Smoke on the Water Contest in Hot Springs

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.