Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread
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Pork is pork. Pork has been so good to us for so long, until we get to boxing, it’s almost robotic. Same thing at the same time every time. After they’ve been wrapped for an hour, I check them, and I can usually tell you within 5 minutes of when they’ll be done. While I like the success that it brings, it’s made it less fun to cook, as it really has become a recipe, not a journey like some of the other meats. A recipe that you have to have the experience and the feel for from doing it the same way for so long, but a recipe nonetheless.
Here they are coloring up. We flip our butts halfway through the before wrapping stage to even out the color, and this is from right before I did that. You can see the money muscles that I trimmed out beforehand, and the one side is kinda pale. Once I flip it over, it will catch up and even out the color nicely.
This was an interesting turn in, that definitely made things “fun” (that’s code for stressful). 3 of the 4 money muscles, which we slice, were tough. Again, we’re talking fine lines here and the difference between tough and mushy is miniscule. However, I wasn’t comfortable turning them in. The other was close to mushy, but I knew if I sliced them thicker, they would work. The problem is getting 6 slices (one per judge) that are thick out of one muscle. Luckily, it all worked out and we were able to do so. We ended up winning pork, successfully defending our 1st place pork from last year at this contest.
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Brisket was interesting. We go back and forth on whether to turn in burnt ends or not. Part of the issue is that there is not a standard to aim for with burnt ends. With slices, there are tests that judges use to judge tenderness and if you hit your marks on cooking it correctly, but burnt ends are the wild west. Some people like them a little fattier, some more rendered, and each judge seems to grade burnt ends differently sometimes. We actually went about 2 years without turning them in, and recently have started doing it again and have seen success with it.
I didn’t think they were going to go in this week. The point was a little thin, and they seemed to not be cooking the way we wanted them to. We cubed them up though, and they were good, so we put them in. It was a good decision as we also finished in 1st in brisket, giving us 2 1sts and 3 top 5s in the contest.
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We knew that we would finish high in the overall rankings, based on the 3 high calls. We didn’t know where our chicken landed though, and there was a team with 4 top 10s, as well as one with a 1st, 2nd, and 4th, so we weren’t sure where we would land, but figured top 5 for sure, and probably top 3. I figured 2nd or 3rd.
As they were reading off the top 10, they called our friend Bill our of Texas for 3rd (he had the 1,2,4), and I was prepared to get up to walk up for Reserve Grand Champion. However, they called the 4 call team…and then called us for overall Grand Champions.
A little bit of a Walton’s tie in here. Kelly, who won RGC (in the pic below in the cowboy hat) has a reputation for his sausage making. When I decided to get into it, the first thing I did was sign up for one of his sausage classes, and then started scouring the web and youtube. That’s when I came across Walton’s. I loved the YouTube videos, I had browsed the website, and I liked what I saw, but I hadn’t pulled the trigger on anything. During his class, he mentioned Walton’s as being a great resource for buying supplies, and how he orders from there frequently. That sealed it in my mind, which led me to this community, which led you to reading my ramblings. So, without this guy, I may not be here right now.
State Center, IA this weekend! Ready to get up there and do some cooking!
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We knew that we would finish high in the overall rankings, based on the 3 high calls. We didn’t know where our chicken landed though, and there was a team with 4 top 10s, as well as one with a 1st, 2nd, and 4th, so we weren’t sure where we would land, but figured top 5 for sure, and probably top 3. I figured 2nd or 3rd.
As they were reading off the top 10, they called our friend Bill our of Texas for 3rd (he had the 1,2,4), and I was prepared to get up to walk up for Reserve Grand Champion. However, they called the 4 call team…and then called us for overall Grand Champions.
A little bit of a Walton’s tie in here. Kelly, who won RGC (in the pic below in the cowboy hat) has a reputation for his sausage making. When I decided to get into it, the first thing I did was sign up for one of his sausage classes, and then started scouring the web and youtube. That’s when I came across Walton’s. I loved the YouTube videos, I had browsed the website, and I liked what I saw, but I hadn’t pulled the trigger on anything. During his class, he mentioned Walton’s as being a great resource for buying supplies, and how he orders from there frequently. That sealed it in my mind, which led me to this community, which led you to reading my ramblings. So, without this guy, I may not be here right now.
State Center, IA this weekend! Ready to get up there and do some cooking!
Midwest_kc Great weekend! Congrats
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good for you
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We knew that we would finish high in the overall rankings, based on the 3 high calls. We didn’t know where our chicken landed though, and there was a team with 4 top 10s, as well as one with a 1st, 2nd, and 4th, so we weren’t sure where we would land, but figured top 5 for sure, and probably top 3. I figured 2nd or 3rd.
As they were reading off the top 10, they called our friend Bill our of Texas for 3rd (he had the 1,2,4), and I was prepared to get up to walk up for Reserve Grand Champion. However, they called the 4 call team…and then called us for overall Grand Champions.
A little bit of a Walton’s tie in here. Kelly, who won RGC (in the pic below in the cowboy hat) has a reputation for his sausage making. When I decided to get into it, the first thing I did was sign up for one of his sausage classes, and then started scouring the web and youtube. That’s when I came across Walton’s. I loved the YouTube videos, I had browsed the website, and I liked what I saw, but I hadn’t pulled the trigger on anything. During his class, he mentioned Walton’s as being a great resource for buying supplies, and how he orders from there frequently. That sealed it in my mind, which led me to this community, which led you to reading my ramblings. So, without this guy, I may not be here right now.
State Center, IA this weekend! Ready to get up there and do some cooking!
Midwest_kc that’s the way to do it. Congrats. See Oklahoma isn’t that bad.
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Midwest_kc that’s the way to do it. Congrats. See Oklahoma isn’t that bad.
Midwest_kc congrats!!! That’s a lot hard work and cooking.
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Love reading this thread…congratulations and keep up the great posts and good luck on the next competition !!
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We knew that we would finish high in the overall rankings, based on the 3 high calls. We didn’t know where our chicken landed though, and there was a team with 4 top 10s, as well as one with a 1st, 2nd, and 4th, so we weren’t sure where we would land, but figured top 5 for sure, and probably top 3. I figured 2nd or 3rd.
As they were reading off the top 10, they called our friend Bill our of Texas for 3rd (he had the 1,2,4), and I was prepared to get up to walk up for Reserve Grand Champion. However, they called the 4 call team…and then called us for overall Grand Champions.
A little bit of a Walton’s tie in here. Kelly, who won RGC (in the pic below in the cowboy hat) has a reputation for his sausage making. When I decided to get into it, the first thing I did was sign up for one of his sausage classes, and then started scouring the web and youtube. That’s when I came across Walton’s. I loved the YouTube videos, I had browsed the website, and I liked what I saw, but I hadn’t pulled the trigger on anything. During his class, he mentioned Walton’s as being a great resource for buying supplies, and how he orders from there frequently. That sealed it in my mind, which led me to this community, which led you to reading my ramblings. So, without this guy, I may not be here right now.
State Center, IA this weekend! Ready to get up there and do some cooking!
Midwest_kc great job and please keep the thread going.
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I’m glad everyone is enjoying it. It’s been fun reflecting on things after the fact a little deeper and figuring out how to verbalize (or type) what happened and what I’m thinking.
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reflection can be a good InSite to what you are trying to accomplish
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Midwest_kc Those are awesome trophies Darkfish89 Maybe something to try for 2022?
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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Midwest_kc Those are awesome trophies Darkfish89 Maybe something to try for 2022?
Jonathon Yes those are cool.
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Hey guys! I know I’ve failed miserably at keeping this up to date, but between work and cooking contests, I’ve just had absolutely no time. I think the work part is taken care of for a bit, so I’m going to share some updates, and get some stuff typed up.
In the meantime, I did a YT video for one of my sponsors I thought I’d drop a link for here. If this is not allowed, since it is in reference to another BBQ/Grilling store) my apologies.
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No problem, work and competition come first
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No problem, work and competition come first
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take your time we can wait for a good recant of the events !
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Time for another, entirely to late update!
The last couple months have been busy at work, as just as soon as I think I have people hired, someone else leaves. This has left little time for anything other than work and prep for BBQ competitions.
Labor Day weekend we went to Omaha for their Septemberfest contest they hold along with their fall festival. We ended up parked right next to the festival which means we had a lot of looky loos, and people asking questions which was awesome to share what we do with the public.
Then in the evening, I got to tell teenagers to quit getting into my coolers and trying to take my beer. Finally I just moved the cooler into the trailer so I didn’t have to mess with it. Then, I went around talking to some friends to come back over and have them sitting in our chairs. All things that don’t really matter to me (I was a dumb teenager at one point too, and try to remember that others are now), but I was shocked that they would just sit down in other people’s spots on other’s stuff without thinking about it.
At the end of the day, we went down got 2nd brisket, 3rd chicken, 5th ribs, 7th pork and Reserve Grand Champion. I have the pictures somewhere, but you’ve seen plenty of my meat in this thread before. I also have a group picture somewhere, but maybe it’s on my wife’s phone? Not sure.
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Mid September was the American Royal. This is referred to as the “BBQ Family Reunion” as there are people from all over the country (and most years the world) that you may only see that one week out of the year, but it’s like you see each other all the time. If there’s a good thing about social media, it’s that those of us in these niche groups can be closer than ever, and keep up to date with what is going on.
Thursday is the party night for the teams. Friday night gets all the public out, and there are some insane parties, but teams have stuff to cook the next day. Thursday, we just eat, drink, and enjoy. Snake River Farms always has their weinie roast, and then there becomes a wandering caravan of drunk bbq guys going from one person’s spot to the next until we settle somewhere that has music.
So after the parties Thu/Fri we got down to business. Saturday beginning at noon is the Invitational, which pits champions vs champions. Due to the pandemic and not having the Royal last year, this year had a record field of 188 teams vying to be the best of the best.
That afternoon is the side dish and ancillary competition which consists of veggies, beans, potato, dessert, turkey and sausage. These are fun entries, as it lets you get outside of your comfort zone a little bit, and be creative. They are also open to all 467 teams to enter, making a monster field.
Beans is always one of the most boring for us. I like our beans. They’re good. They don’t blow you away with any one thing, however, and they’re kinda tough to fancy up. We added a crap ton of brisket to our normal beans to try and add a little something.
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