Keystone Classic State BBQ Championship - Harrisburg, PA

This past week, the Three Dogs road show packed up for the last time in 2015 to attend the Keystone Classic State BBQ Championship in Harrisburg, PA.  This is one of our favorite contests for many reasons, number one being that the contest also takes place during the International Livestock Show.

We have been lucky this year with weather over contest weekends.  Well, it was time to pay the piper this past weekend.  Rain.  Lots.  All weekend.  Cold too.  I forgot how many times I said I was freezing.  It was so bad at times, duck hunting gear was in order to stay warm and dry.

The weather was perfect for a judge to join us for the weekend.  A friend of ours and her husband, Tammie and Rich, cooked with us for the weekend.  Tammie cooked with us to receive her master judge certification with KCBS and Rich stepped up and cooked the ancillary categories that consisted of turkey and chicken legs.  Tammie was a huge help with all aspects of the cook.  Her insights into meat placement and flavor profiles while preparing boxes were most helpful.  If you are a team and have a chance to have a judge cook with you, I recommend doing so at least once.

Rich started off with the turkey legs.  He turned in these beautiful looking legs that scored a second place overall.  Good work for a judge!

Rich's call turned out to be the highlight of the weekend as we were shut out in the standard KCBS categories.

The turn ins above netted us a 31st in chicken, a 13th in ribs, a 46th in pork, and a 50th in brisket for a total of 41st overall out of 57 teams.  Not a good weekend for sure.  Overall, I thought it was one of our better cooks for the year.  But, we hit two tables of death which did not help with scoring.  What can you do?  That just means we have some practicing to do over the winter to get back to our early 2015 form.  Congratulations go out to Checkered Flag 500 BBQ, our Grand Champion and to Meat Wagon BBQ, our Reserve Grand Champion.

Thanks to all that have supported us this year.  We hope to see everyone back again next year when we hit the road in 2016.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Keystone Classic BBQ State Championship - KCBS Competition

I dread writing this post.  Why?  It was the last competition of 2014 for Three Dogs BBQ.  The long six to seven month wait until our next time on the BBQ trail.  But, before we close the book on 2014, lets have a look at Three Dogs BBQ's last road trip of the year.

This time, we loaded up the trailer and headed to Harrisburg, PA for the Keystone Classic BBQ State Championship.  This is one of our favorite competitions all year long.  Why?  Farm show food and milkshakes and plenty of horses.

The competition is held in conjunction with the states annual livestock show, billed as the largest east of the Mississippi.

They have show horses that get all dressed up and pull wagons.

Or, they have big Belgian Draft horses that take part in the horse powered version of a tractor pull.  I named this one Pouty.

Some can even be caught dreaming of BBQ at 5 am.  Amazing how they can sleep standing up.  Don't you wish you could do that?

So, lets quit horsing around and review the weekend.  Shall we?

First, we felt like we were back in New York.  Why?  Rain.  Lots.  Twelve hours worth.  Enough to create Lake Three Dogs BBQ, right next to our site.

But, the rain moved and the sun came out from behind the clouds in time for turn ins at noon.

Here were our scores.

And here were the boxes.

Our chicken box came through as always.  This entry scored us a 170.2628, good enough for ninth place out of 53 teams.

Our rib box fell into the tasted better than it looked category.  This box scored us a 162.2856, good for 22nd place.  In our opinion, it was our best tasting, most tender rib effort of the year.

Our pork box was a milestone for Three Dogs BBQ.  This was the first box that Hope ever built.  888899 in appearance proves she did a good job.  We scored 165.7028, good enough for 15th place.

Finally, our brisket box.

Not out best effort of the year and the scores reflected our feelings.  151.3944 was the score and a 39th place.  Our brisket was slightly over done.  A comment card or two would have been nice, but the scores were not low enough to warrant comments.  This will be a focal point for practice over the year.

Overall, our total score was 649.6456, 20th out of 53.  This was our second best point total of the year.  So, ending the year on a high note, check!

We would like to thank the contest organizers and the KCBS reps for running a contest without any problems.  Congrats go out to our Grand Champion Pig Pen BBQ and our Reserve Grand Champion Big Ugly's BBQ.  Big Ugly's also won the MABA Cup for 2014, so an extra shout out as well.

We would also like to thank those who have supported and helped us over the years and in 2014 as well.  It wouldn't be fun and we couldn't do it without you.

So, before we put an "end" to the 2014 season, just a reminder to everyone to check back for more recipes and BBQ adventures in the off season.  Any suggestions or ideas for recipes are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Keystone Classic Barbecue 2013

This past weekend, we competed in our last competition of 2013, the Keystone Classic Barbecue in Harrisburg, PA.  The event is tied to the Pennsylvania Livestock Exposition.  So, you can imagine that we made a lot of four legged friends.

A Six Horse Hitch ready for competition.

Getting all primped before being hitched.

One big dude...

My buddy who liked his nose scratched also posed for a picture.

So, after set up, we walked around and took in some of the teams.  My favorite was Great4UQ.  He just bought this fire truck 2 weeks ago and is going to turn it into his competition rig.  I can't wait to see what they do with this for next year.

Fellow Stumpers Fire and Spice.

And an assortment of teams...

So, how did we do.  Not too bad.  We came in 34th out of 55 with a point total of 615.9088.  A bit lower than our last two times out, but good for our third best score of the year.  The scores overall seem to be a bit lower in Pennsylvania.  We'll just have to try a little harder next year.

Here was our chicken box:

This was good for a 161.6800 and 16 out of 55.  Strangely enough, 16th place over all, but we won our table.  Tough crowd...

Here was our rib box:

This was good for a 155.9772 and 24 out of 55.  A nice 15 point improvement over our last competition.

Here was our pork box:

This was good for a 154.2744 and 37 out of 55.  A bit of a dip after the last two competitions.  I have no idea why.  We thought it was pretty good.

Here was our brisket box:

This was good for a 143.9772 and 42 out of 55.  The flat was a bit over cooked.

Congrats to Flying Porkers, our Grand Champion and Hawg Nation, our Reserve Grand Champion.

Overall, 2013 was a great year for Three Dogs BBQ.  We made some new friends and improved our scores over the course of the season.  Time to take a break and recharge for 2014.  Hopefully we can come back ready to improve even more in 2014.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years and those who visit and comment on this blog.  Now it is time to catch up on some recipes and other topics between now and next year.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill