The CPM class in February was a lesson in foul weather cooking. The Prestigious Palmetto in Ladson far exceeded the education taught a few weeks ago. The weather was checked all week. It was partly cloudy, chance of rain, moving to some rain, settling on a bunch of rain and high winds in the forecast for the weekend of March 7, 2008.
I had practiced like I preached. Doing a few cooks before the event and tweaking recipes a little here and there. I was going back to my roots, cooking the food that had gotten me a state championship two years ago. Help was needed with the chicken; quite frankly the chicken is good but never great. Great ribs have also eluded me over the past few years. The ribs of the past were good, but lacked the “pop” that make a judge pay attention. My last attempt was in Abbeville and that was mediocre at best.
Armed with some new techniques and flavor profiles we pulled into the fairgrounds on Thursday afternoon to get the big canopy set up, and Brown’s Folly into place. The camper would be placed across the back of the site to provide a wind break for a westerly flow. It wasn’t going to blow that direction on Friday, but Saturday’s forecast was worrisome. Bob and I got the canopy up, consumed an adult beverage or two, shook hands and parted ways until Friday.
Our normal start time for a competition is 6am Friday morning. Mary shuttled Kaitlyn to school and picked up a biscuit breakfast. The rain had already started. We were going to load in wet for the second time in 3 weeks. Upon or arrival, we checked in with the Sertoma gang, got to site 65 and started unloading. We were traveling light, and we were very early, so the unload went quick and easy.
We had pared our participation back this year to only include the main Kansas City Barbecue Society event. We were going to cook chicken, ribs, pork butts, and beef brisket. No sauce, any thing but pork, and no chili. I was focused on doing well. My last Pig Pickin’ was a retirement party, and my heart was elsewhere. The format change to KCBS brought me out of retirement and back into the game. I was intent on doing well. There would be some very good cooks on the field.
We tried to stay dry through the afternoon, even though the rain fell heavily at times. We watched as many of our friends started to arrive and get their area’s set up. Shaking hands, dishing out hugs, and finding out about winter breaks were enjoyable.
We were waiting on our crew to assemble. This crew was going to be interesting. Mary and I had assembled a wide variety of talent spanning the experience graph low to high. The team had a sponsor this year. Coastal Construction Solutions owned by Bob and Gary Brown were joining us for this years comp. Bob and Gary have been great supporters of the team in the past and we looked forward to working with them on this project. Joining us this year were Chris Finney, who made the trip from his home in Salisbury, NC, Michael Peavey & Jeff, all from the Pigs on the Wing team. We were adding Garland and Rebecca Hudgins, who are planning on forming their own team and want to “bitch” a few contests to get some experience. Thomas Borders, Kristina, and Kaitlyn rounded out the Common Interest crew. Our guest cook was Derrick Russ. He was the fortunate one who had won a trip to a contest with Common Interest as a door prize at the Carolina Pit Masters BBQ Cooking School. http://www.carolinapitmasters.com/
At around 2pm we started prepping meats. A lesson in trimming and injecting was at hand. Starting with the brisket, we cut a off a bit of fat and squared up the flats. Injected with tasty liquids and rubbed with a flavorful rub. We repeated the process with the butts, St. Louis cut the spares and trimmed and dropped the chicken into marinade. The whole process took about 2 hours and everyone present got a chance to participate.
Everyone but Finney had arrived by the cooks meeting at 5pm. Finney was stuck in traffic on 95 and would be a late. His 4 hour trip was going to be extended a great deal. The cooks meeting was the usual fare. We got a plaque for being involved with the contest for 10 years. It was due us last year. It was time again to shake hands and renew old friendships and make some new. I am involved with many internet boards and lists, and it’s nice to put a face to the names of contributors. The rain continued.
Garland needed directions to the sauce judging, so we meandered by the turn in site. We made our way back to the site via a bit of visiting. It was time to fire the cooker. I wanted to be settled and ready for meat at 8pm. The Mary J takes about 2 hours to settle down. The rain continued.
7pm was dinner time. Garland and Rebecca had made a couple of pans of Ham and Scalloped potato casserole. It was very enjoyable comfort food that really hit the spot. Everybody was getting cold and hungry and this dish was just the solution to a cold evening.
8pm was the designated time to apply meat to the cooker. The Boston butts and briskets were placed on the top cooker racks. Temperature probes were placed in their strategic positions and alarms were set. A piece of pecan was added to the fire and the lids were closed. No one would be allowed access for at least 3 hours. The target temp was 250*. The cooker wanted to hover at about 240*. We let it ride. The rain continued.
Now was the best time of the cook for me. We were in maintenance mode. The idea is to keep the fire constant, keep the cook moving forward, and get some sleep. We would need to mop at 4 hours, so I prepared the sprayer and we sat and watched the show across the street for a couple of hours. The crew was shifting sleep. 1am was mopping time. The cooker was opened and the meats were mopped. We decided to shift and rotate a bit. This changed the dynamics of the cooker enough that it had a hard time recovering. Somewhere between 2 and 2:30 Finney strongly suggested some sleep. I would get about 2 hours. The rain continued.
I was awakened at my 4:30 time and after a cup of coffee, we decided to get a rub on the ribs. Finney and I applied the spices and let them set up for about an hour and put the ribs on the bottom rack in the cooker. The brisket and butts were already in foil, so there wasn’t much of a chance of cross flavoring the racks. The cook was now ¾ underway. We went ahead and applied the rub to the chicken. Letting it sit a while with the rub might do it some good. The WSM was fired and in about an hour we applied the chicken to the grates. We were now in full swing. My nerves were settling in but the rain had stopped, thank goodness.
The crew started to awaken and come together over the coffee pot. Sertoma was generous enough to bring in chicken biscuits for breakfast. The talk of the morning was the show we got from across the street. I hope to never be "treated” to that particular team again. The wind started.
We calculated the cooking times and agreed that we were on time. I was hoping for an early time off for the briskets, but it looked like the butts would come off first. They did and were resting nicely in the cooler box waiting to become competition barbecue. A loose 3-2-1 process was going along well for the ribs and the chicken was cooking nicely. The wind was picking up.
The morning was chock full of visits from friends, both cookers and judges. 10 years in the contest had established many friendships in both ranks. It was good to see them all. We watched the surrounding teams get their on site judging done, and relished the thought that we were not in those categories.
11 o’clock was fast approaching and it was time to prepare for our turn ins. We readied the garage in the camper and began putting the last touches on our products. The chicken looked great as did the ribs. These were our first entries. We would start at 12:30 and turn in an entry every 30 minutes until 2pm. We were ready. The winds were blowing with 30 to 40mph gusts. The camper was rockin’ and the tent strained against the tie downs. We were fortunate. Our site had built in windbreaks. Equipment was crumbling at the sites around us.
Box building is fast paced and thorough. This wasn’t our first time and we were ready to go. Mary had decided on all parsley boxes. They had done well for us in past contests and she wanted to give them another try. That is her area of expertise. They all looked great. Chicken first, then ribs, followed by pork, and brisket would be last. All went off without a hitch.
It was now time to relax and wait for results. That was scheduled for 6pm. We had a few hours to rest. I did a bit of visiting, but ended up settled in the camper for a rest. It was needed. The temperature started dropping, now it was cold and windy. It was time to break out the winter gear. I’m glad I packed it.
The results were fantastic. We got 4th place calls in ribs and brisket getting us a trophy and a check. We ended up 6th overall and the best finish for local and SC teams. I am very proud of our work and my teammates. It seems we assembled quite a bunch.
We celebrated for a bit and began to pack up the equipment. Bob and Gary started to prepare a nice dinner, and we watched the fireworks show. I must admit, we had a great day and evening. The wind had finally settled down but the cold remained. The 2008 Prestigious Palmetto Pig Pickin’ at Ladson Fairgrounds would be one to remember.
I had practiced like I preached. Doing a few cooks before the event and tweaking recipes a little here and there. I was going back to my roots, cooking the food that had gotten me a state championship two years ago. Help was needed with the chicken; quite frankly the chicken is good but never great. Great ribs have also eluded me over the past few years. The ribs of the past were good, but lacked the “pop” that make a judge pay attention. My last attempt was in Abbeville and that was mediocre at best.
Armed with some new techniques and flavor profiles we pulled into the fairgrounds on Thursday afternoon to get the big canopy set up, and Brown’s Folly into place. The camper would be placed across the back of the site to provide a wind break for a westerly flow. It wasn’t going to blow that direction on Friday, but Saturday’s forecast was worrisome. Bob and I got the canopy up, consumed an adult beverage or two, shook hands and parted ways until Friday.
Our normal start time for a competition is 6am Friday morning. Mary shuttled Kaitlyn to school and picked up a biscuit breakfast. The rain had already started. We were going to load in wet for the second time in 3 weeks. Upon or arrival, we checked in with the Sertoma gang, got to site 65 and started unloading. We were traveling light, and we were very early, so the unload went quick and easy.
We had pared our participation back this year to only include the main Kansas City Barbecue Society event. We were going to cook chicken, ribs, pork butts, and beef brisket. No sauce, any thing but pork, and no chili. I was focused on doing well. My last Pig Pickin’ was a retirement party, and my heart was elsewhere. The format change to KCBS brought me out of retirement and back into the game. I was intent on doing well. There would be some very good cooks on the field.
We tried to stay dry through the afternoon, even though the rain fell heavily at times. We watched as many of our friends started to arrive and get their area’s set up. Shaking hands, dishing out hugs, and finding out about winter breaks were enjoyable.
We were waiting on our crew to assemble. This crew was going to be interesting. Mary and I had assembled a wide variety of talent spanning the experience graph low to high. The team had a sponsor this year. Coastal Construction Solutions owned by Bob and Gary Brown were joining us for this years comp. Bob and Gary have been great supporters of the team in the past and we looked forward to working with them on this project. Joining us this year were Chris Finney, who made the trip from his home in Salisbury, NC, Michael Peavey & Jeff, all from the Pigs on the Wing team. We were adding Garland and Rebecca Hudgins, who are planning on forming their own team and want to “bitch” a few contests to get some experience. Thomas Borders, Kristina, and Kaitlyn rounded out the Common Interest crew. Our guest cook was Derrick Russ. He was the fortunate one who had won a trip to a contest with Common Interest as a door prize at the Carolina Pit Masters BBQ Cooking School. http://www.carolinapitmasters.com/
At around 2pm we started prepping meats. A lesson in trimming and injecting was at hand. Starting with the brisket, we cut a off a bit of fat and squared up the flats. Injected with tasty liquids and rubbed with a flavorful rub. We repeated the process with the butts, St. Louis cut the spares and trimmed and dropped the chicken into marinade. The whole process took about 2 hours and everyone present got a chance to participate.
Everyone but Finney had arrived by the cooks meeting at 5pm. Finney was stuck in traffic on 95 and would be a late. His 4 hour trip was going to be extended a great deal. The cooks meeting was the usual fare. We got a plaque for being involved with the contest for 10 years. It was due us last year. It was time again to shake hands and renew old friendships and make some new. I am involved with many internet boards and lists, and it’s nice to put a face to the names of contributors. The rain continued.
Garland needed directions to the sauce judging, so we meandered by the turn in site. We made our way back to the site via a bit of visiting. It was time to fire the cooker. I wanted to be settled and ready for meat at 8pm. The Mary J takes about 2 hours to settle down. The rain continued.
7pm was dinner time. Garland and Rebecca had made a couple of pans of Ham and Scalloped potato casserole. It was very enjoyable comfort food that really hit the spot. Everybody was getting cold and hungry and this dish was just the solution to a cold evening.
8pm was the designated time to apply meat to the cooker. The Boston butts and briskets were placed on the top cooker racks. Temperature probes were placed in their strategic positions and alarms were set. A piece of pecan was added to the fire and the lids were closed. No one would be allowed access for at least 3 hours. The target temp was 250*. The cooker wanted to hover at about 240*. We let it ride. The rain continued.
Now was the best time of the cook for me. We were in maintenance mode. The idea is to keep the fire constant, keep the cook moving forward, and get some sleep. We would need to mop at 4 hours, so I prepared the sprayer and we sat and watched the show across the street for a couple of hours. The crew was shifting sleep. 1am was mopping time. The cooker was opened and the meats were mopped. We decided to shift and rotate a bit. This changed the dynamics of the cooker enough that it had a hard time recovering. Somewhere between 2 and 2:30 Finney strongly suggested some sleep. I would get about 2 hours. The rain continued.
I was awakened at my 4:30 time and after a cup of coffee, we decided to get a rub on the ribs. Finney and I applied the spices and let them set up for about an hour and put the ribs on the bottom rack in the cooker. The brisket and butts were already in foil, so there wasn’t much of a chance of cross flavoring the racks. The cook was now ¾ underway. We went ahead and applied the rub to the chicken. Letting it sit a while with the rub might do it some good. The WSM was fired and in about an hour we applied the chicken to the grates. We were now in full swing. My nerves were settling in but the rain had stopped, thank goodness.
The crew started to awaken and come together over the coffee pot. Sertoma was generous enough to bring in chicken biscuits for breakfast. The talk of the morning was the show we got from across the street. I hope to never be "treated” to that particular team again. The wind started.
We calculated the cooking times and agreed that we were on time. I was hoping for an early time off for the briskets, but it looked like the butts would come off first. They did and were resting nicely in the cooler box waiting to become competition barbecue. A loose 3-2-1 process was going along well for the ribs and the chicken was cooking nicely. The wind was picking up.
The morning was chock full of visits from friends, both cookers and judges. 10 years in the contest had established many friendships in both ranks. It was good to see them all. We watched the surrounding teams get their on site judging done, and relished the thought that we were not in those categories.
11 o’clock was fast approaching and it was time to prepare for our turn ins. We readied the garage in the camper and began putting the last touches on our products. The chicken looked great as did the ribs. These were our first entries. We would start at 12:30 and turn in an entry every 30 minutes until 2pm. We were ready. The winds were blowing with 30 to 40mph gusts. The camper was rockin’ and the tent strained against the tie downs. We were fortunate. Our site had built in windbreaks. Equipment was crumbling at the sites around us.
Box building is fast paced and thorough. This wasn’t our first time and we were ready to go. Mary had decided on all parsley boxes. They had done well for us in past contests and she wanted to give them another try. That is her area of expertise. They all looked great. Chicken first, then ribs, followed by pork, and brisket would be last. All went off without a hitch.
It was now time to relax and wait for results. That was scheduled for 6pm. We had a few hours to rest. I did a bit of visiting, but ended up settled in the camper for a rest. It was needed. The temperature started dropping, now it was cold and windy. It was time to break out the winter gear. I’m glad I packed it.
The results were fantastic. We got 4th place calls in ribs and brisket getting us a trophy and a check. We ended up 6th overall and the best finish for local and SC teams. I am very proud of our work and my teammates. It seems we assembled quite a bunch.
We celebrated for a bit and began to pack up the equipment. Bob and Gary started to prepare a nice dinner, and we watched the fireworks show. I must admit, we had a great day and evening. The wind had finally settled down but the cold remained. The 2008 Prestigious Palmetto Pig Pickin’ at Ladson Fairgrounds would be one to remember.
