It has been sometime since my last post and doing some catch up. I can say this cook-off again tested the limits of your human endurance and your cook abilities as well as testing your equipment to the fullest under adverse conditions. This is not so much about the cook process but more about the BBQ competition experience and everything else! I think for the vast majority of bbq’er this will apply. This will probably be a point of laughter for the ones that had RVs and fancy pants trailers!
Weather conditions: Raining, 15-25 MPH winds, and High 50 to low 60s degree temperature.
Equipment: Tent with side panels, trailer with pit, generator, ice chest etc, and F150 truck
At this point, I had learned my lessons from the Championship Cook-off at Bosque Bottoms that had 33 degree weather!! I had wrapped my pit with insulation which extended refueling times as well as pit temp stability! However, this time we had 15-25 MPH winds and rain!! Amazingly enough my pit held up as well as the temps! This turned out not to be the issue! Pit held up just fine with the insulation despite the rain and strong winds!!
Roughing it: Man, this was a smaller venue and I thought this was going to be a simple drive in and drive out competition. WRONG!! I had previewed the weather forecast and knew it was going to be cold but boy! I didnt know about the rain and the wind. I set up my tent and usual set up cot, chair, heater, bluetooth, etc. You know the creatue comforts 🙂
I spent the night fighting the wind as it was so strong it almost blew over my tent and raining so hard it was flooding the space I was in!! We literally were walking on water! Luckily, I put the truck bed down and had a place to hide my generator during the rains! I at least had power. While I was dealing with my living conditions, I also had to deal with my cooking! Can I say that I didnt feel I gave the cooking as much attention as it was trying to keep my tent from flying away!!
Despite all of what Mother Nature threw at us, the camaraderie of the BBQ Cook-off was still fantastic and I would do it again. I had a good time hanging out with like minded people and who I call friends! We will have stories to tell
Lesson Learned: Planning! I now believe that Planning is a key aspect of the BBQ competition and will update some of my previous post based on this experience. It is not just the cook you have to worry about but also everything else!!
Let me know what you think below and comment?!