Charcoal Cowboys

2009 Reflection

2010-01-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

The first year Charcoal Cowboys to compete on the Kansas City BBQ society competition circuit.

Year Started in March with a trip to Little Rock Ark. We left Nashville on a Thursday afternoon with snow and sleet on the ground. I think that tells you what our weekend was like Cold, Wet, and Windy. This was our first time to use the 22 inch WSM's and a BBQ guru. Also Page got to meet Jay for the first time. We had no top tens but we were happy with our scores. We set-up next to Butcher BBQ ,Smoking Guns, and Pellet Envy. I think we learned a lot from just watching from a far on how they handled the contest and from just asking some questions. The events could have been a great event but the weather ruined the activities and the Clinton Library security screwed up the load in for the BBQ teams.

No competitions in April but we had a practice run and we cooked for the Mental Health Association of Tennesse concert at the Ryman with Vince Gill. This was a great experience and we were very happy with our product based on that Page and I worked that day. This was our first catering job and we really knocked it out of the park. The Ryman event planner wanted us to vendor for Fanfest in the Ryman parking lot.

So, May we attended one contest the Sundrop BBQ festival in Pulaski ,TN. Jay arrived at my house on Thursday night and we tried to de bone chicken for the first time which later in the season we decided not to use the process. We also used parsley beds in our turn in boxes for the first time. We also tried a new process with our brisket which at the time was our worst category. We won 1st place brisket category --. We realized we were headed in the right direction with all of our products. Again this was a rainy contest but we loved that we had the bath house to take a shower. The also got to catch-up with Swiggin Pig and South Pork.

No competitions in June.

So for July 4^th we headed to Murray, KY with the families. This was the first time to have the families travel out of town with us. I thought it went fine and we had a great Friday celebrating Lindy's birthday and Jay joined the team as an official member. We got some comment cards from this event and decided to change our cook times on ribs and stop de boning chicken. We didn't place in the top 10 but we were very close. We set-up next to Shade Tree Cookers, Becky Sues BBQ team, Smokey Mountain Smokers, and Swiggin Pig and really enjoyed hanging out with everyone. This was a great event not sure why more teams don't attend this event.

August really gets us rolling. First Contest is McMinnville this is the first competition were we work 1/2 day show up at the event after 2:00. We didn’t know if we could actual make the process work because we work out of a horse trailer and need to unpack everything before we can even start prep work. We were extremely happy with the results and the contest was great. Steve joined us for the event and I remember just laughing my butt off seeing Steve playing the guitar singing Hank Williams songs in the middle of a bunch of rednecks…. I didn't know Canadians could sing any Hank songs…. We finished 9^th in Brisket at the event. We meet High on the Hawg BBQ team and really enjoyed building a friendship with Terry and Brenda. We also got to meet Do Rag BBQ team and Smoking Triggers.

Second event in August was Music City BBQ festival -we were very excited about being local and downtown. Again we worked 1/2 day and arrived after 2:00 pm to our cook site. We just had a great time at the event and had a lot of friends and family at the award ceremony. Our first call was 4^th Pork then we got a second call for 5^th in brisket. We finished 9^th overall. This was our first time to get multiple calls in an event and finish in the top 10. First event for Robert to attend and help us prep meats for display in boxes and was our runner .

No competitions in September

Our last event for the year Gallatin Smokin on the Square, we again worked 1/2 day and arrived after 2:00 pm to our cook site. We just had a great time visiting with everyone. We got our second 1^st place trophy this time in Ribs. We final got our timeframes worked out on the ribs. We also finished 9^th in Pork.

Next BIO on all cooks

Gallatin BBQ contest Oct. 2nd and 3rd

2009-10-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

The Charcoal Cowboys had everyone but Jay in attendance for the Gallatin Event which was a late add after my software project release got pushed until 2010. Gallatin is just North of Nashville so we all worked until 1 oclock and then left from Brentwood around 2pm which is working ok for us because we have all of the marniades made in advance now in water jugs. The Gallatin event is part of a large Square party on Saturday. On Friday night no one is downtown with the teams so it is a very quiet Friday with only teams and friends. They also serve a 3pm dinner for the teams. Gallatin square is great and I really liked the downtown area.

It was very windy for the contest so we didnt know how that would impact or product and we were still working on our rib timeframes because we felt we had great tasting ribs but had been missing on the texture. We felt this event we would finally have the right cooking times for ribs. We felt fine on Pork and Brisket but went back to just cooking the chicken on the hot grill and saucing. Nothing fancy for the chicken as past events.

We felt good about ribs and pork both top10. Brisket was dry for some reason and chicken was so so. We went to the award ceremony not feeling great because again only annoucing top10. No call for Chicken. Then we didnt get 2-5 call on ribs --I thought oh well probably 6th. Instead they called our name first place Ribs. We were all very excited. No call in Pork - probably top 10. No call in brisket so I thought well probably top 10. I was thinking if the chicken was decent we could win this contest. Then the big surprise....

The Brisket bombed ---- couldnt believe it.
Overall 12th
Chicken 16th
Ribs 1st
Pork 9th
Brisket 19th

Pictures above:
Turn in boxes
Team and award
Page about to eat a chunky bloody mary

More pictures

2009-09-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

1st picture - Kenly and the Grand Ole Porker
2nd picture - Charcoal Cowboys fan club
3rd picture - the stage were we received our two awards with about 5,000 people in the crowd- I had to walk thru Jacks Old South to get our awards
4th picture - dinner Friday night -seafood paella
5th picture - The Cowboys with our ambassadors

PS == Great to see Ben from Ulika --he seems to always bring us luck.....
Also great to see Billy of Manwagon been 14 years and Mark Stone of Ash Holes

Music City BBQ festival

2009-09-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

This was the first ever Music City BBQ festival. Overall I thought the set-up and the event had a lot of potential for a super event. We were located on 1st avenue at Riverfront Park. They had two events actual happening a musical festival and a bbq festival. They charged $10 to enter the event for the music but I don't think they really had anyone worth paying $10 dollars ( anyway that is what all of the event guest were saying) The guest felt they paid $10 dollars for the BBQ event. I think if next year they have it free to the public or $1 or 2 then I think this event will be well received. They actually just had too many things happening.. But I will say it was actual very well organized.

We have always in the past done well when competing in Nashville. Our first call happen in CMA Fanfest bbq contest. So, we hoped for at least one call but we knew they were only calling top 5 places and we were competing against some of the top teams in MBN and KCBS.

The strangest thing happen we got two top 5 calls -- 4th in Pork and 5th in brisket. We finished 9th overall. I can't explain how excited I was for Page and all of my team members. My only goal this year was finish one event in the top 15 and one top 5 in any category. I reflected on how well everything has went for us over the last 1 1/2 year. Two years ago I had never cooked on charcoal and never smoked in charcoal smoker. I had only cooked gourmet style or used a gas grill.

Thanks to everyone that has supported us over the last two years....

Smokin in McMinnville

2009-08-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

This was the first event that we worked 1/2 day before leaving for the event. So, we were very nervous about how this would work because we have always taken Friday off for events. We didn't arrive to the site until 2:30. We set-up next to High on the Hawg and Krispy Kritters (who was already drinking vodka but they were a local team so all of the team left and didnt show up until 3:00am to start cooking.) We were behind Smoking Triggers and meet Johnny and Trica Trigg. I got all the meat prepared and iced down by 3:30 so we made up some time by making all of our marinades at home vs onsite.

The event was held at the Civic Center area that is surround by residents. They had a beautiful pool and gym that they opened to the BBQ teams. They also has indoor restrooms and showers which is extremely nice at 8:00 am in the morning. This was a great set-up for a BBQ event.

The event itself was a little rowdy because we had around 5 local teams that came to party with a large group of followers. I have no issue with teams partying all night but they were also giving away BBQ to everyone and we were trying to plate our brisket for turn in and festival guest came up and just took a couple of slices of brisket. I really blame the local teams for this issue because they didn't wait until all meat was turned in before giving away samples.

We still finished 9th in Brisket even with the situation with the person taken brisket slices.

Here is the results:
Overall 24 out of 34
Chicken 28 out of 34 - rubbery skin
Ribs 32 out of 34 - changed cook time
Pork 23 out of 34
Brisket 9 out of 34

One last thing: We finally meet High on the Hawg -Terry and Brenda. Terry will finish his last chemo treatment Labor Day week and I will be saying a little prayer that he is clean and we get to compete against them for years to come. They are a extremely nice couple and I enjoyed my time talking with them.

Boxes and More info from Murray, KY

2009-07-12T15:50:00.001-07:00

We added a new member at the Murray ,KY event. Jay Barber has become part of the Charcoal Cowboys. Jay is from Searcy, Ark. and has been like my brother since 1985 when we were college roommates. I believe he has received the BBQ bug like Page and me.

Murray KY BBQ contest July 3rd and 4th

2009-07-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Murray KY and Murray had 26 Pro BBQ teams which made it a qualifier ( more to this story later). So, This is the first time that we have taken the family with us on a BBQ trip. My parents stayed at a RV park about 3 miles from the contest. They arrived on Thursday and scoped out the location for us. I left Franklin at 7:00 am Friday morning with my wife and child. Jay left Searcy Ark about 6:30 Friday morning and Page left Franklin around 8:00 am Friday morning with the whole family in tow.

I had no problems with travel -- the horse trailer pulled great even over some very small bridges going over Kentucky Lake and Cumberland River. I picked up my Dad and he drove us downtown and we found our spot across from Smokey Mountain Smokers, Swiggin Pig and beside ShadeTree Cooks and Lets get Drunkn and Q. I started setting up with my dad and wife prior to the rest of the team arriving ( this didn't work so well because I wanted to get the meat prepared and my wife wanted to set-up site first). Needless to say it was great to have everyone arrive and my wife and dad left so we could finish site up. Our families head to the Hotel and we caught-up with Barry of Swiggin Pig and got to meet some new teams. We also got to talk with Jim and Terry of previous TN Trio. They are cooking under Becky Sue BBQ team now.

So, we go to the cooks meeting at 4:30 and we find out that we don't have but 24 teams so this will not be a qualifier. So, After the meeting I spoke with Jim and Terry since Terry had his own cooker and they had plenty meat ---they split to give us 25 teams. I had also told them if they could find another team I had an extra butt and brisket that they could be cooked. Later that night they found a team that would cook so they took the brisket and butt.

We had a great dinner with the whole families --I cooked Hamburgers (homemade) and hot dogs on the gas grill that was attached to the trailer of Becky Sues BBQ team. We also celebrated Lindy's Birthday with some cake.

This would have been a great contest except for the JACK (picture above)-- I passed out at 2:30am - and didnt recover until about 10am.

So here are the results:
Chicken 23 out of 26
Ribs 25 out of 26
Pork 12 out of 26
Brisket 14 out of 26
My donate meat finished
Pork 23 out of 26
brisket 8 out of 26

Great Event ---- Loved the downtown and courthouse

Small backyard event in Cool Springs

2009-06-17T05:27:00.000-07:00

Everyone,

So, I recieved a call yesterday about help set-up a small backyard event on July 25th at D1 in Cool Springs. I think we can have at least 11 teams maybe 15 teams. Chicken and Ribs -- basically following the Kansas City BBQ society rules. I will keep everyone informed about the event.

Plans for 2nd Half and Funny Video

2009-06-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the plan for the rest of 2009.

07/03/09to07/04/09
Squealin' on the Square Murray, KYSTATE CHAMPIONSHIP

08/28/09to08/29/09
Music City BBQ Nashville, TN

10/02/09to10/03/09
Smokin' on the Square Gallatin, TNSTATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Funny BBQ video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ubTQfr_tyY

Results from Pulaski Sundrop Country BBQ Contest

2009-05-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

Overall 19 out of 29
Chicken 27 out of 29
Ribs 20 out of 29
Pork 23 out of 29
Brisket 1 out 29

Reflecting on Pulaski:

This is really the completion of our first year of competing. After one year we have Placed in Ribs 2nd out of 98 teams, Pork 7th out of 48 teams, and Brisket 1st out of 29 teams. So, the only meat that we haven't placed in is chicken but we have scored ok but never placed. I think we finally have a chicken product that will allow us to place very soon.

I don't think I can explain how extremely proud I'm of my team being able to compete on the professional level within 7 competitions. I think everyone will see the major difference between the boxes in this years event compared to last year.

By the way it rained!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures from the Ryman -

2009-05-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Vince Gill Concert -Jammin to Beat the Blues

2009-04-30T18:21:00.001-07:00

The Charcoal Cowboys catered the Vince Gill Concert at the Ryman Monday April 27th.

Storyline:

My wife is always volunteering me for different events. She has volunteer me to cook dinner for 8 people as fundraisers for School and Mental Health TN Association. These types of situations are very easy to accomplish even by myself by but a dinner for 50 - 75 people I had no idea what amount to cook for the event. She volunteer me on Monday before the event so I had really no time to get ready. All I could do was build a schedule because I was already cooking for the Block Party at Page's. We started Friday night at 6:00pm to set-up our cook site in the field behind Page's house. We loaded the Weber at 10:00 with the Guru controlling the heat. I left and went home to sleep. Page slept in the tent watching the Guru all night. I arrived back at 5:00 am and help prepare the other Webers and we started chicken. We finished our first round of chicken at 10:00am and tested the chicken with a couple different BBQ sauces. We feel we have found a great BBQ mix for our chicken. We really expect to score better with Chicken. We started the next round of chicken and ribs at 11:00 am. I left to buy all the food for the Vince Gill dinner at Sam's. I arrived back to Page's at 3:00 with the meat and start brining the Chicken and Pork for the VG dinner. Page had tried a new process of saucing the Brisket at foiling and he sauced one of the Pork butts at foiling. This will be something we will be doing during contest. So, we finished cooking for Page's block party at 5:30. We partied for the next couple hours and at 10:00 pm started the Weber again with the Guru and loaded the Pork Butts again. I left and Page slept in the house. We returned to the site at Sunday at 7:00 am and started the chicken and foiled the pork. I started chopping onions,peppers, potatoes, and boiling eggs for all the sides Monday night. We finished cooking and cleaning up the site at Page's on Sunday at 6:30 pm. I returned home and made all of the sides which I finished around 10:00pm

Menu:
Pulled Pork - 4 pans
Pulled Chicken - 3 pans
Cole Slaw - 12 quarts
Potato Salad- 18 quarts
Green Salad - 12 quarts
Baked beans - 4 quarts

This amount as we found out would feed around 150 people. Any way it was a great event and we were able to accomplish something we had no idea if we could do it.

Everyone invited

2009-04-21T17:17:00.001-07:00

If you read this Blog you are invited to a BBQ party on Saturday April 25th

2009 BBQ ON BRIMSTEAD

Date: Saturday, April 25^th, 2009

Time: We will plan on having the BBQ ready around 5:30pm, but come anytime in the afternoon

Where: 3148 Brimstead Drive, Franklin, TN 37064

In the Backyard (come on around back)

Facebook | My Photos - Mobile Uploads

2009-04-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Facebook | My Photos - Mobile Uploads

Pig Roast Easter

2009-04-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

The pig roast is something I really look forward to each year. We have a great cinder block pit and we burn down hickory to coals before adding to the pit. I really think the process we use creates great tasting meat in a old school method. After doing this twice I can see why the legends of bbq had such a following. Working the pit is a art.

I bought a 60 lbs pig this year from Publix and I took the pig to the site on Saturday. Set-up the site with tents and clean the pit and start the fires. We also cleaned the Pig and Chicken and brined both of them over night. I used salt, sugar and Butt Rub for the brining Chicken and used salt,sugar, and my seasoning on the Pig.

We started the fire at 4:00 on Sunday morning and added Pig to the pit at 5:00 am on Sunday morning. Then I started fire for chicken and started dutch oven to cook biscuits and started a fire for sausage and bacon. What a great morning watching the sun come up on the horizon and smell of bacon in the air with hickory.

I had issues with the pig --the hind legs were bigger then the front and I had 70 degrees difference. So I had to burn the pig trying the keep temp right. I burnt the skin but the meat was fine. I pulled the pig at 2:00 and it never go to pulled pork temp.

See pictures on Facebook link

Winchester contest

2009-04-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

The charcoal cowboys are out for winchester. Best of luck to ulika and pig smokers in paradise. The next two cooking events are whole hog for easter in springfield and block party in franklin.

Clarification

2009-03-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Horse trailer will still be used for local events. We rent from Wallace Trailers for events outside of Middle Tennessee. We had the old Ulika trailer for the last event from Wallace.

I'm working on finding someone to drive our trailer and get meat approval for Winchester event if so we will attend.

I hope to see everyone in Winchester.

Next events

2009-03-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

We plan on attending Pulaski in May, Gallatin in October, and Lawernceburg in June locally.

I would like to add Winchester,Mcminnville, and Hot Springs

See everyone soon.

Smoke on the Water Results

2009-03-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Smoke on the Water had 42 of the top 100 teams in attendance with total of 129

We finished overall 59/129
Chicken 44/129
Ribs 46/129
Pork 86/129
Brisket 78/129

This was a great first event for the year. We scored well in every category and even had a couple perfect scores.

First time with our new smokers and we had never cooked in that type of weather.

it was fun seeing people come by and see the new 22in Weber bullet smokers. We spoke with lots of teams about the new smokers

Smoke on the Water in Little Rock March13th

2009-03-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

The first contest under the name of Charcoal Cowboys with our new grilles.

I think we took more clothes than all of the other items we carry for the BBQ contest.

We started watching the weather on Monday which was 80 degrees and the weather was calling for Sleet and Rain temp in the 40's high and low's 30 at night on Friday and Saturday.

We left Thursday night for Searcy, Ark and we had sleet/snow on the ground. The trip to Searcy was fine and we arrived in Searcy around 11:00 pm. It was around 34 degrees when we arrived at Jay's house. We sit outside in the trailer for about an hour and talked about life. It is always these types of times that are the best.

Rebuttal by Page

2009-03-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

So, Page doesn't seem to remember the Gallatin contest as I stated in the Blog:

I saw the new blog. It looks great. The only problem is that it is full of lies. What really happened was that I carried the load for Robert and Steve (since they arrived so very late) that I was simply exhausted as you can see in the picture. I had to rest up as I had to be refreshed for my trip to AZ on Sunday. And that my friend is what really occurred. In fact, I didn't want to have to use these but since you brought it up I have attached the incriminating photos to prove my story. Please note that I do not see any photos of me consuming any of that evil fire water.

Pictures of our turn in box

2009-02-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

This was our last turn boxes for Thillerz on the Grillerz. We have hanged our name and ready for 2009.

Pictures prior to turn in

2009-02-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Pictures of Brisket cooking and Pork Butt and Brisket prior to loading

Sunset set on Friday night

2009-02-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

As you will be able to see in the pictures. I seem to have lost Page and Robert by sunset.

Story: So, the day before the contest I was laid off from my job. I thought we should drown my sorrow with some Jack but what really happen. Page and me went early and set-up the site and we thought Robert and Steve would arrive by noon. Instead because I got laid off Robert had to take my responsibilities at work so they didn't arrive until 6:30. Mike Crabb came out right at 6:45 so I had the usually Jack shot to start the competition. Since Mike was out I took him around to see the contest and all the grills. We got back to the site at 7:15--- The whole liter of Jack was gone and they (Robert and Page) wanted to buy more. I had dinner ready so we ate and by 7:30 Page went for more Jack. He got back to the competition at 7:45 and by 8:00 Page and Robert were done...... I guess they took the hangover for me.....

Teams in Gallatin BBQ Smoke on the Square

2009-02-22T17:06:00.000-08:00

This is team QUAU -they won the contest

This was Linda Gould teams these girls were a hoot... Linda was having a good time which was nice to see.

Pig Smokers In Paradise - Reserve Champion - what a great way to end the year

Jobeaz Blazing Butts - this team was set-up beside us. They laugh at the crew all night.

Oct. 3rd and 4th

2008-09-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

The Thrillerz on the Grillerz will be back in full force for the Gallatin Smoke on the Square contest. The contest is held on Main Steet near the courthouse. If you attend please stop by and say HI!! Look for the blue Horse trailer

More pictures from Hot Springs:

Smoke on the Water Contest in Hot Springs

2008-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry about no post during the summer the team took off for the summer and will be competing in Gallatin, TN Oct. 2-4th.

I have been itching for another contest so I have a friend who lives in Arkansas (Jay) and one in Texas (Matt)-- I talked them into entering the Hot Springs contest neither guy had ever attend a BBQ contest.

This was the first time for me to compete out of Middle TN and this was going to be the largest event I had attend. The city of Hot Springs sponsored the contest which included two free concerts one from Tracy Byrd and a Jimmy Buffet cover band. They also had a hot air balloon show and car show. I would guess that the event had over 50,000 people attend all events. They also had 95 BBQ teams competing in the contest.

So, I competed under the name TAT BBQ team in the KCBS 4 meats. Some of the best teams in the country competed in the contest. So, I tried Indian Tandoori chicken which bomb finishing 87 out of 95. Then we tried baby back ribs for the first time and the ribs were just falling apart in my hands as I tried to move them. I found three slabs that stayed together so I cut the ribs using two bones. This is the biggest shocker we finished 2nd out of 95. We won a trophy and $1000 dollars. I thought the pork was better than Fan Fest contest that we finished 7th but I forgot to sauce before turn in and that might be the reason we finished 61 out of 95. I tried a whole brisket because we had scored so bad with our brisket in previous contest. We finished 42nd out of 95. Then with all scores tallied we finished 52 out of 95. This was a great contest for me and I'm excited about the Gallatin contest.

What Happen at Sam Davis Home?

2008-07-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

We felt good about the Sam Davis Home contest because we had just competed in the CMA contest and placed with our Pork and it was back to back so everything was still packed and ready to go.

Should have known from the beginning that it wasn't going to turn out how I expected. So, On Friday after work we arrived for what they called a Hoe Down dinner. I thought they had music and something special to eat. So remember it was 90 degrees, they had one pan of white beans that was empty and some cornbread. We got nothing but a little juice and some cornbread. No music or dance. I'm not sure why they called it a Hoe Down. Anyway moving on...

My dad delivered the trailer earlier in the day so we had no problem unloading and getting everything set-up except my tent was broken. I'm not sure what happen maybe at the ocean for the week caused some type of problem. So, anyway we got everything set-up and left for the night.

It rained all night Friday and Saturday morning. I arrived first at 1:00 to get the meat inspected and first thing I see is Robert's tent is buckled in. So, we lost both tents during this contest. Second thing that happen was I couldn't find a meat inspector. They were short of judges for backyard contest so I didn't get an meat inspector until 3:00pm. This really hurt because the pork could have used the extra brining time.

The because of all the rain the night was very damp and I couldn't keep a fire in my cooker and I had to manually fan my cooker all night. We also for the first time basted the ribs with sauce and added them back to the Weber but it was to hot and caused them to stick to the grill.

I still felt good about our product but we didn't have anything that would place but I found out how to create extra moisture in my pork and brisket and will use the secret next time --thanks to swiggin piggy.

We celebrated Father's Day on the grounds. The Sam Davis home is probably by far the prettiest venue that we have attend a competition.

Turnin boxes from Sam Davis Home BBQ contest

2008-07-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

CMA BBQ Contest June 7-8

2008-06-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

All,

OK - So , I'm going to finish talking about the CMA BBQ but I wanted to show proof.

Sam Davis Home BBQ contest June 14th and 15th

2008-06-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

We will be competing in the Sam Davis Home BBQ contest this weekend in Smyrna, TN. We will be at our site around 1:00 on Sat until 4:00 on Sunday. We are really excited about competing again after placing at the CMT BBQ contest.

Some pictures from the CMT contest:

Picture of our boxes from CMT BBQ

2008-06-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

I have displayed all of our Boxes from the CMT BBQ contest. We didn't sauce any meats at this competition. We turned in all meats dry. We scored the best overall at this event but I think that is because we went back to the way I have been cooking all winter.

The Horse Trailer

2008-06-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

So, I want to talk about our Horse Trailer. First my brother in law is upset that I haven't said anything about us using his horse trailer and Second it seems to be a joke on the BBQ circuit about our Horse trailer. So here is the story about the horse trailer.

I ask my brother in law ( Billy Estes) if he used the horse trailer alot. He said that the floor is out but is going to be replaced before I would need to borrow for Pulaski event. So, I went the week before the event to make sure I could hook up to the trailer. Things that jump out at me - Four horse trailer and lots of rust. I thought how in the heck'm I going to back the trailer. So, Once I hooked up to the trailer --my brother in law wouldn't let me take the trailer until I could show him that I could travel around town with the trailer attached. I was nervous but I had no problems.

On the BBQ circuit the trailer is already a Legend - They want us to change our name to the 4 horsemen. Whoa...........

CMT BBQ contest results

2008-06-09T09:50:00.001-07:00

The Team had the very first call to the stage in the meat categories. We finished 7th in Pork and I will post more information in the next couple of days with pictures.

This was a very big deal for us.

CMA BBQ Contest June 7-8

2008-06-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

All,

Just back from Gulf Shores, Al from vacation with my family.

We are preparing for the KCBS CMA BBQ contest this weekend located at:
FROM SOUTH OF NASHVILLE: Follow I-65 North then merge onto I-40 East/I-24 West. Take Shelby Avenue, Exit #49, towards LP Field. Cross over the Gateway Bridge toward downtown. Take left onto 4th Ave South. Take immediate right onto Franklin. Go through 1 stop sign and Sports Zone entrance will be on your right.

To get an overview of the rest of the activities taking place, check out www.cmafest.com. Pay special attention to the activities in the Chevy Sports Zone, as this is the area where we will be set up.

Sundrop Notes

2008-05-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Sundrop event was our first of the year. We had a practice run just two week before the contest but at the end of the practice run it becomes a big party so sometimes you are not sure how you actually done. I thought we had actually produced during the practice run call out products. I switched our process just a little bit before attending the Sundrop by trying to use the green egg to cook the butts and brisket once wrapped. This didnt work so we will return to cooking on the Horizontal smokers. We also tried to cook the ribs one hour less which didnt work for the contest. I hope to have better results at the CMA event.

The Sundrop BBQ had great people involved in the event and were extremely helpful. I can't say how nice everyone was to us during our time at the event. This was also the first time my parents attended the BBQ events. They couldn't believe the rigs most of the Pro teams have for cooking. In this event even the Backyard group has some very nice rigs. The thing is if your cooking just cook all night and enter all meats instead of just doing chicken and ribs for the backyard event.

Other notable items - We got to meet the Ulika team and spend time with PSIP again.
This was one event were the Gentleman Jack seem to be flowing. I think Robert was using it to control his pain in his back. Not sure it was working by how much was being consumed. We also enjoyed talking with people who come by the our site asking questions. Also we used my brother-in laws horse trailer to carry all of our grills. This was great to have the trailer and made it much easier.

I'm leaving on vacation for the next week so I will be back on June 2nd getting ready for CMA's.

Sundrop display boxes

2008-05-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Our turn in boxes from the Sundrop BBQ contest

Sundrop Contest May 8,9 and 10th results

2008-05-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

I was disappointed looking at the overall score but I have highlighted the positive items from this weekend:

1. Congrats to Steve - Our First callout from the Stage—8th place for the pizza tied with 7th place

2. Congrats to Robert – Our First perfect score from a Judge for the dessert

3. The chicken placed in the top 20

4. We were very organized and hit all of our timeframes with 3 pizzas, 12 lbs of rib extra, 2 desserts, 2 butts, 2 briskets, 6 rib slabs, and 18 chicken legs cooked over the weekend.

5. We also know we were better at the trial run. We will quit chasing the judges and cook for ourselves

The negative:

We scored overall better at our first event but we would have finished last with our overall score from the Gaylord event as well.

I will load our plating pictures later.

First Trial run for 2008

2008-04-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

The team had it's first trial run for 2008 and added our new team member Steve Cork to the mix. We also are working with one hurt team member Robert is currently down in his back and is very limited in his ability to help. Robert is very valuable with overseeing everything and keeping everything sanitized.

Steve has a Green Egg so we have added it to the mix of grills for 2008. We are going to use a slather this year and found that it creates an issue with the size of the smoke ring. We couldn't even get a smoke ring using the egg because it cooked the food too quick. Anyway, we created great tasting food but nothing was turn in quality because of the lack of smoke ring.

Some picture from this weekend:

Easter Pig Roast

2008-04-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

The family decided to have a Pig Roast for Easter. So, all of the men agreed to help me with setting up and cooking a whole pig for Easter. The woman got a little nervous about us cooking a whole pig for the first time with a large gathering of people and no other meat being available. Which sort of upset me--- they had didn't believe we could actually cook the pig properly. So, I agreed to smoke some chickens as well as the pig for Easter. This was a blast I used the the 3 guys from Miami setup. Web site: http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html

I was able to order the pig from Publix's in McKays Mill. The Pig weighted about 60 lbs and needed a week to thaw out at the store. So, I order the pig three weeks in advance of Easter.

We didn't butterfly the head because no one was interested in that area of the hog ---I know some people really like the head.

The Pit really worked on roasting the pig. I didn't use the same method as the Cuban Guys on creating heat. I created coals from Hickory in another pit and added the hot coals to the pit and added apple, maple, and oak chunks to the fire to create a nice smoke.

Here is a picture of the pig after cooking

Pictures at the turn:

Here is what I learned about the pit the concrete cinder blocks will radiate heat and once they were warm they started pushing the heat into the middle of the pit and that is the reason the pig is darker on the middle section than the outside which was the location of the fire.

Pictures of the turn in boxes

2008-04-18T14:08:00.001-07:00

BBQ Contest -Gaylord Fiddlin and Brewin

2008-04-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

The big day came for our first contest, We felt good about the items we had learned from the practice run that was only two weeks before and we had a good schedule and learned a lot about the actual cooking process as a team. Little did we know that we were not prepared to cook against the competition teams.

Items that we were ready for:
1. We had all of the items like knives, tongs, gloves, cutting boards, tables, tent, wash station, meals, drinks and etc… We didn’t have items that we had to leave the contest to retrieve.
2. We had a good schedule and everyone knew their responsibilities.
3. We had no surprises about how the contest was going to be run. Thanks to the book: Competition BBQ Secrets
Items that we weren’t ready for:
1. We really didn’t know what the products should look like during turn in
2. We struggled getting our food up to temp because our smokers weren’t as nice as other smokers.
3. How nice all the other teams are to you during competition.
4. How much fun you actually have during the event.
5. Getting a nice looking product as well as tasting good.

Use the first event as a learning experience and ask question to other teams because they will help you with suggestions. We have to give a big shout out to South Pork and Pig Smokers in Paradise for all the help.

We finished the first competition 73 out of 78 and received some scores of 9 on chicken and brisket. We didn’t get disqualified and we scored average on almost all over our products.

Here is what we found out later:
Chicken – cooked to dark, need to cook the glaze into the skin
Ribs - Have no idea – extremely tough but the meat should leave a mouth bite in the meat. Cook the glaze into the meat
Pork Butt – Good bark but needed to rest at least 1 hour
Brisket – we over cooked the brisket because it was falling apart it should have some give.

Some pictures:

Preparing for the First practice run

2008-04-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

The Team was able to have a practice run before the BBQ. The team had a lot of items to work thru before the practice run:

1. Work on T-shirts and aprons with our names
2. Needed a Tent at least 10X10 -really needed two - one with side walls-use to relax. Sam's has a great deal on tent
3. Needed tables to prepare food - FYI - Use PVC pipe cut at 13" to increase the height of the table - tables from Sam's plastic top rectangle and pvc from Lowes with cap on end.
4. Buckets - used for storage, clean water, bleach water. We used Home Depot buckets and glanvized buckets with large mouths for cleaning our cutting boards and knives
5. Grill - Needed three smokers - 2 650sq cooking briskets,butts, and ribs. 1 used one for chicken. then we had a weber round grill for lighting fires and dinner
6. Lights- couple lights -Nice big spot light that can be hung- like a shop light and flashlights
7. Need something for ashes - ash bucket and shovel
8. Water hoses and electrical cords
9. Need something that you can level your grills in case ground unlevel
10. Knives and scissors
11. Weights for tents in case your on Asphalt or concrete
12. Fan or Heat depending on temp.
13. Nice large cutting boards - Sams or Academy Sports
14. Determining wood - Academy Sports
13. Create a schedule- see example
5:30:00 PM Wednesday Pick-up grilles at Page's
8:00:00 PM Wednesday Complete Rubs
8:00:00 PM Wednesday Complete Sauce

5:30:00 PM Thursday Butcher Block meats
8:30 PM Thursday Complete Mops

9:00:00 AM Friday Load Ken's truck -Ken's House
10:00:00 AM Friday Load Robert's grill
11:00:00 AM Friday Grab Lunch
12:00:00 PM Friday Arrive at Gate for event
1:00:00 PM Friday Meat Approval
2:30:00 PM Friday Area Set-up
3:00:00 PM Friday
3:15:00 AM Friday Rub down Butt and inject
3:30:00 AM Friday Rub Down Brisket and inject
3:45:00 AM Friday Ribs in Cider and Lemon
4:00:00 PM Friday Chicken in Italian Dressing
4:00:00 PM Friday Cook Meeting/add table cloth after clean-up
5:00:00 PM Friday Regroup/after cook meeting
6:00:00 PM Friday
7:00:00 PM Friday Start Fire one grill and Weber/Gates open
7:30:00 PM Friday Mickey and Motorcars
8:00:00 PM Friday Start Butt and Brisket -one grill/cook hamburger
8:10:00 PM Friday Dinner Hamburgers
9:00:00 PM Friday Cross Canadian Ragweed
10:00:00 PM Friday
11:00:00 PM Friday
12:00:00 AM Friday Mop

1:00:00 AM Saturday Start fire for Ribs -other grill/Mop
2:00:00 AM Saturday Rub Ribs and mustard binder and add to grill/Mop
3:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
4:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
5:00:00 AM Saturday Start fire for Chicken/soak chips/prep smoker/Rub Chicken/ Mop
6:00:00 AM Saturday Breakfast/Mop/chicken to grill
7:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
7:45:00 AM Saturday Start Chicken chimney
8:00:00 AM Saturday wrap ribs in foil with mop/wrap brisket in foil mop
8:30:00 AM Saturday Add chicken chimney
9:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
10:00:00 AM Saturday Remove all meats and start fire in Weber for finishing needs
11:00:00 AM Saturday regroup/crisp skin
11:30:00 AM Saturday START PLATING CHICKEN
12:00:00 PM Saturday Chicken turn in/Gates Open
12:10:00 PM Saturday START PLATING RIBS
12:30:00 PM Saturday Rib turn in
12:40:00 PM Saturday START PLATING PORK
1:00:00 PM Saturday Pork turn in
1:10:00 PM Saturday START PLATING BRISKET
1:30:00 PM Saturday Brisket turn in
3:00:00 PM Saturday Bobby Flay Demo
5:00:00 PM Saturday Awards

Items we learned at the practice run:
1. We didnt want to be worrying about breakfast on turn in day. So we just had breakfast bars.
2. We couldnt use all of the cooking area and need to do somethign with the opening for smoker box to food box. We used a alum pan to keep flames from reaching the food.
3. We couldn't use the split wood at Academy sports because we couldn't control the temp. in the food box. The big piece caused temp to soar into the 400 degree range.
4. It rained during the practice run and we lost about 30 degrees during the rain. Also you need your items off the ground because alot of items got really wet.

5. We practice our turn in process. 30 minutes flys during turn in. We had one person preparing the turn in boxes and two people cutting and determining what to tpieces to turn in. Also the team gets a little tipsy at this point in the process so be sure to have this defined.

6. We really struggled with ribs. We just had no idea what to do with them.

Here are some pictures

Example of our practice turn in box:

How The Thillerz on the Grillerz was created summer of 2007

2008-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

All,

I had worked with Robert Guisinger and Page Thompson for at least 7 years. We had attended cooking classes at Viking in Franklin over the years and had a great time. We all love to cook from gourmet to simple open fire cooking. I had noticed an Ad for a BBQ contest at the Gaylord Hotel in Nashville for last weekend in September and I guess it was around May. At the time only Page owned a smoker and it was a very small upright water smoker. We all agreed that this was something we wanted to try even thought we really had no experience in smoking meat in a real wood smoker.

So over the next couple of months, Robert and me bought barrel smokers from Academy Sports and started using them to cook butts, ribs, and brisket. Page was working on the chicken using his smoker. We researched on to cook using smokers and what a BBQ contest would be like for beginners. They had a backyard classification but we decided that if we were going then we would do all four meats (butt, ribs, brisket, and chicken).

Picture attached is my first fire in smoker box -Too hot and burned box