Eagle event, pics and report

[Capt Dan]

This event was sponsored by the Great Lakes BBQ association, and again was a great event.Last year I became involved with it through the SMF site, and it is the place where I finally met and spent time with a very good friend Richtee.When they talk about good things comming in a small packeage, This is my friend Rich. Now don't get me wrong. he is a great friend and awesome individual, but we are about the same height 5-4, yet he is probably 70 lbs lighter maybe more! Heart of gold, and excitement factor on high.We decided to make the Eagle event our 2nd annual, and even though we were not sure till almost the last few days, the stage was set, and we were conna go and play with some of the big kids on the block.Tis year we were on our own,yet twice as condident as last year, we decided that we were gonna achieve 2 things: turn in all 4 meats, and continue to have a good time. That we DID!

Now I am not gonna make this too big a deal. Competing against these folks is fun enough, Rich is a great worker and has a wonderful way with people. He is probably a good leader too, I don't know cuz he tends to let me make my point, yet he knows I treasure his input.Rich tends t rebel against the"comp mindset"(he thinks the judges need to be blindfolded), yet I know a lil bit more about the politics and silly rules they incorporate.

So All that aside I will get on with it.

we finally get our camp together and after a few welcoming drinks with the competition, we have our humble home set up!

we get our game plan together and next thing I know, My partner is going at the turn in parsley boxes.



The parsley selection at any produce store was pitiful, but we decided, everyone had the same issue to deal with.


The next day, we had a great time and until an hr before the end, the weather was excellent. I have to thank Jonser, and his wife for all the great help, both putting things away before the storms, and also for lending us thier taste buds for our selections. They were a huge part of our great time today ( sat)
I am pretty tired right now and fading fast, so this is the beginning report. Mor to come tomorrow!

[erain]

very cool capt!!! good to see a couple fellow members getting together, not only rich and dan, jonser, and wife as well... looking forward to follow up on this!!! wishin everyone the best of luck in the comp!!!

[Richtee]

Heh- thanks for the kind words, Dan- but the reason I usually defer to your calls is you are prolly right. I tend to cook for "eating" not "comps". And yes, I have finally learned there IS a difference.

At a comp, the judges get one bite, maybe two. And they get MANY one bites maybe two. Let's face it...few people in the world have the "tasting acumen" to really differentiate between 15 ribs. What you offer has to "grab" them.

I'm not so sure perhaps trying an "eating" style might not be "different" enough to work, tho. It would perhaps force them to "taste harder".. "Hmmm...not alot here...Hmmm wait...OK...dang a litle back end heat...gentle twang of the mop..." Kinda a stealth approach, if ya know what I mean.

From the comments tho, I think Dan and I got first place in the Friday night pot luck dinner with our stuffed pork loins :{) They were about 15 min late to the table, but they went well anyway!

Looking forward to the "rest of the story" Dan!

[Kyote]

looking forward to the rest of the story. sounds like you two make a great team. and good times were had even if the parsley did not want to shine for ya. Capt. ya need ta feed that boy some some of your great viddles to make the team members look the same.lol..

[minnbill]

To cool sounds like a great time!

[Capt Dan]

OK, what a good nights sleep. The story continues. Rich has sent me some pics, and I have yet to downsize and upload many of them,but I will get to them in the next day or so, or if he wants to add them to this thread , it would be fine also.

I think the team from Ohio, the guys next to bubba, and ourselves were the only team that were working out of our trucks, instead of having the nicer rigs or trailers. That is tough to do, and ends up being a constant shuffling match from table to table to truck ect. If I decide to do alot of these, or get into catering, I have got to get a better system.I don't doubt that every team that has those type of convienient rigs, has been where we are .

Us wings fans had to remember the team and show our support, rich remembered to bring the "broom", and he decided to display it on the nose of the Lang!



As the night went on, we had our fun and alot of laughs, at one time, I thought there was a stripper party a few camps over. I sent Rich on a recon mission to make sure I wasn't missing anything! He came back a few hrs later and reported all was well, although he seemed to have a slightly sideways walk, and blamed it on Bubba, Mike and Theresa. I wish I could have visited more, but the 15-25 mph winds were playing havok on my stickburner. I have to honestly say, I have never had as much trouble with the Lang as I did early saturday morning and right up till turn in.It deffinately took away from my social time, and that didn't make me very happy.

The late night/early morning gave way to slumber for many, including my partner.


I tried to steal some sleep too, but the constant banging of the slide doors on the building, and the temp alarm made it tough for me to get more than 20 minutes at a time, I think I got about 90 total sleep minutes through out the whole night. By morning, my ass was dragging, and the reports of threatening weather, made it even worse.

First turn in at noon was chicken. Those that don't know, last year the chicken never got to the turn-in box for us, we just F'ed that whole thing up, so this year, we made it our mission statement to work hard on the chicken entry, and we were pretty happy with the way the chicken turned out, and looked. I think we have a good baseline to refere to and build on with the chix.Ribs were next,our ribs decided to have alot of bones showing through the backs, so we didn't have the taste we wanted on the prettier ribs,and the temp wind issues, made for overcooked ribs I think.Pork, we had some good butts and while I was getting them cut up and chopped/pulled, someone started telling folks about impending high winds arriving in 30-45 minutes, so with the help of mr and mrs. Jonser, we took the easy-up down and started stowing some gear in preperation. Pork entry looked and tatsed good, I was happy bout that. one more meat to go, and I am slicing the brisket, and the skies opened up.CRAP! we get it slided up and in the box and duck inside the outbuilding next to our campsite. We placed our burnt-ends in withe slices and figured, oh well.........and watched the rain. with 10 minutes to go before the turn-in deadline, the rain stopped, we decided to sauce the slices and try to "pretty up the box" a bit.

end result of a suprised /rain washed brisket

[BigRedQ]

Way To GO!! looks and sounds like you two had a great time.

congrats

[Texas-Hunter]

Congrats on the call.... WhooHooo...

[Richtee]

Yeah that brisket turn in was hell. But... one never knows. Mike Terry from the GLBBA said. "Hey..maybe the rain washed off the rub..that's why ya won" LOL... anyway..I'll post the turn in boxes. First the brisket. It was so dark, I could not get a good pict, and it was 2 Min before deadline... soo...



Now in chronological order... the Chix thighs. Sigh.. I was pretty proud of these



The Ribs.... neither of us were really happy with 'em. They din't suck, but when yer in a deal like this with the pros... ya better be better than that.



And the Pork shoulder/butt. This was pretty tasty, but again... if ya wanna run with the BIG Dogs..



I'm bummed I din't get a shot of the stuffed loin we did, and I did a small fatty for breakfast the next day that was allright too. BUT- Bubba DID have hunks of both, so regardless of what his credo is...it DID happen LOL!

[Bbq Bubba]

Great job guys! I'll be waiting for that brisket recipe.

Typical Michigan comp. weather.....beautiful, chitty, warm, cold, wind, calm, blue skys and rain.....all within a 24 hr period!

Your chicken looked GREAT and wish i could see your brisky box but you guys have come a LONG ways in 2 comps. I think you have a good thing going there, especially now that you have a REAL chicken cooker! (congrats on the drum farker!)

Obviously we'll see you again since Dan also won a free entry to the Mt. Morris Blues & BBQ event...lookin forward to that!

Congrats to the both of you, next time i'll take you up on all those drink offers since i've learned that staying sober helps our game for chit!

[Capt Dan]

And.................................. the fun didn't stop there!

next there were 2 raffles that the GLBBQA did. The first raffle was for a paid entry into one of uor KCBS comps in Aug at Mt Morris mich. I think the entry fee for that is 200-250 bucks. And then the 2nd raffle was for a new UDS that was built by our own " Drum Corps General" BBQ BUBBA.

So at about 8 am saturday, I was over at the scotsman camp and asked Bruce about the raffle tickets, so he went and got the money box and tickets and I bought 1 ticket each for the raffles. I think I was the first tickets bought for each raffle.

OK, back to the awards ceremony, The trophies and ribbons had been handed out, Congrats to all the winners," Pork of the North" took many awards including GC.

1st raffle for the KCBS entry, My ticket gets called, cool, I get up and I'm thinkin it's for the drum,I nod to bubba and said" great, now I have to re-organize my truck and gear thats all packed up, to fit in the drum". Wrong!!!

It's for the contest entry, so cool. I wanted to cook in it anyways, just never had the entry fee. So I'm thinkin cool. Sit down and the call the second number( for the drum) Guess who's number got called!



Thanks Bubba for the donation of your time and effort, and the ongoing support of the GLBBQA.Thanks also for delivering the supplies I ordered from your company. True friend and awesome team. Thanks also to the GLBBQA members who worked so hard to make this happen. Their true dedication to the sport really shows when you see first hand the hard work that they do. I know Walt ,Theresa and Bruce all wanted to compete, but instead chose to run the event so the rest of us could cook.



So yeah, Capt dan is feeling like it was christmas yesterday, a "walk", a new UDS, a free entry to a KCBS event, and continued friendships from the folks I spent the weekend with.

[daboys]

Very nice job guys! Looks like you had a great time.

[Abelman]

Great story and Congrats all around...



Dan, you need to stop on the way home and buys some lottery tickets as well...holly cow on that raffle.

[Richtee]

Oh and one important pict here... Thank you Ken for the T-H tee... it made it till Sat afternoon...but I fear it may not recover...

[Capt Dan]

Great story and Congrats all around...



Dan, you need to stop on the way home and buys some lottery tickets as well...holly cow on that raffle.

Hahaha, funny you say that.............................................. .. well, I was,,,,LOL just chittin. My kids said the same thing after I told them about the ribbon and the raffles. I was so tired, I think I slept a couple times on the drive home! My youngest boy said" dad ya gotta but a ticket". I told him I was tired, he said" I'll drive ya there" let's just go. LOL, I told him that I thought my run of luck was probably pretty used up,I was spent.