# 3rd Comp of 2013 in the books...



## bruno994 (May 21, 2013)

This past weekend was the 4th Annual Beaumont Masonic Lodge Scholarship Benefit Cook Off sanctioned by the IBCA and held at the Elks Lodge in Beaumont, Texas.  The lodge is a great place to hold a cook off with plenty of electricity and water available to all the cookers and first class facilities to have all the functions that go along with a cook off. 

After winning the rib category at my last comp, my expectations and goals heading into this one were obviously a bit higher.  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/140269/2013-texas-bbq-festival-results

I have my timing and method down on my ribs and brisket, but I am still playing with the chicken thing.  I couldn't miss last year, this year it just hasn't been hitting, so I changed it up a bit just to try another way.

Friday night we had 3 auxillary categories (Open, Dessert and Daiquiris) that we could enter if you chose to with a $10 entry fee for each, paying back 50% of the pot, with the other 50% going to the benefit.  I chose to only do the Open category, which is just that, open.  For the Open competition I chose to do some bacon wrapped boudin stuffed chicken breasts.  First you butterfly some bonelss, skinless breasts in half, using a tenderizing mallet, I flattened them out to make them easier to roll.  Season both sides of the chicken real good, lay a piece of pepper jack cheese over the chicken, then crumble a link of boudin in the center of the breast, roll up both sides of the chicken to meet in the middle, wrap it in bacon or a bacon weave, then toothpick it to hold it together.  Here they are just on to my mini UDS to cook for about 2 hours at 300 degrees or so until the IT reaches above 165 and / or the bacon cooks up nice...













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__ May 21, 2013






Here they are being sliced up...













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Here they are in the turn in box, 9 pieces required...













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__ May 21, 2013






They turned out just as I wanted them to.  Good spice from the rub, nice ly done bacon on the outside, juicy and some great flavored boudin in the middle.  I ended up taking 5th with this entry, losing to 4 seafood dishes ahead of me, I guess I try some bacon wrapped shrimp next time. 

Here are a few other pics from Friday night...













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__ May 21, 2013


















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__ May 21, 2013






Friday night is the fun, party night.  You have plenty of down time if you prepped your meats during the week and don't have much to do that night.  You get to roam around and chat with the other cooks, meet some new faces, see some old ones.  Have a few beers, listen to some loud music and enjoy the fun before the storm.  We had our cooks meeting at 6:00, Open turn in was at 7:00, desserts at 8:00 and daiquiris at 9:00.  After the judging was over for the night, we had a calcutta in the main hall of the Elks lodge where you or someone else could bid on and buy your team in the brisket category.  Winner gets half of the calcutta pot, the other half goes to the benefit.  I think the pot ended up being $1400, with my team going for $120 and the highest team being bought at $300 (they did not win, but neither did I).


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## bruno994 (May 21, 2013)

Now on to Saturday and three main categories. 

Chicken turn in..good, but no call, but I think I know where I messed up at, we'll see next time...













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__ May 21, 2013






Ribs, were just as good, if not better than a month ago when I won, but got only a 5th place call this weekend, still good, but not what I wanted or expected with the product I turned in...













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__ bruno994
__ May 21, 2013






Brisket turn in was solid, I felt good about it and the ribs, I knew I had a chance to be in the $ with both.  Ribs fell just short, but the brisket did me good, with a 3rd place trophy and $50.  I felt bad for the guy who had bought me Friday night in the calcutta, I came close, but fell just a bit short of winning him $700, would have been a great return on a $120 investment for him...













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__ bruno994
__ May 21, 2013






The front slice might have scored me down a bit, but in Texas comps (mainly IBCA), appearance is not as big a factor as it is in KCBS comps. 

For a small cook off, we had some top notch talent here.  Several teams from Louisiana, Houston area, and a few local teams who can flat out cook, so other than chicken, I was very happy with my results and feel like I am now one of those guys to beat at a cook off.  Ribs are there, brisket is solid, once I hit on chicken, it's on!


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## bad santa (May 21, 2013)

Thanks for sharing the pics bruno, I like your open idea and have seen similar items do well in the open catagory quite often, esp if the boudin is good and the cheese creamy. What won the open.... wait let me guess...bacon wrapped shrimp on a jalapeno with cheese..LOL 

All of your boxes look good, that chicken is pretty and the ribs look great. That calcutta can be a witch, always try to buy your team, but I know the biding can get out of hand at times. Over here we can most times buy back half of the team price, which usually is understood before the bidding starts. That still can put some serious money into the lucky team's pocket. Congrats on your call and making a walk. There are very serious cookers over in your neck of the woods, so keep doing what you do and know that any team can be beat on any given day...3  3rd places can get you a GC too.


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## kathrynn (May 21, 2013)

Looks like you had fun!  Food looks really good!

Kat


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## themule69 (May 21, 2013)

it all looks great.

happy smoken.

David


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## bruno994 (May 22, 2013)

A few more pics to share from the weekend, a few of the other teams and cookers

Swamp Bottom Smokers...













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Short Bus...













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Tequila Sunrise...













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Bourbon Cowboy Cookers...













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Makin' Smoke...













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__ May 22, 2013


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## bruno994 (May 22, 2013)

A few pics of awards and the family...

Greg Sonnier, local rep for the Masonic Lodge and myself...













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The entire "Hale of a Good BBQ Cooking Team"...













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Me, my littlest pitmaster and my 20 year old, he just eats the leftovers...













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__ May 22, 2013


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## bruno994 (May 22, 2013)

Santa, the top 3 in Open were 3. Smoked shrimp fettucini, 2. shrimp ettouffe, 1. shrimp creole.  Dang shrimp gets you every time!


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## roadkill cafe (May 22, 2013)

Congrats on the call Bruno. Everything looks great. The chicken looks pretty dang good to me.


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