Well, it's the first of May, and our competition season is coming up fast! Still have a lot of work to do on the trailer, getting equipment stored, organizing, etc. I will try and post some photos prior to our first competition Memorial Day weekend at Ty Warner Park, in Westmont, IL.

The Westmont contest has a few interesting wrinkles this year. In addition to the 8,000.00 prize pool, there are some additional awards available. A local new market in the area, Standard Market, is a sponsor for the event, and is offering an additional $1,000.00 per category, to be divided into 500.00 for first place, 300 for 2nd, and 200 for third, in addition to the regular contest money. The only condition is that for each category, the winning meat has to be from their store (receipt required) I visited their store last week, and can say they have a great meat selection, with specialties of Berkshire and Duroc pork, at fairly reasonable prices. The meat manager, Joe Parajecki, is friendly, helpful, and great to talk to! My first trip I brought home some of their Berkshire spares to try, along with a pork steak from both Duroc and Berkshire varieties, to evaluate the differences. Also picked up some Fleur de sel, a little foie gras, and a small tub of D'artagnan duck fat to play with!

They have phenomenal seafood, sushi, produce , you name it, as well as a restaurant in house, with a new one going up just across the street! http://www.standardmarket.com/ and http://www.bakersfieldrestaurant.com/?page_id=38 Can't wait to try the restaurant too!

Anyway, I digress. There is also going to be a raffle amongst the teams, with the winner being awarded a 4,000.00 Tremore Breeze smoker http://www.breezebbq.com/

Never have seen one, but based on the web site, I'm thinking one would look nice in my back yard!

Interesting note is it says it's worth 4K on the Westmont website, but this years model is 4,999 + shipping and handling. I don't have the right equipment to use it to compete, (more to the point, to haul it) but wouldn't mind a nice shiny new cooker!

So we have 24 days to get it together and prepare. Lots to do between now and then! But having the trailer should make competing easier. I used to cram most of the smoker stuff into the pop-up, but not wanting to get the inside of the new trailer too cruddy, I'll be mostly carrying cookers in the truck, except the bases, which will fit in one of the trailer storage areas.  We should have less dependence on the carlisle insulated carriers, as we can now keep our meats in the fridge/freezer, and will try just going with a single Carlisle for this one, to keep meats warm once they're ready.

I'm going to be trying to keep my knives, boards, rubs, injections, tools, thermometers etc. all in a Stanley tools FatMax toolbox this year. That should hopefully reduce the clutter caused by dragging all our stuff around in bus tubs that fit in the pop up, then having to empty everything out to use the bus tubs for dishes! My goal this year is to be much more organized than years past.  We will be bringing a portable 10x10 EZ-up as in the past, but hope to be able to do without it, and use the canopy that came with the trailer.

So 3 weeks, and 3 days until our 2012 season officially kicks off!

I will try to add photos of the trailer once I have them

A new season is just around the corner! And we have reason for excitement!

Well, the Des Plaines Winter Burn was a ball as always, and got our juices flowing for the coming season.

Our first move towards a better season this year than we did our last, was to try and upgrade our equipment a bit. We started by attending the 2012 Camping and RV show in Rosemont, where, after a day of running around comparing, we finally settled on a shiny new 2012 Jayco Jayflight model 22FB!

We'll be hopefully picking it up either this Saturday or next, and I'll post lots of photos as soon as I'm able!

Not having to set up and tear down that old pop-up should make a marked improvement in our results, AND our attitudes! It's a great old trailer, but I just don't have the time to fix the cables for the roof, etc. And wanted something that, at least for a while, just needs routine maintenance.

Since we don't have it in our possesion yet, this link shows what it looks like.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFbWOwLB4Vo

So now, we look forward to taking delivery, stocking it up, and our first sanctioned contest of the year at the Westmont, IL Red, White, & BBQ event, 5/25-27 at Ty Warner Park in Westmont!

But that won't be at least until Saturday. So I should mention a little about the outstanding meal we had last night at Sweet Baby Rays, in Elk Grove Village IL.

Dave Raymond, the owner, (and the original Sweet Baby Ray) had an idea to get Chicago Area Barbecue folks together, to spread the word about something called Operation Barbecue Relief, an organization founded in May of 2011 to assist those affected by the tornadoes that devastated Joplin, MO. Since then, Operation BBQ Relief has expanded and grown to now include many more members, now able to help many more people. More info about Operation BBQ Relief can be found here http://www.operationbbqrelief.org/about.html

Anyway, to bring all those folks together, he invited about 150 or so of his closest freinds to enjoy a phenomenal spread of some really fine food, and take a little time to talk about the cause. Among the crowd were scattered some local as well as national bbq personalities, including Lee Ann Whippen, of Wood Chicks BBQ as seen on BBQ Pitmasters, Barry Sorkin, of Chicago's Smoque restaurant, Mark Link, of Westmont's Uncle Bubs BBQ, and  others, as well as a host of local competition bbq teams, and supporters of OBR as well. I have to apologize for not being able to list all the guests. It was ver loud, and where we were sitting, it was hard to hear a lot of the introductions.

The menu included a variety of appetizers, including gumbo shooters, bbq martinis, a mix of bbq beans, pulled pork, and slaw in a martini glass topped with a strip of millionaire bacon, burnt end bites, and bbq shrimp. Followed by the entree selections of pulled pork, brisket, St. Louis spare ribs, baby back ribs, Texas sausage, and jerk chicken, accompanied by sides including corn maque choux, potatoes tchoupitoulas, green chili mac, red beans and rice, bbq beans, and 2 cornbread varieties, and finally topped off by a selection of desserts that included pecan pie, key lime pie, and an assortment of mixed dessert platters. Dave and his whole crew put on an amazing event, for a very worthwhile cause! And every bite was delicious! Sadly, I forgot both my cell phone AND my camera, but there are lots of great photos of the event at SBR's Facebook page, which you can find here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Baby-Rays-Restaurants-Catering/198579583486159?__adt=9


So now we've got a 3 day wait ahead before hopefully being able to go pick up our new "bbq wagon"! Can't wait to get it loaded up and head out on our maiden voyage!

2012 Des Plaines Winter Burnoff is in the books.

Well, our first effort of the year came with mixed results, but a lot of fun!

Between the last post and this one, I made up about 17 pounds of various sausage. We made Texas Hot links, mild Italian, and a bacon-cheddar-cheeseburger variety that wasn't bad either!
This would be the Hot Links

So, I spent Saturday packing up the truck with all our stuff, prepping meats, and making chili.(?)

Last week midweek, the organizers put out the word that they needed more entries for their chili contest, an alternate contest in addition to the 4 meats included in the BBQ comp. I figured I'd have a few pounds of rib trimmings to use up, so opted to make up a pork chili verde, with about 35 fire roasted tomatillos, 6 Anaheims, 3 poblanos, and 5 or 6 jalapenos, all fire charred and peeled.

There was no real recipe, just added those together with some sauteed onions, and garlic, seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, corriander, a beer, and a few other things.

At 04:10 Sunday morning the 12th, I finished the last of the packing, including the crock pot with the chili. We stopped for a little breakfast at the Dunkin' by our house, and headed up to the bowling alley. We arrived at about 6:40AM, and the temp was about 14. We'd had someone ask if they could assist/observe through this comp, and he was there right on time to help set up the canopy, and the canvas tarp walls, so we could get things nice and warm asap. To be honest, once the sun came out it wasn't nearly so cold, and it wasn't raining cats and dogs like last year!

The Rand-River Bowl in Des Plaines is generous enough every year to donate a days use of thier facility for this annual event, the Des Plaines Winter Burnoff. Besides being a huge load of fun, it is done to raise funds for a charity near and dear to the organizers, Keith and Rebecca Engstrom's hearts. It is all done to benefit NOAH, the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation.

Besides the bbq contest, there is, as I'd mentioned, an optional chili category, a number of lanes set aside for bowling for the charity, silent auctions, raffles, it's just a darn fun day! And I think this may have been the best attended in the seven years it's been done! (I believe we've been directly or indirectly involved with 5 of those)

So since bbq isn't really a safe, indoor activity, the bbq comp portion goes on in the parking lot, well, except for the judging.

Turn in times at this event were nowhere close to a regular KCBS. First was sausage, at 13:30. We turned in a bit of all 3 that I'd made, Italian on the left, bacon cheeseburger in the middle, and Hot Link on the right.There's a bit of sloppiness on the right, and I probably could have gotten a bit more in the box, but the sausage itself was delicious. At least we all thought so!

So at 14:00 - time for chicken turn in. We turned in some huge wings, glazed with a homemade cranberry habanero honey glaze (we used that glaze later for our pork entry as well)

If we'd gotten two more in there, it might have made up for the sauce on the greens in the rear middle. Diane gave one of the extras to someone organizing the auction packages, and having tasted it she spent seventy dollars on a basket full of our products! So I guess it was pretty good!

Next was ribs, at 14:30. I was pretty happy with these. We'd used a mop that was essentially leftover spicy pickle juice from our candied hot jalapeno slices, and then sauced with a sweet, slightly spicy glaze

And finally, pork loin/tenderloin. I went simple, with 4 tenderloins slow and low for about 30 minutes, to get a little smoke on them, and then finished on a hot grill to get some brown on the outside. Probably should have added 2-4 more slices now that I look at it. Or done 3 rows lengthwise instead of two widthwise? Oh well, too late now!

Now none of these have been my favorite boxes, but given that they were mostly put together in sub-freezing temps, which has a tendency to make lettuce and parsley go limp and brown, I'm not altogether unhappy with them either!

So with everything done now but the crying, we, with the help of our hugely helpful volunteers, tore down, and packed everything back in/onto the truck, and made ready for the awards presentations...

Which follow here...Des Plaines 7th Annual Winter Burnoff Pt 1 of 2 , here Des Plaines 7th Annual Winter Burnoff Pt 2 of 2, and finally, for the chili, Actually, that part of the video seems to be missing, if I locate I'll post here in an update. 

So our first competition comes with mixed results. Chicken and sausage weren't what we'd hoped, but we were 11 of 22 overall, 6th in pork, 3rd in ribs, 1st in chili, and came away with 2 trophies, and enough in winnings to cover our meat. We also donated a basket of home made goodies that fetched 70 bucks for the charity, and sold a little extra that helped cover our meat costs! And there were no leftover wings from the 34 I made, so while the judges might not have liked them, the crowd sure did!

We had a great time, saw some old freinds, and met some new ones! And now I'm looking forward to the Westmont event Memorial Day weekend!

Now all we need is a functional trailer, and the search starts tomorrow! We're heading out to Rosemont, IL for the 2012 RV & Camping show at the Rosemont Convention Center http://www.chicagorvshow.com/

We're hoping to find something in the 18-24 foot range that we can mount a hitch receiver to for a hitch mounted shelf/cabinet to hold our cookers. 

Let's try this again?

Well, after last years' never ending equipment malfunctions, it's almost time to try again. The pop-up camper will not be an issue this year. It's our intent to get a "real" trailer of some kind before May. In fact, not this coming weekend, but the following one, we'll be scoping out some at the Rosemont, IL RV show.

We don't want, or need a lot, just the basic necessities, fridge, decent bed, heater, AC, well, ok, maybe a few bells and whistles, we are after all, not spring chickens, and like our creature comforts!

Right now, we're preparing for the Des Plaines, IL Winter Burnoff on Sunday the 12th, at Rand/River Bowl (in the parking lot) It's an annual fund raiser held to benefit NOAH (www.albinism.org ), and always a great time! Given the weather conditions in February, rather than the usual 4 categories of chicken, ribs, pork butt, and brisket, the entries here are for chicken, ribs, pork tenderloin, and sausage.It now looks like there are 22 teams scheduled to participate, so it should be fun! I'll post photos, and hopefully some video when I have time available to do it.

Speaking of sausage, I'll be making ours this year, instead of buying it. I made some fresh polish sausage just before Christmas that turned out well, so this time will be trying a few more varieties, including one or two cured ones as well.

We did a few other canning projects over the winter. Made some pickeled jalapenos

And the store near us had cranberries on sale for 50 cents a bag after the holidays, so we made cranberry habanero jelly......

We also made a cranberry ketchup, and a grainy cranberry mustard that is absoulutely great on a turkey sandwich! ( sorry, no photos)

For now, I have the next 3 days (took some days off to use up my leftover vacation from last year)  including today, to prep, pack, and get ourselves together for our first comp of the season.

As always, thanks for looking, updates will follow soon!

Season is over, we missed Lambs Farm

Ugh!
Well we sort of went out with a whimper this year!

Everything was packed Friday morning. We had the truck and camper loaded up, lined up the neighbors to watch the "stay-home dog", all we needed to do was run to Jewel-Osco for a bag of ice and some beer. But on the way to the store...disaster!

About 6 or 7 blocks from the house, I rounded a corner, and stalled. Lost power, lost steering, everything. Got out and checked the alternator, belts, everything looked ok. Tried turning it over again, engine cranked, but closes it got to starting was catching and dying. Had to drop the trailer, call a tow truck for the truck, and get the next-door neighbor to come pick up the trailer and reeturn it to the driveway. (Thanks Joe!)

All in all, it's been a very tough season. Power loss (meaning also heat loss) at Westmont, not to mention the "radpidly swirling storm system" that delayed turn-in almost 3 hours, and left behind a field of mud, roof collapse at Willowbrook the very next week, and our first ever missed turn in at Kingsford! Needless to say, we were very dissappointed all weekend. Even though the weather was pretty awful Friday night, windy and cold, we'd rather have been at the comp and cold than home and warm, as odd as that might sound.

So for 2011, our season is done, except for a judges training class in November that we'll be helping out at. We hope to upgrade trailers between now and then, assuming we can sell our timeshare. If not, guess we'll have to live with this one a while longer. Either way, we'll see what happens come spring.
Other than that...time to tweak recipes and methods, try new things, and try to get through another Chicago winter!

Our next scheduled event will be in February, the annual Des Plaines "Winter Burnoff" at Rand/River Bowl. It's usually a great time, and benefits NOAH. (National Organization For Albinism and Hypopigmentation).

We're also scheduled to cater a wedding near Traverse City MI in July, for the son of my high school freinds and his wife-to-be. We are looking forward to working with them and making it the event they're hoping for.

Till next time

keep queuing!

A strange season winds down...and some fun stuff!

Well this has been an odd summer...
Our first contest, we lose power in the trailer, the next, the roof falls in....literally! The third, we miss our first turn in ever, and go off the rails so to speak. And in the end, with one more to go, we're back to 4 comps a season instead of 6, and feeling a lot like we're back in the tent!

But all is not lost. I've secured a new power center for the camper, and will be putting it in before our final comp in Libertyville. Also resecured the wardrobe/pantry in the camper with a new slide bracket, and with any luck might even get the roof cable fixed prior to the 10/14 comp!

We've been sort of non BBQ-centric of late, and celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last weekend by heading to Millennium Park in the city for the 4th annual Bon Appetit Chicago Gourmet event. We got the early bird discount on the tics back in the spring.  It was a great event this year, and all of the problems that plagued last years were taken care of. I was glad we went Saturday instead of Sunday, as the weather was far more comfortable and dry Saturday. As in past years, we got to chat with a lot of great chefs, see some great demos, (check this, as Stephanie Izards' butcher demos how they prep pig heads for The Girl and The Goats' pigs face dish...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yGib50K-sA    (WARNING!!! not for the squeamish) ate a lot of amazing food, and drank our fill of some fine potables!

Here are some other views of the event. I think our favorites were Chef Trevor Hoyte, of IPO Chicago's pork belly with crispy chicharone dish, and Chef Beverly Kim Clarks'  seafood panna cotta topped with mango gelee, mango relish and tiny chilled mussels. I had three they were so good! And she was awesome! Spent a lot of time with us explaining the dish. Diane went and grabbed her a plate of IPO's pork belly and she was most appreciative. We'll be rooting for her in Top Chef season 9! (starting Wednesday!) Best thing about both of these was you didn't have to wait in the tasting pavillion lines, though those were far faster and smoother than last years event, and the plates included in the swag bags, which featured a slot to hold your glass, were nothing short of genius!


Unfortunately, I didn't get as many good food shots as in years past, but I'm including a few of the event just to help give a feel for the environment.

In the first presentation of the day, Steve Dolinski of Chicago 7 news introduced Chef Rick Bayless, Beard award winner of Topolabampo and Frontera Grill in Chicago, who responded by snapping a photo of Dolinski, since everyone else was snapping photos of Bayless

Next came the dynamic duo of Jimmy Bannos Jr., of The Purple Pig Restauant, and Stephanie Izard, Top Chef Season 4 winner, and owner of The Girl and the Goat Restaurant, Chicago, doing "Beast Feast" Bannos made essentially a pork neckbone confit, while Izard made a take on head cheese with a whole pigs face (see video link above) herbs, and seasonings, and served with a fried egg on top as a VERY high end breakfast type plate! (you can view it here... http://www.stephanieizard.com/home/view/pig_head_and_veal_belly_rib_roasts_and_peter_piper_bread

I've included a few additional views below to just share the whole feel of the event. I would heartily recommend that anyone who loves great food and drink put this on their calendar for future years!
sign up at their web site to get on their email list here . It's likely your best opportunity to sample some of Chicago's best chefs' and restaurants' fare, without totally breaking the bank.

Yes, at 150.00 per ticket, it's pricey, but they offered an early bird discount that discounted that to barely over half price, AND unlike the Taste of Chicago event in the summer, you get high end food, unlimited quantity, and all the beer, wine and liquor you desire for 1 ultimately reasonable price. Along with great demos, hands-on seminars, and if you go "whole hog" and pay the extra for the Grand Cru feature, even more benefits!
  http://www.illinoisrestaurants.org/associations/2039/chicagogourmet/

Jimmy Banos Jr and Stephanie Izard with WXRT's Lin Brehmer at the "Beast Feast"

The Main stage

Chef Beverly of Aria coordinates their seafood pannacotta presentation

And finally, the sun sets on a great day!

So as the 2011 season winds down, we're prepping for our last event of the year, at Lamb's Farm in Libertyville, on 10/14. Hope to see many freinds there, as of today, looks like 55 teams are signed! Looks to be maybe the largest one yet!

We are team #2 in the Chile Pepper Magazine "Quest for the Perfect Ribs"!

How cool is this!?! REALLY!

So when the mail came today, we got something we've been waiting on for for almost 3 months! Why, you might ask? Well, because 2 Skinny Cooks is Chile Pepper Magazines 2nd entry in their "Quest For The Perfect Ribs"! Chile Pepper, for those unfamiliar, is a bi-monthly national publication dealing primarily all things hot and spicy.

This all came about in an odd sort of way. Back in late May, we were thumbing the June/July issue, and noticed a recipe that said it applied, ingredients, and cooking time, to back ribs, spare ribs, and country ribs. I balked a bit at that statement, and emailed the editor, explaining that since they were very dissimilar cuts, they all cooked in different times, and not long after, he contacted me and asked if we wanted to be team #2 in their challenge! At first, I balked, thinking "We're Not Worthy!" There are a long list of teams out there who've certainly won more than we have, especially when it comes to ribs (we did reletively well our second season, but have struggled lately). But when I ran it by the wife, she said "are you kidding?" national exposure? Of COURSE we want to do it!

So what happened next was possibly the most hectic 2 1/2 weeks I've had in a long time!

This all transpired right before the Memorial Day weekend comp in Westmont, IL. (One that I shall forever remember as Woodstock III)

The next weekend, we had Willowbrook, IL, and a 25th anniversary party to cater, and a few weeks down the road was Iron Mountain. The transformer in our pop up failed in Westmont, leaving us scrambling for power distribution, then at Willowbrook, we snapped a support cable for the roof, leaving us with one corner that wouldn't raise (we jerry-rigged it with a length of PVC for Willowbrook and Iron Mountain) Thanks to our good buddies Nick and Beth of Moose's BBQ for the assist!  And also, had to do my normal, "real job". In between, we had to cook at least 2 slabs of at least 2 types of pork ribs, and send them, the recipes, and recipes for at least 3 sides by 6/08! No pressure! Oh, and they wanted me to hire a professional photographer, to ensure the pics were publication ready. Oh yeah, forgot, they needed pics for the magazine Well, I was able to impress them enough with my shots that they didn't require a pro, but it was still a lot to get done!

When all was said and done, we finished everything, did two phone interviews with the editor/publisher, and sent off two slabs each baby backs and spares which they said they loved! In fact, one of the quotes they featured was " Only four years on the circuit? I don't believe that for a second!"

Seeing the actual magazine was sort of the final "pinch me I'm dreaming" moment! We have been keeping this mostly to ourselves for going on three months, because we didn't want to look like dopes if for some reason it didn't happen!

So, pick up a copy at your local newsstand! We're on pages 56-61!
Here are some of the pics...

Update: 9/02 - The online version is posted on Chile Pepper's site. In that version our piece starts on page 59   http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/cd3fc76e#/cd3fc76e/59