For our pork shoulder and rib categories we used Smithfield products. For me I find them consistent and trimmed well right out of the package. This again helps eliminate extra work. As for brisket in competition there is only 1 choice and that is wagyu beef. I get mine from Snake River Farms. We trim both our brisket and our pork shoulder at the event mainly because I don’t have a large enough vacuum sealer to hold the larger cuts off meat.
Once we got everything prepped and ready we got the fire going about 10:30. We have found the Lang smoker definitely takes a bit of time to get to temp and stabilize. The nice thing about having teammate is we can take turns watching the fire. Soon we had the cooker ready and on went the brisket. We took turns napping which was a huge help. Brisket goes on first then pork shoulder then ribs and chicken the next morning.
To say that I am lucky is an understatement. Competing in a BBQ event is no small task but with friends and family it’s definitely a lot easier. We had both of our wives, my parents and a couple of other friends with us to help on Saturday. We were also lucky enough to have Nester otherwise known as the Brooklyn Pit Rat hanging with us and helping out.( If you don’t know who he is I highly recommend looking him up on Instagram and checking out Mikey’s interview with him on the podcast.) It was awesome to have him there helping.
The first thing we had to do was the people’s choice which was pulled pork. Thanks to our friend Ryan and to Nester for being a huge help in handing out samples along with my mother. This allowed Adam and me to get our competition meats ready and boxed. This is not an easy job. After cutting it and selecting the pieces we arrange them in the turn in box it was up to my wife to get them turned in to the judges. First category is chicken then ribs, pork shoulder and last but not least brisket.
Once we have turned in all of our meats it is time for a breather. It was nice to sit for a bit but soon it was time to head to awards. First they announced each category and top 3 in each category. Unfortunately we were not in the top 3 for any of them. Next up was the overall scores. We placed 5th in the overall scores out of 16 teams. Next up the people’s choice award and with that we hear our name be called! First place people’s choice pulled pork!
What a crazy two days lots of ups and downs but we made it through. Soon we were breaking down our cooksite and getting on the road. We got home brought in what we had too and went to bed. We were soon in for a continuation of the craziness the next morning. I was awoken by my wife the next morning telling me that she thinks her water has broke. We call the doctor and are told to come in. Sure enough her water had broken and we were gonna have our baby most likely today. Sure enough 10:56 that night we had a beautiful little girl.
What a way to end a great weekend get first place in people’s choice and fifth overall to then end the weekend with a birth! On that note I hope you have all enjoyed this months post remember #cowboyup and #keepsmokin
Cowboy Kev
