Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread
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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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Veggies we usually go too polarizing. In the past we’ve done collard greens, brussels sprouts, etc. One day we’ll learn to make corn, deep fry it, and call it a day. This year was not that day. We went with Green Bean Casserole in a pastry cup. Pretty tasty, but we overcooked the bottoms of the pastry just a hair.
Potatoes was all about cheese and bacon. Made a bacon cheesy potato, put it in a twice baked potato shell. Was incredible.
Dessert - If you only get to witness one food competition turn in ever, go witness the dessert turn in at the American Royal. The presentations are insane. The amount of effort that people put into it is truly stunning. Me? I just wanted to eat banana pudding. So I made banana pudding. It was exactly what I needed. Judges seemed to like it too.
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Turkey - here we go again, being polarizing. We made these turkey crustinis with brie and cranberry sauce, and I couldn’t stop eating them. Luckily, I did stop while we still had 6 to turn in…
I don’t have a picture of the sausage turn in. My wife has it and refuses to let me share it. More on the sausage turn in later.
That evening we went to awards for the invitational. This was only for the main 4 meats (Chicken, ribs, pork, brisket). The rest would wait until Sunday night.
In order to get a call in a 188 team field, you have to do more than turn in good food. You have to turn in REALLY good food, and then get REALLY lucky. Even with them calling the top 20, it took a minimum of 176 out of 180 points to finish 20th in any category.
We got 20th in ribs and 17th in pork!
Super exciting moment, as any time you get to walk at this event it means something. To do so twice was amazing.
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After awards, we had to get everything prepped for Sunday, and try to get a couple hours of shuteye. We had another early morning, and jam packed day with 4 more turn ins.
I take this photo every year at the Royal. Ever since they moved it to Kansas Speedway, we’ve been in the same spot, and I get this same pic. Still Dark out. Smoke starting to rise into the air. It’s a very soothing picture for me and one I always look forward to taking.
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Everything went smooth on turn ins, then we got cleaned up and headed to awards for the Side dish as well as the open competition. 467 teams. Everyone trying to get on stage.
I’ll keep the drama short. We didn’t hear our name much. We did finish 24th in Beans, 31st in Dessert, and in the top 100 in everything but ribs and chicken (the same ribs that scored 20th the day before, lol). None of those were good enough for the MC to call out Meat Rushmore, however. We did, though, get to hear it once, and boy was it a big one - a World Championship in Sausage!!!
(forgive the watermark, they want $15 to download this picture)
The pin in the trophy with the yellow circle? That’s our 180 pin for a perfect score! On stage with us was our good friends Joe (with Slaps BBQ) and Aaron and Christy with Man Meat BBQ. To share the stage with 2 other local teams that we are so close to was amazing.
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So the American Royal was in the books, with plenty of hardware including that sexy, sexy, square trophy.
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Last weekend we went down to Roswell GA for the Royal Oak Invitational. Royal Oak is one of our sponsors, and this was a fun event just for their teams, and for their employees to come out and see what Comp BBQ is all about. Royal Oak sponsors a little over 100 teams, and we were chosen with 33 other teams to come take part in this event. They did it up right, too. All our meals provided, meat to cook provided, free ice, power, water…everything you could ask for in a contest.
In that contest, including some of the biggest names in BBQ - Malcolm Reed, Heath Riles, Megan Day…Some of the biggest teams in comp bbq as well, we had our work cut out for us. The SCA event they had. Well, I turned it in. Still can’t figure steak contests out. I definitely enjoyed the practice steak, though!
The BBQ though, that went better. 1st in Ribs with a 180, 5th in pork with a 177, and 3rd overall with a 701, and the chance to sit on the Royal Oak Throne! We ended up 0.59 points short of winning the Grand Championship and the $10k that went with that, which would have gone a long ways, but super proud of what we could do in that field.
We’ve got 4 more contests this season, spread out over 2 weeks. This weekend we’re off, then a double to end the points chase season. Then in November we’re off to Shawnee OK for the World Invitational.
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Wow, good to hear from you again. Tell us more about that sausage!
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Congratulations on all your competitions, and thanks for the update. Always nice to read what is going on in the competition world.
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Last weekend we went down to Roswell GA for the Royal Oak Invitational. Royal Oak is one of our sponsors, and this was a fun event just for their teams, and for their employees to come out and see what Comp BBQ is all about. Royal Oak sponsors a little over 100 teams, and we were chosen with 33 other teams to come take part in this event. They did it up right, too. All our meals provided, meat to cook provided, free ice, power, water…everything you could ask for in a contest.
In that contest, including some of the biggest names in BBQ - Malcolm Reed, Heath Riles, Megan Day…Some of the biggest teams in comp bbq as well, we had our work cut out for us. The SCA event they had. Well, I turned it in. Still can’t figure steak contests out. I definitely enjoyed the practice steak, though!
The BBQ though, that went better. 1st in Ribs with a 180, 5th in pork with a 177, and 3rd overall with a 701, and the chance to sit on the Royal Oak Throne! We ended up 0.59 points short of winning the Grand Championship and the $10k that went with that, which would have gone a long ways, but super proud of what we could do in that field.
We’ve got 4 more contests this season, spread out over 2 weeks. This weekend we’re off, then a double to end the points chase season. Then in November we’re off to Shawnee OK for the World Invitational.
Midwest_kc
Congrats you guys. You sure put in a lot of hard work. Prizes are nice but I’m guessing the experience and camaraderie play a big factor. Well done! -
Midwest_kc
Congrats you guys. You sure put in a lot of hard work. Prizes are nice but I’m guessing the experience and camaraderie play a big factor. Well done!PapaSop said in Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread:
Midwest_kc
Congrats you guys. You sure put in a lot of hard work. Prizes are nice but I’m guessing the experience and camaraderie play a big factor. Well done!They do. Like most niche things, I assume, the majority of the people are so good, and caring, and just fantastic people. They’re our BBQ Family. It’s amazing when the people you are competing against are genuinely happy when you do well - even at their expense.
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Last weekend we went down to Roswell GA for the Royal Oak Invitational. Royal Oak is one of our sponsors, and this was a fun event just for their teams, and for their employees to come out and see what Comp BBQ is all about. Royal Oak sponsors a little over 100 teams, and we were chosen with 33 other teams to come take part in this event. They did it up right, too. All our meals provided, meat to cook provided, free ice, power, water…everything you could ask for in a contest.
In that contest, including some of the biggest names in BBQ - Malcolm Reed, Heath Riles, Megan Day…Some of the biggest teams in comp bbq as well, we had our work cut out for us. The SCA event they had. Well, I turned it in. Still can’t figure steak contests out. I definitely enjoyed the practice steak, though!
The BBQ though, that went better. 1st in Ribs with a 180, 5th in pork with a 177, and 3rd overall with a 701, and the chance to sit on the Royal Oak Throne! We ended up 0.59 points short of winning the Grand Championship and the $10k that went with that, which would have gone a long ways, but super proud of what we could do in that field.
We’ve got 4 more contests this season, spread out over 2 weeks. This weekend we’re off, then a double to end the points chase season. Then in November we’re off to Shawnee OK for the World Invitational.
Midwest_kc man you guys are doing great
. Congrats and keep it up. Good luck on the last 4 events. -
glen said in Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread:
Wow, good to hear from you again. Tell us more about that sausage!
Well, some really intelligent individual decided that it should be turned in immediately after dessert. The same judges judge all the sides, so that means that someone who just ate a bunch of cheesecake, banana pudding, etc, were now going to be eating sausage. We were discussing that during the day Friday, and decided we should go sweet with the sausage so that we aren’t shocking their taste buds. So we took our normal smoked sausage we use for vending and catering - it’s basically a polish fresh sausage that we hot smoke - took it out of the casings, made a fatty, and sweetened it up. It wasn’t what I would want, but I felt it was what the judges would be able to handle at that point.
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glen said in Meat Rushmore BBQ Competition BBQ thread:
Wow, good to hear from you again. Tell us more about that sausage!
Well, some really intelligent individual decided that it should be turned in immediately after dessert. The same judges judge all the sides, so that means that someone who just ate a bunch of cheesecake, banana pudding, etc, were now going to be eating sausage. We were discussing that during the day Friday, and decided we should go sweet with the sausage so that we aren’t shocking their taste buds. So we took our normal smoked sausage we use for vending and catering - it’s basically a polish fresh sausage that we hot smoke - took it out of the casings, made a fatty, and sweetened it up. It wasn’t what I would want, but I felt it was what the judges would be able to handle at that point.
Midwest_kc That’s where experience pays off, congratulations and well earned
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Last weekend we went down to Roswell GA for the Royal Oak Invitational. Royal Oak is one of our sponsors, and this was a fun event just for their teams, and for their employees to come out and see what Comp BBQ is all about. Royal Oak sponsors a little over 100 teams, and we were chosen with 33 other teams to come take part in this event. They did it up right, too. All our meals provided, meat to cook provided, free ice, power, water…everything you could ask for in a contest.
In that contest, including some of the biggest names in BBQ - Malcolm Reed, Heath Riles, Megan Day…Some of the biggest teams in comp bbq as well, we had our work cut out for us. The SCA event they had. Well, I turned it in. Still can’t figure steak contests out. I definitely enjoyed the practice steak, though!
The BBQ though, that went better. 1st in Ribs with a 180, 5th in pork with a 177, and 3rd overall with a 701, and the chance to sit on the Royal Oak Throne! We ended up 0.59 points short of winning the Grand Championship and the $10k that went with that, which would have gone a long ways, but super proud of what we could do in that field.
We’ve got 4 more contests this season, spread out over 2 weeks. This weekend we’re off, then a double to end the points chase season. Then in November we’re off to Shawnee OK for the World Invitational.
Midwest_kc congrats on your teams accomplishments. Those are some long days, but you guys made it happen.
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Thanks for the update. I know its a ton of work and traveling, but it has to be fun and rewarding as well. Thanks for giving us that inside view.
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Ended the regular season, not exactly how we wanted, but mission accomplished anyways.
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Ended the regular season, not exactly how we wanted, but mission accomplished anyways.
Midwest_kc Congratulations, looks like you had a successful season. Good Luck next year.
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