Kick the Tires and Light the Fires

Event Info

What: Backyard Event -- 2nd Occasional Backyard at the Rocke: "Kick the Tires and Light the Fires"

When: Saturday, August 4, 2007

Where: Rocke residence, Garden Grove

Entry fee: None

Prizes: GC, RC, and 1st through 3rd -- pies, cookies and brownies (ok, maybe a cake too, we'll see).

Meats: Chicken, pork ribs, tri-tip, “anything butt”

Purpose: Fun and practice

What is a “Backyard Event”? It is a very informal competition where the main purpose is two-fold: (1) for experienced teams it is a chance to practice in between competitions and keep their skills well oiled; and (2) for novices, it is a chance to get the feeling of what a “real” competition would be like without the expense/entry fee or pressure of a “real” competition.

In a normal KCBS or IBCA event, a team would arrive at the event on a Friday afternoon, set up, start prepping their meats and start cooking the brisket and pork butt sometime on Friday night/early Saturday morning. We don’t have that much time at a Backyard Event. We arrive on site Saturday morning and start the fires at about 8 am and cook thereafter. So we can’t cook the “long haul” meats, but we can still get some good experience.

In the backyard event, more experienced teams also have the chance to help less experienced teams and offer some advice (only if requested!!). They can also help with showing how to prep a box and other presentation issues which may be something of a puzzle to anyone who has never entered a contest before. Novices also get a chance to practice timing, get a feel for the “pressure” of having to turn in product during a specific timeframe, and get a feel for the type of equipment and additional food items (i.e. apple juice, salt, honey) that they might need to bring to a “real” competition. Although we only get to cook two of the four competition meats (chicken and pork ribs), it is still a good opportunity to practice.

There is also an educational component for our judges in the backyard event. Kelly has made up special scorecards which allow the judges to offer comments about the product judged (i.e. too salty, too spicy, burned) as well as numeric scores. This helps the judges clarify and articulate their standards while providing valuable feedback to the cooks. We do use KCBS scoring so again, novices can get a good idea of what a competition would be like -- especially with so many CBJ’s showing up to judge! At this event, Kelly is going to take it one step further by having judges share their scores amongst themselves (in a confidential manner so that no judge is identified with a particular score). This will allow a judge to see how their perception of a particular piece of meat compares with their judging peers and may help develop a pattern of uniformity and consistency in judging.

Finally, one of the main purposes of the gathering is friendship and fun and sharing some Q with others who enjoy doing what we do. Each team is asked to cook a bit more than what is necessary for the 6 piece turn in box. After the competition is over, we all share our BBQ and get to taste and compare and talk trash with each other!!

Finally cooks, Kelly will give you a printout of your scores for each meat, your standing for each category and your overall rank -- just like a real contest. So everyone gets a chance to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

Timeframe: You can start your fires at 8am, please don’t arrive before 7:30 because this is a Saturday and a residential neighborhood. We are generally done eating and talking and ready to leave about 5 pm.

Turn-in times: Chicken -- 1:00 pm; Tri-tip -- 1:30 pm; Anything Butt -- 2 pm; and Ribs -- 2:30 pm.

Awards ceremony: Approximately 4:00 pm

Cook’s meeting -- 9 am

Judges meeting -- 11:30

Judges, please feel free to come early and socialize. We aren’t strict like a real competition and do encourage mixing.

For those cooking in the Anything Butt, it must be cooked/assembled on site, no store bought desserts, and you can bring your own container/platter/dishes if you like. Presentation does count in this category so think about making it pretty!!!!

Backyard Rep

Kelly MacIntosh

Teams

1. Blast Off BBQ
2. Burnt By The Best
3. Smoke You Out BBQ
4. Four Q
5. Funtime BBQ
6. Rancho Rocke
7. Single Fin Smoker
8. Smell My Butts
9. The Kettle Guys

Teams, remember that you can treat your meat as if you were at a KCBS competition -- which means that after 12:00 pm on Friday you can brine or marinade or whatever to your meat. Please keep the meats cold and on ice prior to putting on the pit. We want healthy judges!! We won’t have ice available so you need to make sure you bring enough. There is water available and electricity.

Confirmed Judges

1. Linda Burke, CBJ
2. Ann Hoeppner, CBJ
3. Dan Drogichen, CBJ
4. Steve Madaule, CBJ
5. Vince Madaule, CBJ
6. Dave Malone, CBJ
7. Ben Lobenstein, CBJ
8. Joe Miles, Master CBJ
9. Patty Miles, CBJ
10. Marciel Fortian, CBJ
11. Jim Kostelecky
12. Kelleigh Strobel

Table Captains

1. Leanza (BBQ Brethren)

We will have some KCBS Master judges there so if you don't want to cook, you can judge. The will have a mini-class on judging. Again, free!

If you have questions, you can contact Bentley Meredith. We will privately e-mail all teams and judges the address for the Rocke residence. We still have room for 3 more teams, so whether you are a newbie or an old hand, come have some fun at the “Kick the Tires and Light the Fires” Backyard event

Hope to see you there!

Results

From the Judges

Overall

1. Smell My Butts
2. Burnt by the Best
3. The Kettle Guys

Chicken

1. Blast off BBQ
2. Smell My Butts
3. Rancho Rocke

Tri - Tip

1. The Kettle Guys
2. Four Q
3. Burnt by the Best

Pork Ribs

1. Smell My Butts
2. Burnt by the Best
3. Single Fin Smoker

Anything Butt

1. Single Fin Smoker -- cooked a Korean BBQ beef
2. Burnt by the Best -- cooked a carrot cake
3. Rancho Rocke -- cooked a frozen lemon sorbet/ice

From the Reporter

Chicken

1. Blast Off BBQ

Tri - Tip

1. Smoke You Out BBQ

Pork Ribs

1. Smoke You Out BBQ

Anything Butt

1. Blast Off BBQ -- cooked a warm peach cobbler with ice cream

Comments from the Grand Champ

Glen Stanley,Smell My Butts BBQ:

"Well, it certainly doesn't get much better than this.......... Good times, good friends, and great tasting trophies !!!

After reading the judge's comment cards I was afraid I would go home pie-less. I was quite surprised to hear our team name get called at all And then to get GC, WOW....

Thank you Mom, Kristin, & Bentley for making all the trophies. I know that's a whole lot of work, and I will savor every morsel. Thank you Kelly for running a very professional contest, and thank you judges for helping make this a learning experience, something that we could use a lot more of in my humble opinion. Thanks to Ben, Steve, and Vince for making the long drive down to GG to help judge. Thanks Chris for letting my son and his friend do their best to drain your pool.

This was my wife's first opportunity to join me at a contest, and she is hooked. After seeing the entries for the Anything Butt, her creative juices started flowing, and she's got a whole bunch of ideas for the next contest. She went so far as to tell me she wants her own container, with her own supplies It won't be long before she starts trying to put doilies on my prep."

Links

Neil's Pics

Silvie's Pics

Event Thread in the CBBQA Forum