ON PIGS, PEACHES, SUNSHINE AND PRIDE

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS BLOG IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A FULL STOMACH!

On Saturday afternoon ( 8-11-07), I attended the Annual Pigs and Peaches BBQ contest held in downtown Kennesaw, Georgia. This was a serious contest because it was sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society! As a matter of fact, one has to be very serious in order to get your BBQ rig towed to the site with all the needed meats and then to sit up all night long to cook those meats to perfection. This all begins with the "Anything Butt" category on Friday afternoon. The registered contestants are given a "surprise" meat which is to be grilled and entered in the contest. No one knows ahead of time what the "surprise" is, so creativity is the most desired ingredient in this contest. The entries are judged on appearance, taste and tenderness. This year's "surprise" was "London Broil"! Then the "sho-nuff" grilling begins. The contestants have entries for chicken, pork ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. Their cuts of meat are inspected by judges to assure that no prior preparation has taken place before the contest (marinating etc.)! The custom smokers are fired up with the secret mixes of hardwoods and charcoal and the smoking lasts all night. ( I figured out that the all night grilling is really a great excuse for beer drinking)!

Saturday morning at 12 noon the chicken is taken to the judges first, next the ribs, next the pulled pork and finally the brisket is delivered to the judges. Also, the contestants were told that if any sauce "pools" in the presentation, the entry would be disqualified.

I arrived on the scene of this contest about 11 AM Saturday morning, so I missed the "Anything Butt" contest and the all night beer drinking, but I didn't miss the chance to taste the entries. What I discovered is that several "recipes" of each cut are grilled so that the best tasting is turned over to the judges. I did my part to "taste" each one and give my opinion as to what should be entered.

By 2 PM, I was absolutely stuffed, but I was happily stuffed. After the entries are turned in, everyone packs up and the winners are announced that evening in front of the whole crowd. There was an all-female band from Nashville (broadBand) to entertain the crowd and the mayor read the results. Out of 39 teams in the contest (some of these are pros) my friends came in 16th place overall ... a very respectable showing considering they have only been competing about 3 years.

I absolutely LOVE BBQ and after seeing this contest and learning from my buddies, I am ready to come up with my own special "rub" and "basting sauces" and "BBQ Sauces"! For example, the recipe my friend used on the chicken was a raspberry chipotle rub and the result was out of sight! This chicken came in 6th place in the overall contest! My friends "maple ribs" didn't win first place, but if the first place ribs are truly better (according to the judges) then I plan to follow this first place team around for the rest of my life. It would be more than a human could stand.

You can't imagine how unbelievably delicious these grilled delights are!

I can't describe "taste, tenderness and appearance" but I can send pictures.

Like I said at the beginning, don't look at this if you are hungry! It would be the vilest of torture.

The members of the TNT team are Tim Thomas, Aaron Thomas and Nathan King. They are available for catered bbq cookouts. You won't be disappointed!!