The BBQ Community at large is the nicest group of people you will ever “meat”. In this community, you will find that everyone is awesome and wants to help their BBQ Brethren out for the greater good and love of the art of cooking good food. Attending Memphis in May this year allowed me to “meat” even more great people and expand my ever growing BBQ and Grilling Family.
Here is a brief recap of how the National Barbecue Cooking Contest works for those of you who are new to the event–
Friday is the ancillary categories turn in, followed by a kick ass awards ceremony later. That is followed by a festival wide block party.
Chris Lilly and Ken Hess of Big Bob Gibson's BBQ won their 3rd Grand Champion this year! Congrats you guys! WOW!
Saturday is for the major pork turn in that includes whole hog, ribs and pork shoulder. Every team’s tent is categorized by what meat category they turn in. “Patio Porkers” as they are called, are the semi-pro section of the event. Patio Porkers only compete in Ribs.
The blog last left off from this past Friday during prep for the ancillary categories where we grilled rattlesnake for our exotic; I entered the coleslaw competition and my dad entered the mustard sauce category.
I believe I may have had a LOT of white wine and then heard the results of the coleslaw competition at the awards ceremony where I did not place and got a really bad case of the coleslaw blues.
Neil Gallagher, CBO, Chief BBQ officer of my team “Team Too Sauced to Pork”, made me my own trophy to cheer me up! Right on top of my beverage of choice, sky vodka.
On Saturday, I woke up with a raging hangover and then had to put my big girl panties on because I was in a “boys vs. girls Grill OFF” at the KCBS tent later that day. The grill off was a success and I think everyone had a great time. Clint Cantwell of “Smoke in Da Eye” BBQ was my competitor and he did a great job with a grilled rataouille. The ingredients we were given to work with were sparse at best and the contest said we could bring our own ingredients. I do believe the pound cake I grilled that I brought from my tent alongside mango skewers marinated in margarita mix pushed me over the edge with the judges. And it didn’t hurt having 2 female judges either!
Clint was a tough component but I think my grilled poundcake won the judges over! I had to represent for the ladies!
All said and done I was super happy to win for the women out there so we can represent!
Here’s some pics of some of the nicest and winningest (as Charlie Sheen would say: WINNING!!!) people in BBQ that I got the opportunity to befriend while in Memphis. I’m sure ya’ll will recognize some of these people!
You can tell that Dad and I had a great time this year. We make a great BBQ team.
Perhaps this is the Ubon's of Yazoo's good luck charm! These guys are like royal family of BBQ!
The Parrotheads of Hogaritaville are known for their great cocktails. Their sauce is really great too!
The guys from FatBack Collective, who made a really strong showing at their first year at MIM, make their own lump charcoal. Pretty impressive.
BBQ Bling. Yes I believe these are real rib bones LOL.
Dad and I get a bottle of the much anticipated Drapers BBQ Sauce. These guys are all the rage in the sauce world!
Thanks again Memphis for another great time this year. Made some great friends and had a blast- I look forward to going back next year and raising the bar on my competition. A big shout out goes to the Too Sauced to Pork Team for their great showing on ribs this year! You guys rock!
I love your website and read it often. You and your Dad should come to the 3rd annual Sunshine State Eggfest held in Melbourne, FL Mar 9-10, 2012. It is a bunch of Eggheads who love to cook and show off their Big Green Eggs. It isn’t a competition just a lot of great food. Hope to see y’all there.
Kim Y
Great post.
Would love to make it down there some day.
Congrats on your win 🙂
Shane
Okay, now I regret not going:(
We had planned on going but Alexis had to work and I didn’t want to go without her but damn looks like you guys had a blast. Except for the part where Clint is trying to tear your arms out of the socket in that picture….man he’s a sore loser (ha ha)
Robyn it was great having you and TS Eddie back this year as part of the Too Sauced To Pork family!!! Congrats on your win vs. Clint! Can’t wait to see what you cook up for next year!!!
Win or lose – what a great way to spend a few days. I really liked your trophy and can imagine winning at slaw, with so many varied taste, is harder than winning at BBQ.
I love the update on your blog. Great job. It was a blast hanging out with you. Hopefully Chis and Larry and some of your other blogger friends can join us next year. I agree the folks in the BBQ community are the best. Thanks to the city of Memphis, the BBQ judges and all the other volunteers that make this event possible. Thanks for the memories!!!
TS Eddie (Dad)
Hi,
Thank you for your nice words on our Danish hospitality. We really enjoyed your company this year, and hope you liked our invitational dinner setup – with the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE theme….
Looking forward to see you another time – meanwhile you can re-experience it on this link:
http://bbqtv.23video.com/video/1785247/memphis-in-may-11-dag-4
See you, and all the best
Stig P.
Team Captain, Danish National BBQ Team
Stig,
It was great meeting your whole team and I hope to see you guys next year. You guys are a class act! 🙂
Robyn