Pork in the Park 2011

The weekend started off pretty bad. First, we rented a trailer to haul our gear with and my hitch didn't work right. After several hours, that got fixed and then we couldn't find the right chicken we needed. My 'source' was low on inventory and it took us much longer than expected to get the desired 24 organic chicken thighs. Worst of all, the weatherman was predicting very high winds for the weekend and there is nothing more hated than wind when cooking outdoors.

We arrived in Salisbury, MD around 10:30am on Friday and things started to improve for us. We picked out a good space, not too far from the judges tent and ended up with some great neighbors...The Swinging Swiners, 5-0 BBQ, Saucey Butts BBQ and Hog Wild were all a lot of fun. Kids were running around everywhere, which helped keep ours entertained and out of our hair!

The wind did impact our cooking quite a bit. Over the last year, we have done practice cooks in heavy rain, 3 feet of snow, extreme cold, but never in 30-40 mph winds. I was shocked at how fast our coals burned and we often found ourselves battling cooker temps that were way below our target.

After everything was turned in, we were most optimistic about Chicken and Brisket. Our ribs had great flavor, but were not tender enough. The Pork ended up over done somehow and was a little too tender (otherwise known as mushy). Going into the judges tent at 5pm on Saturday, we were pretty convinced that we would be walking out again without a call. With 120 of the best East-Coast teams in attendance, it would take some good judging and a little luck to take home some cash.

Last year at this event, we realized that a lot of team names start with the word 'Smoke'. Smokers in Paradise, Smokin Dudes, Smokin for Fun, etc.. So when they are calling out the winners, you can't jump up too quick if you think they are calling Smokis Porkis. We have to wait to make sure it really is us they are calling. We learned this the hard way.

When they were calling 2nd place for Chicken, it seemed like slow motion as she said, 'SSSmmmmmooooooo' and I was sure it was not going to end well. But sure enough, Sandy finished it the right way and Blaine and I looked at each other in total disbelief. They actually called us!!! It was a great feeling to stand up there in front of a tent full of amazing cooks and get this award. The $500 check didn't hurt either.

We ended the weekend with the following scores:
Chicken - 2nd
Ribs - 71st
Pork - 49th
Brisket - 42nd

Which gave us an overall finish of 33rd. Ending up within the top 30% of a field like this is something we are very proud of. This was only our 4th competition and many teams go years before scoring this well.

Now it is up to us to prove that it wasn't a fluke and do better in the next one!