|
|
|
2011 Schedule
USA BBQ Championship - Las Vegas NV May 21st & 22nd Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Lenexa KS June 24th & 25th Paola Roots Fest - Paola KS August 26th & 27th Greeley Smoke Off - Greeley KS Sept 9th & 10th BBQ & Brats Fest - Hermann MO Sept 23rd & 24th Autumn Blaze Off - Garnett KS October 14th & 15th
2010 Schedule
Lawrence Sertoma BBQ - Lawrence KS May 7th & 8th
Great Lenexa BBQ Battle - Lenexa KS June 25th & 26th
Wheels N Squeels - Olathe KS August 6th & 7th
Paola Roots Fest - Paola KS August 27th & 28th
Greeley Smoke-Off - Greeley KS Sept 10th & 11th
BBQ & Brats Fest - Hermann Mo Sept 24th & 25th
Autumn Blaze-Off - Garnett KS October 15th & 16th
All dates subject to change Sponsorship opportunities available
2010 Results
Feel free to follow our contest results and other happenings on Facebook
2009 Results
Autumn Blaze Off Garnett KS '09
The 2009 season ended on a down note for us the weekend of October 16th and 17th. We had a lot of fun and cooked what we thought was very good food. Our only call was 2nd place in Ribs, nothing to sneeze at, but we had been on a roll this year and where looking for much more. Congrats to my friends Greg and Eric from Ribs 4 U on winning the GC. We look forward to seeing them and all our other friends out on the circuit next season. Happy Holidays and a safe winter to all.
We
got back Sunday from the Hermann MO contest and wow are we tired. What
a great contest in a great town. Hermann is one of my new favorite
places and I can't wait to get back, Laura is already looking up Bed
and Breakfast places to stay in December.
The contest is in
the beautiful City Park which happens to be an RV park situated at the
base of the hill which Stone Hill Winery sits atop. We heard the crowds
where down a little cause the Herman High School was playing their
Homecoming game Friday night and rain was threatening by the time the
game was over.
We met some very nice people, and one of the
local guys, Keith, and I played in the washer tournament Saturday
between the last turn-in and the Awards Ceremony. Just a quick word on
playing washers in Hermann, the folks we played against don't just play
washers the LIVE washers. Absolutely packed with incredible throwers.
There where 14 teams, 28 throwers and at least 20 of them where better
than anyone I've ever played with or against! We won our first two
rounds and Keith told me the fun was over now we where in big trouble
and man was he right. We got slaughtered, my fault, in the next two.
Had a great time anyway.
At the Awards they tried to give me a
stroke again just like in Lawrence, no calls in any category, again,
until they got to the last call 1st Place Brisket and we popped it
again Champion of Beef Brisket Heavy Smoke. The rest of our scores
where solid and we managed 4th place overall out of 41. Got two nice
checks and two very cool trophies which are bottles of wine from Stone
Hill Winery, engraved with the contest name, the year, and what
placement they are for. Very original and very cool. Can't wait to cook
it again, I may send in the entry fee right now so I don't forget!
The
weekend of August 28th and 29th we competed in Paola for the East
Central Kansas State Championship. As always the contest was run quite
well, on the square in town. It is unlike almost all BBQ contests
because it takes place in the midst of a huge town celebration with
carnival games, food vendors and band after band playing on stage.
We
had a great time and cooked very well. There were 68 teams competing we
got a 6th place call for Sausage, then no top tens in the four main
categories. I told George we must have gotten 11th in everything, well
it turns out I was closer to accurate than anyone would have guessed,
we got 11th in 2 of the 4, Pork and Brisket, which earned us 5th place
Overall. I was very proud when we heard that call. Gotta keep it
rolling like this and the big checks will come our way!!
Hoot
Well
our run of three straight top tens came to an end the weekend of August
7th and 8th, yes, I know this is very very late. I've been busy.
I
have been waiting for a BBQ contest to get organized in Olathe ever
since we started doing this 8 years ago and it has finally happened,
and what a contest it was. There was one prevailing sentiment among the
competitors who I talked to at this contest and that was, "This is one
on the best run contest, ever, anywhere." It was a blast, great people,
lots to do for kids and families, and just an all around great time.
We
were happy with our Chicken, thrilled by the Ribs and so so on the
Pork. Then I cut the briskets and it was a complete flash back to the
Hy-Vee contest last year. Exactly the same, not good, at all, it
miraculously made 22nd place though. I think I know the problem, both
then and this time, and will try to avoid it in the future. We got a
call for 9th place in Ribs, and just missed the top ten in Chicken at
11th, and the Overall classification at 12th.
Note to the Wheels N Squeels committee, see you next year, for sure!
Hoot
Great Lenexa BBQ Battle '09
This
past weekend, June 26 & 27, was the Great Lenexa BBQ Battle. We
have competed in this contest for three years now and it gets more fun
every year. We moved spaces this year and although we are farther from
some of our good friends on the circuit, our new spot is ideal. We have
tall trees scattered around us so it is completely shaded with plenty
of breeze and totally flat. We love it, our old space was full sun all
day and sloped at a 20 degree angle.
On Saturday things didn't
start out great, our chicken had great flavor but the skins where just
a little tough and nothing we tried seemed to help. Things got better
from there. The ribs were very good. I jinxed us with an innocent
comment during pork turn in. I told the team "I don't care how it
scores I'll spend the rest of my cooking career trying to cook a pork
butt as good as those two." Turned out to be our lowest placement.
It
was about 102 degrees in the shade by the time the awards ceremony
rolled around but we toughed it out and were rewarded with two calls.
We got 10th in Brisket and 10th overall! There were 188 teams there
this year so we are thrilled. When I checked on-line today I found out
we got 17th in Ribs, 36th in Chicken, and a lowly 77th place in Pork. I
think Lenexa is an old Indian word for "How the heck did that happen?"
We are off to a good start this year and looking forward to the rest of our schedule.
Hoot
We
kicked off the 2009 Q season last weekend, May 8th and 9th, in Lawrence
KS and had absolutely gorgeous weather. We were very excited to get
started this year after the winter and looking forward to good times
and good scores. Followers of this blog are, I'm sure, aware we had a
frustrating year last year and this off season, after much thought, I
decided to make some changes. They weren't really changes persay as
much as reversing changes we had made last year.
I know I've
said it before but all you can do in this game is cook the best meat
you can get and cook it the best way you know how and let the chips
fall where they will. We didn't always do that in 2008 but we will in
'09.
We had I nice party Friday night with the Lawrence
brothers Tyler and Blake and some of their college buddies, Blake was
wearing his Husker's Gator Bowl Championship ring with pride.
The
cook Saturday came off with out a hitch and, except for the chicken
lacking that lipsmacking POP you always like to get, we were happy with
everything and looking forward to the awards ceremony. Then we sat
there and listened to them call team after team 10 places in 4
categories, and I started to wonder if I had any freaking clue what I
was doing. Then, on the last call they made, huge frustration and
bewilderment were replaced by elation and relief. That's right the last
category call was First Place Brisket Heavy Smoke. We ended up 9th Overall with a respectable 14th in Pork. I'm happy with that result.
It's not the goal, but in a contest like Lawrence, its still a good way
to off start the year.
Hoot
2008 Results
Garnett Autumn Blaze -Off October 17th and 18th marked the end of a fun but frustrating competition season for Heavy Smoke on the BBQ curcuit this year. We have had some ups and downs but we were thrilled to finish on a good note. The Knights council down in Garnett, which runs this contest, did a great job again this year and as I predicted they were able to increase their team count very impressively in a year when many contests were down in numbers or struggled to maintain due to dramatic increases in costs for teams. The Autumn Blaze-off had 42 total teams this year and they, as always, had a special award for the highest scoring Knights of Columbus team, of which there were 11 eligible. We were a bit nervous this year because after we won the Knights Championship last year, we had heard that everyone was gunning for us and some new teams were coming down to knock us off. Including a couple from my neighboring council here in Olathe. They made a valiant effort but came up a bit short, we have the trophy and it will be on display in the room where we have our meetings at Prince of Peace for the next year. Our team came through like the great competitors that they are. We recieved 6th Place in Sausage, 3rd Place in Chicken and 2nd Place in Brisket. We were 5th overall and were very much in contention for the Grand Championship. I can't feel too bad though, the team that won is a friend of mine, Mark Grieco from Four Men and a Pig. He was primed and ready after besting 450+ teams for the American Royal Crown two weeks prior. He beat us and beat out some of the best teams on the KCBS circuit including team of the year contender Pellet Envy, new to the contest this year, who took the Reserve Champ honors. Good luck to all the teams at the Jack Daniels World Championship and we hope to see you down there and on the circuit next year. Hoot
American Royal BBQ ’08 We got killed!!
Shawnee Great Grillers ’08 We got hosed!!
Greeley Smoke-Off ’08 Heavy Smoke cooked at the Greeley Smoke-Off the weekend of September 5th and 6th, the weather wasn't nearly as good this year as it has been in the past, in fact it was probably as bad this year as it had been any year since it began, it wasn't too bad Friday night but it came up rain and drizzle early Saturday morning and it was still going when I left about 6 Saturday night. Rain or not they don't cancell BBQ contests, and those are the days when experience pays off. It paid off big time Saturday, we took 1st in Ribs 2nd in Pork and 2nd in Brisket, you guessed it "Heavy Smoke Grand Champion", two years in a row. I don't know everything, but I know one thing for sure, it's a hell of a lot easier to lose a BBQ contest, any BBQ contest, than it is to win one. I am very proud of our team and this win. Congrats to everyone who heard their name called. Hoot
BBQ At the Summit ’08 Over the weekend of August 7th and 8th we competed and vended at the BBQ at the Summit in Dillon CO. It bears the name because it is the highest (in elevation) BBQ contest in the world at 9156 feet above sea level. The Rotary Club of Summit County puts the event on and raises over $40,000 dollars for charitiy annually. The weather and the town were fan-freakin-tastic, the lack of oxygen and the throngs of people seeking good barbeque were not helpful. I got up Friday morning after a couple too many Miller Lites, walked into the kitchen of our condo, sneezed and damn near blacked out. Welcome to the Rockies. I wish I had read the welcome packet when we checked in, it said to avoid all alcohol for the first 24 hours at elevation. Not sure it would have made a difference but I would have been prepared for the 6 piece band playing inside my skull for the better part of Friday. We had done the vending thing, and cooked many contest before but never at the same time, and if I have my way, we never will again. We have a large team who are all knowledgeable and ready to jump to any task, but sometimes even that isn't enough. Everything had straightened itself out by noon Saturday and other than an unending shortage of Brisket on the vending line we seemed to have hit our stride. Our Chicken was as good as it gets and though only one of six slabs of Ribs were contest ready they were good and thick and I was happy. About 40 minutes after we turned in Ribs I was ready to eat my hat. I saw him coming from about 15 feet away, he doesn't know me from Adam but I know who he is, he was the KCBS contest rep for the contest, names aren't important, the important thing is he was walking right towards me carrying a small styrofoam container, never a good thing during a BBQ contest. He walked up and said, "I need to see the head cook" I should have said, "I'll go get him" and kept walking, I didn't, I said "Hi! Whats up?" he said, I need to show you your Pork entry and tada it had miraculously turned itself into Brisket. Now the debate rages in some corners about which is the best BBQ, Brisket or Pulled Pork, but at a KCBS event, if you turn in the worlds best Brisket during the Pork judging only bad things happen. Our first DQ (disqualification). I could go on eloquently about the stresses of keeping the line full and high altitude sickness and oxygen deprivation, but the sad fact is our head cook, me, blew it. I'd say rookie mistake but even rookies pay enough attention to not do that. To add insult to screw up not only did we dq in Pork but we had sold all of the competition Brisket we had cooked, the returned Brisket from the judges tent was half eaten so it was no good, you guessed it we had no Brisket to turn in. Obviously we had no expectations at the Awards Ceremony but we were absolutely thrilled to make top five in 50% of the categories we turned in, we picked up a very nice Fourth Place plaque for Chicken and the c-note came in handy for buying the much bedraggled team dinner that night. I can't thank everyone enough for all their hard work, you know who you are, and I promise I will not let you down again, at least not by doing that. Hoot
Great Lenexa BBQ Battle ’08
The Heavy Smoke team took it on the chin last weekend (June 27 & 28) at the Lenexa BBQ contest, and I never saw it coming. Call it a reality check, or bad luck, or whatever just don't call it pretty 'cause it wasn't.
We had great meat, we cooked well, and I was not disappointed with any of our entries, then the awards happened and, for the first time since 2004, we didn't hear our name called once throughout an awards ceremony. Since we didn't make a top ten we had to wait two days to find out any information, at all, about our entries. What we found out was bad, but it wasn't all bad. Turns out we could have been called for Brisket, we were tied for tenth with two other teams and lost to both of them on the tie breaker, the only other positive result was in the overall ranking. Lenexa gives an automatic bid for next years contest to all teams with a top ten call or a top 50 overall finish, and low and behold we finished right on the number, 50th, everyone else will have to get in line at 4am the first monday in April, for a chance to get in.
Finally, I have to thank our new sponsor Ranchers Gourmet www.ranchersgourmet.com for all their support, they came on board at the last minute and were very flexible and understanding trying to put together all that needed to be done in a short time. I was extremely impressed with the cuts they provided us, Kobe beef and Berkshire pork, two old world breeds of animal which have yet to be obliterated by modern corporate farming. I look forward to a continuing relationship with these fine people and cooking their wonderful products in future competitions.
Lawrence Sertoma 48 BBQ '08 Heavy Smoke competed in the 10th Annual Lawrence Sertoma BBQ May 9th and 10th. One of the reasons for doing this contest was that a very good friend of mine, Tyler Lawrence, who I've known since he was probably 6, is now a Quarterback for the Orange Bowl Champion Kansas Jayhawks. Since I owed Ty a BBQ from his graduation from high school we just held the party Friday night for some of his teammates and friends. The whole team thought that was great, even the misguided K-Staters among us.
A few words about Competition BBQ, this is a very difficult hobby, there are a lot of very good teams around that cook very good stuff, with the availability of competition cooking classes and great rubs and sauces, probably more than ever. There just aren't very many secrets anymore. We have had some success in the recent past and I have fallen into the trap of expecting to win everytime, that is the goal, but if that is the expectation even the best teams will be disappointed most of the time. I was pleased with how most of our stuff came out I was confident in getting a call or two and possibly some high ones, we got only one call but it was a good one, 4th place in Ribs we finished 15th overall out of 48 teams, and 5 points out of 8th. I was fairly satisfied with that result in a medium sized contest with a lot of very good teams, in the words of Bull "we'll get'em next time".
Hy-Vee Barry Road BBQ ’08
Well spring has finally sprung (sort of) and the Q season is in full swing. We competed in the KCBS Sanctioned, Hy-Vee Barry Road BBQ on April 25th and 26th and it was great to have a new sponsor Sam's Club on board, we have used their products for years and look forward to competing under their banner for a long time. We had never done this contest before, but we enjoyed it alot, and it was too handy competing in a grocery store parking lot. For the party Friday night I just light the weber grill and when family or freinds showed up to eat I just sent them inside to buy food and bring it back out (that could spoil a guy). We were all anxious to get back into the swing of things, the entire team was there and we got a great team picture. All our neighbors were freindly and considerate and Caleb put about a hundred miles on his bicycle over the weekend.
I was in a great mood until about 1:15pm Saturday, that was the moment that I sliced and tested our third and final competition brisket and didn't know which one to turn in, all three were lacking that special punch that makes your knees go weak and your eyes roll back in your head. I knew right then we weren't gonna win. All thing considered we did quite well, just no GC. Out of 40 teams we got 5th in Chicken, 10th in Ribs, 16th and 15th in Pork and Brisket. We finished 6th Overall and are primed to do good things this year.
ACF Central Region BBQ Challenge ’08
The Central Region of the American Culinary Federation had it's Regional Conference February 7th thru 10th in Kansas City, and to kick off the festivities they organized a small BBQ contest at Crown Center, with the award ceremony to be held at the welcome reception. There were a lot of teams from the competition circuit and a few teams made up entirely of federation chefs and some teams that fit into both categories.
Since this was a Wednesday/Thursday contest in the middle of winter our team attendance was down somewhat, but Ed and Mike McClain were able to make it and were invaluable. The sponsor of the contest, Tyson Foods, provided all the meat for the contestants and we were given whole chickens and spare ribs, two fine cuts of meat in their own right, but not what we normally use in competition. We seemed to do all right with it though, we were awarded 3rd place in Chicken and 4th place in Ribs, then followed that up with 6th place in Pork and 5th place in Brisket and that was good enough to get us Reserve Grand Champion.
2007 Results
Garnett Autumn Blaze-Off ’07
Well the Competition BBQ season wrapped up for us the weekend of, October 18th & 19th, at the first annual Garnett Autumn Blaze Cook-off. Special thanks go out to our sponsor Richmond Body Works/ Mark and Laurie Stevenson.
The organizers did a tremendous job with this first year contest and I see great things in their future. The thing they did the best was they managed to get some world class teams to come and compete (28 total teams).
We had a great time and cooked very well, somethings didn't score as well as we had hoped, but in truth after I saw the teams that were there, I thought anything in the top ten would be a good result.
We started off at the awards in great shape because we took first place in Chicken, the first category. Then we blanked in Ribs and Pork, we got a call for 7th in Brisket and ended up 5th overall. Because this contest was started by the local Knights of Columbus Council they had a special trophy for the highest scoring Knights team. We won that traveling trophy, which will be engraved with our team name and returned at next years contest.
American Royal BBQ '07
First of all I have to thank our sponsor for this year, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Kansas City http://www.bigbrothersbigsisterskc.org/ . They were great and it was fun to meet all the people who came for the party Saturday night. That is a great group of people, bigs and staff, who do incalculable good for our society every day and we all owe them a great big thank you.
For those of you who don't know, the American Royal BBQ is the largest and most prestegious Que contest in the world with almost 500 teams competing from nearly every state and several countries. This year, October 4th & 5th, was our third year doing it and it gets more impressive and bigger every year.
We didn't try anything new this year, just tried to cook the same stuff that took GC in Greeley the month prior. I was fairly pleased across the board with how everything came out. When we got to the awards and Hale Arena was nearly packed I realized just how hard it is to get a call at this place. Nearly 500 teams and they call top twenty in each category. Teams have been cooking in this contest, literally, for years and never made it down to the stage.
We were thrilled to get a call in three of the six categories in which we competed, we managed a 3rd place call in Beans, 10th place in Pork, and 11th place (tied 10th) in Brisket.
I can't say enough about the great work the whole team did this weekend, it was a lot of work setting up and cooking for a party of 125 on Saturday before the contest even started.
Greeley Smoke Off '07
The weekend of September 7th & 8th was the Seventh Annual Greeley Smoke Off. This is a very important contest for our team because this is the one that got me and George started. It was our first one ever and we did it 3 or 4 times before we did any others.
Things have changed alot since that first year for us and for the Greeley Smoke Off. The first year there were 12 teams, this year there were 35.
It was great to see all of our old freinds. The party Friday night was great but the fun really started on Saturday. We tweaked our Chicken a bit and it was perfect. It set a great tone for the whole contest. I was very confident heading into the awards because I felt that across the board our stuff was outstanding, but that in itself is a bit disconcerting (sounds odd I know).
Well my good feelings were not unfounded. We pulled out 2nd in Chicken, 2nd in Ribs, 3rd in Pork, we felt good about our chances for Grand Champion, then they called 5th to 2nd in Brisket without calling us, and we were nervous again. Then they called "First Place Brisket Heavy Smoke" and we knew it was in the bag Overall Grand Champion!!!!! What a great feeling.
It is very nerve racking to have someone judge something that you do, and love to do well, so when the results come in so positively the relief and joy is unbelievable.
SmokeEaters BBQ Axtell Ks '07
The Axtell Ks contest was August 10th and 11th this year and we were very glad to have Ed back from Iraq and on the team. We managed to eke out a top ten with very sub-par entries. It was a small contest this year 25 teams and we did manage 3 top tens and 10th overall. The only real bright spot of our entries was the Ribs which took 4th place. We did have a great time and met some great people especially the Brian Deters family they were great and btw thanks for the electricity Brian
Paola Roots Fest BBQ "07
August 24th & 25th we competed in the Paola BBQ for the first time. Paola is a medium to large contest with 71 teams and a lot of the "big boys" from the BBQ circuit competing. We had rain off and on Friday night but not enough to dampen the party. It takes place on the square in downtown Paola and has the best atmosphere of any contest we have done.
I had a feeling it was gonna be a good weekend because on Friday night we had a little Texas Hold'em cash game with the guys from Double Stack BBQ and Smokin' Ass BBQ and I won so even if we got shut out on Saturday I wouldn't go home empty handed.
Our stuff was above average, especially the brisket, and we all had a great feeling headed into the awards. Well we weren't wrong, we took 3rd in Ribs and 1st place in Brisket with a perfect 180 (all 9s)!! That carried us to a 6th place Overall finish!!!
Great job from the whole team. It was Laura's first chance to really compete on Saturday since our son was born in '04 and it was great to have her.
Great Lenexa BBQ Battle '07
We had a great time at the Lenexa BBQ, June 21st & 22nd, a lot of freinds and family stopped by Friday night and Saturday to visit. We didn't drown in the storms late Friday but it was getting worrysome for a while. I was fairly pleased with all of our entries ( Chicken, Ribs, Pork, and Brisket). However with 187 teams competing we weren't expecting a whole lot at the Awards Ceremony. I was 50/50 on getting a call (placing in a catagory) I thought the ribs were as good as any we had turned in, in a long time. Long story short we got two calls, 6th in Pork and 7th in Brisket, just missed the top ten in Chicken, and Overall we finished 12th.
I can't say enough about the work our team does and everyone was there for everything except Ed in Iraq and Laura at home.
| |
|