Nevada Kiwani’s BBQ Wrap Up
Aug 29th
This past weekend Buster Dog BBQ competed in the Nevada, IA Kiwani’s BBQ contest. This was the third year we competed here and last year finished 4th. We thought this year we might have a chance at winning it all. Getting going wasn’t too easy. We went to pick up the trailer on Friday and found a back tire completely flat. Luckily next to where we keep the trailer is a truck and trailer place. They were able to switch out or spare and I discovered the main tire was coming off the tred. So off on our way about an hour later than planned.
So getting into the real story of this contest. Last week I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Non Hodgkins is when your lymp nodes turn cancerous and swell. My gut is about 3 times bigger than normal and I can’t lay down without immense pain. The good news is it is pretty treatable via chemo. We had already signed up for these contest and wanted to do them. So Wednesday I had a PET Scan. It involved laying flat for 30 minutes. So I was sedated but work up with six minutes left and had to be restrained on the table the final six in immense pain. On Thursday I had a deep needle biopsy where they again sedated me and went through my back to my abdomen to get tissue samples to determine the stage and strain. Again, I woke up towards the end but luckily more anesthetic helped. In addition to that they did a bone marrow test through my hip. So my back and abdomen were in great pain. But hey, I still thought I was 20 and could get up on Friday and be like new. Somewhere I forgot I was 40 and spend most of the remaining part of Friday on the couch in too much pain to walk around and still drowsy from pain meds.
I was able to get all the meats trimmed at home ahead of time. So Dawn was able to take things from there and season, final prep etc. I would get up for about 5 minutes, help, then back to the couch. David helped out where he did and is always a good pair of hands.
So when we got to awards I wasn’t sure what to expect. In all, we did follow our plan. I trimmed and injected, she seasoned, I put on smoker and monitored doness.I sliced and she did a great meat selection and presentation. When they went to call chicken, one of the people we turned in with got a top five call. Figured we were shut out. Well, we got first place chicken. Then as ribs counted down I again thought we were shutout because we made a last minute change for a little fattier rack and that took 3rd. Our pork was 10th and brisket was really worrying me because my slices were a little uneven and it came in 2nd. Still too tight for me to know if we won because Meadow Valley had a lot of calls including a perfect 180 in pork. Well, today God, my Dad and everyone else was smiling on Buster Dog and we won.
What can’t get lost in here is the awards ceremony. It was emotional for us and I can’t give Dawn and David more credit for helping out. But the BBQ community all backed us. We had so, so many people come up and give us big hugs, well wishes, etc. BBQ people are the greatest people to walk this planet and I am so humbled to be a part of that group. Thank you all.
La Platte, NE Wrap Up
Aug 22nd
Got lazy last week and forgot to post about this. We went to the 19th Annual Nebraska State BBQ Championship this past weekend in La Platte, NE which is about 10 miles south of Omaha. Our first contest in three weeks. From start to finish it felt so unorganized. I was a day late getting meat trimmed and had to do some at the contest. The chicken selection I saw this week was the worst I have seen in four years. Plus at 10pm on Thursday we realized we forgot ribs. Luckily we had some in the freezer.
So we headed out Friday to be there by 8am to setup. Thinking it would be easy. Well, there were teams surrounding us on three sides. I ended up having to have Bubba Q park my trailer for me because the spots were so tight I couldn’t get in on my own. Not only were the spots tight, the lines looked like a couple squirrels had paint cans tied to their tails as some lines started a foot or so wider than they ended. Once in I was ready to get hooked up to power but the generators weren’t there yet. I had to use my own as it was after 2pm before all power way ready and after 12 before water was ready. Not acceptable in my book.
With the spots so tight I tried parking the truck diagonal in front of the trailer but the organizer had real issues with that. Told me three times in 20 minutes to move it because it crossed the line. Later that night when we picked up our turn in boxes Dawn and others noticed they were upside down. When she mentioned to the contest rep he yelled at her and almost put his finger through the box tapping on it. On Saturday he made a joke about it at awards how they were wrong.
So moving to Saturday it was probably the hottest contest day I have ever had. Our trailer registered 105 in the cook area. Going between that and the 70 degree ac in the trailer started taking it’s toll on me. By the time we got home Saturday night I and started unloading I had to stop and sit in the grass because I was so beat.
Our food was ok not great. The chicken was so small. Smallest I have cooked. It also was kind of dry. To our surprise it took 7th place. Then our ribs took 7th place. Our first rib call since May. Way overdue. I was surprised with no brisket call. We have been strong in brisket but one burnt end I had I had to spit out because I didnt care for it. Overall we finished 9th out of 46 teams. I don’t really know details of the rest because they had computer problems and no one got score sheets. This is in addition to awards being pushed back 45 minutes. Maybe the most frustrating was the Blue Moon BBQ Crew next to us. I don’t like to call out teams but I have been to Nebraska four times to cook and placed by these lazy asses twice. With four hours between last turn in and awards you think people would be ready to go. Not these guys. They were just starting to pack up and I couldn’t get out unitl one of the teams around me did. Figured we were two hours later getting home then we should have been. That Blue Moon team is one guy going around doing the work and 3-4 followers who couldn’t pick up a cold at an h1n1 convention.
I do want to mention David did the kid’s que. He didn’t win but got his money back. He had to cook a flat iron steak and veggies.
This is one contest that won’t see Buster Dog BBQ again.
What do you want?
Aug 9th
Hi all, off for a couple weeks and it’s driving me crazy. So with a little time on my hands my question is…What do you want to see? It’s ok to leave a comment. I can hide them.
What are Burnt Ends
Aug 9th
Kabobs with Firewire Skewers
Aug 1st
We got these Firewire Skewers when we were at the Oklahoma Eggfest. They are a food grade metal that is like a cable with a loop on one end and a probe type end on the other. Unlike other skewers they are very flexible. Perfect for grilling on the mini egg. This was my first use on them. We had sirloin, bella mushrooms, onion, red and green peppers on them. On the mini egg at 350 for about 15 min.
Pizza
Aug 1st
In Mason City Tom, from Tomaso’s Pizza in Cedar Rapids used our egg to make some pizza’s to sample to some BBQ’rs. He ended up with a couple extra dough balls and gave them to us as a thank you. In addition to the dough, they gave us the leftover sauce and cheese. The pizza they made was a great thin crust that was moist and a little chewy. Just the way I like it.
So we got home and on Sunday fired the egg up to 500 and used the pizza stone. We floured the crust and put some cornmeal under it when on the egg so it didn’t stick. We cooked until the pizza bubbled.
Buster Dog BBQ Cracks Top 25
Jul 26th
KCBS is the official governing body of the contest we do. They track points on your wins and rank you. Only the top 25 are displayed. (note: the counter on my site closely resembles that of KCBS). Today Buster Dog BBQ showed up on a top 25 category list. Surprisingly it wasn’t in chicken, but rather brisket. One of the hardest categories to cook. We have been very fortunate with brisket this year. Had our chicken scored in the top 10 at Mason City, maybe both would have shown up. At any rate we are very excited considering over 3500 teams have turned in brisket this year.
Mason City Wrap Up
Jul 26th
Well, Mason City treated us a whole lot better this time around. Our first year competing we were 54 out of 65 teams. This year we were 11 of 68 with 9th place calls in pork and brisket. I really was surprised our chicken didn’t score. I thought it was the best I cooked since the GAB. It scored a 165 which is really good, but not good enough for the top 10. We were also able to get our pork back on track. Man, last year we did great in pork, this year it’s been a struggle.
So we got to Mason City on Thursday night. The park was great and held the water. It was great to get there and setup. All of us slept in on Friday. Friday was a lazy day. We did put David to work helping Roy and Patty Porter do some vending. While they were doing that, Tom from Tomaso’s Pizza in Cedar Rapids and the BBQshow.com stopped by and made about 1/2 dozen pizza’s on the egg. It was great and I thank him for the leftovers they sent home with us.
Friday night brought some pretty good storms. Lots of lost 10 x 10’s, shorted out guru’s, etc. I love our trailer setup. It works great for us and keeps us out of the elements.
Up In Smoke BBQ Bash
Jul 21st
Buster Dog BBQ will be competing this weekend in the Up In Smoke BBQ Bash in Mason City, IA. We haven’t been here for the last three years. The last time we were there it was a lot of drunks around us and we only had the small trailer. It was a long walk to turn ins as well. It is a very nice contest and hospitality is top rate. Thus our reason to go back. This weekend will be a who’s who of BBQ as some very strong teams will be on hand. We are entering the margarita contest too. Last time we finished 1st. Let’s hope this year our meat finishes first as well.
Double Header Wrap Up
Jul 21st
Last weekend Buster Dog BBQ competed in a double header. First up was BBQ N Loo’s Too in Waterloo. A contest we have always done fairly well at. We were fortunate to get our same spot and rolled in early Friday so we could venture to Morg’s for breakfast. Good stuff from an old fashion dinner. The rest of Friday was pretty much blah. We sat around and people watched most of the night. About 10pm we were told a big storm was coming and fortunate for us it kept to the west of us. We barely got a sprinkle. The only thing waking us up in the middle of the night was the CO2 detector at 3am. Pretty sure it was the batteries as it went off again at 10am and we had the cooking area completely open. We ended up with 10th place chicken and 6th place brisket for 8th overall. Sure do wish our pork and ribs would find the top 10.
After brisket turn in we went to LaPorte City and dropped the trailer and cranked the air. LaPorte City is 15 miles south of Waterloo and is a Saturday/Sunday contest. It was pretty laid back Saturday night. About 15 of the 25 did both contest and most of us were just plain tired. Sunday my buddy Bret came up with Andy and Todd for some BBQ and got a nice gift bag to take home with them. We finished 10th in chicken and 4th in brisket but our stream of top 10 finishes ended at four with a 12th place finish thanks to the pork again.