It’s summer guys, fire up your smokers.

USA#! on paper plate right there.

what's happening in the upper right between the mac & cheese and slaw? is that some sort of tater salad? it looks like parts of it have a fried crust which is throwing me off.

Potato salad with lots of crispy bacon

That sounds amazing

Good work man! Looks fantastic.

These ribs to me are perfection, nicely done.

Thanks all, as always the secret to my BBQ is cook it just a little longer.

Red potato salad, an original recipe

Pressure cook 6 diced gold potatoes with lots of salt and vinegar 5 minutes or boil 10 minutes, drain and cool

1cup best foods or homemade mayo
1 minced shallot or 1/4 minced red onion
1cup chives or scallions diced
1lb bacon cooked very crispy and crumbled
1tbsp heaping paprika or other mild chili
1tsp cayenne or to taste
1tsp Dijon
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional diced hard boiled eggs


Mix all nonpotato ingredients and then toss with potatoes

Time for my second solo foray into bbq competitions.

Same contest as last year. Pretty much the same teams as last year as well, 12 total. And I was right next to the guys who got shitfaced drunk last year for the whole weekend. One guy passed out in the port-a-potty. They didn't drink as much as last year, but they still managed to cook things in a similar fashion:



Yeah, they finished dead last, again.

Last year I had issues with air leaking into my firebox causing the smoker to run hot. I fixed the gaskets so I was able to maintain my temps better. The problem was getting the temps up in my fully loaded smoker. I started the brisket and pork at midnight, wrapped them at 6 am, and put on the ribs. I think all that meat stifled the flow of smoke through the smoker. I ended up having to finish some things on the small grill I brought. Not ideal.

Sausage:



Italian sausage from the same place my old team took first in at the American Royal. Turned out pretty good and finished 4th.

Chicken:



My weakest entry last year. I cooked chicken a couple of times to prepare for this year and bought a mini loaf pan to cook them in. I felt this was my best entry this year. Finished 4th.

Ribs:



Pretty good for me. Doneness was good and had a good flavor. Finished 5th.

Pork:



Pulled some and sauced it and didn't like the flavor, so I set that aside and pulled some more and just tossed it with some Sweet Baby Ray's. Added some chunks to complete the box. Thought it was a mediocre result for me. Finished 2nd. Very surprising.

Brisket:



Having to rush it at the end overcooked the outside and made it dry. Taste was good, but very disappointing for what I consider my strongest meat. Finished 7th.

So my overall finish was third. Improvements from last year were time management, preparedness, and building my boxes closer to turn in. I think to improve in the future I will need more cooking space - either a larger smoker, or a second one. Just something to cook the brisket and pork on once they are wrapped.

As an aside, the same guys seem to win this every year. Not surprising given the level of competition, but they don't seem to be operating by the same rules. They drop off their stuff and then disappear until 3 or 4 in the morning when they fire up their smoker. I have no idea when or if they get their meat inspected. It might be nothing, but it seems odd to me.

nice work Jim!

Nice job JH. Thanks for the report.

Nice work! As far as meat inspection for the other team, another team can inspect your meat in kcbs. It's usually only used when a team arrives very late due to work or another obligation, but it can and does happen.

As for showing up that late, if they're cooking hot and fast on drums, that's a reasonable time. I don't get up at comps until 5 to the light the fires. We have also shown up, set up, did our prep work (injecting, rubs, etc) and then left and shown back up about that time you mentioned to get started for the day. It's not what we usually do, as we like to hang out, drink some beers and have fun, but we have done it. They may have done that too.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I have to get my wife back to judging bbq contests. Pictures in this thread are making me hungry.

Cool. I can taste it all except for the chicken skin I can't quite imagine. I see all of the fat has rendered out of it nicely but that texture isn't obvious from the photo.

How does sausage work? Your own recipe?

I need to just read through the rules. A guy next to me told me you can prep meat ahead of time, but you just can't brine or season it before inspection. That would make things much simpler once I'm on site. I get cooking hot and fast, but I just wonder about the other stuff. Everyone else had to wait until 5 pm to get their meat inspected. If they're making other arrangements, I'd like the same consideration.

I pulled the skin off and scraped off the fat before cooking. That helps with getting a nice, bite-thru shin.

I bought it from a local butcher, it's their own recipe. I want to make my own eventually, but I haven't got around to it yet.

Yes, you can trim ahead of time. The easy way to remember it is you can remove things (fat, etc) you just can't add (rub, injection) before inspection.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Good post Jim I know how much work goes into that your boxes look nice.

I knew there was something going on with the chicken! My brain kept nagging but I can taste it now.

Great job. 3rd overall is super solid!

Also good news that you "need" to aquire an additional smoker. Fun problem to have.

Was this a KCBS event? Where was it? I tried looking it up and couldn't find it.

It wasn't a KCBS event. Local Masons put this on.

I don't come to 2p2 too often anymore and had forgotten all about this thread. Luckily tapatalk decided to give me a notification about it the other day. I'll post a recap of my next comp next weekend, but here are my turn ins from a couple weeks ago. Full disclosure the lighting in our camper sucks and makes everything look lighter than it is.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

What is the story on the deviled eggs? Meaning what is in it?