Monroe County Jam and River Raisin Rib-Off

This marked our 5th competition this season. We arrived in Monroe, MI after a 3 hour drive and began setting up the site as we always do. The first things that caught my attention were the size of the lots (huge), and the outlets and water at each site! This is the first time we have experienced this and it will likely be a contributing factor in us returning to the competition in 2012. We quickly came to realize that we were surrounded by first time KCBS cooks. Our little corner of the world became known as Rookie Row. Throughout the day and night there was a steady stream of rookies stopping by taking a look at the smoker and asking a lot of questions. It was great to meet so many new teams and we were more than happy to help in any way we could. After all, I remember when we were the rookies.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. The weather was perfect and Aww Hell made sure that there was a sufficient supply of Jell-O shots. After the cooks meeting, we joined a bunch of teams for a potluck dinner which was spectacular! So great to relax with the other teams and not worry about the night ahead for a little while.

As the sun went down we headed back to the site and began getting the smoker up to temp. Briskets and Butts went on around midnight and we tried to get a little rest. Sleep is rare on Friday nights at competitions but I managed a good hour and a half. Ribs hit the smoker first thing in the morning and everything was looking good. Until it came time to put on the chicken...I seemed to have lost track of time and the chicken went on 15 minutes late. This may not seem like a big deal, but when you are shooting for the later part of a 10 minute turn in window, 15 minutes can be disastrous. I cooked the chicken normally only cutting out a couple minutes out each step of the process.

The food tasted good with the new sauce but tenderness was an issue across the board. We put together 4 good boxes and got them in before time expired. We made it through another competition with no DQs!

Awards were an hour after the last turn in, so we didn't get much of a chance to clean up and tear down before awards. I had mixed expectations waiting for names to be called. I wasn't sure how the chicken would turn out with 15 minutes less cooking, and the ribs were a little tough. If we got good tables, I thought we might be able to finagle one call.

We didn't have to wait long as we got a 5th place call in Chicken! We went on to receive a 10th place pork call as well! Our brisket and ribs did not fair well, but we know what went wrong and those will be corrected for our next competition in two short weeks!