# 2013 Texas BBQ Festival Results...



## bruno994 (Apr 29, 2013)

Competed this weekend in Vidor, Texas, in the IBCA sanctioned Texas BBQ Festival.  The festival has been around for over 30 years, but moved this year to it's new home, Conn Park.  

There were the usual IBCA categories, beans, chicken, ribs and brisket, but Friday night we also had a mystery ingredient challenge.  For the mystery ingredient challenge, you pay your entry fee at the Friday evening cooks meeting, then you get the mystery ingredient, this time it was canned pineapple chunks.  I'm not a big fan of pineapple, but had an idea as to what I could prepare and turn in.  Some of the other cook teams had parked off the grounds and ran to the store to get some additional items to use with the pineapple, me, I was stuck inside the grounds and had to use what I brought with me.  For every comp, I always bring some cheese, sausage and crackers to snack on Friday night into Saturday morning as I cook.  So I decided to make some little stackers, topped with a glazed pineapple chunk.  Here is what I ended up with:













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Ritz cracker, topped with a slice of smoked sausage, topped with cheddar cheese, topped with a pineapple chunk which I tried to get a grill mark (a few got a minimal mark) on by throwing on my mini uds for a few minutes, then I heated up some brown sugar, pineapple juice and apple juice to make a glaze and drizzled that on top of the pineapple chunk.  Turn ins were at 8:00 on Friday night, in the end, I got 5th place with my dish out of 12 or so cooks who entered.  Not too bad for someone who doesn't like pineapple, plus it occupied some dead time on Friday night.   

Now to the food that really matters, we turn in half chickens in IBCA comps, so after an all night brine, I threw the 4 halves on th smoker for their 3 hour tour.  After 2 1/2 hours, I sauced the halves, then placed 2 on my mini uds to set the glaze and the other 2 got moved from the bottom rack of my pit to the top rack to set the glaze as well.  After a 30 minute finish we pulled the halves out and decided on the best one to turn in with this one being the choice...













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Nice golden brown finish, juicy and flavorful, howver the judges must not have liked it as I did not get a call in chicken.  I think I'm going to work with a few injections over the next few weeks heading into my next comp.

Ribs were the next turn in and after practicing with 1 rack last weekend, changing my time frame a bit, I also cut back on the cayenne, to lessen the bite it had.  Apparently this all worked as I took home first place ribs and a $500 check...













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Nice color, light glaze and near perfect tenderness paid dividends.  The only thing I felt they lacked was a bit of flavor.  I had shared rib samples with the 2 other cooks who finished 2nd and 3rd, and we all agreed that they were all good, but mine lacked just a bit of flavor, thankfully the judges liked them.

Last turn in of the day was brisket, I have been working on my brisket quite a bit the past few months with solid results, including a 3rd in my last comp.  I cooked 2 for this comp, a select and a choice with both coming out very similiar.  I ended up turning in the choice slices since they looked better.  Both had a good flavor and were great on tenderness, but just seemed to be lacking something.  Still not sure what that something was, but after the judging was done, we finished 10th in brisket, not bad, but not where I wanted to be.  Here is the turn in...













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All in all it was a fun time as always and can't wait for the next 3 weeks to pass and head off to my next comp.  8th overall out of 19 teams, but the win in ribs made the whole weekend worth while.  Here are a few more pics from the weekend...me, my daughter Lauren and son Evan...













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## bruno994 (Apr 29, 2013)

Here are a few more pics from the weekend of some of the other smokers and setups...

Next door neighbor and last years grand champion, Star G BBQ...













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And their smoker...













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On the left is the grill / firebox, with the smoker on the rear of the rig.  The fire grate in the grill section can be slid closer to or farther away from the smoker to help regulate temps as well.

Smokin' Aces huge RF rig which their father in law Kevin (with Tequilla Sunrise BBQ) built for them, Kevin ended up winning the Grand Championship at this event after finishing second last year.  Sorry I didn't get a closer pic...













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Kevin of Coon Billy Cookers rig, a converted horse trailer with a Pitmaker Vault mounted in the back along with a kitchen and prep area, to go along with the sleeping / living quarters in the front of the trailer, really nice setup...Kevin cooked up some awesome sausage, egg, potatoe and cheese breakfast burritos Saturday morning that really hit the spot...













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Here is Short Bus BBQ, yes it's a converted short bus with a smoker inside.  If at all possible, when you show up to a comp and the Short Bus is there, park away from them, the speakers will blow you away or at the very least keep you up all night!  Good group of guys, but they sure like to party...













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Mule Johnson and his team Shake Your Mule...Mule cooked a whole hog stuffed with a local butchers green onion and garlic sauasge...good eats...













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## kathrynn (Apr 29, 2013)

The comp food looked nice and tasty!

I am getting to help in one this weekend.  I am only a helper to do foods for the worker bees in our group.  BUT....I am getting to go and play!

Here is a link to one here.  http://www.rocketcitybbq.com/

It's the yearly Whistle Stop Weekend KCBS BBQ comp

Kat


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## bruno994 (Apr 29, 2013)

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__ Apr 29, 2013






A few more pics...Here is the mud we had to contend with Sunday morning...Conn Park is going to be a great site in the future for this event, but this year was a bad choice as the dirt work was all fresh and once the rains set in on Saturday evening, it was a complete mess.  Luckily I was able to pull out Saturday evening just as the rain started, but a lot of the folks were having to towed out by dozer Sunday AM.  I should have got a few pics of that...













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Awards Sunday morning as we all are literally standing in mud...













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Me accepting the award for first place ribs...













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My littlest holding on to the medal for brisket...he was quite proud of his medal...













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One more shot at night of the camp, there was a very large light pole about 50 feet away from my site so I really didn't need to use my lights that much other than prepping the food...













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## bbqbrett (Apr 29, 2013)

Wow, great job on the ribs!  Also good luck in a few weeks for the next comp.


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## bad santa (Apr 29, 2013)

Hey Bruno, congrats on your walks and thanks for sharing the pictures of the cook off. For the noisey neighbors that seem to show up at every cook off, I always carry with me ear plugs, to help deaden the loud music that they seem to think that *everyone*  wants to listen to 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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## bruno994 (Apr 29, 2013)

Thanks Brett..and Santa.  Santa you need to come over here and cook in Southeast Texas every once in a while.  Would love to meet you.  We have a good one in Beaumont in a few weeks out at the Elks Lodge.


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