Here’s hoping we bring home a friend for this guy from Tunica!
Ah yes, Spring is in the air! Which in my world also means that hickory is in the air! Yep, BBQ Competition Season is beginning. Today. In Tunica, Mississippi. I left my home in St. Louis at 5am today to meet up with my cousin, Tim (pictured above), and the rest of the Memphis crew at the MBN Invitational Tournament, where SLABS a’ Smokin will be competing.
To say that I’m excited would be gravely understated.
This particular competition is by invite only to Grand Champions, passdown winners and Team of the Year winners. There are 30 teams competing – and every one of them is good enough to win in any category, at any competition. So yea, it’s a pretty big deal.
Did I mention I’m excited?
Some of you may be familiar with the world of Competition BBQ from the TLC Series, BBQ Pitmasters. This show ushered in a whole new audience to the circuit, and over the past few years BBQ competitions have become more popular than ever. If you hear about one taking place near you, check it out. They are an absolute blast. (and be sure to stop by and say hello if I’m there!)
We will be competing not only in our signature Ribs, but for the first time at an MBN sanctioned event we’re also entering the Pork Shoulder category. This adds a whole new dimension and set of challenges for our team – and we are all looking forward to it. Not only do we have to enter a “blind” submission of our ribs and shoulder, but we also have to present, on site, to 3 separate judges. It’s intense. But SO much fun!
I’ll go into detail in later posts about everything that goes into these competitions and how they work, etc. But for now, let The Season BEGIN!
I’ll post pictures, updates and results throughout the weekend so stay tuned…