Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread
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I have competed against him at the Royal, but I have never had the pleasure of meeting him. I’ve heard he’s a great guy.
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So we were back at it last weekend, with what is referred to as a “Rolling Double.” This is when you cook a contest Fri/Sat, cleanup, and head to another contest for Sat/Sun. All doubles are exhausting, but these are another beast. Normal doubles have one set up, one tear down, and you stay where you are. Rolling doubles are a lot more work, but this wasn’t as bad as some, as they were only 9 miles apart.
Anyways, we went down to St Robert, MO for the Kickin it Route 66 competition and got set up and ready to go.
I recorded some boomerang videos of different things this weekend, thinking that they would be a cool way to show what we’re doing, but the board no likey mp4 files, so that’s a bust. I suppose I’ll get better with these writeups as we go, but I’m trying to think of ways to do so without just repeating the same stuff all the time.
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One thing you can always count on at a BBQ contest is camaraderie. One of the ways this comes through is the “good luck” shots and beers that are had at different, very specific times throughout the morning. We typically participate in a 7:07 good luck beer, and good luck shots at 9:22, 10:30, 10:45, and 11:00. At these, cooks gather around and have a shot or a beer and wish each other good luck on their cooks that day. Are certain cooks trying to get you drunk so they can beat you? Maybe. But I partake anyways, lol.
This week we hosted the 11:00 shot both days. We call it our “family shot” which is a little smaller, and usually only has 5-7 people at it, our closest friends in BBQ. We did a shot of fireball mixed with orange crush, which surprisingly wasn’t too bad.
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Chicken was a little spicy on Saturday. The rub we use is pretty coarse, so we grind it a bit and I think I over grinded it. Black pepper gets a bit spicier the more it’s ground, and it really came through this time. Lesson learned.
Ribs were pretty good. They were a bit spicy too. We later found out, we forgot to put the honey in the sauce, which is what we attributed it to. Tenderness was on, and the flavor wasn’t bad, just didn’t have that sweetness from the honey. I attribute it to still being in preseason form.
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Pork was money. It was really good. Better, imo, than last week when we just barely missed a perfect score. When our pork scores, it can carry a category that falls a bit short. It’s been our best category for a couple years now.
Brisket is a category that used to be probably our best. Definitely neck and neck with pork. For whatever reason it just stopped scoring last summer/fall. No clue what happened. We changed some things over the winter, and didn’t have the results we were looking for last weekend, but this isn’t the kind of thing where one contest can make you rethink everything. Taste is subjective and sometimes you get a group of judges that loves or hates your taste more than what will be the norm. So, we rolled the same thing, got it a bit more tender, injected it a bit more for moisture, and liked what we had.
Here it is when we wrapped it.
Maybe could have gone a little longer to even out the color, but the way the judges see it, it won’t matter. It’s difficult to notice a few things like that once it’s sliced.
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We then immediately started cleaning and loading like mad men. Our goal was to get to the next contest before the other teams doing both contests (it was about 30 of us doing both) so that we could get set up and get back for awards. Brisket turn in is at 1:30 and we had both our cook trailer and camper cleaned up, loaded and hooked up, wheels rolling at 1:47. That beat our previous record, last summer when we went from Lane, KS to Emmetsburg, IA for the worst rolling double ever (6 hour drive between the 2) and were rollling at 1:50.
So we got over there, set up, and a couple people went back for awards while I stayed and injected meats, got chicken in brine, and finished washing dishes. They moved awards up by an hour, normally a good thing, which kept me from going back with the team.
The judges did not agree on our assesments of our cook. Out of 54 teams, we did manage a respectable 15th in pork and 16th in ribs, and finished mid pack (27th) overall. It was pretty disappointing, but the great part about doubles is you don’t have time to dwell on your successes or failures, but you get an immediate chance to make it right.
We went out to dinner that evening, and I made the classic tired man mistake of having 2 margaritas at dinner, and then not having anything else for an hour or so, which made me ready for bed. I went to bed at 8, which is crazy, but it also got me a full 8 hours of sleep which was nice on Sunday morning.
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Literally everything I got Sunday morning was boomerang/video stuff, so we’ll skip right to the turn ins.
Chicken was much better. We left it on the cooker an extra 5 minutes, which made it a touch more tender. We ground it correctly, which toned the spice of the black pepper nicely, just overall a good piece of chicken.
Ribs were money. Man, they were good. Again, made sure we added the honey, which balanced the spice and then we got a perfect bite. It’s bad luck to say anything, but I couldn’t help but think that anything less than top 5 in ribs would be a travesty. In retrospect, I’d probably put the top row on the bottom and bottom on the top, as it would probably look better, but it is what it is.
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Pork was disappointing. The part that we normally use for our pulled was still a little tough on 2 of the 4 butts, and I didn’t like our backup area either. luckily, we got a lot from the other 2, and the money muscle slices were super flavorful and delicious. Unfortunately they were still a touch tight. Pulled a trick out of the bag, and sliced them thinner than normal. This effectively makes the meat more tender, as it shortens fibers, but it also means it could dry out easier, so I soaked them in the jus from the wrap as long as we could before we boxed.
Brisket was on point too. Burnt ends are a controversial topic in comp BBQ. It is the one thing that there isn’t really a standard that judges are looking for, meaning scoring can be all over the place with them. At the end of the day, if the fat is rendered, and they are moist and flavorful, we put them in, but they have to be absolutely perfect. We always try the burnt ends, saying we aren’t going to turn them in, and then make them tell us to put them in. These did that. I think this may be one of the best briskets we’ve cooked to date.
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Then we cleaned and loaded up again, for the second time, and waited for awards. In this part of the country, we are cooking against the best of the best every weekend, and it makes for some long ones, but you also know you earned it when you end up near the top.
Out of the 33 teams we finished
15th Chicken
1st Ribs
6th pork
5th BrisketOverall, we were Reserve Grand Champions (2nd overall) with a score over 700 (720 is the best score possible, the highest I’ve heard of is 717)! It was a nice bit of redemption after Saturday, and definitely allowed us to end on a high note.
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Judges have optional comment cards that they can fill out. Usually, your heart sinks when these come in, as it’s negative. Not today. Apparently the adjustments on our pork worked out (9 is the highest score in the KCBS system)
Here is the traditional GC/RGC picture. The funny part is Brad is a one man team (he’s on the left in the sizzle shirt), and then here we are rolling deep as hell with 5 people. It made for an interesting pic though.
Here are a couple other pictures, a team picture, plus a pic of our awards, including our 700 sticker, which will go on the trailer at the next contest, and the 700 pin.
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We have a week off this weekend, before we head out to Indianapolis next week! We’ve only cooked in Indiana once, and it went…not well. So, we’ll see if they like our flavors there this time, and if not, we’ll swear off that state forever!
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We have a week off this weekend, before we head out to Indianapolis next week! We’ve only cooked in Indiana once, and it went…not well. So, we’ll see if they like our flavors there this time, and if not, we’ll swear off that state forever!
Midwest_kc It’s great to see your self critique and then your placing of entries
I’m curious if you ever adjust flavors, cook schedules or doneness to area/regional tastes -
Midwest_kc just curious do you cook at the Dodge City Day’s BBQ Contest?
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Midwest_kc It’s great to see your self critique and then your placing of entries
I’m curious if you ever adjust flavors, cook schedules or doneness to area/regional tastesglen we don’t, for the most part. Competition BBQ has become a bit homogenized over the years to the point where the flavors aren’t that much different. Maybe a touch more vinegar here, more sweetness there, but we don’t cook enough in some of those regions to know exactly how much to change. Our flavors are pretty balanced overall, so we tend to do OK regardless.
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Midwest_kc just curious do you cook at the Dodge City Day’s BBQ Contest?
Tex_77 We did 2 years ago, and were going to cook it last year before COVID took it out. We aren’t planning on it this year, due to the date, but it may get added in.
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Tex_77 We did 2 years ago, and were going to cook it last year before COVID took it out. We aren’t planning on it this year, due to the date, but it may get added in.
Midwest_kc if you make it, hit me up.
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Judges have optional comment cards that they can fill out. Usually, your heart sinks when these come in, as it’s negative. Not today. Apparently the adjustments on our pork worked out (9 is the highest score in the KCBS system)
Here is the traditional GC/RGC picture. The funny part is Brad is a one man team (he’s on the left in the sizzle shirt), and then here we are rolling deep as hell with 5 people. It made for an interesting pic though.
Here are a couple other pictures, a team picture, plus a pic of our awards, including our 700 sticker, which will go on the trailer at the next contest, and the 700 pin.
Midwest_kc
Wow! Nice work. Congrats! Everything looks wonderful.
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glen we don’t, for the most part. Competition BBQ has become a bit homogenized over the years to the point where the flavors aren’t that much different. Maybe a touch more vinegar here, more sweetness there, but we don’t cook enough in some of those regions to know exactly how much to change. Our flavors are pretty balanced overall, so we tend to do OK regardless.
Midwest_kc said in Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread:
glen we don’t, for the most part. Competition BBQ has become a bit homogenized over the years to the point where the flavors aren’t that much different. Maybe a touch more vinegar here, more sweetness there, but we don’t cook enough in some of those regions to know exactly how much to change. Our flavors are pretty balanced overall, so we tend to do OK regardless.
That makes sense, with KCBS turning out so many CBJ’s every year!
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Midwest_kc if you make it, hit me up.
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So, I’ve been dark on here for a few weeks, partly because we have only had one contest since my last post, and partly because I’m trying to figure out a way to not be as repetitive in my posts. For better or worse, there is a lot of sameness in competitions. I have one this weekend, and I’m going to try and get more “social” pictures, but what would you guys like to see in this thread? I want to make sure that it stays fresh, and relevant to the people who are following the thread, and not get stale.
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