Howling Hog BBQ (at Howling Wolf Farm)

We completed our second competition in two weeks this weekend, and although we came home empty-handed, we are pleased to say we had a wonderful weekend.

The view from the ILBBQF (note the ski jump, lower left)

Although it’s only in only its second year, the Lake Placid I Love Barbecue Festival (ILBBQF) is one of the most well-run competitions I’ve ever seen. It’s a charity event that raises money for the Shipman Youth Center of Lake Placid. Last season’s event only featured 16 teams, but in the past year the events reputation of spoiling the competitors and treating them so very well seems to have gotten out and teams were jumping at the opportunity to get in. In fact, we almost didn’t make it in ourselves, but we were able to ferret our way in with the promise of vending our homemade baked goods.

A three hour ride across Vermont and into the Adirondacks took us to our destination. This was my first time in upstate New York and I have to say that the scenery was breathtaking. The festival itself is set up in the center of the Olympic speed skating ring, right in the village of Lake Placid. When we arrived, we found our spot and began to set up. I think this was the first contest where a 20X20 space was actually 20’X20’ and we were a little concerned that all of our stuff might not fit in it. But, to our surprise, we arranged the most efficient use of space we’ve ever had! Special thanks to the event organizers, particularly my Russian friend Dmitry Feld who gave us a prime corner spot to vend our goods.

The boy, hanging out in our booth.

On Friday night, we participated in the midnight grilling competition, an unsanctioned competition event. There were two categories, grilled chicken and NY Strip steak. We turned in a chicken dish done West Indies style with grilled bananas as an edible garnish, and the strip steaks were crusted with spices, grilled, and garnished with bleu cheese. Neither product resulted in an award, but frankly they did better than we expected they would. We placed 17^th out of a field of 26 (not all competitors opted to compete in the grilling event) with our steak coming in at 17^th and the chicken at 16^th. Considering how little thought was put into either of them, I thought we did reasonably well. The night ended with a fireworks show set up right next to the skating ring. We had front row seats!

The following day was dedicated primarily to vending, and the ladies did a fantastic job. A week of baking in advance of the ILBBQF produced many tasty desserts and snacks including cookies, brownies and chocolate pudding cake. On a whim, we also smoked up three dozen eggs and they turned out to be a real hit! In the afternoon, we participated in the buck-a-rib contest. We failed to estimate the right number of ribs that we’d sell and were sold out in less than ten minutes. No doubt we’ll be bringing three or four times the number of racks that we brought. The lack of ribs for folks to vote on (it was a people’s choice event) left us out of the running for the prize of two round trip tickets on Southwest Airlines to anywhere in the US.

The evening brought us closer to Sunday’s KCBS sanctioned barbecue competition. The weather, which was Lake Placid chilly, turned a bit damp and the skies opened up on us. But, we were happy to find ourselves dry under the tents with few problems caused by the water. Undoubtedly there was some pretty fancy drainage under the ring so the ground stayed nice and dry. The briskets and pork shoulders went on in early evening, and my Backwoods Smoker chugged happily into the night. In the early morning, we put our chicken and ribs on. The day before, during the buck a rib event, the Old Bull and I felt like we really had a breakthrough on the ribs. The bones we produced for folks were by the best I’ve ever done.

And yet the results of the competition didn’t reflect that feeling. The field of teams at Lake Placid included some of the best we’ve ever competed against, and some teams from pretty far away, including CancerSucksChicago.com who have had national success, and Canada’s Barbecue Bob and the “Eh” team. Bob was our neighbor, and a lot of fun. When our time came to submit, we felt pretty darned good about what we’d done. The pulled pork looked and tasted great. The ribs were the best we’ve ever done. The chicken was good; although I had issues with inconsistent size which I think can have an impact on the score. I’ve been re-working my brisket recipe and feel like I’m on the right track.

Alas, our turn-ins had a hard time standing up to the stiff competition. We did acceptably in chicken and pulled pork (coming in 18^th and 14^th respectively out of 36 teams),

Our chicken turn-in, not as pretty as last week.

Pulled pork, nice layout in box, but I forgot one of my secret ingredients when I was prepping!

but we got completely hosed in ribs, coming in dead last.

Ribs - We need to start cooking baby-backs instead, they'll fit in the box better.

The brisket wasn’t quite so low, but came in at 21^st, which isn’t where I thought it would be.

Brisket turn in, nice layout, needed better smoke ring.

Truth be told, I didn’t figure us for a high medal in anything, but would have been pleased with a 6^th or a 5^th place in something. Not this time, but there’ll be a next!

We were pleased to see our neighbor Barbecue Bob take 2^nd in Brisket, but the days success went to Purple Turtle, a veteran team that really knows their stuff.

Barbecue Bob accepting his medal

Congrats to Nancee and her crew! Great Job!

The folks from Purple Turtle celebrating their win!

We wrapped up our night with pizza at a local Italian restaurant and then dragged our exhausted bodies home to Vermont. The high point of the ride home was a spectacular and uniquely shaped rainbow, the likes of which I've never seen.

I had thought I’d be sick of cooking barbecue, but to my surprise I was already planning the next event. We’ll be back to Lake Placid again next year (we’ve already signed on). Special thanks to Dmitry and his entire staff of volunteers for pampering us with generosity and care! You guys are the best!

Our next competition is at the end of this month at the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT, not far from home. Until then, keep on barbecuing and remember to make’em howl for more!

Chris