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April 24, 2006
Rock'n Ribs Wrap-Up
Warning - no knitting content ahead.
A few days ago I mentioned that I wouldn't be blogging much since I was getting ready for a barbeque competition. I figured I would reward you with a mini-photo essay about how I spent my weekend.
First, you're probably wondering: how did she get involved in this in the first place? I am in Rotaract (which is basically Junior Rotary) and they compete every year in Rock'n Ribs, which is a barbeque competition and festival hosted by all the Rotary clubs of Springfield as a benefit for children's charities in the Ozarks. Last year we raised something like $70,000, so it's a pretty big deal.
A few months ago, we started looking for someone who wanted to be the head cook for the Rotaract team. My husband loves BBQ so he volunteered, even though he's not in the club. I helped organize all the other volunteers and everything was falling nicely into place. Then my husband discovered a minor problem - he had a conflict and wouldn't be able to cook. I am apparently the only person in the club with even passing knowledge of making barbeque, so I got the job.
For those of you who stick to knitting and are not familiar with the barbeque arts, here's the basic gist: Barbequeing is not grilling. Grilling is where you put meat directly over hot coals and it cooks pretty fast. In barbequeing, the meat is cooked slowly, at about 200-225 degrees, using indirect heat. Usually the coals/wood is in a separate compartment and it funnels through the cooking chamber then out a chimney pipe on the other end of the cooker. The result of this is extremely tender, flavorful meat. But the downside is that large cuts of meat can take 12-18 hours to cook.
That's why I was sleeping in the parking lot of Bass Pro Shops on Friday night. We started the pork shoulders around midnight and staggered putting the rest of the meat on to cook between 2-8am. Some people in the competition are really serious - they travel all around the country entering BBQ contests. These people are also smart enough to bring a trailer or some sort of semi-comfortable place to sleep. I was fairly ill-prepared for my first competition. I did have a tent, but just a blanket to sleep on and a blanket to cover me. Luckily I conned a couple of people to come out and help me cook during the night, so I wasn't all alone. They monitored the smokers (you have to keep the temperature constant by opening/closing air vents and adding wood/charcoal) so I could get a few hours sleep.
The next morning, another crew of Rotaract club members came in to help me get the meat ready for the competition. (As you can see, we had a cowboy theme. There were many Brokeback jokes.)
We entered all four categories: chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket. In addition, we cooked more meat for serving to the public after the competition. I thought our meat turned out pretty well, but I'm sure it wasn't anything compared to some of the serious competitors in the competition. (I went home to sleep before they passed out the awards.)
Here is my little smoker and our BBQ meat. Doesn't that chicken look tasty? The rest is wrapped up to keep warm so it doesn't burn.
All in all I had a fun weekend, even though I was exhausted from so little sleep. I made some great BBQ (if I do say so myself) and got to know some people that I wouldn't normally hang out with. As you can probably guess, BBQ competitions are generally a male-dominated arena, so I was proud to represent the ladies in some small way.
In case ANYONE had made it this far - no, I didn't bring my knitting, even though I had tons of downtime at this event. One word: smoke. There were about 50 teams all creating woodsmoke for a solid 12 hours. My hair still smells like BBQ, and I just couldn't do that to my knitting.
THE END.
Posted by zarah at April 24, 2006 7:12 AM
Comments
What a fun, fun weekend! My dad is in a bbq club, so I know all about this :-) You are smart to have left your knitting at home!
Posted by: Kathy at April 24, 2006 8:00 AM
I could almost smell the smoke in KC! Bet you had a good time. Get your gear ready for next time, a nice air mattress would help.
Posted by: Chery at April 24, 2006 8:15 AM
Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic weekend with us and for all the explanations - while reading I really felt like being there, smelling the smoke - and eating, eating, eating! Wow, yummy! And yay for representing the ladies in a male-dominated field!
Posted by: Dipsy at April 24, 2006 12:30 PM
Dude, I totally wanted to come by but we forgot on Sat. and I thought you'd be there on sunday but ya'll werent. How did you do? BBQ sounded so good this weekend. When are ya'll leaving for DC? We should get together before or after if times of the essence. Email me.:)
Posted by: Bethany Coffey at April 24, 2006 8:15 PM
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