Winchester Recap

On Thursday (April 16th), we packed up and headed to our favorite contest, Winchester's High on the Hog. It was a clear, cool night and the forecast called for sunny skies all weekend. This is only worth mentioning because it was the first time in the contest's 22 year history that the weatherman called for a rain-free weekend.

There are a few things that make this contest special to us. This was the very first contest for the Ulika BBQ team back in 2006. Also, I was born in Winchester and my grandmother lives about .25 miles from the park. Then there is BP's lake house that makes the trip all that much better. This weekend, we also had some friends from Atlanta visiting with us. All these factors on top of a top notch group of contest organizers and reps made for a great weekend. If you ever have the chance to cook in this event, take it!

We arrived around 9:00pm on Thursday night and parked in a new spot which was right next to the turn in area and a stones throw from the stage. One of the nice aspects of the Winchester contest is the 30 x 30 cook site and the large open area in front of our cook site. Once the trailer was setup, I worked on trimming the chicken while Peter and Natalina went fishing across the park in Tims Ford lake. BP soon arrived with the couch and we headed over to his lake house to get some sleep.



Friday morning, I headed back over to the park and got my meat inspected and began to prep everything. The park quickly began to fill up as the morning wore on, and we were glad to be setup next to our friends from Smoke Me Tender and new friend, Pete Moon of Bean Bandits. Saturday, we enjoyed the beautiful day as we hung out with our bbq friends.



We participated in the sausage ancillary this year so Friday afternoon we started prepping for our spicy pepper cheese dip with sausage and homemade tortilla chips. Peter manned the fryer and turned out some tasty chips. The Mrs. and BP made up the cheese dip while I smoked the sausage on the Egg. I thought it tasted pretty good and I liked the presentation. After it was turned in, I made the comment that it tasted like 5th place, and it turned out that I had some pretty good taste buds.










Jay finished off the cheese dip


On Friday night, Paul Hood from BigBriq.com had us over for some Ultimate Hoagies. These bad boys consist of thinly sliced beef tenderloin on a hoagie roll with stone ground mustard, horseradish, and Wickles. For those of you that have never had Wickles, I highly recommend them. They are sweet pickles with some garlic and red pepper to provide some heat. Mmmm.



After the butts and briskets went on, we took a stroll around the fair. While I have no interest in the rides or the games, there is some great people watching to be had. Some of our favorite things about the fair:

• Attitude shirts (especially on small children)
• Rides that are licensed in West Virgina
• Live animal prizes
• Funnel Cakes and deep fried candy bars
• Couples with matching outfits
• Mouse roulette
• Oval basketball goals
• Meth head carnies

live bunnies


Did I win a girl or a boy?

Saturday morning started off with a couple of cups of coffee provided by P.S.I.P. and then I was ready to roll. Everything seemed to go just fine Saturday morning throughout turn-ins. We did kick off the morning with a 10:30 shot from the Jack Daniels Clonesicle I had made. Alan provided a toast and everyone enjoyed the smooth flavor of Tennessee Whiskey.





We got everything turned in OK on Saturday and felt pretty good about everything. I especially liked our brisket. I thought it was one of the best that we had ever turned in, but the judges apparently had a different opinion. I should have known not to mention any kind of brisket streak. In Clarksville, our chicken tanked us and in Winchester it was our ribs (40th place). We were thrilled to get a call for our pork - and to hear your name called among such an outstanding field of competitors is great. One of these days, we will get it all together in one contest. The most important thing is that we had fun and got to visit with several friends. The weather was perfect and it was another wonderful weekend in Winchester.

It was a somewhat emotional awards ceremony though as Mike Davis of Lotta Bull BBQ presented Linda Gould with a BBQ Hall of Fame plaque for her late husband, Fred Gould. Fred passed away in January 2008 and was named to the Hall of Fame later that year. It was a special moment to remember a great man who had been the contest organizer (among other things) in Winchester for several years.

Fred was "an organizer, promoter, meat inspector, electrician, RV mechanic, Master Judge, Table Captain, Contest Rep, and the list goes on...he was, in fact, the 'get it done man' rain or shine."

Currently we don't have another contests scheduled, but we are looking at several possibilities. Stay tuned to the Ulika food blog for any updates.

Contest Review: Clarksville, TN Porkin' in the Park 2009

Last Friday, Team Ulika headed one hour north to Clarksville, Tennessee for the second annual Porkin' In The Park. This year the contest was being held in downtown Clarksville due to a tornado that wiped out the pavilion where the contest was held last year. Just like last year, Clarksville was our first event of the season and we were trying out some new equipment. Last year it was our new Stumps and this year we were debuting our new trailer. This off season we purchased a CM 16' v-nose trailer to haul all of our gear. It is very nice to have our own trailer because we can get loaded up throughout the week instead of getting everything together on Thursday night. We had enough time to get the sink mounted in the trailer, but there are still several "upgrades" that are going to be made as time and $$$ permit.



Holding a contest in a downtown area can sometime present some challenges. Particularly the parking situation. There was one main parking lot that several teams were setup in and other teams were scattered amongst the city streets. We arrived around 9 am and quickly backed into our spot. As we were setting up we couldn't help but notice a brand new Geer pit parked across from us, and we were quickly greeted by Walt and Teressa of Smokin' Scotsmen. They are from Michigan and had traveled to Hammond, LA the previous week to compete then decided to catch another competition before they headed home.



BP arrived shortly after the mrs. and I got parked and we unloaded the now infamous couch. That's right, we take a couch to the contest. We figure if we are going to be sitting around for a couple of days, why not be comfortable. I mean you can only sit in those camping chairs for so long. Once everything was in place I prepped the meats while BP and the mrs. walked around downtown Clarksville. The KCBS Great America BBQ Tour was in town, and Mike Peters was giving demonstrations throughout the weekend promoting the KCBS and its sponsors.





After a quick cooks meeting, we hung around waiting on the Low Country boil. Wayne from Bubba's Tennessee Smokers provided everything for the boil and it was a glorious feast. Shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes lined the tables for everyone to partake. Since the mrs. needed to catch up on the Friday night slice, we also took the opportunity to try a new pizza joint in Clarksville (check back Friday for more details on that).





Friday evening some friends Matt and Joel came up to take in the festivities. The previous week they cooked in their first KCBS backyard event in Auburn Alabama finishing 6th in ribs and 10th overall. As you can imagine, they caught the bug. They were a big help all weekend filling in for their cousins the Colvert brothers.



Friday night always gives us some down time to visit with friends and meeting new ones. We sampled some Apple Pie over at the DoRag camp, and we talked with Castaway Cookers (who were cooking in their first competition). I always try to talk with some of the teams that are doing their first competition, because if it weren't for other people helping me along I would have probably given up the competition bbq thing a long time ago. After roaming the grounds for a while I headed to the trailer to get some sleep. The air mattress and the space heater inside the trailer worked out great. I got up on Saturday morning and started to get everything in place to start the day. Luckily Teresa from the Smokin' Scotsman spotted me and realized I could use a nice hot cup of coffee. Then a few hours later The Scotsmen served up a nice breakfast which included biscuits and sausage gravy. These are some of the things that make it worth while traveling around to different contest.



Saturday morning started smoothly. The butts and briskets came off on schedule and Team Ulika didn't seem to miss at beat. We felt pretty good about everything we turned in and we did ok for the first contest of the year. Last year we received a first place call in the chicken category, but this year chicken ended up really hurting our overall score. After the fact, I realized there were some things I could have done better on my chicken. We did keep our steak alive in the brisket category getting our 6th consecutive call, placing 7th. Overall we finished 14th in a good crowd of cooks. Congrats to Smoky Mountain Smokers for their first place finish and to the Smokin' Scotsmen for their reserve championship. Also a big congrats goes out to DoRag for finishing in the Top 5. I have a feeling those guys are going to have a good year. Our next competition is quickly approaching as we head to our favorite spot, Winchester, TN. We have done well there the past couple of years and we hope to continue that this year. Congrats again to everyone who walked in Clarksville. Especially Swiggin Pig for the 1st place ribs and BigBriq for the first place brisket. We will see you all in Winchester.

Recap of the 2009 KCBS Banquet

Last Saturday night, BP and I attended the annual KCBS Banquet. This end of the year/season banquet was being held outside of Kansas City for the first time ever and we were glad that they chose Nashville for the event. The banquet was held at the Sheraton Music City Hotel located near the airport. When this location was first announced, I gasped for a moment. Not because of the location or the quality of the place, but because I knew the chef at the Music City Sheraton. And where do I know him from? I met him at a competition as he is the chief cook on a KCBS team. I gasped because I could not imagine cooking for hundreds of my peers who are cooks themselves. However, whether the banquet attendees knew that their meal was prepared by a fellow competitor or not, the food was good. The intentionally basic menu certainly did not allow the chef to flex his culinary muscle, but everything served was pretty tasty and of good quality.

BP and I arrived just as the banquet was about to begin, so we grabbed some of the only open seats left in the back of the room. The banquet started with Mike McCloud from MMA Creative addressing the crowd and giving out the standard thank yous to the KCBS board, the members in attendance, the KCBS staff, and the volunteers that helped with the event. That was followed with a brief statement from the KCBS President Mike Lake and the introduction of the headlining speaker, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean. While I am not a supporter of Mr. Dean, I thought that he delivered a good speech. He talked about how he moved to Nashville to attend law school and was invited to a bbq on the first day of classes. He, of course, thought they would be having hamburgers and hot dogs, but he was treated to true pork bbq. This is the consistent annoyance for bbq cooks - barbecuing is incorrectly assumed to be synonymous with grilling. After his story he gave some shameless plugs for Nashville tourism, but the crowd seemed to eat it up. He then moved on to talk about how he was an honorary judge at the CMT Fan Fair BBQ Contest and he described the experience that he had at his first KCBS event. Overall, he delivered a good speech that seemed to entertain the crowd.

After the speech, the buffet opened. Dinner consisted of a Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, grilled zucchini with roasted red peppers, roast beef, pork loin, and a mushroom bisque. For dessert, they had a cheesecake and slices of an apple tart. Everyone at our table enjoyed the meal and the hotel patron that sneaked in towards the end of the banquet enjoyed the food as well, helping himself to some of the leftover rolls with some roast beef.

After everyone was finished eating (except some of us in the back), Mike Lake again addressed the crowd. He then brought Mike McCloud back on stage to give the 2009 Tour Sponsors and Marketing Brief. This was the most interesting part of the banquet. It was revealed that Weber and Tabasco are returning as sponsors and the new companies on board this year are Tums, Reynolds Wrap and Scott Towels. I can't believe that Tums is just now joining hands with the KCBS - Tums and bqq competitions have long been friends in my mind. It was also revealed that there is a NASCAR/KCBS event in the works. If this goes through, there will be a KCBS contest at Daytona for the night race in July. If that goes well, there is talk of future NASCAR/KCBS events. It seems that someone has finally realized that the bbq demographic and the NASCAR demographic are pretty similar. Kudos to MMA.

After Mike's power point presentation, they announced the results of the election for the Board of Directors. Three members were re-elected: Merl Whitebook, Don Harwell (not to be confused with local contest rep extraordinaire, Ron Harwell) and Wayne Lohman. One new member was elected: Gene Goychochea. I met Gene at a get together on Friday night (put on by DoRag and Long Dawg Blue Smoke), but I had no idea he was even running for the BOD. Gene was a very nice guy and I wish him best of luck as he joins the KCBS BOD. I am sure he will serve the membership well.

After the election results were revealed, the awards were announced. This was very anti-climatic since the KCBS had already posted the results on their website. They announced the Top 10 teams in all four meat categories and then announced the Top 20 overall teams. Munchin Hogs @ the Hilton was named the team of the year, Quau was named the chicken team of the year, Munchin Hogs @ the Hilton won the rib category, Four Men & a Pig was tabbed as the best pork team, and Smokey Mountain Smokers won top team in brisket. Lastly, they gave out the award for the top overall score from any contest which went to Rod Gray of Pellet Envy for the second year in a row. After the awards were presented, an announcement was made informing the membership that efforts were being made to reward the TOY with a monetary prize. The KCBS is also going to have an updated TOY tracking system on their website throughout the year. These changes should make for an exciting chase in 2009.

To close out the banquet, the raffle winners were announced. There were probably about 50 items that were given away from KCBS table centerpieces to a box of pellets. There were also about 160 contest entries that were given away through a raffle, but we were not fortunate enough to win one of those.

Overall, the banquet was a good experience. It wasn't a profoundly exciting event, but I wasn't expecting it to be as banquets are banquets - we've all been to them. BP made an interesting observation of the event, comparing it conversely to an afterhours gathering of co-workers. Just as it is odd to see your co-workers in their non-work, casual clothes, it's odd to see your bbq peers dressed up in formal wear. I doubt that I would travel to attend another event unless I was up for an award, but I'm certainly thankful that I had the opportunity to attend one here in my home city. It was nice to meet different faces from across the country and learn more about the future direction of the organization. I hope everyone enjoyed their trip to Nashville, and you are welcome back anytime.

KCBS Open Rules Meeting

As part of the KCBS Banquet this weekend there was an open rules meeting. This forum allowed the membership to have input on any potential rule changes to the KCBS Rules and Regulations. The Tulip Grove Room was filled with about 80 attendees that included seasoned cooks, judges, reps and me. Rod Gray, the chairperson for the rules committee, was the moderator for the open discussion.

Here is the list of topics that were discussed, and a brief summary of what took place:

1. Allowing an individual to cook for more than one team at any one event. Rule 2

This topic was brought about from a situation that occurred at an unnamed contest in 2008. During this contest, a cook from one team cooked ribs for his team and cooked ribs for another team. As the rules stand today, this is not a violation. As you can imagine, this brought about many comments from the crowd. It started out fairly slow with some talk of differentiating mentoring and cooking. Then others discussed if tending a fire or running a turn-in box would be considered cooking. The discussion on this topic lasted for about 30 minutes and in the end it seemed that the membership was all in agreement that this type of activity should not be allowed. This issue will be brought up at a board meeting for the review of a possible rule change.

2. Allowing multiple chief cooks to enter an event using the exact same team name. Rule 2

This issue has to do with multiple people cooking under the same name in different parts of the country. An example of this would be if I had someone cook under the name Ulika in California one weekend and I cooked in a local contest the next weekend. There is already a rule that says that the same team can not compete in different contests that occur on the same date, but nothing about this scenario of multiple weekends. After a brief discussion it was decided that the rule did not need to be changed or reworded.

3. Disconnecting propane from a legal pit during the cooking of contest meat. Rule 5

Of course there is an existing rule stating that teams can not use propane to operate their pit. The KCBS does allow the use of propane to start a cooker, but any propane lines that are connected to a cooker must be shut off. The creation of a new rule would require the hose to be completely disconnected from a pit. The discussion quickly turned towards vendors who will use propane to cook their meat for vending, then continue to use it when cooking their competition meat. However, a few members mentioned that their rigs are hard piped and having to disconnect the pipe instead of using a shut off valve would cost them money. After that was mentioned, the membership decided that this amendment did not need to be added to the rules, but having contest reps periodically check a vendor's rig might be a possibility.

4. Quiet time, a review and discussion of the current rule. CAUSES FOR DISQUALIFICATIONS & EVICTION. Sub. Paragraph E

With a couple of instances of this rule being violated last year, I thought that this subject might bring about several comments. However, the focus was more on the wording of this existing rule to insure that a competitor would not be violating this rule by simply having a radio on at a low volume. The current rule is as follows:

Excessive noise generated from speakers or public
address systems. (Quiet time will start at 11:00 p.m. on
contest nights and will last until 7:00 a.m. The use of
radios or amplifying equipment will not be allowed
during this time period.)

So it was quickly agreed upon that this rule needed to be modified to have excessive added before "The use of radios....". The fear was that technically a team could be disqualified if a radio was on after 11 pm, but this is ultimately up to the discretion of the contest reps.

5. Review of the sculpting rule wording. Rule 13
Here is the wording of the existing rule:

Meat shall not be sculptured, branded or presented in a
way to make it identifiable. Rosettes of meat slices are not
allowed. (Violations of this rule will be scored a one (1) on all
criteria by all six judges.)

This topic went back and forth with members debating whether or not molding and sculpting are the same thing. All of this really came about from teams using a bowl or mold (similar to that of an ice cream scoop) to portion out the pork entry. Most members (including myself) were under the opinion that if a cook wants to stretch the limits, then they are taking the risk of potentially being disqualified. As the discussion continued, it was determined that no language could make the rule any clearer. So it was decided to leave the rule as it is today.

6. Sanitary conditions in the judging area.

The reason that this potential rule change was brought up was because of a a frightening incident that occurred at a contest last year. It seems that someone thought that it would be okay to use the porta-john and then return to the judges table without washing their hands...then proceed to reach into a pork box with their hands and pull out an entry. This obviously would leave the judge seated next to them with a particular dilemma as it became their turn to select a portion from the box. It did not take long for everyone to agree that this was completely unacceptable, but that it was ultimately the responsibility of the organizers to provide either a fork or tongs and an adequate washing station.

7. Presentation of chicken category for judging.

There were three items that were brought up in this talking point. The first was about chicken salad. Yes, technically under the letter of the law, chicken salad is legal. A team can legally cook their chicken, chill it down, cube it, and then combine it with a "white bbq sauce" that consists of mayonnaise and celery. Most people in the room were stunned to learn that this would be a legal entry, but everyone seemed okay with someone willing to try it in a contest. As Tiger Woods says, "I like my chances".

Based on another incident in 2008, the next area for discussion was regarding deboning a chicken thigh and stuffing it with chopped white meat. Does this violate the "stuffing rule"? The answer is no. It was also revealed that the team that did this placed 3rd overall in chicken when this was done. Everyone agreed that this action was within the rules and no rule change was needed.

The last item discussed in regards to chicken presentation was about skin being removed and cooked apart from the chicken. This is usually done at really high heat to create crispy bites of chicken skin. This is not a common practice, but I think that more teams are trying it. While some found it to be outside of the "spirit" of bbq, most did not have any issue with it. It was decided that no rule changes needed to be made on chicken presentation.

After all was said and done, the only two issues that will be presented to the board are issues #1 and #4. With the overwhelming support of these issues by the membership, I am sure that they will pass right along through the board and will be accepted as new rule changes.

I didn't go to the board meeting on Friday night, but I will be reporting on the banquet ceremonies that take place on Saturday.

Lawrenceburg Recap

This last weekend we participated in the AT&T State Championship Cook-off in Lawrenceburg, TN. This event has now become one of our favorite places to cook. We were able to get a nice shaded spot underneath a pavilion that made the 90 degree heat bearable. Peter and I arrived at the site on Friday morning, got the trailer parked and prepped our big meats. Once everything was setup, I wondered around the grounds until the cooks meeting.



Soon after the meeting was over we put on our butts and brisket for the overnight cook. In years past this would have been a start to a long night, but with the Stumps, we just let it roll as we sat back and relaxed. It had been a while since I cooked on the Egg, so I grilled a whole tri-tip for BP, Peter and I to enjoy for dinner. Later on I caught some sleep on our now infamous couch. That's right, we take a full size couch to competitions. It is something that BP started at our home town contest in Nashville last year, and he has been bringing it ever since. It is sure to get plenty of comments at every contest we attend.

The morning started out great and we were not rushed at all getting our boxes together. This was probably the smoothest turn in that we have ever had. I think that we have finally developed a system that works and it made for lower stress levels at our site. Once everything was turned in, we packed up and awaited the awards ceremony.



For the second contest in a row our brisket took fourth place. That makes four calls in four contests for our brisket this year. However, we are still chasing that first place brisket. Now if I could just get that consistent in the other categories we would be doing pretty good.

The biggest surprise of the awards was that we won the sauce category. Normally the only ancillary that we compete in is dessert, but when they were delivering our turn-in, boxes Tana Shupe gave me a sauce cup. I said, "well I guess I will turn in a sauce since you gave me a cup." I didn't think too much about it until about an hour before the sauce turn in. I just got in the trailer and made up a little concoction. I added a little of this and a little of that until I thought it tasted pretty good. We turned it in and proceeded to joke about how it would be funny if we won the sauce category. Well we won.



Overall we finished 21 out of 43 teams. It is not where we wanted to be, but at least it was an improvement from Pulaski. We had a great time in Lawrenceburg and got to meet some new people. I was especially glad to meet Rub from Swamp Boys. Rub is a fellow Stumper and is actually a Stumps dealer in Florida. He also knows a thing or two about cooking...he is currently the number one team in the Florida Barbecue Association. Congrats on the third place finish, Rub (1st place chicken and 1st place brisket). We also met Kevin from The EGGseQuetive Council. This is Kevin's first year competing on his own and had a strong fourth place finish with a 1st place pork. To no ones surprise, Byron Chism of Buttrub.com and Mike Davis of Lotta Bull took first and second overall.

Well, now that the heat of the summer is upon us, we are taking a couple of months off. Our next scheduled competition is September 5-6 in Cookeville, TN. I am going to be judging the Lebanon, TN contest in August and I feel that should give me a little more insight to the other side of the table.

SunDrop BBQ Cookoff - Pulaski, TN

 

Pulaski was not kind to Ulika last year. We were coming off of a strong performance in Winchester and got highly disappointed when the awards rolled around. Well, this year was no different. Coming off of strong finishes in both Clarksville and Winchester, we did not fare so well in Pulaski.

   

For the second year in a row, our pork finished D.A.L. (dead ass last). We felt like it was probably the best pork we had turned in all year, but the judges did not agree. Our chicken and ribs did not do much better. We have been doing pretty well with chicken this year and while it may not have been our best effort, it was still pretty solid. The strongest aspect of our chicken has been tenderness and that was what ended up hurting us. As for the ribs, I just never know with the ribs. It is the one category that I can just not figure out. In KCBS competitions, they tell you that a fall off the bone rib is overcooked. What you look for in a perfectly cooked rib is to bite into the rib and pull away without pulling all the meat off the bone. The couple of times that we have been able to accomplish that, the judges still kill us on tenderness. I just can't seem to get a 9 on tenderness for ribs to save my life. Maybe I should just start boiling the ribs.

   

The bright spot of the weekend was our brisket. We took fourth place in brisket and we have been in the top 10 for brisket in all of our contests this year. We also received a nice trophy with a SunDrop bottle. If you are not aware, SunDrop is the official drink of team Ulika. so, a trophy with a SunDrop bottle is a very cool prize for us. If you are a SunDrop drinker, you also know that the bottles are much more preferable over the cans. The glass bottles have real flakes of citrus that make it a more enjoyable experience. Now, all I have to do is keep Peter from drinking the trophy.

   

All in all, we still enjoyed the weekend. We were setup right next to our friends from Pig Smokers in Paradise and High on the Hawg (congrats on their 1st place ribs). We also got to meet the guys from The Thrillerz on the Grillerz. Ben and Joe also got to meet the Pig from Piggly Wiggly.

Now team Ulika will be taking a hiatus while we await the arrival of the newest team member, JoJo Marlow. Our next competition is scheduled for June 27-28 in Lawrenceburg, TN.

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.

Ulika 2.0 Debuts in Clarksville, TN

With the new Ulika setup (also referred to as Ulika 2.0), we headed to Clarksville last Friday morning. The forecast all week called for heavy downpours throughout most of the day and when we left the house, that forecast was holding true. Luckily, the rain subsided for about two hours just as we arrived, which was just enough time for us to get set up.

This was the first year for this event in Clarksville and it brought out some of the top teams from around the country. It was the first competition of the year for many of the local teams that we see at contests in this area, but some of the teams that compete in other areas of the country had already won contests this year.

To haul the Stumps, we rented an enclosed trailer. It was just a standard 12-foot trailer, but it served as a great shelter when the rain came back and was also used as a prep area. It is not as nice as what some teams have, but it is a big upgrade from Ulika 1.0.



Friday night, the butts and briskets went on and BP, Joe Baine and I hung out with our buddy Brockford Lee. We enjoyed a low county boil prepared by Wayne. Thanks Wayne. With little to do until Saturday morning, we went to bed early in order to get up early. This is one of the biggest advantages of Ulika 2.0. Sleep. I was able to get about 5-6 hours of sleep and awoke ready to prep the ribs and chicken and finish up the butts and briskets. One of the only things that went wrong this weekend was that I over cooked the pork a bit.

My wife came in on Saturday morning and did a wonderful job prepping our boxes. She is definitely one of our secret weapons. I never have to worry about a presentation score, because she can cover up any little flaw that I may have caused. Peter arrived on Saturday morning as well and brought back Brock as Joe's substitute to help out.



On to the awards. There was a nice pavilion at this event and they were very to-the-point when it came to announcing the winners. Chicken was first up. When they called out Ulika for first place, I just couldn't believe it. My first big goal for Ulika was to win a category and we had just accomplished that in a stacked field of cookers. It was such a great feeling. Our chicken scored a 175 which is just 5 points away from a perfect score! Ribs and pork were announced with no calls to the stage for Ulika, leaving brisket last. I felt really good about our brisket and felt that it was top 10 material - and we ended up taking third place (our highest brisket finish). Lastly, they began to call out the top 10 overall finishes. Receiving these 2 top 3 calls, I felt that we had a good chance of being in the top 10. However, when they got past 5th place overall, I figured that we must have bombed in pork or ribs or both. Just as I was saying that, we got called for 3rd place. We were overwhelmed to say the least. We have worked very hard to get to this point and we know that we still have a long way to go, but it was a very exciting finish.



Over the weekend, we also made a new friend. If you're a reader of this blog, you may have read about Blues Hog BBQ Sauce. Well, the man behind the sauce, Bill Arnold, was cooking right next to us. As Bill started to set up, we realized who he was and introduced ourselves. Bill cooks by himself (with his 3 daughters) and has won many awards for his cooking and his sauce. Check out his website:
Blues Hog BBQ

Bill is one of the greatest characters that we have met on the BBQ trail, and I hope to run into him again sometime soon. He even gave us the prototype for his new Raspberry Chipotle Sauce.

For a first year contest, the folks in Clarksville did a great job. Once again, Ron Harwell came through strong and lived up to the title of greatest rep in the south (and favorite rep of Ulika).

Adding to the success of Ulika 2.0, we finally finished a contest in the black.