Adventures in Barbeque

Corn Fed Cookin'

2011-11-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Joe Beland and I are putting on a Competition BBQ class in January. We are setting it up to be an amazing time for all those involved. Please see the formal announcement below and feel free to sign up by clicking on the link to the application. Although I wouldn't take your time deciding as I have a feeling it is going to fill up fast!

Corn Fed Cookin’

with TippyCanoe BBQ and Big T’z Too

The 2011 American Royal Invitational and Inaugural Sam’s Club National Champion Joe Beland of TippyCanoe BBQ Crew and two-time Iowa Team of the Year Champion, RyanNewstrom of Big T’z Q Cru are teaming up to provide a one of a kind learning experience. Two of the hottest new-comers on the BBQ circuit; in just three years of competing they have combined to earn 20 Grand Championships and hundreds ofcategory and overall top 10 awards. Now you get the opportunity to experience and learn the secrets of their success.

This two-day class will include every detail that has helped Joe and Ryan to be successful, including procurement, preparation, cooking, and presentation. Both will provide complete instructions regarding all four of their contest meats, while each will provide hands-on demonstrations of their best two categories—Joe will do pork and ribs, and Ryan will demonstrate chicken and brisket. Whether you are a beginner, a serious backyarder, or seasoned contest veteran, you will be able to see firsthand what each of them does at a contest from start to finish, and help take your BBQ to the next level.

The class will be held in St. Ansgar, Iowa on January 20-21. It will begin Friday afternoon, and following the timeline of a real contest, go well in to the evening. The class will continue early Saturday morning and continue through regular turn-in times and wrap up with any more questions students may have. All meals and refreshments during the class will be provided and are all inclusive. Further details regarding class schedule and area accommodations will be provided with the enrollment packet.

The enrollment fee is $650 and class space is limited, so get your application in as soon as possible to reserve your spot. Spouses may attend for an additional $250. The spouse fee does not extend to other family members or teammates. Recording devices

are not allowed.

If you are interested in attending, please fill out the attached application. Once you are ready to send it in, or if you have further questions, please email Joe and Ryan at cornfedcookin@gmail.com to receive details on payment and reserve your spot. Or, if you would prefer to call, the phone number is (641)220-4483.

Registration Form

2010-05-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

The past three weeks have featured Big T’z Q Cru once again traveling south of the border for two contests. The first one was the weekend of April 16-17 at the Capital City Cook-off in Jefferson City Missouri. This contest feature almost 70 of some of the best cooks the state from where Kansas City BBQ originated. Bruce Ring, a fellow competitor from “Let’s Kick Some Ash” cooking team was the organizer of this great event and did a fantastic job of accommodating the cooks. I was unsure where to fill up the water tank in the camper and before I knew it someone was there with a tank of water and gas-powered pump and was filling up my tank for me. What service! Additionally, ice was free all weekend, and if you don’t know ice at a BBQ comp can sometimes become a precious commodity—we have more than once had to send a teammate all over town trying to locate ice to refill our coolers.

After an uneventful night of cooking, I was feeling good, but I must be honest and say that after turn-ins I was not happy with how everything went. In hindsight I was more frustrated with the process, rather than the product, things just didn’t “feel” right. Those feelings quickly went away when we placed 5th overall, with calls for 6th place in chicken and 10th place in pork. We also got 11th place in brisket. This contest paid out to the top 5 overall, so it was nice to get a sizable chunk of the purse for our efforts

Needless to say we had a great time. It was a beautiful weekend with great weather. We were also placed next to our friends Kim and Andy Groneman from Smoke on Wheels, and our friends from TippyCanoe BBQ Crew made the trip down from Iowa as well, which added to the experience. Huge congrats to TippyCanoe for getting 3 real good calls and placing 3rd overall, our friends from Iowa’s Smokey D’s for Reserve, and Great Grills of Fire for winning their first Grand Championship of the year in their hometown! It also wasn’t bad having 3 Iowa teams in the top 5 in the capital city of Missouri either. ;-)

The second contest was the Apple Blossom BBQ in St. Joseph, Missouri. The contest was help in a beautiful park located downtown. What was also cool about this contest was that the Blue Angels were in town and flying overhead all weekend.

We weren’t as fortunate with the weather this weekend, as it rained off and on for most of the contest. We still managed to have a great potluck, put on by our friends Steph from TheSlabs.com and Kim and Andy Groneman from Smoke on Wheels. This potluck’s theme was “down-home” cooking, and it seemed everyone did their best to make a ton of some really great food. I couldn’t help myself but eat the most I have ever eaten at a contest to date. I swear after I was done I went in to a food coma for the next couple of hours.

This was the first contest in which Sonya could not attend, due to her having her baby shower on Sunday. My Mom and father-in-law did make it down and between the three of us we did our best to fill the big shoes Sonya has created in her role on the team, namely garnishing turn-in boxes and the turn-in procedure. Between the three of us we managed to put the boxes together closely resembling the way she does it in just under 4 hours. Sonya usually takes less than half that time.

The three of us also managed to do turn-ins without any disasters as well. After everything was turned-in and judging was over we ended up at 15th overall out of 58 teams with a call for 4th place in chicken. It wasn’t our best contest, but it wasn’t our worst ever. Huge congrats to our Jeff and Tammy Stith for Big Creek BBQ for Reserve Grand Champion and Randy Robinett from R Butts R Smokin’ Grand Champion! We had a great time and look forward to heading back there next year.

A Pleasant Weekend in Pleasant Hill, MO

2010-04-13T13:19:00.001-07:00

Our last competition was held in Pleasant Hill, Missouri on the Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend. You may be wondering where Pleasant Hill, MO is located. Well it is a smaller town just southeast of the Greater Kansas City area. While many may not know where this town is located, many of the best bbq'ers in the country do. This relatively small contest featured over 60 teams, many of whom are favorites at any competition they attend.

One of cool things about this contest is that it is a fundraiser for March of Dimes. It was nice to be a part of such a great cause. Another cool thing about this contest was the organizers. Jeff and Stu roll out the proverbial red carpet and go way out of their way to make teams comfortable. Due to the fact that I am a relative newbie when it comes to campers, I have absolutely no idea how to back the things up. This was one of the few times this year when Dr. Dan, my father-in-law, would be unable to pull the camper, so I asked for a pull-through spot. I get there hoping that at least someone I knew (and knew wouldn't make too much fun of me) was there to help back me in. Come to find out the guys had reserved a special spot just for me so I could easily pull-in with no problem. Crises averted. I know, I know, I need to learn to back, and I will with time, but I am a cook darn it and have other redeeming skills, unfortunately trailer backing isn't one of them.

Anyway, I got settled in all by myself, thanks to the organizers. Before I knew it the butts were on and it was off to The Slabs.com spot for the Friday night potluck. I had a great time meeting all sorts of new people, thanks to Kim Groneman from Smoke on wheels. So much so, that I I had to head back to our spot to get the briskets on before I was able to eat anything!

Dave Compton, one of my BBQ friends from Iowa, was down to Pleasant Hill to judge his 30th contest. This is significant as after thirty contests, judges are eligible to take the Master Judge's exam and become a Certified Master Judge. At 10:00 a bunch of guys from the BBQ Brethren had put together a little ceremony for Dave to celebrate his achievement. That was way cool. It was also an opportunity for me to get to know some of the people face to face on that great forum. While in that area, I also got invited over to The Pork Pullin' Plowboys site for a shot to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Todd Johns and his wife Audrey, which was also a special moment of the weekend.

Our cooking spot was next to a group of younger guys who were cooking their first contest. They also happened to be cooking on Weber Smokey Mountains, so I was up late talking to them, giving them pointers, and remembering when I was in their shoes not long ago.

The morning came very quickly and we managed to get everything in on time, but not without a few hiccups along the way. Overall we ended up 20th overall, which could have been better, but with the things we had to deal with along the way I was happy with. Huge congrats to our friends Andy and Kim Groneman from Smoke on Wheels for getting called for their first Grand Championship of 2010! They also received a perfect score for their chicken, which was out of this world! Way to go guys! We got a call for 7th place for our ribs, which in that field I was very very pleased with. We have also got a call in ribs in our past two contests, which is one less than we received in all twelve of our contests last year. It seems we have that on track.

Unfortunately, our pork and brisket were not well received. This was due to several factors, many of which I believe I have figured out and hopefully will have corrected by our next contest. On the other hand, to paraphrase a quote from one of my favorite movies, "Sometimes you eat the brisket, and sometimes, well, he eats you!"

This weekend we are back at it again cooking at the Capital City Cookoff in Jefferson City, MO. We will try to post results as soon as we get them, otherwise you are always welcome to stop by and say hello!

North Little Rock

2010-03-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

The weekend of March 20, Big T'z kicked-off their 2010 season at the USA Barbeque Championship in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Hailed as the World's Richest BBQ Contest in history, this championship featured an all-out slug match between the best barbeque cooks in the country.

To prepare for the 11 hour drive, Sonya, my Father-in-law, Dan, and I loaded up the camper and headed out at noon on Thursday and drove straight to Branson, Missouri to spend the night. This worked out well both for our timing and the fact that Dan had the opportunity to do some fishing on Lake Tanneycomo, something he does several times a year.

Half-way down we had an unexpected delay when the cupboard that holds our BBQ sauce came open and many of our glass jars of sweet and sticky sauce crashed all over the floors and walls of our camper. Four rolls of paper towels and two canisters of clorox wipes later, we were back on our way. From that experience I learned that one, we need extra catches for our cupboards, and two, BBQ sauce goes much better on a finely cooked pieces of meat than it does on floors, walls and shoes.

We arrived to our the contest a little behind schedule, finding most teams had already arrived. It was quite the experience trying to get the camper in our space--I thanked God Dan was there with his superior towing skills to help us get in to our spot.

Before we knew it the smoke was rolling from our site and pork and brisket were on. We got a spare moment to stop by the potluck organized my Steph from TheSlabs.com and hosted by Early Bird BBQ. We had a great time visiting with everyone there and eating some delicious food.

It was 11 before we were able to wander from our site. Unfortunately, due to the money involved with this contest there seemed to be little carousing going on. I found several of my friends' sites only to find they were in bed. I did however meet up with my friends from Tippy Canoe BBQ Crew, which was fun.

The morning quickly came and before I knew it everythng was in a box and off to the judges. Things went off mostly without a hitch, save for in the middle of pork turn-ins my razor sharp slicing knife fell of the cutting board and caught my finger on the way down, and it wasn't a paper cut either. Luckily, I had two medical professionals right with me to attend to my battle wounds. It was quite interesting saucing and putting pieces of pork in the box with my left hand while Dan worked diligently to stop the bleeding on my right.

Like the contest itself the awards ceremony was huge; we could barely see the stage from where we finally found a place to stand. As there were 230 teams competing, they called the top 40 places in every category. We were lucky enough to hear our names called for 11th place in chicken, and 22nd in ribs. I was really happy with the rib call as I used one of our new pellet cookers to cook them, plus in that field 22nd in my mind was awesome for what is historically our weakest category. While we didn't hear our name for pork or brisket, our overall scores were good enough for 17th overall. For our first competition of the season against the best of the best, we went away very pleased with the result.

The highlight of the weekend was seeing friends Rod and Sheri Gray from team Pellet Envy win the whole thing. They have a history of doing well at this contest, and their performance this year was only different due to the fact they did better than normal. Their overall score was 701, which if you understand trends in KCBS scoring you know that is just plain ridiculous. Additionally, they had close to a perfect score on their 1st place chicken and a perfect score on their pork. They didn't get first place pork only because two other teams also got perfect scores, which is also ridiculous. Huge congratulations and thanks to them for putting on a great show!

This coming weekend Big T'z is on the trail again. We are headed down to Pleasant Hill, Missouri to compete in Smokin' on Big Creek BBQ Championship. There will be many of our friends there yet again competing and helping to raise money for March of Dimes. We are looking forward to it!

Quick Update

2010-02-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

I have been working hard for the past several weeks on a totally revamped, professional website. Like most things, it has taken longer than I originally planned to get finished, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.

With the new website will come a new url. Look for us early next week at www.bigtzbbq.com. Thanks for all your support!

Banquet Season

2010-02-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

The winter seems to be a good month to have banquets celebrating the past year in BBQ. Big T'z Q Cru was busy attending two of them: the KCBS Annual Banquet, and the Iowa BBQ Society Annual Banquet.

Earlier in the month was the KCBS Annual Banquet, held in Philadelphia. Sonya and I flew out there to enjoy the sights and foods of the City of Brotherly Love, and also to meet more of the people that are a part of this great organization.

This is also the time they give out awards for Team of the Year. For every contest a team attends, they receive points based on how well they placed in each category and overall. In addition they receive bonus points equal to the number of teams that competed in the contest (capped at 100). For instance, if a team wins first overall in a contest where there is 45 teams, they receive 250 for the first place finish as well as 45 bonus points, for a total of 295 points. 2nd place at the same contest receives 225 points, and so on. Each category: chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket are computed the same way.

At the end of the season they tally up all the points for only your top ten contests. The team with the highest overall score is crowned Team of the Year. This year just happened to be the year our mentor and friend, Rod Gray along with his wife Sheri were given this huge honor. There are over 4000 registered teams in KCBS, so I am sure that you can guess what an achievement it is to be ranked as the best of them.

At the awards ceremony we were surprised to find that they give awards to the top 20 teams in all categories. Before we got there we heard they gave awards to the top 25 overall and to the top 10 in each category. Considering we were 19th in the nation in brisket, we were trhilled to hear our name called at the banquet and walk up to receive our award. I think I had a "perma-smile" for at least twenty minutes after that moment. However, nothing topped being there to see Rod and Sheri receive their award for Team of the Year. They are great people and deserve every ounce of recognition they get. Way to go team Pellet Envy!

Another highlight of the evening was being invited to the Presidential Suite (The room of KCBS President, Mike Lake and his wife Teresa) after the awards banquet and celebrating with everyone there. It was there that we got to meet Carolyn Wells, who is the founder of KCBS. To me, that was an incredible honor. We also got to get our picture taken with the now famous Tuffy Stone of Cool Smoke. He is one of the pitmasters that was chosen to be on the inaugural season of TLC's "BBQ Pitmasters", and for good reason. First and foremost, he is an incredible cook. A classically-trained chef, he received the honor of KCBS Team of the Year in 2007. Second, he has a personality that goes for miles. We had the opportunity to spend some time with him and his wife earlier in the weekend and just had a delightful evening listening to all their stories!

Overall, it was a very memorable weekend. We met tons of people in the organization and had several great experiences. We look forward to the 25th Anniversary Banquet in Kansas City next year!

The second banquet was the Iowa BBQ Society Annual Banquet. Just like KCBS it is here that the Society gives out awards for Iowa Team of the Year. Unlike KCBS, the rankings are calculated differently.

At every KCBS contest the judges give each team's entry a score between 1 and 9 for each of three categories, Appearance, Taste, and Tenderness. The scores are tallied from each judge and aggregated to determine the winner. The overall winner of a contest is the team with the best cumulative score of all four categories.

The Iowa BBQ Society averages a team's best four contest scores from each category and overall. The team with the highest four contest category score wins the category, and the teams with the highest four contest overall score wins Team of the year. Of course only contests within the State of Iowa qualify and the team must be a member of the Iowa BBQ Society to be eligible.

This year we were fortunate enough receive the honor of Iowa Team of the Year. In addition, we were Team of the Year in Chicken, and Reserve Team of the Year in Pork and Brisket. For our award we received a signed certificate from the Governor, and monetary award.

In addition to the honor we received for Team of the Year, we were able to catch up with many of our Iowa BBQ friends for the first time in several months. We were also treated to one of the best banquet spreads I have ever had compliments of Iowa Smokey D's/Absolute Flavors Catering. There was an amazing variety of foods to suit everyone's palate. I found myself going back to the table several times to try different things and get more ham balls. Thanks to Shad Kirton, Darren Warth and company for that amazing meal!

It was a fantastic, albeit short, evening. We look forward to seeing everyone there on the BBQ trail this upcoming season!

Catching Up

2010-02-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

First of all, I would like to apologize to everyone (I know there are at least a few readers out there) for the lengthy hiatus I have been on with this blog. This has been due to several factors. 1) Sonya and I moved in to our first home in late September 2)The last leg of the bbq season was extremely fun yet extremely tiring and 3) Sonya and I found out we are expecting our first child in June. :-) Okay 5) Laziness/forgetfulness. This year I have set my mind to do weekly updates, so please check back early and often. If I miss a week, feel free to contact me and give me grief about it.

Just to catch everyone up since our last post I will do a brief synopsis from my last post:

Right after the River City Roundup in Omaha we were off to Kansas City the next week to compete in our first American Royal Invitational/Open. For those of you who don't know, this is heralded as the "World Series of BBQ", and for good reason. We arrived Thursday and spent the next 4 days mixing in equal parts of play and cooking our butts off. Come Sunday afternoon, we could barely see straight we were so tired.

Here are some highlights of the experience:
1)Smack Talk back and forth with Mark Grieco from Four Men and a Pig (last year's Royal Open winner).
2)Becoming friends with the British BBQ Society team who came all the way from England to compete
3)Watching our friend Todd Johns from Pork Pullin' Plowboys win the Invitational
4)Watching our friends Bob and Don Denner from Boondoggle BBQ win their first Grand Championship at the American Royal Open
5)Celebrating with Bob and Don and the rest of the Iowa regional friends Sunday night

We heard our name called four times. We placed 10th in Chicken, 5th in Pork and 12th Overall at the Invitational (against 118 Grand Champions). We were 14th Overall at the Open (470+ teams). Additionally we were one of only a handful of teams to place in the top twenty overall at both the Invite and Open. For our first year, we were thrilled with those results.

Unfortunately, we did not get selected to go to the Jack Daniel's World Championship. Instead we took our new camper and headed to Chicagoland for the Libertyville Barn Burner BBQ to finish out our season. We ended up having one of the most successful events of 2009 finishing 1st in Chicken, 2nd in Ribs, 3rd in Pork, and 2nd in Brisket. We won Grand Champion by a margin in excess of 23 points. The long drive home was surprising short as we relished in a fantastic end to the 2009 season.

In the off season we have been busy breaking in our new cookers and getting comfortable using them. We have also been working on getting more consistent with our ribs. We are looking forward to seeing how/if they have improved as we head down to Central Kansas next weekend for the Kansas Winter Q in Great Bend. Hopefully we can pick up right where we left off in 2009!

River City Rager

2009-09-29T09:35:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Life happens. I guess that is all I can say about being lax in updating this blog. If there are people out there that really look forward to reading this blog, I apologize.

The Up in Smoke BBQ Bash in Mason City Iowa was just that, a huge bash. The crowds were perhaps the biggest we have experienced to this date and we had a ton of fun. Ruth Miller really knows how to roll out the red carpet for the cooks, and she knows the art of Nordic Cheerleading. Thanks goes out to her for putting together such a well-run and fun contest.

For some reason there are a lot of competition cooking teams from Ames, Iowa. Almost all of the them were there, and even more interestingly we were all placed next to each other for the weekend. One of those teams is Meadow Valley. It was great to get to know them and banter back and forth the whole weekend.

Once again, everything we turned in was solid. Solid enough in fact for a 5th place finish overall in what was probably the toughest field we have faced yet. We were very happy with the finish. Congrats goes out to Bare Bones BBQ, another Weber Smokey Mountain team who took home the Grand Champion. Also congrats to Darren and Sherry Warth of Iowa Smokey D's for the Reserve Call.

The best part of the weekend was after the wards ceremony we decided to stick around for a little bit and meet some of the other stragglers. We happened upon the Twyfords BBQ camp to find a crowd of people haning out. We decide to join them spending the next few hours having the most fun I have ever had at a bbq competition.

One of the reasons for this was the I was taught a new game by Randy Twyford. It is called "Here's To". Essentially, a bottle of Gentleman Jack is passed around to everyone participating and each person takes a turn going "Here's to (insert comment regarding your experience that weekend)". For instance one person, from what I can remember said "Here's to beating The Heat is On and winning my bet with him" The Heat is On is a one man team consisting of Mark Born who just happened to be there playing the game as well. This game went on for at least 2 bottles of GJ, and stopeed pretty much when everyone had their fill. You know, come to think of it it really isn't a game at all, but an excuse to drink a lot of whiskey. Fortunately, I was able to keep my wits about me to remember most of it. Once again it was an example of the wonderful comraderie that exists between all of the great people in the bbq world. "Here's To Randy and Marla Twyford for all the great advice they gave me that evening!" and "Here's To Darren and Shery Warth for the delicious pizza!"

Double the Stakes, Double the Fun

2009-07-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Big T'z Q Cru was once again on the barbeque trail, this time engaging in our biggest challenge yet--two competitions in one weekend. All season I went back and forth as to whether or not to do this, simply questioning if we had the stamina for it. After hearing from fellow competitors that it was not as bad as it seems, and actually quite fun we decided to do it.

The dual competition scheme brings in a lot of competition. I can only guess that this gives the teams in the running for KCBS team of the year an opportunity to double-down on the points they may receive from doing well at either or both events. That, and it gives you the opportunity to do two competitions while only rolling out for one-saving both time and gas. Last year, one of my mentors, Rod Gray from Pellet Envy took Grand Champion in both events! As far as I know, that had never happened before in the history of KCBS. And yes, he was going to be there this year to defend his back-to-back wins.

Because of the dual competitions as well, for my preparations, I was desperately trying to think of ways to get some sleep. I can handle staying up most the night one night for a competition, but two--I was afraid I might go Comatose in the middle of turn-ins. The strategy was to get a Stoker temperature control system. This heralded machine automatically controls the temperature of most any cooker by blowing on the coals with a fan if the cooker is too cold, or shutting off if it gets too hot.

Due to problems sourcing some of the parts of the Stoker, John Jackson, the inventor, proprietor of the Stoker system was unable to get me the Stoker right away. At one point I thought it would not arrive in time so I had set a sleeping schedule for me and my buddies to tend to the cookers so we could get some sleep. A day before i headed out for the competition, I received a call telling me it would get here on Friday. "Perfect! you just made my day!" I yelled over the phone--the lady on the other end probably thought I was crazy.

I was still afraid I would get there on Friday get everything set up and it wouldn't work as well as a thought or at all. Much to my utter joy the Stoker worked flawlessly the whole weekend, right out of the box! The only reason I didn't get some sleep on Friday was that my buddies kept me up partying and carrying on. Saturday, everyone was a little more tired so I managed to get a whole 6 hours of good sleep, probably twice as much as I normally get.

The first competition was held in downtown Waterloo. We were fortunate enough to be placed right next to some of our best friends on the circuit, Smokehouse 72 and Tippy Canoe BBQ Crew. Being nearby them made for an awesome evening.

Once again friends and family alike were able to make the geographically proximate location, it is always great for me when this happens as it relaxes me and puts everything in perspective.

Friday was a great night with a lot of fun had by all. Late that night everyone got hungry, so I cooked up what I coined a "midnight loin" which, even though a good seven pounds was quickly devoured by everyone within earshot of the Weber Kettle it was cooking on.

The morning quickly came and it was time to put everything together. Even though staying up most of a night tending the big meats is the most tiresome part of a contest, from about 8 am on Saturday morning to 1:30 pm is easily the most physically taxing.

Everything came off and on the cookers as planned, and although the rib cooker had some problems keeping temp everything we cooked that day was solid, but once again it was up to the judges.

Before awards we had enough time to head down to the location of our next contest, LaPorte City, Iowa and set up camp, so that it what we did. Our camp this time was precisely the opposite of the comfortable location we had before. Instead of being placed by all our friends, we were put right next to and were indeed surrounded by a veritable hall of fame of championship BBQ teams. I found this to be equally exciting and downright scary. Thankfully two of these teams were my mentors, so that helped, but I could do a whole blog post on the achievements of the teams that surrounded us that evening.

We quickly set up camp and went back to Waterloo for the awards ceremony. Our friends Smokehouse 72 got the first call of the day for 2nd place on their side dish--a skillet full of delicious baked beans.

Then came the main four meats. We were fortunate enough to get a 6th place call in Chicken, 3rd place in Pork, and 2nd place brisket. Once again we went without a top ten call in ribs so we had no idea where we were in the overall rankings. However all was well as we heard our name called for Reserve Grand Champion! Congratulations goes out to a fellow Ames, Iowa team, Meadow Valley BBQ for getting the call for Grand Champion!

There was little time to waste to celebrate the victory as we needed to get back to LaPorte to get set up and prep the overnight meats. We were all settled in a pretty park in the middle of town. It was a pleasant evening with live music and hanging out with friends enjoying our success in Waterloo.

Unlike Waterloo, in which people partied well into the night, because almost all the teams in LaPorte also cooked Waterloo, things got really quiet around 11 o'clock--everyone was dead tired.

After cooking in Waterloo the day before things went really smoothly in LaPorte--I felt everything we turned in was solid, but now once again our fate was to be determined by the judges. I even got a few extra minutes to talk with and snap a picture of Rod and Johnny as they were discussing how things went that day.

The streak continued in LaPorte as well, as it turned out to be our best event to date. We even got a call for fourth place in ribs! I was about as happy about that as getting our 3rd Grand Championship of the year! Here is how we ended up:

1st Place Chicken
4th Place Ribs
5th Place Pork
1st Place Brisket

GRAND CHAMPION!

We were also fortunate enough to see the Boondoggle Boys get a call for chicken, which up to that point had been their Achilles heal. We also were happy to get our butts kicked in ribs by our friends Smokehouse 72 who placed first in the categoy after bombing on them in Waterloo. Way to go guys!

Now it is back home for the short week, before heading out to Mason City of the Up in Smoke BBQ Bash. I have heard it is a great contest, and we are looking forward to it. Hope to see you all there!

The Iowa State BBQ Championship

2009-07-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

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!

What a Qlossal Weekend!

2009-06-11T11:32:00.000-07:00

I should probably make my first blog post introducing myself, why I am here, or why I think people would listen to me, but the way things have worked out I cannot do that. You see, this past weekend something completely and utterly unexpected and amazing happened that I must share with anyone who wants to hear. Big T'z Q Cru won the Great Pork BarbeQlossal!

There are about a hundred people I would like to thank for all their help and support, but first a re-cap of the experience. The Qlossal is an all pork barbeque competition held every year for the past 22 years along with the World Pork Expo at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. With a generous purse, the competition brings in some of the biggest competition from all over the country. Since it is my hometown we thought it would be great to compete so close to family and friends whom could easily join us for the festivities. With several "big leaguers" there to vie for the $8000 Grand Champion prize, we also thought it would be fun to meet some of these pros and have a front row seat to watch them take home the trophy.

The night before Big T'z was one of five teams selected out of the field to compete in the Big Green Egg Scramble. It is a ironchef-esque competition, where the cut of pork is revealed at the beginning of the competition and teams have an hour and a half to create an entree for judges. The winner takes home the Big Green Egg that everything must be cooked on. We put together a delectable plate for the judges of sweet and sour pork with fresh strawberries, pineapple, and pears, on a bed of rice with sauteed peppers, alongside pork satay with a Thai peanut sauce. However it wasn't enough to beat Todd Johns of Pork Pullin' Plowboys who put together what looked like a fantastic pizza with a bottle of Corona to wash it all down. What a great way to spend an evening!

Our pork butts went on the cooker shortly thereafter and it was time to relax and enjoy the beautiful evening with all our family and friends that showed up. It was definitely the most fun we have had on a Friday of a competition.

The morning quickly came and brought with it rain, which was anticipated. We tended the cookers and followed our game plan. As stated earlier, this was an all pork competition with all competitors cooking ribs, pork shoulder (butt), and pork loin to be eligible for the Grand Championship. Competitors could also compete in a whole hog category, but we did not cook it as I could not figure out how to fit it in to my Weber Smokey Mountains. Turn-ins for ribs went very well. I watched the cooker like a hawk this time around after pulling out undercooked ribs in Owatonna. The diligence paid off--they came out great and went in to the box and off to the judges by 12:05. Pork was next and also came off well and off to the judges at 12:30. Pork loin on the other hand had some problems. I cut into the first half and it was undercooked (medium rare is only good with beef and lamb). With a quick prayer I cut in to the second one, which was smaller and it looked great--Phew. All three categories were in by 1:00. At that point I thought things went very well, but it was up to the judges.

By about 12:30 things started to get pretty windy and like our previous two competitions this year, became unmanageable. While we would have liked to rest and enjoy the afternoon while we waited for awards, we had to get the canopies down before the wind blew them away. The whole cru pitched in and before we knew it we were all packed up and it was time to go to the awards ceremony.

We stood in the back to get a good view of all the competitors as they walked up to get their awards. Our friends Ray and Jay Ringgenberg got one of the first calls of the day for their 8th place whole hog. It was great to see them walk up to get their trophy. 1st place whole hog went to the Twyford's. Their reaction was priceless--lots of ear-to-ear smiling and jumping up and down and hugging.

Then came the ribs and while our name wasn't called, it was great to see one of my mentors Rod Gray, from Pellet Envy, walk up to take 4th Place. While I have not had the opportunity to talk with Grumpy Old Farts, even though they have been to almost every contest we have been to so far, I have to admit I got a little teary-eyed when their name was called for 1st Place Ribs. You could just tell that it was an incredible achievement for them, and when their daughter Sherry Warth, from Iowa Smokey D's met them to give them huge hugs--that was a very special moment of the whole weekend.

After ribs were called, I got very comfortable at that point, because I knew those were the best ribs we have made to this point and if we didn't get a call on those, we probably wouldn't hear our names after that point. Much was my surprise when they called our name for 3rd place in pork. I had to have floated up to the front of the room to take the trophy because I have no recollection of how I got up there. We had struggled with pork all season up to that point, so I was elated with that call and award.

Another moment of hilarity ensued as while on our way back we shook hands with Mike and Theresa Lake of Rock River BBQ, and as they we're saying congratulations to us, they almost didn't hear their name called for 2nd place! Another shoutout to Farmboy BBQ who was stationed right next to us the past two competitions and got the call for 1st place!

Then came the pork loin category. Again we were very happy to hear our name called for 5th place on the loin category, and even happier when another of my mentor's Johnny Trigg of Smokin' Triggers got the call for 2nd Place.

At that point the wheels started turning in my head as I thought, "well maybe that was enough for a 4th Place Overall call." Again I relaxed when Shad Kirton of A Boy and His BBQ got the call for 4th Place Overall, and "Paola Greg" from Ribs 4 U got the call for Reserve Champion. Finally Todd Johns and Randy Hinck from Pork Pullin' Plowboys got the call for Reserve Grand Champion--what a great weekend for them!

Because we had no idea how we did on ribs, and because we bombed our ribs the week before, I was stunned when our name was called for our first Grand Championship. All of the cru was equally surprised and overjoyed as all of us walked up to the front of the room to take the trophy. My knees were shaking and my jaw dropped as I walked up slowly realizing what just happened. Not only was it our first Grand Championship, not only was it the Great Pork BarbeQlossal, this was the town in which I had grown up and as a result a good portion of my family and friends were able to make it out and share the moment. It was a day we will never forget.

Thank you to all my friends and family who through their help and support have helped to make this happen. Thank you to Anne Rehnstrom in putting together an amazing competition and thank you to Mike Tucker and John Church of Hawgeye's BBQ for being there for a late-night bbq sauce pick-up on Friday night. I have heard dry bbq used in competitions doesn't do very well.

Finally, I would be remise if I did not talk about how humbling it was for me to hear our team's name called and look over to see the first people to their feet to cheer us on were my mentors Rod Gray and Johnny Trigg. My only regret of the weekend is being such a worry-wort fussing over my cookers and entertaining visitors, I didn't find enough time to get over and chat with them. In my mind these two people are my BBQ heroes, and if I can achieve an iota of the success in this sport as these two have managed, I will consider myself very blessed. I have a difficult time finding the words to express how thankful I am that they care enough about this sport to share with eagar fledgling bbq teams how they have mastered their art. Through their efforts and others like them they are helping to take this sport to a new level. All I can say is that this experience I have just shared would not have happened without their assistance. Perhaps one day I will find a way to say thank you the way I really feel.