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Music Thursday: Jack Daniels If You Please

Jack Daniel's Smoker

This weekend marks the 20th Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship BBQ Contest. This is one of the premier events in all of bbq and it holds a special place in the history of Ulika BBQ. In 2005, the founding members of Ulika headed to Lynchburg to take part in the festivities. We knew nothing about the world of competitive bbq, but we were there to just see what it was all about. We arrived on a Friday evening and began wandering around the grounds talking with some teams and taking pictures of several pits. The first person we talked with was Jerry King from Midland, Texas. He explained to us how teams got invited to the Jack and which teams were the favorites to win on Saturday. He talk to us about how teams travel the country in hopes of an automatic bid to the Jack. We talked with another team from Texas that cooked with only mesquite wood and called all fruit woods "candy". We talked with a few of the International teams and we were very intrigued that people all over the world cook bbq. One of the things that makes the Jack truly unique is the international aspect. Seventeen teams from ten different countries compete in the same categories as the US teams, and they have an added category of "Home Cookin’ from the Homeland". This is where they make a dish native to their home country. I would love to judge that category some day. But anyway...

On Saturday, we hung around the judging area and got samples fed to us from one of the table captains. After all of the judging had been completed, we wandered around and got some samples from some of the teams we talked to on Friday night. We sampled some chicken from Jerry King and brisket from the guys from Texas. Later we were able to taste some Caribbean Jerk style ribs from the Jamaican team and they were wonderful. Big Bob Gibson was there and they were handing out samples of their sauces. This is when I first discovered white bbq sauce. We also purchased some bbq and ribs from some of the vendors including Texas Rib Rangers and Music City Pig Pals. Needless to say, we had a great time. It really opened our eyes to the fun that we could have doing something that we already loved doing. We never really knew that it would turn into such an addiction.

Here are some pictures from that weekend:

The celebrity judges are always a hot topic.

Silky O'Sullivan's Table


Bill Hall


Lynchburg's own Johnny Majors


Steve Gill

Some teams have upgraded their Land Yachts:


Lotta Bull in '05 at the Jack


Lotta Bull in '08 - that ain't a bad way to travel right there. The Geer Pit remains a staple.


Field of Smoke


Judging Area


The Texas Team's Pit


Slab o ribs


Chicken turn-in box

Well, the next spring we had a pit built (a custom-designed pit made from a 250-gallon propane tank) and headed to Winchester to compete at High on the Hog (where we proceeded to finish second to last). Clearly, our enthusiasm wasn't all we needed to make it in this sport. But we've kept at it and have just finished our third season where we got a call in every competition that we entered!

Now, three years later, we are returning as spectators with several friends that are cooking. This year's experience will be quite different than our first year, and we are really looking forward to the party. Hopefully some day we can return to cook in this event where it all started for Team Ulika.

Good luck to all the teams that are competing this weekend. We are looking forward to hanging out with some friends and meeting some folks that we have only communicated with electronically.

David Allen Coe - Jack Daniel's If You Please

Cookeville Recap

Team Ulika closed out the bbq season with a contest in Cookeville, TN. This was the 19th year for the event put on by former KCBS president, Tony Stone. Tony started this contest as a hamburger cookoff at Tennessee Tech. Now, 19 years later, it has developed into a very fine KCBS event that coincides with the city's Fall Fun Fest. The weekend festival featured bands**, inflatable games, local interest booths and craft vendors. There were the standard festival food vendors as well as an Indian food vendor which seemed strange in a small Tennessee town festival.

BP and I arrived on Friday morning and eased into our spot just north of the town square. The other teams were scattered about in a large parking lot and along the city streets. We were next to The Dead End Society, who had just received an invitation to The Jack. They won the Cookeville event last year and got drawn as a wild card. We also caught up with our friends at Team Bobby-Q. As they were visiting with us, I realized that I had not brought any lump charcoal for my BGE. Luckily, Bobby had packed an extra bag and they hooked me up big time! Bobby-Q had also just been invited to The Jack and we look forward to seeing them in Lynchburg later this fall.



Later in the evening we enjoyed some margaritas and food provided by Paul of BigBriq.com. Paul works in the liquid smoke business and as one of the factories is near Cookeville, he had several people out to enjoy some bbq and drinks. Paul also sells and markets some of the best charcoal around. His Big Briq charcoal is a lump briquette that burns clean and has no artificial binders. It is the prefect charcoal for my Stumps gravity feed smoker.

** Note: The only problem with having "slash" events (i.e. KCBS cookoff / fall fest) is the inevitable obstacle course through which one must maneuver in order to turn in the meat. During this Saturday's turn-in, BP (always the team walker) had to wade through an inflatable laser tag arena, a skate park and...a death metal band. Yes, death metal. Yes, at 12:00 in the afternoon. Yes, at a street festival in downtown Cookeville.



When the awards rolled around, we got calls in three of the four meat categories. We were most excited about our 7th place pork. We had not received a call in pork all year and it had been our strongest category in 2007. So, seventh place felt pretty good. Speaking of seventh place, that was our overall finish as well. We were very excited to finish in the top ten after not competing for two months. This was our last event of the year, and we are already making BIG plans for next year. I will post a season recap sometime soon.....

Winchester 2008 Report

The 21st Annual High On The Hog Tennessee State BBQ Championship
Winchester City Park, Franklin County, Tennessee
April 18-19, 2008

This was the third year for Ulika to head into Winchester, the home of the team's competitive debut in 2006. Always a favorite and nostalgic event for the team, High on the Hog regularly brings out some the country's best competitors. With the loss of Fred Gould (the much loved and highly respected original Winchester contest rep), there was certainly sadness around the event, but there was also great excitement as the field was stacked with 52 teams ready to compete in the traditional four meat categories along with the "Creative Sausage" (sponsored by Wampler's), "Anything But" and Dessert ancillaries.

High on the Hog is a larger scale event as it includes a Kids-Q competition (watch for future Jr. Ulika domination), a live band on Friday night (watch for a full report from BP), a field of local vendors and a full scale carnival complete with midway games, rides and the all important carnival food. This year, the weather was much better than it had been in years past as a few brief hours of rain on Friday night were nothing compared to the biblical downpour that took place for three days straight in 2006. It was mostly sunny and warm with a little wind, and all in all a nice weekend.

Ulika was thrilled to receive its highest number of stage calls this year, taking 5th Place in Chicken, 9th Place in Ribs, 7th Place in Brisket and 7th Place Overall.

Congratulations to Grand Champion Bareknuckles BBQ and Reserve Grand Champion Team Bobby-Q! Visit the KCBS High on the Hog Event Page to view the full results.


Winchester 2008: Ron Harwell visits the Ulika tent to check out the Stumps.


finishing the chicken


sampling pork pieces


pulled pork


the "Sea Ray" pirate ship ride


the spinner


the ferris wheel


Despite the ever-attentive ride operators and that comforting accreditation by the West Virginia board of amusement and thrill rides, team Ulika members chose not to ride any of the attractions.


Congrats to Team Bobby-Q on Reserve Grand!


Congratulations to Wade and the Scenic City Smokers on that first place finish in pork! What a way to debut!


We're pleased to own our first HOTH cutting board - a few particular Ulika team members have coveted these for three years now.

NASHVILLE BBQ: Smokey's Bar-B-Que (Winchester, TN)

The town of Winchester, Tennessee, is a place that is certainly steeped in Ulika lore. In addition to being the hometown of both Phillip Fulmer AND Dinah Shore, Winchester is home to one of our favorite barbecue contests - High on the Hog. I went to HOTH in 2004 before I even really knew what a barbecue contest was. And of course there was HOTH 2006 - our very first contest - such a flood of emotions...and of rainwater. And then there was the triumph and vindication of HOTH 2007. Such good times...but I digress.

For as long as I've been spending time in Winchester, there has been but one barbecue restaurant - Larry's. Larry's might actually be in Decherd, Tennessee, I'm not sure, because it's hard to tell where Decherd ends and Winchester begins. Larry's is, for the most part, a takeout establishment. There are some High on the Hog trophies on display in the window, and the barbecue is pretty good. Oh, and they serve pool room slaw, though I think it works better on a cheeseburger like they make them in Fayetteville than on a barbecue sandwich. But again I digress. On to the point.

It seems a challenger has appeared in Winchester. Smokey's Bar-B-Que has recently opened in what was formerly a Mexican restaurant, just down Dinah Shore Boulevard from Larry's. Smokey's is a full-service, sit down restaurant with full bar service and a definite blues theme - loud blues music on the stereo, photos of blues musicians on the walls, etc. And though I'm not normally a fan of blues as a musical genre, in a barbecue joint, it's as natural as the smell of hickory smoke. So I approve.

Upon being seated, we were served a basket of white bread slices with a bowl of barbecue sauce. I have been to a lot of barbecue restaurants, dear reader, but I have never seen this. It's not a bad idea, I suppose, especially if the barbecue sauce is good. In this case, it was merely average - ketchup based and very sweet, but lacking anything interesting in the way of spices.

When it was time to order, I asked our waitress what the best thing on the menu was, and she emphatically endorsed the ribs. So ribs it was. There was no pool house slaw to order as a side, but there was...corn pudding. Score! I went with the C.P. and some baked beans.

The ribs themselves were very tender - falling off the bone, in fact. Is that a good thing? I guess that depends on whether you're a KCBS judge or the general public. I grew up thinking of "fall-off-the-bone" as a positive descriptor, but in competitions, it's a no-no. I guess that's a debate for another day. Suffice it to say that these ribs were very tender. The ribs were also generously slathered with the same barbecue sauce that came in our bread basket. It's hard for a rack of ribs to rise above the sauce they're wearing, and in this case, the overall result was a very average rack of ribs.

As mediocre as the ribs were, though, the sides were just as amazing. The baked beans had just the right amount of brown sugar and molasses sweetness, with bits of sausage and jalapeno peppers mixed in to add a hearty kick. The corn pudding was cooked perfectly - viscous but not rigid - and was buttery rich and slightly sweet.

As our waitress collected our plates, she said, "I'll be back with your banana pudding."

"We didn't order any banana pudding," I replied.

"It comes with your meal."

Wow. Another first - free dessert. I can't complain about that.

I am convinced that, theoretically, Smokey's and Larry's can coexist. The greater Winchester-Decherd area is sizeable, and is growing all the time, and I think it can support two barbecue restaurants. And really, the two restaurants are quite different in execution. One is more of a grab-something-quick takeout place, and one is a place where you might want to go and stay awhile. Best of luck to both.

Smokey's Bar-B-Que - 836 Dinah Shore Blvd; Winchester, TN 37398; (931)962-1661

NASHVILLE BBQ: Buffalo P's

For whatever reason, certain areas of our city seem to be more endowed with barbecue restaurants than others. For instance, in North Nashville on Clarksville Pike, there are no less than five barbecue restaurants within a mile of each other, while Bellevue's lone barbecue outpost (the excellent Pig & Pie) is only open Thursday thru Saturday. Clarksville has more than a dozen barbecue restaurants; Murfreesboro has but a handful. Sumner County, which lies to the northeast of Nashville, has traditionally fallen into the category of underserved. But with two rapidly growing cities like Hendersonville and Gallatin, it's only a matter of time until the pork purveyors start popping up.

One such relatively recent entrant is Buffalo P's BBQ, Chicken, Catfish & Everything in Gallatin. One heck of a name, huh? They're really leaving their options open with the "everything," but after a quick scan of the menu and a look around the premises, I'd say it's safe to simply label Buffalo P's a barbecue restaurant. Well...maybe a barbecue trailer.

The Buffalo P's operation is set up in a vacant parking lot on Red River Road, just over the railroad tracks from Main Street, across from the Co-Op. They have a trailor for preparing and serving the food, a small awning covering a limited amount of seating, and two smokers. I always love it when I see real, actual smokers at barbecue restaurants. It's instant barbecue street cred. It tells me that these guys didn't learn to cook barbecue in a some dang kitchen.

It appeared most of the work was being done on the smoker behind the trailer.

Buffalo P's menu contains the usual barbecue suspects - pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken and ribs. And yes, they do also serve catfish (fried, not smoked).

I went with the pulled pork plate. Pulled pork is my go-to, unless I've been specifically advised to try something else. Why? First of all, I like it the best. Second, this is Tennessee - if you can't get your pork right, you're not going to last very long. It's the litmus test.

On the side, I went with that classic hot and cold duo - baked beans and potato salad. As you can see, the pork came pre-sauced. I'm not a fan of pre-sauced. I prefer to enjoy the pork au naturel and then if/when it needs sauce, I'll be in charge of the application. In this case, sauce was indeed needed. Although the meat had a very distinct smoky flavor, I found it to be rather dry. Perhaps it wasn't as fresh as usual, or perhaps it was just an off day, but overall I would rate the pork as average. The sides were solid, if not spectacular. All in all, I was underwhelmed. For those of you who have been to Buffalo P's, let me know what you think.

Until next time...

BBQ ROAD TRIP: Kansas City

Kansas City is one of those locales, along with places like North Carolina, Memphis and Central Texas, that is inextricably linked with the cuisine of barbecue. The best-selling barbecue sauce in the world is K.C. Masterpiece. The premier sanctioning organization of barbecue contests today is the K.C.B.S. You get the point. So it's no surprise that there is no shortage of great barbecue joints in the Kansas City area. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit two of the most famous. I had been to K.C. before, but my barbecue experience was limited to a trip to Fiorella's Jack Stack. And while the Stack did not disappoint, on my return trip I wanted to get down to the roots of Kansas City barbecue. And a quick check of the history books will tell you that the roots of K.C. barbecue begin and end with Arthur Bryant's and Gates.

Both restaurants can be traced back to a man named Henry Perry, who learned the art of smoking meat while growing up in Memphis around the turn of the century. When he moved to Kansas City in 1907, he opened the restaurant which would eventually be sold to and named for one of his understudies named Arthur Bryant. Literally right down the street, another of Perry's understudies joined with George Gates in 1947 to open Gates & Sons Bar-B-Q. Both restaurants still stand today, approximately 1/4 mile apart, on Brooklyn Avenue, just east of downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

My travelling companions and I arrived in a furious snowstorm and were ready to eat. We got the rental car, entered 1727 Brooklyn Ave into the Hertz NeverLost, and arrived at Arthur Bryant's in about 25 minutes.

You've doubtless already heard this pearl of wisdom before, but it bears repeating - you know you're at a great barbecue restaurant when you smell the smoke as soon as you get out of the car. Bryant's was no exception. We stepped in from the cold and found a sizable crowd, even at 3:30 in the afternoon. And now I'll give you a little bit of bonus wisdom - never trust a barbecue restaurant that doesn't have barbecue sauce out on the tables. Again, Bryant's passed the test.

And now, on to the food. You may notice that on the menu, there is no brisket. That's because they just call it "beef." And if, like me, you're from pork barbecue country, you may also be wondering what the heck "burnt ends" are. They are kind of the leftover parts from a brisket. I'm definitely game for that, because leftover parts are sometimes the best part!

In the photo below, the burnt ends are on the left and the brisket is on the right. I guess I was a little surprised to see that the burnt ends came pre-sauced. And as you can see, the pre-saucing was substantial. Consequently, I couldn't taste much but the sauce. I was much more impressed with the brisket. It was very, very tender and juicy, and with good flavor. It was quite simply the best brisket I have had in a restaurant.

No sauce was even necessary, which was a good thing, because I was not so impressed with Arthur Bryant's sauce, especially the "original" version, which was too much vinegar and not enough sweetness for my taste. The other item that we tried was the pulled pork. The pork was a bit confounding. Like the burnt ends, it was served with a liberal amount of sauce already applied.

Again, as a result, the flavor of the sauce dominated. And it's a shame, because the pork was very tender and actually seemed to have a good flavor under all of that sauce.

Knowing we had a second dose coming, we tried our best to restrain ourselves, and headed down the street to Gates & Sons.

I had an immediate fondness for Gates because the color scheme was similar to another place that I love. Gates even has a signature order-taking phrase that appears on all of their materials - "Hi, May I Help You?" - kind of a more polite version of "What'll Ya Have?" - I love it.

Like at Bryant's, the brisket is simply referred to as "beef."

I ordered a beef sandwich and an order of Bar-B-Q Beans. The beef sandwich is simply a large serving of brisket between two slices of white bread, with a bit of sauce.

The brisket was not as moist, nor as flavorful as the brisket at Arthur Bryant's. But in this case, all manner of ills are cured by Gates' barbecue sauce, which I thought complemented the sandwich perfectly. It's kind of a strange barbecue sauce - not too sweet and more than a little spicy, but not too vinegar-y either. I ate a lot of it on this sandwich.

The real highlight of our visit to Gates - heck, I'll just say it...of our visit to Kansas City - was the Gates Bar-B-Q beans. It's hard for me to accurately describe how good these baked beans were. Best baked beans ever.

They were sweet, as baked beans should be, but not too spicy. There was not any actual barbecue in them that I could discern. But there was a certain flavor in the mix that I just could not put my finger on. Was it caramel? Molasses? Whatever it was, it was working. I think I would fly back to Kansas City just to eat these beans again.

Overall, the trip was a success (did I mention that we got to see the Titans get a big win, too?). I know that Bryant's and Gates are just the tip of the iceberg in Kansas City, but I feel that experiencing these two places is the perfect starting point. I hope to get back sometime in the future and experience more.

Until next time...

Pork, Pork, and more Pork

A few weeks ago I loaded up the smoker with 18 pork butts. This cook was the "stock the freezer for the winter" cook.





If you are interested in getting some of this pork please email me ulikabbq at gmail.com.