Finger Lakes Fire and Smoke BBQ Festival - Geneva, NY

This Labor Day weekend, the Three Dogs Road Show packed up and headed to Geneva, NY on the shores of beautiful Seneca Lake to take part in the first annual Finger Lakes Fire and Smoke BBQ Festival.  This competition was run by one of our own, Rikk Foringer from Shortsville Smokers.  Rikk runs the event as a charity to raise money and provide money for scholarships to those in the local community who need a little help to attend school.  A great cause for a great event.

As I mentioned, the venue was spectacular.  Geneva Lakefront Park was the perfect venue to have a BBQ throw down.  Great views and a cool breeze off the lake helped keep teams cool on a weekend with temperatures in the upper 80's.

Let's hope that the weekend did not turn into a "trap" and some good BBQ entries were had by all.  So, lets fire up the pits and review the weekend.

One of the worst chicken entries we have ever put in in a box.  We experienced some split skin issues this weekend.  We could not find six pieces for the box with unsplit skin.  Therefore, we had to put some pieces in ugly side up.

Chicken and ribs came in 20th out of 25 teams.  Pork netted us our only call of the day, 8th out of 25. We are trying some new methods to come up with a more consistent brisket recipe and were happy with the results, 15 out of 25 teams.  Not the weekend we were hoping for, but the results were deserved and any weekend with a walk is a good weekend.  Congratulations go out to Good Smoke BBQ, our Grand Champion and to Galloways Hellfire BBQ, our Reserve Grand Champion.

It is hard to believe, but the end of summer is almost here.  Only one more competition to go.  We will see you next month at the Keystone Classic State BBQ Championship.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Hudson Valley Ribfest - New Paltz, NY

Last weekend, the Three Dogs BBQ road show hitched up the trailer and headed out east to take part in the Hudson Valley Ribfest.  It is very hard to believe that past weekend was our fifth time to compete in the HVRF.  This was our first contest and therefore competing here is somewhat special to us.  This past weekend was no different.

On day one, we participated in the New England Barbecue Society grilling competition, the categories being the usual pizza and apple dessert and the other two being wrapped in bacon and sliders.

Seventh place pulled pork pizza.  Think Mc. Rib on a pizza crust.

Wrapped in Bacon was a bacon wrapped grilled cheese.  Good for 19th place.

Slider turn in.  Beef sliders with sharp cheddar and burnt onion bacon jam.  Yes, we realized too late that the buns were too big for the box and we had to do some trimming.  This entry was good for 16th.

We invited Red Valley BBQ to cook with us and make their famous apple pie cheesecake. I imagine in the picture below Sean was explaining that this dessert was a slam dunk...

Well, we came in last with this entry.  28th out of 28.  We liked it.  Oh well.  Perhaps bigger things were in the cards for Red Valley BBQ...  We finished the day 22nd overall out of 28 teams.

On day two, we competed in the KCBS competition.  This features the standard entries of chicken, pork ribs, pork butt, and brisket.

Chicken is our most consistent category, usually finishing in the teens or higher.  Not this weekend.  This box was good for 37 out of 57 teams.  I thought it was one of our better chicken efforts this year.    It was just not meant to be.

Lots of winter time practice is paying off in the summer with ribs.  We have been surprising strong in a category that was a bit of a weak one for us in the past.  The above entry was good for 8th place.

Pork has been good to us this year as well.  The box above was good for 4th place for the day.

Finally, our brisket.  This was one of the best looking brisket boxes we have turned in this year.  But we live and die by our brisket.  Today was not so good.  Every brisket is different and this one was done real early in the morning.  It was a tad overcooked and we took a well deserved 38th out of 57 teams.  Add it all up and Three Dogs finished 22nd out of 57 total teams.

Huge congratulations go out to Red Valley BBQ for their first GC.  Sean and Adriane have been on the competition circuit for eight years and the hard work is starting to pay off finally.  It is great to see good friends win.  It made the day even better.

Congratulations also go out to Smokin Boys & Hot Grills, our Reserve Grand Champion.  With a GC in Ottawa the week before, Greg is on a bit of a roll.  Keep it going!

Next up for Three Dogs is the Finger Lakes Fire and Smoke BBQ Festival in Geneva, NY.  Rikk promises to have a great first time competition this year on the lake.  If you are looking to enter a competition over the Labor Day weekend, this event might just be for you.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill