Foggy Bayou Boys Competition BBQ Team Heading out
- Thread starter chrisv
- Start date
-
Trouble logging in? Send us a message with your username and/or email address for help.
now my mouth is watering. Should I paddle over for some leftovers? I hate to barge in unannounced. lol. Seriously, my hunger is now so strong that Saturday's Walton Sun might have a police blotter story on "Salivating Neighbor Breaks in Steeling a piece of Competition BBQ."
How does one become a Foggy Bayou VIP? That's all I really care about!
Grayt story so far....can't wait to hear if you won the big bucks.
I can assure you that it has nothing to do with living in close proximity to the Head Cook of the Foggy Bayou Boys.
More More!!! 
Epilogue
Sirius satellite radio and I have a love-hate relationship. I absolutely love the wide variety of programming and music that is available at all times, especially Radio Margaritaville, Outlaw Country, Bluegrass and the Grateful Dead channel. Sure, I can’t control the songs I’d like to hear as I could with an Ipod, but it’s rare that you are totally disappointed. On the other hand, it seems that even on a cloudless day in the middle of a fairground, I still get dropped signals and miss songs on a regular basis. I wasn’t controlling the programming on Saturday, that was up to my CBO and any of the VIP’s that wanted to take on the task. At about 1:30pm, I removed the 3 briskets from the warming box and began the process of slicing and evaluating to choose the best 8-12 pieces for turn-in. As I sliced the meat, delicious juices dripped from within, and I could immediately tell that I had one of the most tender, juicy briskets I had ever cooked. Luckily my Dexter-Russell cimeter was razor sharp and was up to the task of cleanly slicing such tender beef. Already getting rave reviews from the FBBCBT VIP’s, my confidence soared as I prepared the box, and the satellite radio, programmed to the Elvis channel, boomed “How Great Thou Art!” My goodness, divine intervention!
Two o’clock at a BBQ comp is a time of mixed emotions. You are so relieved that you have finished cooking and most of the work is done, but you realize that there is nothing more you can do. It’s all in the books, so to speak, and you anxiously await the awards ceremony several hours later while you break-down the cook site. There is a lot of thanks and praise given to your cook partner and visitors, high-fives and back-slaps. You second guess decisions you made and work through the what-ifs. It all means nothing, except that you can apply the ideas to future cooks. Saturday was no different, but we were confident that despite a couple of setbacks, we had turned-in our best efforts. Win or lose, we had a great time and felt a great sense of accomplishment.
At the awards ceremony, which had been delayed more than an hour because of a computer glitch, the contest reps call the top 10 finishers to the stage in no particular order and then read off the finish order from 10-1. The categories are called in the order you turn them in, so chicken was first. As the names were called, we realized that we weren’t getting a call for chicken. The folks that did were the usual suspects, and being friends with many of them, we were happy for them. Surely we would get our call in ribs. But as each top 10 team was called, the Foggy Bayou Boys were left out. You work so hard and it gets just a little emotional when you realize that there were at least 10 teams better than you that day. We didn’t expect to get a call in pork, and there was no surprise when we weren’t. Brisket is called last, and as each team was called, our chances were evaporating like the last bit of rainfall on that hot May day.
There was no call for the Foggy Bayou Boys on Saturday, so from a purely competitive standpoint, we lost. No payout that day. No pig on a stick trophy to take home for bragging rights. But the memory of the fun and the lessons learned are the payoff that you take with you into the next cook, whether for your family and friends who always think that you are the champion, or for the next competition and its judges, trained in judging presentation, tenderness and taste.
Writing this account has been cathartic in a sense, if I had placed in the money I probably would’ve spared y’all the prose. So thanks for the indulgence! My 4 year old was quite concerned about me when I called home with the results, he was flabbergasted and asked me “why they didn’t like your barbecue?” Before I could answer him he said “I like your ribs and boston butt, daddy!”
The reps give each team a composite of their scoring, so I’ve learned a little of what impression the judges got of my efforts. My chicken was presented fairly well and was very tender, but they didn’t score the taste very high. The ribs got very good scores on all three categories, and only hundredth’s of points kept us out of the upper tier. Pork was as I expected, scored mediocre on all counts. And the brisket, even with the gospel working in its favor, was high in tenderness and taste, but low on presentation.
I’ll finish cleaning up this evening, and will haul the smoker back to its waterfront perch on Mallet Bayou for my Memorial Day weekend cook here at the house. If you see a thin blue smoke on the water and get a whiff of an irresistible rack of ribs cooking, stop on by. But remember, Mallet Bayou is an idle-speed/no-wake zone and the Foggy Bayou Boys do it low and slow…
Sirius satellite radio and I have a love-hate relationship. I absolutely love the wide variety of programming and music that is available at all times, especially Radio Margaritaville, Outlaw Country, Bluegrass and the Grateful Dead channel. Sure, I can’t control the songs I’d like to hear as I could with an Ipod, but it’s rare that you are totally disappointed. On the other hand, it seems that even on a cloudless day in the middle of a fairground, I still get dropped signals and miss songs on a regular basis. I wasn’t controlling the programming on Saturday, that was up to my CBO and any of the VIP’s that wanted to take on the task. At about 1:30pm, I removed the 3 briskets from the warming box and began the process of slicing and evaluating to choose the best 8-12 pieces for turn-in. As I sliced the meat, delicious juices dripped from within, and I could immediately tell that I had one of the most tender, juicy briskets I had ever cooked. Luckily my Dexter-Russell cimeter was razor sharp and was up to the task of cleanly slicing such tender beef. Already getting rave reviews from the FBBCBT VIP’s, my confidence soared as I prepared the box, and the satellite radio, programmed to the Elvis channel, boomed “How Great Thou Art!” My goodness, divine intervention!
Two o’clock at a BBQ comp is a time of mixed emotions. You are so relieved that you have finished cooking and most of the work is done, but you realize that there is nothing more you can do. It’s all in the books, so to speak, and you anxiously await the awards ceremony several hours later while you break-down the cook site. There is a lot of thanks and praise given to your cook partner and visitors, high-fives and back-slaps. You second guess decisions you made and work through the what-ifs. It all means nothing, except that you can apply the ideas to future cooks. Saturday was no different, but we were confident that despite a couple of setbacks, we had turned-in our best efforts. Win or lose, we had a great time and felt a great sense of accomplishment.
At the awards ceremony, which had been delayed more than an hour because of a computer glitch, the contest reps call the top 10 finishers to the stage in no particular order and then read off the finish order from 10-1. The categories are called in the order you turn them in, so chicken was first. As the names were called, we realized that we weren’t getting a call for chicken. The folks that did were the usual suspects, and being friends with many of them, we were happy for them. Surely we would get our call in ribs. But as each top 10 team was called, the Foggy Bayou Boys were left out. You work so hard and it gets just a little emotional when you realize that there were at least 10 teams better than you that day. We didn’t expect to get a call in pork, and there was no surprise when we weren’t. Brisket is called last, and as each team was called, our chances were evaporating like the last bit of rainfall on that hot May day.
There was no call for the Foggy Bayou Boys on Saturday, so from a purely competitive standpoint, we lost. No payout that day. No pig on a stick trophy to take home for bragging rights. But the memory of the fun and the lessons learned are the payoff that you take with you into the next cook, whether for your family and friends who always think that you are the champion, or for the next competition and its judges, trained in judging presentation, tenderness and taste.
Writing this account has been cathartic in a sense, if I had placed in the money I probably would’ve spared y’all the prose. So thanks for the indulgence! My 4 year old was quite concerned about me when I called home with the results, he was flabbergasted and asked me “why they didn’t like your barbecue?” Before I could answer him he said “I like your ribs and boston butt, daddy!”
The reps give each team a composite of their scoring, so I’ve learned a little of what impression the judges got of my efforts. My chicken was presented fairly well and was very tender, but they didn’t score the taste very high. The ribs got very good scores on all three categories, and only hundredth’s of points kept us out of the upper tier. Pork was as I expected, scored mediocre on all counts. And the brisket, even with the gospel working in its favor, was high in tenderness and taste, but low on presentation.
I’ll finish cleaning up this evening, and will haul the smoker back to its waterfront perch on Mallet Bayou for my Memorial Day weekend cook here at the house. If you see a thin blue smoke on the water and get a whiff of an irresistible rack of ribs cooking, stop on by. But remember, Mallet Bayou is an idle-speed/no-wake zone and the Foggy Bayou Boys do it low and slow…
Last edited:
this is, by far the BEST bbq story i've ever heard. there's NO DOUBT in my mind, that your ribs would have been a winner in my book.
i just say ribs only because i'm not a big chick thigh or brisket fan.
now when are you going to market your bbq?!
i just say ribs only because i'm not a big chick thigh or brisket fan.
now when are you going to market your bbq?!
Last edited:
...chrisv, you are a Blue Ribbon WINNER for sharing this wonderful story with us! Thanks...you have a great story telling talent!
Love your WINNING attitude.