2009 Reflection

 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

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

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

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

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

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

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