. Finally I found the culprit; the thermometer was bad. It was the brand new one I had just bought a week earlier and I had used it the weekend earlier with no problems, but it was reading 35 degrees colder than the actual temp. I replaced the probe with a backup I had and it still did not fix it. Luckily after I found that was the problem the reality was the cooker was a the proper temp and all was well.
Other than that everything went well. Visitors began showing up as we got closer to turn-in time, and by 11:45 I'd say there were almost 20 people in Big T'z camp--what a treat! Since wind was forecast right around turn-in time, I didn't bother to put up the walls on the EZ-Up, so everyone had a great view to watch Sonya and I do our magic. The chicken came off and was just beautiful. People watched as I picked out the best six pieces and carefully placed them in the box while Sonya fixed the greens around them and our spotter found places to spruce up. After a quick picture the box was closed and Sonya was off to the turn-in site. All our visitors were so excited watching us that they cheered as Sonya walked away and I began cleaning up and making samples for our fans--that was a lot of fun, although I am sure all the teams around us were wondering what was going on.
Then came the "fun" turn-in--ribs. I took them off the cooker and they were also very good-looking. Everyone sat there and watched me as I sampled a bone from each of the four slabs to pick out the best two. I found the best two and cut them up and began placing them in the box. We like to present ribs by creating two stacks of four or five ribs. Unfortunately after spending a lot of time making everything look pretty in the box we attempted to close it and it wouldn't close!! We have done this presentation now four times, but this time the ribs I wanted to use were just too darn big. Frantically we began trying to push the ribs down in to the box and still could not close it and in fact at one point one of the holes where the tab goes in to close it broke. I began cutting up a smaller rack of ribs to put in the box, but we were running out of time. Finally, Sonya got the thing to close, but instead of it looking like a Styrofoam rectangular cube, it looked more like a football as the ribs made the top of the box swell. Sonya carefully placed the box on the turn-in table and once again we lucked out as the box did not open (For those of you who do not know, they would not have taken the box if it did not close, and it would have meant a disqualification). The entire time I kept thinking about the wisdom imparted to me by my mentor--have a plan, but be adaptable. We had a plan that didn't quite work out, but we found a way to make it work. That and we had a little luck.
The rest of the turn-ins went smoothly and then it was time to cool off (it was wicked hot), enjoy a nice cold bottle of my favorite brew (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale), and enjoy all our fans enjoying some delicious BBQ. While things didn't go very smoothly I felt everything was solid, but it was up to the judges now.
We have not had a dry contest yet, and mother nature reminded us once again that it was not yet time to break that streak. For about three minutes a light rain broke, just long enough for everyone to freak out and start scrambling to pack up.
The rain stopped and before we knew it, it was time for the awards ceremony. All the cru headed to the bandstand to get a view of the action. Our first call of the day was for 6th place chicken. That was awesome because we placed 5th in Austin, then it derailed in Owatonna, and now it was back on track. Fred Horstman of 4-Mile Smokin' Crew took home first place, which was cool as I had just met him the previous evening and enjoyed listening to his stories about his awesome experience at the Jack last year.
Then came ribs and once again we did not receive a call. Oh well. I was still happy at that point to get a call for chicken, and I was just happy that they didn't get DQ'd. Pork was next. We got the call for 4th place. It was nice to know that we picked up right where we left off in Des Moines. Then came the highlight of the weekend. Our friends Smokehouse 72 got the call for 1st Place!!! They had struggled with the category since they had started seven years earlier. Just the week before Ray was complaining that he hated the category and couldn't figure it our. Well it seems they did figure it out, and as he said they monkey is off their backs now! Congratulations guys!
Then came brisket. Our friend Joe Beland of TippyCanoe BBQ Crew got the call for 9th place, we got the call for 8th place, and our friends the Don and Bob Denner of the Boondoggle Boys got the call for 7th Place--that was way cool.
Finally the overall calls. Once again the wheels were turning in my head as I realized that we were the only team to get three calls. On the other hand, once again we had no idea how we had done on ribs. Captain Ron had got calls for 2nd place pork and 1st place brisket, so I thought he had a good chance. When they called his name for 5th place overall, my heart was pounding loudly in my chest as I realized we were in the top three. When he called Ribs-4-U for Reserve Grand Champion, it seemed everyone in there began staring at us as the group of teams to our right started saying "It's going to the left". I just stared straight ahead and tried to calm down my heart rate as at this point is was coming out of my chest. Then they called our name and I couldn't believe it. On our way up it was awesome to get a congratulatory hugs and high fives from Darren and Sherry Warth of Iowa Smokey D's, the Twyfords, and Mark Born from The Heat Is On. These are three great teams and it felt great to receive their praise.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend to spend with family and friends. The cherry on top was winning our 2nd Grand Championship and 2nd in a row. Hopefully we can keep the streak going in Waterloo and LaPorte the weekend of the 17th. Hope to see you all there!
Hey, we got 3 calls that day too. :)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, for "some reason" chicken counted towards the GC. ;/