© 2010 Pigheaded BBQ

April 15-16, 2011

Pork in the Park BBQ

Salisbury, MD

Recap:

May 20-21, 2011

2nd Annual Middletown BBQ Cookoff

Middletown, DE

Recap: This past weekend May 20-21 was the 2nd Annual Middletown BBQ Cookoff in Middletown, DE. As most of you know is our hometown. We were psyched because this was our home turf and a lot of friends and family would be there to cheer us on.. The weather forecast was spotty for the two days and we hoped for the best. We did get rain on Friday, but Saturday turned out to be a great weather day.

Our cook started off on Friday with the Chef’s Choice category which my son Ron v2.0 prepared. It was a mini tower of  goodness featuring tomato, onion, avocado and lump crab meat.  It was a work of art and tasted just as good as it looked. Next was the dessert category, which my wife Norma cooked.  This was a little stressful for her as it was open to anyone, not just the BBQ competitors. Bakers, culinary students or anyone who like to do desserts were allowed to enter, cooked on or offsite including professional kitchens.

Saturday was all about the meat with the four usual categories: Chicken, ribs, pork and brisket. We felt the chicken was on point, the ribs we turned in were the first baby back we ever submitted in a competition, the pork turned out very good and the brisket was not up to our standards. Now we had to wait to see if the judges agreed. The first category called was Chef’s Choice and we didn’t hear our name called but found out we placed 7th. Next up was Dessert and the 1st place winner was Pigheaded BBQ. Norma was so excited I had to help her up to accept the award. I got the trophy and she got the check. Oh well, she’s not the CFO for nothing. Next category was chicken and 1st place winner was……Pigheaded BBQ. What a great start, another trophy and another check for the CFO. Ribs were called next and we didn’t hear our name called. Oh well, we were still off to a great start. The pork category was next and Pigheaded BBQ was called again, this time for 4th place. Great job Mike, you nailed it. The last category was brisket and we were pretty nervous because we felt if we didn’t tank ribs and we got a call in brisket, we had a chance for the Best of Delaware award. We didn’t hear our name called in brisket and found out that we finished a lowly 38th in brisket. While we didn’t get Best of Delaware, our good friends Slower Lower did and we were very happy for them. All in all it was a very good weekend for Pigheaded BBQ. Another great event organized by Mose Zook, Ben Riehl and crew and another chance to work as a family unit and see our BBQ friends. Next stop, Wildwood, NJ July 8-10. Hope to see you there.

July 8-10, 2011

New Jersey State BBQ Championships

Wildwood, NJ

Recap: Pigheaded BBQ competed at the New Jersey BBQ Championship this past weekend, July 8-10.

This is always a family favorite because it’s a three day competition and we generally get a couple of hotel rooms and stay an extra night, giving everyone a little holiday. Friday was a nice sunny day and Norma started on her dessert category but as night fell so did the rain. It was a heavy drenching rain and I saw at least 2 canopies end up in the dumpster. That’s never a good thing and thankfully our new 10x20 canopy survived and held up very well giving not only our team some shelter, but a few neighboring team members as well. During the rain, the cook’s meeting was held and the Iron Chef ingredient was divulged and passed out. This year’s ingredient was a whole frozen turkey in the 11-12 pound range. I called for some helping hands and a family friend, Bill Kerns arrived to carry back the turkey while I brought back the turn in boxes, containers, cups and ID necklaces. As I stepped out of the firehouse, I saw a river flowing in the street that ran the whole 4 blocks back to the competition site. There was no getting around the deep puddles, so we just muddled through them. There was no keeping the boxes or anything else dry, so I had to wipe them all off once I got back to our site. The rain only lasted a couple of hours and the rest of the night was very nice weather wise. We tossed around a few ideas for the Iron Chef category, some of them being Thanksgiving fatties, turkey poppers, turkey tacos and a few others. Ron v2.0 & Brian who would be cooking the category promised to kick around more ideas during the night.  We settled in for the night, knowing the next two days would be long ones.

Saturday was a gorgeous weather day and we were ready to get cooking. Norma finished her dessert, Mike and I experimented with a new sauce and v2.0 and Brian started on their turkey & sausage sliders with cranberry BBQ sauce. They trimmed the turkey, and used some of my rib trimmings and some breakfast sausage and ground the turkey meat. My niece Carla, a vegan, even contributed, running to get some supplies for the Iron Chef turn-in.  The cook and the turn ins went smoothly and prep work for Sunday’s cook got underway.  After the prep work, a little socializing and resting was called for and we wiled away the rest of Saturday. As midnight approached, we shifted into gear and started putting on the big meats. Everything went according to plan and we settled in for another night at the site.

Sunday was another beautiful day and we went about the usual chores of getting ribs and chicken ready to go on the smoker. We were pleased with the results of the cook and our turn in boxes and could only wait ‘till the awards ceremony to find out who we did. We started cleaning up and did some packing up then headed down to the stage to hear the results. We didn’t hear our name in the ancillary categories (Iron Chef, Dessert & Sauce) and hoped the rest of the awards wouldn’t follow suit. Chicken was the first of the BBQ meats and Pigheaded BBQ was called for 2nd place. That was very nice and we received a nice plaque for that. Ribs, Pork and Brisket came and went and we didn’t hear our name called for any of them. We were a little disappointed and they only called the top two for overall. When we got our score sheet we saw that Pigheaded BBQ finished 7th overall out of 66 teams. That was an improvement over our 10th place finish last year and we were happy with that. Our finishes are as follows:

Iron Chef -32nd, Dessert – 18th, Sauce-44th, Chicken-2nd, Ribs-11th, Pork- 42nd, Brisket 21st

August 6, 2011

Victory BrewBQ

Gap, Pa

Recap: This was a one-day chicken and ribs competition that we have cooked in for the past 3 years, sponsored by Victory Brewing Company.  This year, instead of being in the larger field at Twin Brook Winery, we were located closer to the winery itself.  A scaled down version of Pigheaded BBQ competed, with Norma, Brian, Stephanie, and Bertie assisting Ron for this contest.  We placed 4th in chicken, 4th in ribs, and 4th overall.

For a recap of the competition, check out our blog post here.

August 26-27, 2011

New Holland SummerFest
New Holland, Pa

Recap:Hurricane Irene didn't seem to spoil our party this weekend. 8th place overall (out of what was supposed to be a 72 team field) this weekend, with a 1st in Ribs and 5th place in Chicken. Pork and Brisket were not too shabby either, but no calls in either category. Also received a 9th place ribbon in Chef's Choice. The season finale will be 2 weeks in Shrewsbury, Pa on Sept 9-10.

For a recap of this competition, check out our blog post here.

September 9-10, 2011

3rd Annual Southern York County BBQ Cookoff
Shrewsbury, Pa

Recap:

How until Pork in the Park 2012?

For a recap of this competition, check out our blog post here.