Places we are cooking this year

Each Lightning strike represents a location that we will likely be cooking a contest at some point this year.

I'm debating whether this is a lame way of representing this information or a novel, trendy way to represent it.

Gnocchi, Hot Sauce and Hysteria

Came across this short video of this guy who attempted to merge Italian Gnocchi dough, hot oil and Frank's hot sauce . . . . with some rather comical results. Thought you might enjoy this.

Spring Cleaning Time

March is finally here. After a winter that seemed to burp out snow at every opportunity, it's time to go find that old brush with the worn bristles and clean up the grill and start a fire!

RubberMaid #G100-12 BBQ Grill Brush

BBQ Planning 2011

So the whole gang got together last Saturday night to plan for the BBQ Contest schedule 2011 and celebrate Jesse's 39th birthday. Happy Birthday! We got him a little brown jug of corn whiskey from McCormicks in Weston. It was surprisingly smooth. I grilled beef tenderloin and baked potato. I think everyone enjoyed the steak. My cheesecake experiment did not quite come out right, but it tasted pretty good. I'll keep trying.

We came up with 9 contests for this year. Washington MO., Lawrence, KS., West Des Moines, IA., (a saturday/sunday contest, awesome), Lenexa, KS., (defending Reserve Grand, hoping fro Grand this time!), Fort Smith, AR., (Reserve Grand 2 years ago), El Dorado or Olathe KS., Omaha, NE., (also a saturday/sunday contest), Springfield, MO., and The American Royal. 5 states and 2,600 miles. Pretty ambitious. Should be great fun. Now, if only we could get a Grand Champion in each state, we would have 5 draws for the Jack.

Farmland Foods is back on board to supply Pork and Ribs. Big thanks to Jesse for that! I found 2 Ninety pound angus brisket cases at Restaurant depot, so they should all weigh about 14 lbs. This is the same product we got First place in Springfield with last year. I think we are ready for a great year!
John

Looking for Park Avenue BBQ & Grille ?

Recently, a few of you have stopped by our blog looking for a BBQ Restaurant in Florida. If you live along the coastal side of Florida, and came by here lookin' for Park Avenue BBQ & Grille, you should probably click here to check out their web site or here to check out there blog.

We aren't affiliated with Park Avenue BBQ & Grille, nor have we had a chance to eat at their restaurant, but the next time we get to Florida, we may just check it out.

Whole Hog !

After more than 3 years of competition BBQ, we finally entered our first Whole Hog cooking event this past weekend in Springfield. Our newest team member Jesse led the charge on the Whole Hog entry, and so we feature him with the finished product, which was good for a 2nd Place ribbon, in the photo above.

Cookin' the Whole Hog is a lot of fun, but something we definitely will need some additional practice at in order to perfect. This little guy (about 35 pounds) was supplied to us by the contest, but he was bone chillin' cold when we first picked him up so we had to get him thawed a little before we could season him and get him into the cooker.

The Springfield contest was organized well, and other than sweltering heat, there wasn't a single thing to complain about at this event, definitely one we'll be looking to do again next year.

For those that might have often wondered how a Whole Hog ends up as bacon, ribs, pork chops, etc, this video from Protein University does a pretty good, albeit dramatic, job of showing how it's done.

Special Thanks to Midwest Scuba Q

BBQ Folks are truly a sharing and helpful bunch. We knew we were going to be without electricity at the upcoming Lenexa contest, and thought we might need to use a generator for an hour here or there over the coming weekend.

Not finding a decent rate on a weekend rental, we put some feelers out, and Ryan from the Midwest Scuba Q team came through for us even though he had never even met us. As a matter of fact, due to schedules that we couldn't get to line up (and a major wreck on I-435 that tied traffic up for 45 minutes), I ended up getting the generator from him, filling it with gas, and returning it to him without ever even meeting him myself.

Regardless, a big shout out to Ryan and the Midwest Scuba Q team, hope to run into you at a contest sometime soon.

Thanks!