Over the weekend of June 24-26, The Pit Fiends headed up to Waterbury VT to participate in the second Green Mountain BBQ and Music Festival.  Needless to say, we were not there to sing.

Our adventures started on the way up as we were reminiscing about how last year on our way to Maine, we blew out TWO tires on our old Suburban when we blew out another!  We decided to play it cautious and take it to a tire shop and get the two older tires replaced.  As we were changing the flat, Cris needed the rubber mallet to help remove the lug nuts.  Where was it?  In the roof top carrier.  Where were the keys?  Back at home.  After we were finished at the tire store, we headed over to a locksmith in Littleton, NH (The only one open for about 100 miles!) to get a new key.

About 3 hours late, but before dark, we arrived to meet Chuck and set up our site.  The event was wonderfully run by super nice people, and the weather was pretty close to perfect.

Saturday was a typical NEBS grilling contest.  The categories were Stuffed Fatty, Pizza, Fajitas/Tacos, and a Mystery Box.  There were also three people's choice competitions: BBQ sauce, hot sauce and pulled pork.

A BBQ Fatty is defined as "sausage, stuffed or otherwise, formed into a loaf and smoked."  We wrapped home-made garlic sausage around a jalapeno stuffed with three Mexican cheeses and corn, wrapped the whole thing in bacon and smoked over peach wood.

I thought it was under-flavored.  Maybe the sausage needed more salt.  It received a near perfect appearance score, and was just 10 points below the category winner.

Chuck got a new pizza rig for his Weber grill.  Its sweet and greatly improved our cook time and appearance.  We actually had time to make one pizza, completely flub it, and make another. 

The category stipulated that the pizza have at least one meat.  Our pizza had both hot and mild Italian sausage and was topped with some fresh basil.  It also received near perfect appearance scores and near perfect taste scores as well.  It came in 4th place! and was a mere 0.02 points away from money and third place.

The next category was fajitas/tacos.  They needed to contain a meat and at least two veg.  We presented a classic carnitas pork topped with roasted red peppers and a cabbage slaw which was dressed with a lime sour cream on a flour tortilla.

I could eat this taco all day.  Again we got near perfect appearance scores.  This is a big deal for us.  Appearance has been hard for us for a long time.  We got a top 10 shout out at 8th place! and were a mere 0.9 points away from the leader.

The last category was a Mystery Box.  It contained portobello mushrooms, romaine, bread crumbs, onion, garlic and a sweet pepper.  We were allowed to add a frozen veg, a canned meat, a spice rub and a sauce.

We made a stuffed mushroom, sauteing the onion, garlic and pepper and adding frozen corn and breadcrumbs and one of our spice mixtures.  We topped it with some grilled romaine and a lemon olio sauce.  I've never cooked a whole portobello mushroom cap, and I suspect it was over cooked.  We didn't have enough for us to taste.  It was a challenge, and we had fun although we didn't perform well with the judges.

Overall, we came in 8th place which was super great!  It's always wonderful to have a top ten finish.

In addition to the grilling contest, there were three People's Choice contests on Saturday: BBQ Sauce, Hot Sauce and pulled pork.  We entered all three.  

The pulled pork was served at our tent which is a great way for us to interact with visitors to the event.  We received lots of compliments, received a few votes and had a great time.

For the sauce competitions they held elimination rounds with volunteer tasters.  Groups of six tasters per group sampled six sauces.  The top rated sauces moved on to the next round, and so on until they had one table and 6 finalist sauces. The top three received ribbons.

Chuck entered a basic BBQ sauce, and I entered my Asian-style hot sauce. We knew we were competing against sauce vendors so we didn't think much about it. In fact, I only brought enough of my sauce for the competition.  Our hot sauce came in 1st place!  I'm still riding high on that ribbon.  People kept coming to our tent asking for tastes of it, and I didn't have any!  I can't wait to make up a new batch as soon as the jalapenos ripen.  

As usual, our KCBS food didn't perform well. Here are the photos.  Out of 24 judges who saw these boxes, only 4 rated a box as a 9 in appearance, meaning, "Wow, that is something I can't wait to taste." Three were in ribs and one in brisket. However, all of them were things we would be happy to serve to anyone who comes to our house.

The last category of the day was a rare one called Anything But Dessert.  It's not common in New England, and I guess the serious participants don't waste their time on it.  Out of 40 teams that competed in the KCBS categories, only 11 entered the Anything But category.  We made shrimp, but some of the pieces were slightly under-cooked so it only placed 8th.  It was definitely difficult to stay charged so late in the weekend.

We had the chance to sell our competition leftovers which was fun.  It was a great opportunity to talk to visitors about the hobby we love and share our food. We look forward to next year in VT.

Harvard Fall Festival
Harvard MA
September 12-13, 2015

Trebuchets and barbecue, what could be better?

The grilling categories today were boneless chicken, shrimp, fatties and dessert.  When turning in the chicken, we took a wrong turn and got in late - our first DQ!  Oh well, it happens to some of the best, and now it's happened to us.  If you turn in your box late, it can't be judged so that ruined any chance of getting a good overall score today.  The chicken was juicy, too.  Cris is so good at shrimp.  It came in 8th place.  I thought the fatties were delicious.  I stuffed jalapenos with cheese and wrapped them in sausage and wrapped that in bacon and smoked the works.  They have become our new favorite appetizer when friends come over.  We also made smores cheese cakes that were pretty and delicious!

If you've never visited us while we're competing, I invite you to do so.  Here is what it looks like.  Sleeping tent in the background, shade tent and smokers.  To the right, out of the picture, is our prep tent and tables.

We've taken to playing a new game while we work called YouTube Roulette. One of us picks a song, and we play it on YouTube.  Then we have to pick a song that gets listed in the suggestions below the video.  It's amazing what paths that can take you down!

We thought we handed in some pretty good stuff for KCBS this time, but the judges didn't agree.  We're determined to judge a few times next year to get a better sense of what other competitors are putting out as products because we're stymied as to how to get over this bump.

The season ended on a high note:  look what we brought home!  The Pit Fiends were 3rd Place Tailgating Team of the Year!  I couldn't believe it.  We are very proud and are determined to uphold this or better for next year, too!

Brookline Tailgate
Brookline NH
July 18-19, 2015

The song goes, "Some days are diamonds.  Some days are stone."  This was a stone day.  We couldn't catch much of a break in the grilling competition today.  Cris carried the team with his coconut shrimp which came in 5th place!  We burnt the pizza.  I moved away from the blue cheese and browned butter, and topped my steaks with an olive compound butter instead.  It was very poorly received.  One thing I've heard from other competitors is that judges can sometimes balk at meat that isn't well done.  BBQ judges are used to meat cooked a long time, so it is always presented fully cooked.  I've been turning in medium rare steaks, which are perfect from my perspective (and that of my 7 year old daughter), but the judges aren't liking it.  2016 will be the year of the well-done steak, I guess.  Our desserts were cheese cake tartlets.  Chuck got a near perfect score on appearance, but 2 out of the 6 judges found the flavor only mediocre.  The other 4 loved it, but averages can suck.

One of the people's choice categories was fascinating this year.  It was a mystery category.  The meat turned out to be a whole turkey!  We were given a basket with these ingredients: Craisins, Shock Top beer, mint vinegar, pepper oil and Swedish Fish!  We cooked the beer, craisins, candy and vinegar down to make a glaze and coated the turkey with the oil to help browning.  The oil and vinegar where the hardest ingredients as they both had a weird, funky, flavor.  I think we put in a good product anyway. 

This was David's second Kids Q.  He replicated his lamb burgers, but mixed some ground bacon into the burger to help keep it juicy and topped it with feta cheese.  They certainly were more juicy, but they didn't do as well.  He came in 6th this time which really bummed him out.  The comment was that the judges couldn't identify what kind of meat it was so I guess the bacon wasn't a great idea because it detracted from the lamb too much. He did make friends with a fellow competitor and they bummed around together most of the weekend, and that is the real point of BBQ.

I thought our wings and ribs were smashing, but the judges really disagreed.  Sometimes I just don't get what they're looking for.  I taste our competitors, and I think we stand up to their product, and yet we fared worse.  Well, no where to go but up.

We're still learning how to make the best bbq box garnish.  We don't care for the parsley putting green, and discovered this method with green leaf lettuce.  Here's a link YouTube video by Redneck Scientific demonstrating how to make this box.  You'll note his looks a lot better than mine.

Monadnock Up In Smoke
Swanzey NH
May 29-31, 2015

This was our first time to this great event.  It was a lot of fun, and the organizers work hard to make it fun.

Cris and Chuck took time out of cooking to do a cooking demonstration.  They demonstrated how to cook my perfect-on-the-grill steak with the blue cheese and brown butter.  People loved it.  We also took the time to do a little shopping.  We bought a set of knives with our logo on it!

In the grilling contest the categories were wings, mystery meat, steak and dessert.  The mystery meat was alligator, and Cris made Moroccan-flavored tacos.  They were really tasty.  Alligator is tricky because it is very lean.  Cris slightly over cooked them, and they were a tad dry.  The word on the street was that just about everyone turned in alligator that was dry.  I made my brown-butter steak and for dessert Chuck made smores cheesecakes.  We got three shout outs!  The dessert came in 10th, and the steak and alligator came in 7th.

We're also sporting out new aprons made for us by Katrina of Post Oak Aprons!

We are improving, but slowly in the KCBS competitions.  Our chicken came in 15th out of 49 which is solid.

Krazy Days
Middleborough MA
August 2, 2014

Cris and Chuck did this one on their own.  Krazy Days is a one-day competition so they got up early and got the fires going.  They didn’t participate in the people’s choice, but are determined to go back next year and do it.  Cris’s ribs came in 3rd place.  No pictures.

Brookline Fire Department Tailgate
Brookline NH
July 19-20, 2014

We always have fun at Brookline.  It’s one of the best organized competitions we attend each year.  This year the grilling categories were pizza, shrimp, steak and dessert.  We have yet to master pizza on the grill.  It’s always a little over done.  Chuck made a steak and caramelized onion pizza.  It made a great dinner.  Cris is a master at shrimp and made a coconut shrimp this time.  I made a brown-butter basted ribeye with blue cheese.  I’m not very good at steak at home, but this was a perfect medium rare.  I garnished it with grilled potatoes.  I thought it was awesome.  It came in 5th place.  We tried the chimichangas again for dessert, but this time they didn’t perform, although they were lovely.

I tried my ginger hot wings this time.  I knew it was a risk with the New England judge’s palate, but my hot wing sauce is awesome.  It proved too spicy, I fear.  Cris’s ribs came in 5th place, thought!  Hurray!

This was David’s first try at the Kids Q.  The category was burgers.  He created a Moroccan lamb burger based off of a lamb meatball recipe he’s had before.  He even made his own pita bread and tomato chutney.  The burger came in 5th place!  He was thrilled.

Riverside Blues and BBQ
Greenfield, MA
October 12-13, 2013

This is our first trip out to Greenfield, and once again the organizers are great!  The people involved in this sport and the nicest you'd ever want to meet.

I thought all our grilling entries were great.  The categories were wings, sausage, pizza and dessert.  The wings weren't over done and tasted yummy.  For the sausage, Chuck made patties and put them on scrambled egg "buns" with onion chutney.  The pizza was a margherita with fresh basil and tomatoes, and we made the bananas foster chimichangas. We came in middle of the pack on all of them.

I was very disappointed with my chicken legs.  I thought they were over-cooked and burnt in spots.  Cris's ribs were the best ribs I've ever tasted.  Their texture was perfect, and they looked pretty, too.  Just goes to show you that you can never tell what the judges will think.  Our ribs came in at the bottom.  Our pork got a shout out at 6th place, and our chicken came in 2nd place!  Our first KCBS award.  I still can't believe it. 

Harvard Fall Festival
Harvard, MA
September 14-15, 2013

The grilling competition categories were boneless chicken, shrimp, wrapped in bacon and dessert. 

We learned something about people’s choice.  One of the categories was sliders.  Chuck put together this pretty little thing:

Which was well-liked, but we didn’t make enough.  Note to selves: make two steamer pans of it next time.  They will be happy to replenish your supply.

This was our teriyaki chicken.  It tasted good, but was a little over done at the edges.  Also, our garnish still holds a lot to be desired.  Not pretty at all.

For the wrapped in bacon category, we actually made a bacon lattice for the bottom of the container.  Then we made bacon fatties: sausage stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon and sliced. 

I don’t think the judges liked that you couldn’t see the bacon because it was around the edges.

I forgot to take a picture of our shrimp box, but here it is.  It is the same crab-stuffed, bacon-wrapped shrimp we made at Brookline.

Lastly, Cris made bananas foster chimichangas.  Good gracious, but they were delicious.  Only a scoop of vanilla ice cream could have improved them.  

In the KCBS competition, we were judged poorly.  The judges didn’t respond well to the legs, although I thought they looked and tasted great.  The ribs over-cooked and then didn’t slice well.  The plate was sticky and sloppy.  We tried handing in the pork in multiple ways: pulled, burnt ends and sliced.  Again, the judges were underwhelmed.  My brisket consistently turns out dry.  This year we had a fiasco.  I had filled my water pan with sand to help hold the heat.  In the middle of the night, the temp shot way up.  In my 2am blur, I forgot about the sand and dumped water into the water pan.  It immediately made steam, coating the brisket with a fine layer of sand.  I almost didn’t hand it in.  Oddly, I got some of my best scores to date.  Go figure.

Our efforts this weekend paid off.  We took 2nd place in shrimp, 5th place in dessert and 3rd place over all in the grilling competition.  We also took 2nd place in people’s choice sliders.  See? We should have made more.

Brookline BBQ Competition
Brookline, NH
July 20-21, 2013

Brookline hosted a grilling competition this year, too.  We really love them.  We throw caution to the wind and experiment.  Unfortunately, the judges don’t always appreciate our attempts.  The categories were pizza, shrimp, steak and dessert.  Cris and I were on our own for the weekend, but we got everything cooked and turned in so we consider it a success.  We tried a fancy caramelized onion pizza, but it didn’t look pretty.  Cris grilled up a bacon-wrapped, crab-stuffed shrimp that earned 2nd place!  I tried a roulade for the steak, but I wasn’t happy with how the cheese filling came out.  I tried a grilled polenta and plum dessert, but it didn’t come out right.  It was too difficult to pull off well under pressure, and not sweet enough.

Day 2 was the tailgate.  Again we got everything turned in, including people’s choice wings and pork.  We won again!  The wings came in 3rd place and our people’s choice wings came in 2nd.  That actually earned us our first purse.  We were so excited!

Harvard Fall Festival
Harvard, MA
September 15-16, 2012

Guess what we have for this competition – A banner! And t-shirts!  Leah’s sister designed the logo for us.  We love it!  We feel so much more official. 

We had horrible rain again, this time for set up.  Ugh!  Rain is really un-fun.

This was our first grilling competition.  The categories were shrimp, wings, sausage and dessert.  Our shrimp came in 7th!  We are so excited.  Our dessert was crepes.  Yes, we made crepes on the grill.  They were yummy, but didn’t impress the judges.

Harvard has interesting people’s choice categories: sausage, chili, wings and pork. 

In KCBS, our ribs came in 14th out of 44 and our pork came in 17th out of 44.  Not too bad.