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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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