Trailhound Smokers BBQ: Sam's Club-Salt Lake City...better than expected

I gotta admit, I was excited about jumping back into the BBQ contest world but it's been since July 2013 since we competed in a full 4 meat contest. We've cooked quite a bit but we haven't really practiced for competition. Last month we competed in two rib only contests...doing well in one and tanking the other.

We loaded up the trailer, picked up our meat, packed personal stuff and hit the road. We traveled to Cedar City Thursday evening to spend the night instead of getting up a O'dark thirty and driving 450 miles. This worked well and I think we'll do it again. It was nice to not be so tired come Saturday at turn in time.

We set up the Trailhound camp and settled in. Satisfied Hogs were next to us. This time they brought Dutchess...the weiner dog. What a cutie pie she is...can't believe I didn't get a picture of her.

Squat & Gobble were on the next aisle...such great folks

R&R (our first mentors) hosted an IMBBQA dinner Friday night at their site.

We have a check list, we checked it, we forgot stuff...important stuff...ingredients for ribs, chicken, and brisket. Yes, this was definitely the first full contest of the year. I improvised and whipped up an injection for the pork with what we had available. Ribs and brisket just didn't their ingredients.

I thought my chicken was pretty good, I was pleased with the trimming, thought it looked and tasted good, we didn't forget any stuff for it so I thought it might be our best category. Judges didn't think so...finished with a 20th placement.

No call in ribs, finished 24th...apparently we need to work on ribs at the moment.

We weren't expecting to hear our name in pork; after all, we forgot the injection. There's a new rule for pork this year. You can remove the money muscle from the butt so what the heck, let's give that a try. It sliced better this time around I think, maybe a bit dark though. Overall, I thought the box looked good. We're thankful the judges liked it and we took 2nd place! Now to remember what I put in the impromptu injection. lol

Last but not least...brisket. The first one we sliced didn't have the flavor we were hoping for. Thankfully, the second one was on point and flavorful. For the last couple of years, brisket has been our strong meat...and this year is starting off that way...2nd place call!

By the grace of God we managed to place 6th overall. I'm not sure we cooked well enough but I'm not a judge to make that final decision. Thankfully, we are moving on to the next round...regionals in Las Vegas! Congrats to R&R for walking in all four categories and placing 1st for GC. We also want to congratulate Satisfied Hogs for their 3rd place walk for ribs. They have been on a roll in the last 4 events in that category.