Muddy Weekend!!!

Kent and his friend Doug have cooked in several BBQ competitions in the past, but this weekend was my first time to join in on the fun! It was in Auburn, so we got to stay with my sister. The forecast for the weekend=thunderstorms!! And boy did it! We got there on Friday night, and all Doug had was an easy up tent for his shelter. Doug is the master chef, Kent and I were the sous chefs that helped with the presentation and ending. Poor Doug sat in his chair with his rain jacket all night and weathered the storm underneath his ez up tent with no sides, while Kent and I snoozed away at Ashley's house. We got back up there around 7:30 and the field was nothing but a big mud pit! I am so glad that I had bought some rain boots before going:

And that was underneath the tent. Nasty!!! Here's a shot of the set up:

Kent kept leaning up against the grill and melting his poncho:

We cooked chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket. Turn in time started at 11:00am and we turned in a box every 30 minutes. You only have a 10 minute window to turn in your boxes. Since this was my first time, I had to learn about all of the rules. For instance, in a competition in Mobile a couple of years back, Kent bought kale to garnish the boxes. The main judge quickly let them know that was an illegal garnish that could not be used. You can only use parsley or green leaf lettuce. Presentation is key! You are judged on presentation, taste and tenderness. Here's our chicken box:

The highest score in each category is 9 and there are 6 judges. There were 39 teams in the competition. We placed highest in the pork category in 13th place. We even got a perfect score from one of the judges! Even though the weather wasn't the best, we had a great time! We plan to do it again soon!
I will leave you with a funny pic. If you've ever seen the movie Anchorman, you will love this: