After a little less than a month off, Chris and I were really looking forward to the Great American Barbecue contest in Kansas City, KS.This was the third time that we have had the chance to cook in an invitation-only contest, meaning a team must have won a grand championship at some point during the year leading up to the contest to get in. The invitational was followed by the open, meaning it was "open" for anyone to enter and compete. These double contest weekends are extremely tiring. And couple that with the addition of the World Brisket Open to the line up of contest categories at the GAB and you have one heck of a busy weekend.
Weather-wise, we saw it all. It started off cool, then the winds came (wind sucks), then rain (and lots of it - see the pic above of a bucket catching run off in to our tent) all followed by heat and humidity.
I wish I could blame the weather on our poor finishes in the invitational and open. We got beat up pretty bad by the judges. We didn't even sniff a top-twenty finish. The hardest part to accept is that I wouldn't have hesitated to turn anything we cooked into judges at any other contest. I thought most of it was good enough to score something.
We did have on semi-bright spot in that our brisket fisnished in the top 30 among 125 or so entries in the World Brisket Open. This was our first go-round in the brisket-only side competition. I liked it and I think we'll try it again.
Overall, we did have fun but the weekend was dissapointing in the end. We are already looking forward to jumping back on the horse and cooking again.
Next up...The Dodge County Purple Porkers team invades Des Moines, Iowa in just a week and a half. We are all looking forward to this pork-only event. The competition will be tough, but we are looking forward to the challenge!
1 comment:
Dodge County Guys. The weather at the GAB was a bad omen for us all. We were your neighbors next door and did our best to block ALL of the major wind and rain that came in horizontally from over the hill and blasted us all night long.
You weren't alone, the judges banged us pretty hard in the Invitational as well on this one, as we fought to keep the Good One at the right temp through that darn thunderstorm all night.
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