SKUNKED! at the GAB

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!

This Little Piggy went to My House...

In preparation of entering the Great Pork BarbeQLossal in June, The Dodge County Purple Porkers got together last Saturday to cook a whole hog - one of the requirements for the Des Moines, Iowa contest.

Actually our weekend project would not be considered a hog, but rather a pig. An oinker "on the hoof" under 180lbs is a pig...over 180, a hog. Our piggy weighed in at 48lbs. The minimum weight that we can cook in the contest is 45. That would put our new pet somewhere in the neighborhood of 75lbs before being butchered.

Jerrod and Chris came over to the Dunker house early Saturday Morning. We got the pig out of my cooler, where it had been chilling out since I had picked it up from Bichelmeyer Meats the day before. Then we got to work cleaning it up and getting it ready to hit the heat. I can say that I pretty much sat back and let Chris do the cutting. He is dangerous with the blade and had the swine ready to cook it in no time.

In order to fit it the cooker, we had to trim a little here and there. Four hooves and a head later, we laid down a little seasoning, injected the shoulders and hams to keep it moist and wrapped it up in chicken wire to help us handle it a little easier. After much discussion, research and a few morning beers, we decided to cook Porky belly down, rather than on its back.

Our purpose for cooking this pig was three fold... First, we had never done one before, so it was practice. Second, we needed to make sure that we could cook all four QLossal categories (pork butt, ribs, loin and hog) on one cooker. And finally, Jerrod's father-in-law is throwing a little get-together and this will be the main course.

Twelve hours after going in to the cooker, we pulled out our test pig. We didn't expect much...maybe that's why I liked it so much. It was surely some good eatin'!

I am really looking forward to heading up and cooking in the QLossal. It will be a great time and something totally new for us. But we before we go we have another pretty big competition here in KC.

Next up for Chris and I will be the Great American BBQ this weekend. We did well at this one last year. We just hope we can keep it up and hear our name called at the awards. But even if we don't, I'll sleep OK. The worst day cookin' is still better than a good day at work!

Teaming up for the QLossal!

For the past couple of years Chris and I have thrown around the idea of going to the Great Pork BarbeQLossal in Des Moines, IA. The QLossal happens every June and it's a contest that is unique in that it is the only Kansas City Barbecue Society sanctioned contest where cooks only deal with pork. No beef. No chicken. No other ancilaries. Just pork.

Pork butt. Pork ribs. Pork lion. And the big one...whole hog. The last one is the category that has scared us off until now. We have never cooked a hog and it seems like a pretty big undertaking.

So while we considered it, we never really considered it. That is until we started kicking the idea around again early this year when a friend of ours, Jerrod Caton of the team Pork Me Purple, brought it up. Jerrod talked us into it and now we're teaming up to cook this exciting event.

We are actually quite lucky to have Jerrod on our side. He's put in over a decade in the pork industry and took first place in pork at the 2007 American Royal Invitational.

Our first order of business: team name. We decided that we'll combine our names for this contest. So, for the first weekend in June, the Dodge County Smokers and Pork Me Purple will be known collectively as the Dodge County Purple Porkers.

We're hoping that our combined success in the two regular KCBS categories of pork butt and ribs thrown in with a little luck in loin and that whole pig will result in a successful day for us all.

Oh, and about that whole hog that has scared us off before. Well...we'll be doing our practice run on a small pig this weekend. Official QLossal rules state that we must cook a pig with a minimum weight of 45lbs. Given the small size, we're hoping we can manage it and we're looking forward to the challenge. Win or lose, it should be fun weekend and learning experience for sure!

Lansing, Kansas: Grand Champs!

Behind the strength of two first place calls and two more top tens, we are proud to report another successful Dodge County Smokers finish this weekend with a Grand Championship in Lansing, KS!

Back in January Chris won a free entry to the Brew, Blues & BarBQ event in Lansing at the KCBS awards banquet. It worked out well, as Chris, Jenny and Emily had just bought a new home and moved to an acreage about 5 miles south of town. In addition to being close to home, it was going to be nice cooking in a contest with mild spring weather. Well, we didn't get the weather we had hoped for.

Our tent was up for all of about 5 minutes when a gust of wind whipped up and snapped a leg. We didn't even have sidewalls up, coolers unloaded or anything else unpacked. Chris and I spent much of the next 2 hours or so standing around debating how to set up our tent, where to put the cooker and how to anchor everything down. I felt like we were at our first contest again...not knowing what to do or how to do it.

After we finally got everything unloaded, set up and situated, it felt like we were working from behind the rest of the night. We eventually got caught up on everything and the wind died down around 8 or 9pm. I thought it was going to be an OK night. After the family left Friday night we decided to take a walk and spent a few minutes at the Squeal of Approval camp. Around midnight it was time to head back to home base and just as we made our way into our crippled temporary abode, a gust of wind hit almost as if it was set on a timer for 12 am...and it kept blowing through the night and into Saturday morning with out a break.

I hate the wind. I can deal with rain, the cold and even excessive heat...but wind just turns an otherwise good day into a real drag. Wind sucks. Or blows...whatever.

So other than the damn wind, we had a great time. Turn ins went well and we really only pushed it to the time limit on our last box. Our brisket slices were too wide to fit in the box...adjustments were made, last minute touches applied and Chris hit the road with what turned out to be our second top call of the day and the entry that propelled us into the #1 spot overall for the day.

Over the years I *may* have developed just a few little quirks when it comes to our routine. If something works...why mess with it? I guess I just thought maybe no one would notice. Well, my dirty little secret was thrust into the open by Chris's wife, Jenny. In addition to being just a tad embarrassed (but not really...), I was more afraid that the mystical powers that are somehow harnessed by my tendencies would be erased if and when I acknowledged them. As my sister's boyfriend, "Braq," pointed out, they all knew...but you don't talk to the pitcher in the middle of a no hitter.

So when we sat down at the awards and Jenny

invited Jackson to leave my lap and come sit with her...I had to refuse. Hey...that kid has brought me a lot of luck over the past year! So there it was...and Jenny called me out on it! Right in the middle of the awards, no less! But in the end, it all ended up the way we wanted...Though Jenny may have opened up a can of worms...she's going to have to bust my chops at every awards ceremony now. Something tells me that won't be a problem!

The Great American BBQ Invitational and Open are up next. Memorial Day Weekend. Should be a blast!

Pleasant Hill

The first weekend of April could not come soon enough. We were really looking forward to getting out to Pleasant Hill, MO and cooking again after a strong finish in North Kansas City last month.

For the third time in as many contests, we set up shop next to our very good friends, Steph, Kyle and Val - better known as the Slabs. On the other side of our camp was Mike Wozniak, the head cook of the very succesfull team Quau. Steph had organized a pot luck dinner for Friday night at the Slabs tent and we ate very well thanks to the dishes brought by 10 or 12 other teams. Chris contributed one of my favorites, a cheesy corn bake.

A small crowd gathered 'round The Slab's fire pit to keep warm and the night was capped off with a old fashioned jam session and sing along as Kyle strummed his guitar joined by Rich and Bunny of K-Cass BBQ on harmonica and guitar. Nights like this are what make me love BBQ contests.

Temps dipped pretty low over night...not sure how low...I was too cold to go out side of out tent to see. We kept it around 60 or 65 in the Dodge County Smokers compound, with the help of our propane heater and the firebox from the cooker. I can't wait until we can cook in a contest where we don't have to worry about putting up all of our sidewalls on the tent to keep the heat in.

Saturday rolled around and most everything went as planned. We had some friends and family hanging out with us and enjoying the day, which is always nice and the awards were right on time at 3:30 in the afternoon. The volunteers putting on the show in Pleasant Hill ran a tight ship.

We did pretty well. Brisket has been an anchor, pulling us down for over a year. We broke out a new recipe and scored 5th place. Our ribs continue to do well as we took home 7th there. Overall, we were happy with a 6th place finish and it was great to see the Pork Pullin' Plowboys win a Grand Championship in thier first contest of the year.

Up next...Lansing, KS May 2nd & 3rd.

What's in a Name?

Every once in a while when we're at a contest someone will ask us what's up with that line "& the Sue Dog Smokin' Crew" near the bottom of our competition team banner.

Does our team really include a legion of culinary trained canines all named Sue?

No.

Sue is my dog. When I entered my first BBQ contest, I couldn't think of a name for my team. So I named the team after my dog. I think the first name I used was Smokin' Sue's BBQ. We cooked in 6 contests that first summer. I used some combination or variance of the words Smoke and Sue in almost all of them. In addition to Smokin' Sue's, there was Sue Dog's BBQ and then Sue Dog's Smokin' Crew. I could never quite settle on a name that I thought fit just right.

Toward the end of our first year, I entered a contest in West Point, Nebraska - just a few miles from my hometown in Dodge County, Nebraska. My Dad knew a local beef producer, who also held a seat on the Dodge County Cattleman's Board, and a sponsorship for that contest in West Point sounded like a good possibility. So I entered as the Dodge County Smokers BBQ team.

Well, the sponsorship fell through, but not before another friend of Dad's made me a banner that said "Dodge County Smokers and the Sue Dog Smokin' Crew." Now I had already entered another contest happening after this one, so I asked the guy to include that Sue Dog line on the banner when I learned he was making it. That way I could use it at both contests. It was kind of an ugly banner. It was yellow and had blue and red letters. But it was free and I was happy to have it. By the way, I think it was free because the guy was using up banner materials that no one else would pay for.

Now that we had a banner (no matter how ugly), I didn't want to pay for another - and the Dodge County name was starting to grow on me anyway...plus the name kind of paid tribute to where I grew up and also the smoker that my Dad had just built around that time. So the name stuck...and so did that Sue Dog line.

When we designed our current logo, we kept Sue in there and we finally retired that ugly yellow banner last year. Sue still comes to the occasional contest, but more often you'll find a little Sue Dog look-a-like hanging in our tent at a contest. BBQers are full of superstitious little quirks...I guess that's one of ours.

North Kansas City

Our second contest of the year was in North Kansas City. It was our third time cooking this one and this contest has had a few organizational problems in the past. This year they moved locations and fixed a few other issues and put together a pretty solid event. It's a shame the weather wasn't a little better.

With the new location the sites were all centrally located around Finnegen's, a bowling alley and event center in Northtown. This put us all closer to cleaner restrooms and it allowed them to hold the cook's meeting and awards indoors as opposed to outside as in years past. We also got a our full results print out instead of waiting for them to be posted online. There were some other issues with alcohol consumption that were worked out with NKC officials as well - which is good because I like to drink beer.

After braving the cold, wind, rain and snow we got everything turned in on time - but just barely...I took way too long on our pork & brisket boxes but Chris literally ran our boxes in just in time and in the end we faired pretty well - finishing first in ribs and ending up fourth overall. I was a little disappointed in our pork score as I thought it was pretty good. Chicken was OK. We tried a new recipe and it will need some tweaking, but we are on the right track. Brisket continues to weigh us down. We actually scored better than I thought we would, but I think it was just luck.

All in all it was a good weekend...we got to hang out with our ol' pals The Slabs and took in a few of the Big XII Basketball tournament games over at Pork Me Purple's site (nice brisket call, Jerrod), had a nice dinner with fam and friends on Friday, then we got a surprise visit from my buddy Officer Jon Going and we even came home with a little bit of money, which will help us keep feeding our BBQ habit.