River City Rager

This past weekend Big T'z decided it would be best to get back in to the swing of things and attended the Ak Sar Ben's River City Roundup competition held at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. This was also the maiden voyage of the Hobbi Toy Hauler we bought off of our friend Ray Ringgenberg, aka BBQ Mayor. Given that Sonya or I have never towed anything and know absolutely nothing about campers, this was the beginning of a new adventure for us one that we have met with both excitement and trepidation.

This event is organized by fellow BBQ Brethren Tom and Char Manhart, and boy did they roll out the red carpet for the cooks! Knowing myself well enough to know that there was no way I could back in a huge camper in to a 20'x30' spot, I left home early hoping to get there before any of my neighbors. Unfortunately I did not take in to account how much longer it would take me to get there due to the huge chunk of fiberglass and metal I was hauling so I got there an hour later than normal and most of my neighbors had already arrived. Within seconds Tom was there in his golf cart to help me in to my spot. Even with the help though I quickly had messed things up so bad I needed an extra hand. Fortunately Mike from Spank and the Meat Mafia was close by to take over. Seeing the look of complete fear and embarrassment on my face with barely a word he hopped in my Suburban and whipped it in to what at the time seemed like a cigar box of a spot. Thanks Mike!! In addition to helping me to my spot, Tom and Char were by my spot what seemed like every twenty minutes. I felt bad I wasn't making trash fast enough for them to haul away.

I signed up to do the People's Choice because 1) It was for charity and 2) I like getting the public more involved in the cooking process, by serving them tasty morsels of my wares in my mind competition bbq becomes more of a spectator sport. That started at 6 pm on Friday. Since the rest of the Cru wasn't going to be there until 9, I was all by myself serving up samples to a hungry crowd. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it. It is always fun to hear "Daaaayyumm that is some good bbq!" from a complete stranger!

It rained Friday night, so it was a blessing to have the camper to stay warm and dry. We definitely got the best night's sleep of any competition I have been to, so whatever worries I or Cru may had about getting camper were completely thrown out the window that night.

I also thought it would be a good idea to cook sausage for this competition. The turn-in for sausage was at 11, while everything else started at noon, so I had to quickly draw up a whole new game plan to make sure everything went according to plan.

Even though things were tight due to the sausage competition we still found time to do not one, but two good luck shots. The first was an "Iowa teams only" shot hosted by Buster Dog BBQ (who just so happened to get their first GC the weekend before in Marshall, MN)at 9:30, and the second was hosted by Four Legs Up BBQ (who just so happens to be the reigning Jack Daniels World Champion) at 11:30. Thanks to both teams for their hospitality.

Whatever good luck we earned from doing those shots did something to help as Big T'z Q Cru walked away on Saturday with their second Reserve Grand Championship of the year. Additionally, we placed 9th in Chicken, 4th in Pork and 1st in Brisket out of 46 teams.

The great part about doing so well was that whenever our name was called we got to go up and get a picture taken with the Rodeo Queens. They also gave great trophies! For reserve grand we received a real-life branding iron. I am still trying to figure out if there is a way I can put it to good use, but for some reason whever I pick it up my cat runs and hides.

It was also great because of how they called the top ten overall team and the result of that. First they randomly called all ten to come up in front. They then started at ten and each team was called until there were just the top two--Big T'z Q Cru and Iowa Outlaws BBQ. The Outlaws and captain Kyle have had their camp by us a couple of times this season, so we have got to know them fairly well. Most people might know them because they have the cleanest and classiest trailer/set up of perhaps any team on the circuit. I have also got to know Kyle well enough to know that he is a great guy and loves bbq and competing. In addition they are a fellow Iowa team and us Iowans stick together! Anyway, we got a front row seat to watch Kyle and his priceless reaction when he realized his team had just won their first Grand Championship! It was a moment Sonya and I will never forget. Congratulations to Iowa Outlaws BBQ for their great win!

This next weekend we head down to the "World Series of BBQ"--the American Royal for the biggest BBQ bash this team has ever experienced. There will be over 120 teams cooking in the Invitational(teams that have won a Gran Championship) and over 500 teams competing in the Open competition. Hope to see any and all of you down south!

The Newest Additions to the Cru

Last week I drove 7 hours to Kenosha, Wisconsin and 7 hours back in one day. I was able to watch the sunrise and sunset on the same trip. I was not traveling to a BBQ competition as one would expect, but to pick up the newest additions to the Cru, two new cookers. For those not familiar they are called Fast Eddy's Cookshack 100's (FEC100 for short). These two beauties will allow us to cook 200 lbs. of pork shoulder in one sitting, allowing us to do some small-scale vending and catering.

In addition to increasing our cooking capacity, these cookers are perhaps the most reputed on the competition bbq circuit, helping cooks to win countless awards. I believe this is due to two reasons:

One is their ease of use. Fast Eddy's Cookshacks are wood pellet fueled, using tiny woodpellets fed via hopper in to a firebox at a rate that carefully controls the cooking temperature. The rate at which the pellets are fed in to the firebox is controlled by a computer attached to the front of the hopper. This allows the cook to essentially plug in the unit, turn it on, fill it with meat and walk away.

Second is that they make a great product. In the bbq world you hear all the time "it is the cook not the cooker", and I fully agree with this statement. However, the level at which these cookers hold their temperatures thanks to the brains of the operation--the IQ4 controller, allows a cooker to achieve a level of consistency in their product that is second to none. In other words, it removes one variable from the cooking process allowing extra attention to be paid to all the other variables.

Additionally, compared to the other allowable forms of heat available to the contest cook, wood pellets offer a more efficient burn and produce less ash than charcoal or wood. This will not only save us money on fuel, but is a more "green" option of barbequeing.

Now don't expect to see Big T'z roll in to the American Royal in two weeks with these babies in tow. Even though they are incredibly easy to use, it will take time to fine tune and them to fine tune me before they are ready for competition. The plan is to practice with them over the offseason and see how I can fit them in to the process. I love my Weber Smokey Mountains and wont give them up easily, so as of right now I envision using both--exactly how is what needs to be figured out.

In the short term and no matter how they will fit in to our competition strategy we plan to use them for some small scale vending and catering. So if you are one of the people that has been waiting to get your hands on some of our barbeque, stay tuned in the coming weeks as we iron out the details on that.

The Blessed Tradition

Well today is the drawing for the Jack Daniels World BBQ Championship. It is the championship that all competition bbq cooks dream about when they begin this adventure. We are lucky enough to be in the draw and thus I am busy today sitting anxiously around my computer today to get any update of our fate.

Because of the brevity of the championship Jack Daniels has become closely intertwined with the culture of every bbq competition in the country. I know we for one ALWAYS have a spare bottle of it handy when we head out for a competition and many of year have participated in celebratory swigs with us this year.

This culture culminates in the ritual known as the 9:22 am shot. At every competition throughout the country while teams are hustling about trying to get their meats cooked in time for turn-ins, most everything stops for a few brief moments at 9:22 am and huddles around a designated team's spot for a shot of ice-cold Gentleman Jack. There is always a toast wishing everyone there good luck in the final crucial few hours of the competition. I do not know how this started, or who started it, but there is one man that is carrying the torch of this tradition more than anyone else in the bbq world—Randy Twyford, also known as “The Reverend”. I have personally been there for one of his toasts and it is quite a treat. In honor of this solemn day I thought I would share with everyone of video of this great tradition.



If you would like to get an idea of all the teams in the draw this year you can go here:

http://pelletenvy.blogspot.com/2009/08/are-you-in-draw-do-you-want-to-be.html

I will re-post on here the results of the draw when I know them. Good luck to all!