For those of us that live and breathe barbecue, what could be better than a pig a day?

For 2008, it can happen! The “A Pig A Day Calendar - Icons of Barbecue” is now on sale!

The calendar features logos and signs from barbecuers of all types: competition teams, restaurants, caterers, etc. And Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue was selected as one of the teams represented. Not only that, but we’re April 26/27 (a weekend), and April 26th is my anniversary, so it’s a great choice!

The calendars are only $12.99 and can purchased on the website or via Amazon.

The Ohio Smoked Meat and BBQ Festival needs some help this year… So this is a call to any teams within range.

There are only 10 teams signed up right now, and the even is coming up on October 19-20, 2007. They’re asking for teams to just commit to being there; you can pay your entry when you show up. Just go to this link, fill out the form and fax or mail it in.

This isn’t a perfect competition, but it has something that a lot don’t have. The site is gorgeous, and the fall color in that part of Ohio is hard to beat. The weather may be cool or even cold, but it’s not that hard to dress for it. It’s a relaxed competition, and can be a lot of fun.

There is more info available at their website, http://www.ohiobbq.com. This is the first of all Ohio KCBS competitions, and, even though there are a couple of new ones, I’d rather have 3 than 2 in Ohio.

Fall is in the air! Actually, it’s not in the air; in SW Ohio, we reached almost 90 degrees F today. I’m ready for 65 degree days, a touch of fog first thing in the morning, and temps that make you want to cook a pot of veggie soup all day long!

This is a tough month/year right now. Last September, I lost the Best Dog in World (a phrase I am now using when talking about Woody, thanks to Barbara at A Writer Afoot) . This year, we lost Patterson, the Best Cat in the World. One thing I have come to believe is that the first animal we adopted as adults is likely to carry the most meaning with it, the most emotion, the strongest bond. Why is this? I think it’s because it’s likely the first time we, as adults, accepted the responsibility to care for another living being. It’s something of a rite of passage into adulthood. So Woody was my dog; he was the dog God meant for me to have, the dog I would need when I was alone in other ways, the dog that would mean that I still wouldn’t be lonely. I think Patterson was that for my wife (but the cat, not the dog, that did all that for her).

Patterson was supposedly a Himalayan, but I’m not sure; he was pure Bacon Cat. Yeah, not a breed, but all I had to do was open a bacon package, and he was there telling me, very vocally, that he was glad I was fixing bacon for him, could I have it NOW(?). He loved bacon.

We miss him, a lot.

As a bit of a distraction from that, my wife and I are going to go out of town this coming weekend. We’re taking another trip to one of my favorite cities, Pittsburgh. This time, however, we’re staying out in Cranberry Township, but we’ll be heading into the Strip District, going to Vincent’s and the Dirty O, and maybe Primanti Brothers this time. I’ll try to get some shots of the Strip District to share; it’s a great place to go for foodies… You’ll see… No strippers at all, just shops and food!

Two things, among others, that I always look forward to in Ohio in October are apples and fall colors. We’re getting neither this year, though. A drought has been going on, and the fall color isn’t expected to be anything much at all, and an April freeze has taken out almost half of Ohio’s apple crop this year. The orchard I where I like to get my apples has zero, yeah, I said nada, apples this year. They’re bringing in foreign apples from Indiana and Michigan. (The photo of the tree was actually taken in their drive on the way out a couple of years ago).

The weekend of the 13th and 14th, however, is the Ohio Sauerkraut Festival, the largest festival in Ohio. Our town of less than 2500 people (Waynesville, OH) will host well over 300,000 guests for the weekend. Last year, an estimated 342,000 people attended. We sold pulled pork sandwiches last year, but, with everything else going on right now, we’re not going to do that this year. Instead, we’ll just enjoy the weekend and the festival.

The morning of the festival, I’ll be out with some friends shooting sporting clays. Not food related, no, but a lot of fun! A friend of mine has some new Citori shotguns that need to be broken in… What a friend I am to help out, huh?

The weekend of October 19-20, the Ohio Smoked Meat Festival will take place. We’re not competing this year, but my wife and I are going to see if judges are needed. This will be in Nelsonville, OH, which is a really pretty area, so it will be nice to get away and not have the stress of competing so we can just enjoy being out talking with teams and eating good barbecue!

Then the month will close with the annual McAdams Wine Party. We have to be careful as this thing is getting out of hand, with up to 22 people coming. I’m going to fix all the food, and our theme is French wines. Each couple coming will be two bottles of French wine, one red, one white. For food, I’m going to do some steak au poivre, loaves of bread, French cheeses, something vegetarian (and French), and… pan-seared, fresh foie gras on grilled brioche! I’ll be talking more about this, of course.

I’m also going to be doing a bit of research on foie gras. For any that don’t know, foie gras is goose or duck liver (I’ll be getting duck) from birds that have enlarged livers. Animal rights terrorists people have been going after foie gras production and serving, stating that the farming practices are inhumane. Before serving my guests, I’m going to do some research and get some viewpoints from a producer.

Last weekend was the 2nd Annual Jim Dandy’s BBQ Competition.  It was the first year that it was KCBS sanctioned.  We were originally slated to compete, but Mark was really under the weather, so we didn’t.  The competition got a great write up in the Cincinnati Enquirer (click on the photo below).  Meggan Booker was the photographer there for the paper, and she waited patiently to get several judging shots; she took one of me feeding my face, but, fortunately, didn’t use that one!

(photo by Meggan Booker)

The weather was so perfect for a competition - Highs around 70, lows around 45, clear skies.  If I told you what weather I would want for a comp, this would have it.  My wife and I stopped Saturday evening to talk to some of the teams and enjoy being out in the weather.

I called Jim Emig, the organizer, on Sunday morning, and he asked me to go down in case they didn’t have all the judges show.  As it was, they did, but they still needed someone to do turn ins.  One of the other judges volunteered, so I got to judge after all.

(continue reading for photos from the competition)

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This week is really hectic for Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue.  We started off the week with a barbecue class at Cooks’ Wares in Springboro, OH.  The class was a big success; it was full in less than a week after registration opened up for it.  We had a full house, with some on a waiting list, too.  Props to my peeps (Maria and the staff) at Cooks’ Wares for all their help (like my ‘urban’ talk there… I’m so with it… Not!)  We did a full competition menu of chicken, ribs, pork and brisket, with cole slaw, tomato pie and doughnut bread pudding added.  The sauce for the bread pudding included some Maker’s Mark whisky… Man oh man, was it good stuff!

Keep in mind, if you’re local, that classes will only be advertised online from now on at Cooks’ Wares.

Before I forget about it, I’ll be posting a Carnival of Food Photography tomorrow (a day late, but I needed to get word out about the competition (see below)).

The photos today are from prepping for the kick off of the Dayton Vineyard’s Wild At Heart men’s ministry for autumn. 

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I’ve seen several threads on message boards about whether barbecue competitors cook at home just like they do for competition.  The answer is often ‘Yes’.  I sometimes wonder, though, if this is due to wanting to practice or because of preferring competition barbecue all the time.

Here’s how I see competition cooking being different from cooking at home:

It’s simply that, when I cook at a competition, I concentrate on making 6 servings/slices/pieces/ribs as good as I can make them. 

That sounds simple, but there’s a bit more to it than just cooking 6 servings of everything. 

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With this new MacBook Pro, I got some software that takes photos and lets me put them into a sort of photo movie. Here’s my first attempt, from the 2006 Blues-B-Q competition in Carmel, IN…

It’s just three more weeks until the first KCBS-like barbecue competition takes place in Dayton, Ohio!  The competition is called the Ohio Open Barbecue Cook-Off, and information can be found at www.rollingsmoke.com.  It’s being put on by Jim Weaver of Jimmy’s Hog Pen and Jim Ferguson of Rolling Smoke Barbecue, both local competitors to the Dayton Area.The location is at the American Legion in Kettering.  Entry fee is low this year, $100.

KCBS rules will be followed, with the exception of fuel source…  Competitors can use any fuel source they want,

so we stick burners will have to compete against LP and electric.

If you’re local, please support this competition; it’s the first year, but it may be a state qualifier for the Jack!  And,. hopefully, it will be sanctioned next year!

The conventional wisdom on getting ready for a competition includes practice cooks.  For new teams, this also usually includes advice on setting up at home to do a cook, but acting as though you’re off site.  This helps a team figure out if they have the right equipment or not.

I’ve been thinking about this lately, and while that works, it leads to a different problem then not having what’s needed…

Problem #2: Having too much stuff!!!

While this may not sound like a problem, try prepping and cooking 60 pounds or so of meat under a canopy with nothing but coolers and bins of supplies.  When you have too much, you just have to wade through all the extra stuff to get to what you need!

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Our first competition of the season is over!  It was both a disappointment and a success.

It was a disappointment because we made 2 big blunders…  First, we didn’t test the sauce we used for chicken, and it was too thick, resulting in low scores for oversaucing.  Second, I didn’t get the ribs done enough, resulting in low scores for tenderness/texture.  I think those scores also lead to lower taste scores.

Our pork was not bad; we liked it a lot, but we only placed 12th out of 26.  It tasted great!

The brisket, however, was a success… We took 2nd!  Our biggest payout, and a trophy to boot!

Continue reading to see the photos of the entry boxes.  Our presentation scores are with each photo.  The photos are larger than usual so you can see them better!

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