Sam Club BBQ Tour Regional...Las Vegas

We made it through to the second round (regional event) in Las Vegas...a mere 20 miles from home. It was a crazy windy, cold, and rain threatening event.  The wind was so bad that no one was allowed to put up canopies. This made it difficult for many teams, and a boost for U-Haul truck rentals.  In fact, they didn't even put up sides on the judges tent.  It was up because it's weighed down with 55 gallon drums filled with water.  

Timm forgot his coat so he had a rough night.   

Crystal came out after setting up a wedding, and back out again in the morning.  

Our site...not looking like much of a site without a tent to ground it.  

Young BBQ dude, Adam Difloe came out and gave us a hand, braved the cold, and was a great help.  At only 17 years old, he might just be one of the youngest pitmaster's around...he and his mom make up Stoked to Smoke, another Vegas team. 

We fought the wind and weather that effected the pit temps and meat.  Large meats did not want to come up to temp and were taking up to 2+ hours longer than normal to cook.  We didn't use our usual brand of chicken and that cost us I think.  The skin shrunk up to look like small squares that laid on top of the thighs.  Amy (Got Smoke BBQ) told me that it was packed in water and that's why the skin shrunk so much.  We felt like we had a good turn in box of ribs.  The money muscle sliced really well on the pork, and the first brisket was pretty good.  

Overall, we finished 18th with a 661.6688 so we won't be moving on to Bentonville in September.  That was a higher score than the Salt Lake event but scores were higher overall at this one. We placed 22nd in chicken, 19th in ribs, 11th in pork, and 14th in brisket at this contest.  

Big thanks to John Mull's Meats for sponsoring us once again...we sure appreciate them.  We had so hoped to make a good showing for them.  Guess that day is still coming...let's pray it's in Boulder City next month.  

Almost half the teams were doing a double header by heading out to Mesquite to compete in Smokin' in Mesquite to compete Saturday and Sunday.  We wish them all the best along with the other teams  competing there.  

Congrats to Rhythm-n-Que for claiming GC and Slap Yo Daddy BBQ for RGC.  Best of luck to all the teams that are moving on to finals. 

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.  

Here are a few more photos to share from the event.  

Kim and Jason (Satisifed Hogs) 

One of the R&R boys 

Half Baked Hippies...what a wild looking set up! 

Mack (Got Smoke) working hard. 

Timm cutting ribs to see which ones we like best. 

Thanks to Troy Black, Sam's Club and all their sponsors, and to our new meat sponsor, John Mull's Meats and the Road Kill Grill.  

Hitting the BBQ Trail

It's official!  We signed up for the 1st round of events for the Sam's Club National BBQ Tour.  Salt Lake City will be our destination in April to compete in the local event.  We've been wanting to get up there for quite some time now to see friends, visit their new restaurant, etc.  

Last year, we didn't register for the whole Sam's Club thing.  In 2012, we made it all the way to the finals in Bentonville, Arkansas and were blessed to finish 6th in brisket and 6th overall.  It would be awesome if that were the case again this year.  We'll see.  There are so many variables that come into play.  It will be an adventure we look forward to.

Southwest Regionals

Teams are gathering in Vegas for the southwest regionals April 19 & 20.  Thirty teams from around the surrounding states and well as Nevada are competing for $20,000 and a chance to move onto the finals later this year.  Even though we aren't competing this year, we still get to be involved.  We're cooking a pit full of briskets and butts to use for samples at the event. 

Come out to the Sam's Club at 215 and South Rainbow to check it all out.  Just roll down the window and let your nose lead the way.  We'll be cheering on all the teams at awards...even though we do have a few favorites we hope to see at the top of the list at the end of the day. 

The Road To Bentonville...Day One

We hit the road early this morning because there was a lot of road ahead of us today.  After a brief stop at McDonalds we saw sunrise east of Kingman, AZ.  It was gorgeous.  



We stopped at a rest area outside of Holbrook to a much needed stretch.  Cassy climbed on the rocks, sniffed and explored...her favorit things to do.

 This time we were able to stop at the border and got the state border photos.  There are also some tourist attractions there as well with teepees, indians, dinosaurs and more.



Lunch was at the continental divide.  A couple of residents came out to check out the trailer. 



 

 

Timm and Scott did all the driving today.  We had to pay $4.25 a gallon for diesel...yikes. 

Our first for the night is Tucumcari, NM.  After 13-14 hours, the beds are comfy and the Pizza Hut was delicious.  Good night.

Sam's Club Regionals-Albuquerque

It's an honor and great experience to move on to the regionals for the Sam's Club National BBQ Tour in Albuquerque, NM.  I gotta admit, it was a long drive...600 miles in one day.  Sin City Smokers made the trip with us to compete. 

We got there on Thursday, and were one of the first ones to get our spaces.    We set up next to Sin City, R&R BBQ from Salt Lake moved in next door.  Rythm-n-Que were accross the aisle.  It was nice to have friends near us. 

Friday, a storm came in off the mountain and we had to batton down the hatches.  Several teams lost canopies.  We tucked ourselves into the front of the trailer, closed the door, and stayed dry and out of the wind.  Rain and hail on the metal roof was pretty cool, I like that sound.  I'm glad Timm decided to build a new BBQ trailer.  There was supposed to be a steak dinner Friday night but it was cancelled due to the weather.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, we had a good cook although Timm kept saying something didn't feel quite right.  Maybe it was the elevation.  Maybe it was being surrounded by 30 of the top teams in the west. I don't know, I thought it was great.  Anyway, our meats were tasty, tender and pleasing to the eye.  My goal was to hear our name once during the awards.  Chicken, nope...Ribs, nope...Pork, ugh, nope...Brisket, 4th place, YIPPEE!!!!!  My goal was made.  Sin City got 2 top ten calls, R&R got top tens as well.  We received 15th in chicken, 16th in ribs, 11th in pork, 4th in brisket.

Overall awards...the top ten teams can move onto the the Nationals in if they choose.  The BBQ gods were shining upon us....we took 7th overall!!!!!!!!!!  Holy Moly!  Talk about a surprised look on our faces...but totally excited.  And to think, we were going to pass on coming to regionals, so glad we didn't.  We were floating on a glorious barbeque cloud for the next several days.  Tears of joy were shed, and we couldn't keep a smile off our faces when talking about it.  Congrats to all the teams, there was some really strong competition. 

We gave all our meat to one of Timm's fellow Martin Harris associates working in Albuquerque.  He was glad to take it off our hands and was going to take the majority of it into the crew on Monday.  Nice to know it was going to be enjoyed by many.  In fact, when Timm called Bob to let him know where we finished we told him he was enjoying award winning brisket.  "I can't stop eating it!", he said.  What a great compliment.

 Here are more photos of some teams...and our brisket.

Cassy went with us and I have to say, she impressed us more and more each time she goes with us.  She travels well, stays in our site, doesn't beg for food even with all that awesome smell that is surrounding everyone, and is so good in the hotel room.  Oh, and Johnny Triggs likes her.

Now....we need to figure out how to fund a trip to Bentonville, Arkansas.  Looks like a fundraiser barbeque or two are in our future.

Our Summer Schedule

Things heat up in the BBQ world over the summer and many events are scheduled all accross the United States.  Here's where we'll be:

May 25,26     Best Dam Barbecue Challenge
                      Boulder City, NV

June 15,16     Northern Arizona BBQ Festival
                      Williams, AZ

July 6,7         Ace in the Hole BBQ Contest
                      Holbrook, AZ

August 31, Sept 1 
                    Smokin' in Mesquite
                    Mesquite, NV

October 12,13  Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Finals
                   Bentonville, AR

We hope to see some of our friends and family at few of these events. 

Round Two

Since May is National BBQ month, it only seems fitting that we'll be participating in our biggest stakes contest to date.

Round two for the southwest regionals is in Albequerque, NM this weekend. Teams that made it through round one in Arizona, Nevada, California, and Utah will gather to cook against each other for a purse of $20,000 and a chance to move on to the finals in Bentonville, AR in October.

I am pleased to say we are one of those teams that competed in Las Vegas and made the top 6, making us eligible to attend the regional finals. This weekend we will make the 600 mile trek to Albequerque to compete with 29 other top teams in the southwest. We're excited and nervous. We'll keep you posted on the outcome. We wish all the teams the best.

Sam's Club National BBQ Tour

A couple of weekends ago, we gathered at one of our local Sam's Club locations to be part of the National BBQ Tour along with 17 other teams.  This was the event for Nevada.  I'm pleased to say that 12 of the 18 teams were from Nevada, and 4 of them were participating in their first competition. 

Along with the KCBS BBQ competition, they are running Tyson's Best Wing on the Planet contest.  Originally, only 4 teams had entered, but after the cook's meeting we and a few others also signed up. I thought, what the heck, it's free to participate.  That nigh, I stopped and bought some chicken wings.  I tossed together some ingredients into a ziplock bag, cooked up my wings, tossed them in some additional flavoring, put them in the box and turned them in.  I am pleased to say, they took 2nd place!  I even got an oversized check to prove it. lol

Timm was right on top of things, keeping me on track when it comes to timing. We were blessed to have Scott with us on Saturday.  Now that he's back to a normal schedule we hope to see more of him at contests.  We changed up a few things...at a contest is a not a place to do that by the way...but we did, figuring we didn't have much to lose.  Apparently, they were good changes because we had a first for us...we got all four  meats in the top ten!  Our results were as follows:

chicken - 9th

ribs - 6th

pork - 8th

brisket - 3rd

overall - 6th

WooHoo!  Sixth place is good enough to move onto round two in Albequerque, NM in mid-May!!

Congrats to all the teams!  Nevada made a great showing, even some new teams got a call.  Sin City Smokers finished in 5th place, so two Nevada teams will be represented in round two.  Congrats to Brandon of Route 66 Catering Crew for taking GC.  Troy Black runs a tight ship, keeping things on schedule, making awards and cook meetings short and to the point.  We appreciate that.  

We had said quite some time ago that if we made top 6 we would decline the opportunity to move on to round 2...but when it really happened we were overwhelmed and excited to go.  Now reality has hit us and there is so much to do and prepare before we drive the 600 miles to New Mexico.  We leave in 10 short days.  Wish us luck, it will be an adventure and experience for sure.