Memphis in May

Sorry about my lack of posts over the weekend. I thought I had enough prepared for my trip to Memphis.  Unfortunately, I fell short.  However, I have great news about my first trip to Memphis.  I traveled to Memphis with the guys for Pork Barrel BBQ to compete in the annual Memphis in May Contest.  For the Pork Barrel Team it was our second BBQ contest for the year.  We did awesome this past weekend.  The Pork Barrel Team took fourth place in the Beef contest with an awesome Brisket, 7th in Mustard Sauce, 12th in exotic with an Iberico fat wrapped venison loin and 14th in the Seafood with a grill gumbo.

It was a muddy weekend but we put together a nice camp site to wow the judges.

We drew an amazing spot for our site.  To our left was Pat from Tower Rock BBQ.  Pat is a three time world champion and the greatest neighbor a first time team could have.  He was very helpful and taught me a lot.  I want to thank Pat for all of the help and insights into the contest. Without him I could not have trimmed the pork shoulders correctly.

Here is a group shot of the Tower Rock Team minus Tom.  Tom hates being photographed.  I tried many times throughout the weekend to take a picture, but it did not happen.  Hopefully Tom gets to read this as I hung out with him the most throughout the weekend.  I’ll get you next time Tom.  Haha.

Across the way we had Wayne from Red Hot Smokers and kitty corner we had Myron from Jack’s Old South.  Basically we were surrounded by World Champions.  It was amazing!  An added benefit to having a 3 time world champion around us, was that everyone stopped by to see Pat.   So we got to hang with some of the best barbecuers in the world.

Here I am with Mike Mills.  He competed with Pat for many years.  Both are living legends.

Here I am with Tuffy Stone – He won 1st place in Pork Shoulder.  Tuffy is a great guy and one heck of a competitor.  You can check out his website at http://www.qbarbeque.com/.   You might also know him from his appearances on TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters.

Along with the awesome people that we ran into we also got to check out Beale Street.

We even stopped by the famous Rendezvous for some Memphis Dry Ribs.  They were tasty, but not my style.  I like a little sauce on my ribs.

Overall it was an amazing experience.  The team did great for our first World Championship.  We met an amazing group of people, saw the sights and even got to taste some amazing barbecue.  In the end we waited at the stage for the awards.  While we did not place in the top ten, we were there with Tuffy Stone and the guys from Cool Smoke.

They called Cool Smoke for the 1st place in pork shoulder.  It was one heck of a celebration.

It was a once in a lifetime event that was amazing.   I can’t wait to go back next year.