While I’m working on getting new tshirts and hats for the ‘official’ Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue team, I set up a storefront on CafePress (http://www.cafepress.com/buckymcobbq) for people to be able to get shirts, mugs, hats, etc.  They should look pretty good, but if you want the official competition team stuff, contact me (cmcadams@buckymcoinkumsbbq.com).  I’m putting together new shirt and hat designs.

One of the guys on the BBQ-Brethren came up with an idea of putting up signs during turn ins at a competition.  His sign is pretty nicely worded, and wouldn’t offend anyone at all.

What’s the reason for this need at all?  In my opinion, I think the public is given the wrong idea of what a barbecue competition is all about.  Promoters seem to often tell the public that they can sample the barbecue.  The Food Network shows 30 minute shows on competitions where you see people eating food.  Don’t get me wrong; promoting barbecue is a great thing.  However, the public, once they get to the competition or through the promoters could be told how things work better.

Anyway, I thought I’d include some stuff on our prep last weekend in Carmel, Indiana… if nothing else, as a lesson in how NOT to do competition barbecue!

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I’ll warn you now that this post has a lot of photos, so be warned if you’re on dial up… open it up and go get a cup of coffee… but it’s worth it, I think!  In trying to show what competitions are like, the pictures are the only way I know of doing that.

I did a bit better this year of getting some photos, and I thought I’d try to show a bit of what a competition looks like.  Carmel’s Bodacious Blues B-Q isn’t a huge comp, but 38 teams isn’t bad for its second year.  We were on the end of the row along the fence if any of you were there, while others were kind of in 2 rows in the middle.  I wish we’d gotten a spot there in some ways, but no one was to one side of us, so we had all the room we could want.

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It’s all over, including the crying…  We just got back from Carmel, Indiana, and the 2006 Bodacious Blues B-Q.  We had high hopes of bettering our last year’s ranking, but we met with mixed results.

Warning… This post has pictures of food!!!

The competition had great weather.  Friday was off and on cloudy, and it sprinkled a bit into the night, but never really rained.  The weather was in the 60’s Friday, down to the mid 40’s overnight, and near 70 and very sunny on Saturday.

Before going on, I want to thank two people:  First is Tony Hunter for going above and beyond in helping us out.  He’s a great guy, and he knows he’s welcome at our tent any time.  Also, Stephan of Shigs and Pits was extremely helpful, helping us put up our tent, loaning us a shutoff for the hose, and giving us some good advice.  I’d be happy to be next to them at any comp. 

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One day left before Carmel!!!  Last night, we got the final pieces we needed to have ready.  We have everything except the lettuce and some incidentals, which will be picked up today.  It may storm tonight, so we may end up packing tomorrow, but the plan is to pack everything but food tonight, store the trailer in the garage, and get up early, pack the food, and get on the road Friday morning.

I just checked the weather, and it now looks like it will be clear for both Friday AND Saturday in Carmel, IN!!!

I want to thank Todd and Ed and everyone else for the well-wishing.  We’re obviously hoping we do well, but winning isn’t our only goal.  In fact, winning will be a side benefit.  We’re going to have fun, spend time with each other, meet new people, promote barbecue, and then see how our barbecue stacks up against everyone else there.  The judges may or may not like what we have to offer, but we’ll do our best.

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We’re getting down to the wire!  All our rubs are made, all our sauces are done.  We have very little left to get ready.

Tonight, I pick up, hopefully, an EZup that I’m swapping a friend for, and a tent to sleep in.  I’m actually kind of glad our smoker isn’t ready for us, as I’d have that to deal with this week, too.  We know the Chargrillers, and even though their cheap, they do work, and we’ll manage with them.

I’ll also start packing tonight… I’m kind of rambling, partly for my benefit, but also to show people what it’s like to get ready for a comp.

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it’s now just 3 days until our first comp of the year!  I’ve been reviewing our past comps to see what we’ve done right and what we’ve done wrong.  We’re fixing several things, I think.  In an attempt to help us do better, and hopefully give others things to think about, here are the changes we’ve made, and why, in each category…

For those of you reading that aren’t familiar with KCBS competitions, there are a standard set of meats that are scored and contribute to determining grand champion: chicken, pork ribs, pulled pork and brisket.  Organizers can throw in other categories, too, if they desire.  These can include Anything Butt, sauce, dessert, etc.  Anything Butt generally means anything but the meats in the four main categories, but organizers often stipulate a theme or an ingredient.  In Carmel, the Anything Butt category has to include a Red Gold tomato product, as Red Gold is a sponsor.

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4 days to go!!!  Today, I hope to pick up a tent I’m borrowing so we have someplace to sleep.  This is a piece of advice no one really gave me…  It’s important to have all the supplies and to be organized, and you’re not going to sleep a lot, but, to me, it’s important to get some sleep, and doing it in the passenger seat of a vehicle isn’t the best way to do so. 

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We’re in the final stretch!!!  It’s Mother’s Day, and family is coming down, so there won’t be a lot of time spent on prep for next weekend.  The only thing I think I’ll get done is getting everything more organized and ready to pack up, ready for any additions during the week.

We got some more semi-bad news yesterday… Mark has to go out of town in August for a wedding, on the weekend of the Madison Ribberfest, so it looks like my wife and I will judge that instead of compete in it.  We’re going to look into a Kentucky comp, or maybe we’ll do Maggie Valley, NC,in September.

I looked at the weather for Carmel for next weekend:

So the wather is starting to look better… Let’s hope that Saturday’s forecast means late showers or that it clears up completely!

Six days to go for our first comp of 2006!  Looks like we have almost everything.  I need to get a long hose and a good extension cord…  We’ll pick up meats this week, and sauces and rubs are ready.

We got some news yesterday we didn’t want.  The metal for the new smoker wasn’t bent taking into account all the other bends, so the top has to be redone.  What this means is that we won’t have the Smokehouse in Carmel, but we’ll have it soon!

I’ve been looking at old scores this weekend, and comparing our first two comps…

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