On a recent weekend, I took the
not yet famous EFF BBQ team into their first competition. The event was the
COFAQUE (Circle of Friends QUE) held in Aldie, VA. This is a benefit for the
organization Hungry for Music. First
of all I’ll qualify this by saying this is not a sanctioned event, meaning the
event is private and does not accrue points towards your national BBQ standings
(
whatever that is). But it was VERY competitive with 31 teams competing for
fabulous prizes (I consider a trophy and $40 fabulous, don’t you?).
We had a great time working with
Eric’s new MASSIVE BBQ/smoker. Eric works for EFF as a driver and all around
get it done kinda guy. When I say massive we’re talking 85,000 lbs (I made that
up) of trailer mounted, wood burnin, smoke blowin, pig cookin BBQ bliss.
Seriously we made the finals of the People’s Choice Award based on the size of
this new rig. Eric gave lots of tours of the setup. At least he did up until
that 27th beer kicked in. Way to go ERIC!
But all of that aside, we did
manage to do a little bit of serious cooking. We entered 5 categories: Pork,
Pork Ribs, Beef, Beef Brisket and Seafood. For the Pork category I did
tenderloins wrapped in caul fat, grilled and finished with a homemade fresh
peach and rosemary glaze. Pretty darn good I thought but the top 3 places for
pork all went to butts. No not the other competitors, but slow cooked pork
butts (aka shoulders, Boston butts, etc). I kinda thought that would be the
case so I decide to slip a little curve ball in to see what would happen. Next year
we’re cooking butts. Pork Ribs is a very competitive category. Pretty much
everyone is in on that one. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with 
it. Ditto
Brisket… very competitive. Then there was Seafood. We took the third place
medal with Garlicky Grilled Shrimp with Peach BBQ Sauce. Yes peaches again. I
love peaches and this is their time of the year, so I used them in several
different ways (even made myself some White Peach Sangria). And last but not
least was the Beef category. WE WON!!! That’s right! That’s right! I came up
with this extraordinary original recipe (actually I plagiarized my good friend
Danette @ Dinner Matters recipe) for a BBQ beef slider. I slow smoked some beef
shanks, shredded ‘em and put them on a mini potato roll with arugula (from the
wonderful folks at Endless Summer Harvest), some gruyere cheese and a schmear
of a red tomato relish that was a little sweet, a little tart, sorta chutney
like. Danette likes to use onion jam, which I like better too but couldn’t find.
But in spite of the rogue condiment substitution, the judges liked it and there
we were, in the winner’s circle (aka grassy spot in front of the stage) getting
our HUGE trophy! That’s right! That’s right!
So even though we didn’t accrue
points for our national BBQ standing, our egos got a good strokin and for now
that’s good enough for us! So we’ll see you at the farmers markets and watch
for us on the FOOD NETWORK! (I made that up too). BTW our team goes by the name
of ‘Smokeadelic and The Que Funk All Stars’… don’t ask you had to be there. Mas
Tarde!
Bruce
