Salt City BBQ Festival - Syracuse, NY

Last weekend, the Three Dogs BBQ Roadshow packed up the trailer and headed to Syracuse to compete in the Salt City BBQ Festival.  We were looking forward to this competition as this was our first New York competition of the year.  Since we mostly compete in New York, it was a chance to catch up with old friends after the long winter layover.

We were also looking forward to this weekend for a few other reasons as well.

First, it was mine and Hope's fifth wedding anniversary.  I had some friends order a surprise cake on the sly to surprise Hope.  We loved the design!  To top it off, the cake even had cannoli filling.

Second, we added a new member this year for some of our competitions.  Our friend Dennis was a man without a team this year.  So, when his schedule permits, he is cooking with the team.  Dennis, you were a big help this weekend and we are looking forward to the rest of the year.

Finally, if you read this blog, you know that we lost two of our furry kids this past year.  When looking for a new rescue, we decided that we wanted a younger dog that would be trainable so that we could bring them to a competition.  Well, we found that dog in George.  He is a Lab Pointer (?) mix that is almost five months old.  He was great over the weekend.  Well behaved, polite, and a heart breaker.  A Rock Star was born this past weekend.

So, after dinner and some social time, it was time to get down to the business of cooking the standard KCBS meats consisting of chicken, pork ribs, pork butt, and brisket.  Here were our boxes.

We were happy with everything we cooked.  The chicken flavor was outstanding if not a little ratty looking.  We moved to thighs this year and my trimming is a bit rusty.  I promise they will look better as the season moves on.  The ribs were confusing.  Once comment card said it was the best rib they had ever had.  But, another said they were undercooked with a strange flavor.  We were not happy with the pork.  These butts took forever to cook for some reason and did not have the proper amount of time to rest.  We had to hunt for acceptable pieces to place in our boxes.  Finally, the brisket.  this was our best category of the weekend from a scoring standpoint.  I also think that is the best looking brisket box we have ever built.

Overall, we finished 18th out of 32 teams.  Not our best showing, but not our worst either.  Time to tweak some things and get ready for this week at the Roc City Rib Fest in Rochester, NY.

We would be remiss if we did not thank the owner of the building where our trailer was parked.  Let's just say that while Salt City is a good competition, they are logistically challenged at times.  We were 400 feet from the nearest water with 100 feet of hose.  The gracious building owner allowed us to run a hose through his building so that we could find a water source that worked so we could fill out tanks.  Thank you very much!

Finally, congrats to The Basic BBQ Team, our Grand Champion and to Good Smoke, our Reserve Grand Champion.  Also, a shout out to Holy Smokes for the strong showing!

We will see everyone this weekend at Roc City.  Stop by and say hi to George.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

The Ironman - Greencastle, PA

"This is Intense!"  That is a direct quote from a former elite athlete.  A four year starter on a three time NCAA Champion Soccer team.  If I ever had a doubt that competition BBQ was a sport, they were erased in that one comment.  So, with a bang, the 2016 Three Dogs BBQ competition season started at the Go Naked Ironman BBQ competition in Greencastle, PA.

Why the name?  I am glad you asked.  The rules are a bit different for this competition.  You have two choices.  You can pay a ridiculous amount of cash to enter and be able to use all of your gizmos: electronically controlled forced draft devices, electric knives, Bluetooth temperature probes, and all the meat you want to cook.  Or, you can pay the standard fee to "Go Naked": no forced drafts, no electric temperature monitors or knives, and be restricted to seven pieces of chicken, one rack of ribs, one pork butt, and one brisket.  Get caught with any of the above and you either cough up the extra cash or get disqualified.  You were only allowed to have an electric Thermapen to temp your meats for food safety purposes.  A true test of a Pitmasters skill.  There was good and bad involved for sure.  Mess up that one rack of ribs or see a little skin blow out on your chicken and you had nothing to fall back on to put in your box.  On the good side, there was no fretting what went in the box.  What you cooked was turned in regardless of what you thought.  How did we do?  Well, ok I suppose for our first time in this format.

First up was our chicken:

A fine looking box with nice flavor, but dinged a bit from two judges on tenderness.  I figure those were the judges that received the larger thighs.  This box was good for 29th out of 54 teams.  The take away here is to trim the chicken just a little more uniformly so they are all the same tenderness.  

Next were the ribs:

Again, nice appearance and taste scores but a little low on the tenderness scores.  This rack of ribs could have used about another 15 minutes on the smoker as they were just a little tight.  This box was good for 26th overall.

Next up was our pork box:

Great appearance and taste scores, other than one judge who commented that the sauce was too sweet.  The same judge commented that the meat was a little chewy.  Both comments were fair.  Our pork placed 33rd.

Finally, our brisket:

Again, good appearance scores.  But, taste and tenderness is where scores are weighted the most. The flat was spot on tender.  The burnt ends, a bit chewy.  We also received a comment that there was an unknown, unpleasant flavor.  This box was good for 35th overall.  Add up all of the scores and our finish was 30th out of 54 teams.

For our first competition of the year, I was somewhat happy.  This contest was a bit of an experiment as we tried some new recipes.  With the judges comments we can adjust accordingly for our next competition.  I know where I went wrong with the burnt ends, so that can be corrected.  I think we are ready for our next time out in May.

I would be remiss if I did not thank Tim from Spittin Feathers BBQ.  He substituted for Hope this past weekend and I could not have asked for better help.  If you have a BBQ team and you have not cooked with a member of another team, you are missing out.  I learned so much from Tim this past weekend.  Sometimes it is good to get another perspective.  Tim was a big help and for that, I am in his debt.

I would also like to thank Jeremie and Matt (the soccer champion) for coming down to Greencastle and cooking our Peoples Choice wings.  You might not have placed but they tasted pretty good!

Finally, we need to thank Eric Forrester with Mason Dixon BBQ Services for the great hospitality and running a great competition.

Congratulations to 3 Eyz BBQ, our Grand Champion and to Brown Liquor BBQ, our Reserve Grand Champion.  Also, congrats to all who heard their name called.

Next up for us is the beginning of our New York swing at the Salt City BBQ Festival in Syracuse, NY
If you are in the area, stop on by and say hi.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Salt City BBQ Festival - Syracuse, NY

Last weekend, the Three Dogs BBQ roadshow packed up the trailer and competed in our second competition of 2015 at the Salt City BBQ Festival in downtown Syracuse, NY.

This festival was set up to benefit Phoenix Philosophies, an organization that purchases and renovates homes to house homeless veterans in Syracuse, NY.  A fine charity to help raise funds for their cause.

The competition was held in Clinton Square, so the competition areas were a bit tight.  But, after some slick trailer work, we were ready to fire up the smokers and get ready for the upcoming festivities.

We were looking to rebound from our less than stellar performance in Annapolis two weeks prior.  But, we didn't let a steady rain overnight on Friday dampen our spirits.  Our friends Sean and Adriane from Red Valley BBQ were in the site next to us and their sense of humor helped to get us through the soggy night.

After a long night of the smokers rolling smoke, full of meat, Saturday dawned clear and mild, making up for the rainy evening.

I even had a chance to get a quick shower when clearing the trailer awning of accumulated rain water.  If I only had thought to grab my shampoo...

After drying off, it was time to buckle down and prepare for our upcoming turn-ins.  Would we improve?  Would we slide back further?  Here are our turn in boxes.  You be the judge.

So, how did we do?  Well, our scores were very satisfying.  We received three top ten's: 4th in brisket, 8th in ribs, and 10th in pork, along with an 11th in chicken.  That added up to 9th place overall, good enough for our first top ten finish.  Needless to say, Hope and I were very happy.  But, BBQ is a lot like golf.  For every step forward, you tend to take two steps back.  But, like a birdie on the 18th hole, we will take these results and move forward, hoping to improve further.

Congrats go out to Priorville, our Grand Champion and to Good Smoke BBQ, our Reserve Grand Champion.  We would also like to congratulate Pig Iron BBQ on their strong 5th place overall finish, Galloways Hellfire BBQ for their first place ribs, and to Red Valley BBQ for their strong finish as well.

No rest for the weary this week.  Time to prepare for the Roc City Rifest this upcoming weekend in Rochester, NY.  If you happen to be there, stop by and say hi.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Naptown BarBAYq Contest and Music Festival - KCBS Competition

Last weekend the Three Dogs BBQ road show headed down to Annapolis, MD for our first competition of the year at the Naptown BarBAYq Contest and Festival.

The festival is held at the Anne Arundle County Fairgrounds and features the BBQ competition, food vendors, bands, and a judging class on Sunday.  In all 64 teams were competing for awards and bragging rights for the year.  The contest was also a opportunity for us to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.  Here are some pictures from the weekend.

The highlight of the weekend was being able to sign the banner honoring our late friend, Bill Allen, who passed away earlier this year at a BBQ competition.

If you are competing in the MABA region this year, look for this banner at the Smokin Foolz cook site and stop by to sign.  Smokin Foolz will present the banner to Kathi Allen, Bill's wife, at the end of the season.

As for our cook, we did not get off to the start that we wanted to this season, ending up 47th out of 64 teams.  Here were the pictures of our turn in boxes.

Our timing was off from the start, the skin pulled back on the legs, the ribs were slightly over done, the brisket was slightly under done.  Not a good weekend at all.  But, we'll learn from the weekend and move forward.  We can only go up from here.

Thanks to Doreen Vavrek (a Pittsburgh girl!) for putting together another great competition.  Congrats also go out to 3Eyz BBQ on their back to back Grand Championships at Naptown and to Chix, Swine & Bovine BBQ, our Reserve Grand Champion.

We hit the road next in two weeks at the Salt City BBQ Festival in Syracuse, NY.  If you are in the area, stop on by and say hi.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill