Nationwide RV September 2006

3rd Place - Brisket (tied for 2nd place but missed the coin flip)
4th Place - Chicken

This contest was like a Blue Springs Blazeoff reunion.  Almost half the teams at this 25 team contest were at Blue Springs last week.  I pulled in at 8a on Friday morning and see Pig Newton (1st in Brisket & 1st in Ribs) and Rabbit Gulch BBQ.  Later I see Bad Boyz, Mean Dean’s Smoking Machine (1st in Chicken & 3rd in Ribs), and Hootchie Coochie BBQ.
This was the second contest put on by Nationwide RV, an RV dealership between Blue Springs and Grain Valley.  Audrey and I bought our camper from Nationwide back in April this year.  For $100, they dall of the meat.  Categories included Beans, Chicken, Ribs, Loin, and Brisket.  All meat was turned back in to feed the public.  I don’t know how many people they fed, but it was a lot.  Not being a KCBS contest, the rules were a little different: no garnish, no sauce, no presentation score.  Everything was submitted for judging in foil covered, half sized tin pans.  10 judges were pulled from the crowd for each category.  Like I said, it was NOT a KCBS contest.

Randy was tied up on both Friday night and Saturday, so I was a one man show.  With only 60 minutes of sleep on Friday night, I was worn out by the end of it.  Audrey and the boys came out Friday night with about 10 others from Pointe of Hope Church.  Fed a few Baby Back Ribs to my guests and we got the fryer out to make up some fried potatoes and mozorella sticks.  Having the camper there was nice to kick back in the air conditioning and watch a movie during the slow times.

I never tasted my chicken but thought my brisket and ribs turned out well.  They provided spare ribs and we only cook baby back ribs, so I wasn’t sure of my cook times to get these done.  Also, with no sauce allowed, I think the rub we normally use for the ribs was a little strong.  It is a good compliment with our rib sauce, but I think I’ll try to find something else the next time we have to turn in dry ribs.  Our chicken rub has been scoring well lately: 2nd place at the State Fair and now a 4th place.  We’ll need a good chicken score at Liberty next week if we want to do well.