To all the Masters of the Grill, Chiefs of the Charcoal, King of the Pit, Boss of the BBQ - also known as the dude in the apron.
I wrote my last blog - last summer. "BBQ in a Time of Covid." It was a play on the the classic novel "Love in the Time of Cholera." Let's just say from the retweets and comments - not as famous.
There really wasn't a lot for this amateur BBQ Pit Master to write about. Before Covid - I reported on the monthly BBQ fundraisers my students at Helena High worked on - donating pulled pork to the local shelter. My BBQ Club was thriving - once they found out there was BBQ every Monday - the kids were coming out of the woodwork. I was excited to hit 3 or 4 competitions in 2020. My 2019 entry into Montana BBQ left me hungry for more. Then Covid. Our local "founder's day parade" was "Officially" cancelled - unofficially a couple members of the club made their own float and set sail on the streets.
Sure I cooked - for myself. I shared my food with friends, but Social BBQ was over. And some states offered BBQ Competitions near the end of last summer. Not Montana. A state that has been socially distancing since 1889 - locked down like it was among the most populace states in the east. But that all ended with a change in the Governor's administration and declining numbers (at this time there seems to be less than 150 active cases statewide.) We're a small state - population wise - but size wise - you are talking about the same size and Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri (BBQ Meccas) and go ahead and throw in Rhode Island and Delaware (not BBQ Meccas).
My state is re-opened. We are lucky. Some countries are still instituting lock downs as new cases emerge. A recent news article in Australia caught my eye. Man’s barbecue binge sparks new virus curbs in Sydney after month without cases. Turns out the unlucky bloke and his wife were the first cases in Sydney in a month - and without knowing it - made like BBQ Nomads - hunting and gathering into infamy. I thought this tweet was especially respectful:
Commendable - maybe - but let me tell you about my hunt for Brisket. I hit Costco last Tuesday. They had no Brisket. Apparently there was a hack of a meat producer. They said to try again on Wednesday. I called - they told me there were 3 - but some guy was eyeing them. I flew down as fast as I could - and low and behold - they were gone by the time I go there. The meat guy did not expect more to be shipped. So I called the nearest Costco - Bozeman, MT. It was 90 miles away (roughly) - he had two and agreed to pull them for me. I drove about an hour and half (with $3 per gallon gas) to pick up two USDA Prime Briskets. They were $5 per pound. That is more than I paid for brisket 2 weeks ago - but that is supply and demand. I later found 3 "choice" briskets in Helena for $5 lb. too. Let's just say there is an easy choice when I go to competition - Prime. One of the three "choice" briskets created a nice flat slices, but I struggled to get any burnt ends out of the three briskets. Hubba Bubba.
Back to competition - so my first competition since 2019 is coming up in three days. It is the 2nd time I competed in Montana. This competition - Montana BBQ Cook Off is located in a small town (in Montana - that actually means something - small - population - 859 in 2018. ) But it is one of the biggest competitions in the Rockies. There are not a lot of KCBS competitions in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. I believe there are about 10 total in those three states. Back east - there might be 10 in an area the size of Montana (NC, SC, GA and FLA) in one weekend. I was really bummed that I missed the 2019 Montana BBQ Cook-off - but it was 9 days after my Hip Replacement and I was definitely not about to test my new hip there. It held up great 2 months later in Bozeman at the Montana Pitmaster Classic.
So time for competition. I have been a 2 pop top (tent) - 2 smoker competitor ever since 2014 when my buddy and I (both from Virginia) entered a competition in Washington DC. We always had Ryan's beast of burden. She could cook 20 Pork Shoulders wonderfully. She did whole hog multiple times. She weighed around a ton and when Ryan gave me her back in 2019 (as my family visited our friends) - we hauled her back to Montana (where we moved in 2018). We usually had some cheap smoker too - usually for the chicken.
I used Ryan's smoker multiple times in Montana - usually for our High School BBQ Club Fundraisers. What I quickly learned was they do not have a lot of "hard" wood in Montana (mostly pine) and when you found it - it was expensive. I ended up spending more on wood than meat. I quickly realized I would need to use a smaller smoker and settled on two Dyna-Glow wide vertical offset smokers. I use Charcoal (Kingsford) and a blend of Bourbon Oak Barrels and Applewood Chunks. This is not a sexy smoker, nor is it a pellet smoker - who many of my friends swear by - this is an old school - "top it off every 90 minutes" kinda smoker. I have been extremely happy with it.
So I knew I needed a trailer to haul my smokers to my next competition. I thought it might be able to actually haul them to the Farmer's Markets each week too. Food License is in progress - more on that later....but in the mean time - I found my BBQ Trailer - (ha ha). So last weekend - I decided to use my "catering" job to do a dry run for this upcoming weekend's BBQ. I threw a few dollars into my venture. A couple new pop ups, some pop up tent sidings, new coolers, the trailer - a new logo. Okay - rewind. This became a bit controversial.
When Ryan and I were doing our BBQ thing in Virginia - he was pork - I was beef. (and Chicken.) We had a logo that showed pork and beef. We had planned on moving to Montana as two families - long story short - it did not happen and - Beef went to Montana and Pork remained in Virginia. So I adopted a logo that I long loved - an old school logo from my state. I have been working on a gnarly pig (razor back skull) for him - but until then - the pork has been offended by the new logo.
So last weekend - as I said - I did a "Dry run." I set up the four pop ups in a 20 x 20 space - by myself. I set up the entire camp - by myself. After 7 years of trying to convince my wife - BBQ is an exciting world - I have decided not to bother her this weekend with BBQ Odysseys. I decided - I would need an accomplice - but all of my Montana friends were unavailable. So I decided to draft my first born. Anabell will be joining me on the BBQ trail. She has been a long time supporter (Hey Anabell - set your alarm - if I fall asleep - wake me up.) She has also been a long time lover of BBQ.
She'd kill me if she knew....but there she is.
So she was helping me with my dry run and I put on the Pod Cast of Owl's nest - Girls can Grill and we listened to Christie Vanover. My daughter was interested to learn about a female BBQ Pit Master and KCBS Judge. She never Showed much interest in BBQ - other than eating it, but during our dry run - she helped out all over the place. I decided to show her a basic understanding of the BBQ Box. I have never been good with the BBQ box. No one has in Big Boys BBQ - except Lacy - Ryan's wife. Anabell worked on it with me - during our dry run - at 4 AM - while we listened to Owl's nest. It was a nice moment we shared.
In the end - BBQ was made, mistakes were made, and I have modified my plans for this weekend. Tomorrow - I will have the 2nd part of the pre-competition blog. Tune in on Friday for our last update before heading to Absarokee, MT.
DAD JOKE: A pig, cow and chicken arrive at a BBQ - The End.
