ABA BBQ Cookoff, Kuttawa, KY

Kuttawa, KY was the second stop on the newly formed American Bass Anglers BBQ Cookoff Tour. Located on the banks of Lake Barkley this picturess setting was perfect for Q'n. Gary, Richard, & I arrived Friday morning. Long Dawgs, Team Allegro, Swiggin Pig, Jiggy Piggy, Smokey Mountain Smokers, & ShadeTree Cooks were just a few to greet us as we got Casa DoRag situated on our "Beach-Front" property. What a view! After some socializin it was time to get down to business. We all pitched in & got the meat prepped & ready. Once completed, Richard & I joined Voncille & Joe of Smokey Mountain Smokers for lunch at local favorite & renowned eatery Patti's. Very interesting place. Good food & great pies! I recommend you check it out if you are in the area. Try the pork chops! After lunch, Gary got bizzy on the boxes & before you knew it were where done! Time to get ready for our Fridy Nite Feast! DoRagQ, Swiggin Pig, Long Dawgs, & Smokey Mountian Smokers were hosting the ABA peeps, contest organizers, volunteers, & others to our normal Friday night tradition of Pork Chops, baked potatoes, salad, & more. KCBS Reps Mary Cato & Ron Harwell pitched in some great appetizers, steaks, & deserts.

The cook's meeting was held at a local B&B called The Harbor House. Very nice! Check it out if your in the area. Great people. Live music and a appetizer buffet was provided to keep the party goin after the meeting. First Class! We couln't stay long as we had to get things ready for our company! Finally around 6:30 PM our guests started arriving. Mary Cato outdid herself by making a Cream Cheese Pesto Dip, Corn Salad, Key Lime Cake, & Sinful Toffee Brownies! Smokey Mountian Smokers provided a Ceasar's Salad. Long Dawgs provided some killer sausage from Lousiana. J-Mack Cookers provided a pasta dish. Ron Harwell shelled out for some meaty rib-eyes cooked to perfection by Dan of Long Dawgs on his Fast Eddie Pellet Grill & the DoRag Gang took care of the chops & potatoes. What a feast! I think we fed 35-40 in all. Had a great time getting to know the Kuttawa peeps & learning more about our new ABA friends. A great night for the ABA/KCBS partnership. Thanks to all for helping. Who knows, we may have to do this again....soon! I hope so!














After some socializing it was time to turn in for the night. No surprises, pretty uneventful. Well there was a Golf cart that dissapeared. But enough about that! BTW...what a treat to have the "Main Man" himself BLINDOG IN DA HOUSE! Seems Blinddog was visiting our good friends The Shadetree Cooks. He is always a hoot! We had some fun talkin, drinkin, laughin, drinkin, drinkin, need I go on? Good to see you & Becky!

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning......no description necessary.

Game Day! Time to get serious. Smokers were smokin, temps were risin, things were happenin! Gary, Richard, & I made it through turn ins without any major issues. All we could do now is wait for the results. We loaded up & headed over to watch the ABA weigh In. If you have never been to one of these you should check it out. Very intresting & such big fish! The ABA also does a great job at the awards. They have a stage with a PA system & David does a wonderfull job as the MC. Finally it was time.... Smokey Mountian took first in Chicken, Redneck Grillers took Ribs, Team Allegro won Pork, & Why Don't We Get Drunk & Q took Brisket! The DoRag Gang was 12th in chicken, 8th in ribs, 14th in pork, & 9th in brisket, placing 12th overall. Not the finish we wanted, but it could have been worse. However, I would not have traded any of our scores if it changed the outcome. Team Allegro, after eight years of competing took their first Grand Championship! Randy & Eileen, congratulations to two great friends & ambassadors to BBQ (& apprently some kick-ass cooks too). If you did not know Team Allegro their emotions would tell you how passionate they are about BBQ. You can alway count on a bottle of Allegro in your goodie bag. They are alway there to lend help if you need it & have encouraged the DoRag crew as we find our way. I am so happy for them & proud to be a part of their BBQ Family. YOU GUYS ROCKED KUTTAWA! Congrats!

As dissapointed as I was for the DoRagQ Gang, I was ten times happier for Team Allegro. Congrats also to Joe & Voncille for taking RGC! Other notables were Jiggy Piggy 3rd, Redneck Grillers 4rd, Long Dawgs 5th, House of Q 6th, J-Mack Cookers 7th, Big River 8th, Smokin T's 9th & Swiggin Pig 10th. As I drove home I reflected on the weekends events, my thoughts went back to my first contest, the people I have met on this journey, the life long friends I have made in the crazy sport called BBQ. As I drove on I could not help but to tear up a bit as I was thinking.......It's gonna take us eight frickin years to win one of these darn contest! Holy Crap! Let's go FISHIN!

Smokin' in McMinnville

August 15, 2009

For the past several years we normally find ourselves headin out to the Wilson County Fair's Amaizin Blazin BBQ Contest however after a twelve year run the organizers decided enough was enough. There wasn't many August contests so we figured we would take the month off. Then we heard about Smokin' in McMinnville. So much for the vacation! McMinnville is about 90 minutes South East of Nashville & is known for their Nurseries. Lots of sod farms, tree & shrub farms, & produce come from the McMinnville area. Arlie Bragg was the organizer so we decided to give it a try! Gary "Nickelback" was not making this trip as he was helping his Mom move. We would miss him but family comes first! When we pulled in we were greeted by Smokey Mountain Smokers, Lotta Bull, Jiggy Piggy, Wild Bunch Butt Burners, Team Allegro, & the rest of our BBQ Family! Everyone was there (Yoko brought a walrus, there was magic in the air....)

As you know we always have a cook out on Friday night. Usually we throw some pork chops & potatoes in the smoker and keep it simple. Not this time. If you know Richard then you know aside from BBQ one of his favorite hobbies is fishin! Well it seems that Richard is pretty good at this fishin thing cause he had a freezer full of fish that he was needin to git rid of! So we decided to have a Friday Fish Fry! Richard brought his FCR (Fish Cookin Rig) & enough hush puppies to feed an army & commenced to cookin! Swiggin Pig, Smokey Mountain Smokers, & High on the Hawg all chipped in some side dishes & it was time to strap the feed bag on! Man what a meal! I was afraid we weren't going to have enough to go around but it went much further than I thought. After dinner Richard outdid himself again by making some home-made peach ice cream! We topped the night off with some tunes & a few shots of AP (Apple Pie) & we were good to go!

Saturday morning was routine. No surprises except we had Dinosaur Thighs for chicken. They were huge! Even after trimming the heck out of them we could barley fit six in the box. I think they grew overnight! Richard & I struggled with prepping the boxes (Gary's specialty) & we managed to get everything turned in barely. I was not feeling very positive. I thought our food was good but not good enough. Well as it turned out I was mostly right! We were 21st with our "Thunder Thighs", 25th in ribs, & 21st in brisket. About as below average as you can get! Our lone call was in pork, we managed 7th place! Finishing 19th overall.

Well....we still had a great time & the fish fry was a big success. Maybe we should find us a fish frying contest! Congratulations to Smokin Triggers, Jiggy Piggy, House of Q, & Adams Rib for their category wins. Smokin Butt Crew took the win with Smokin Triggers taking the RGC! Congrats to them! A shout out to the organizers and the town of McMinnville. A great site, a great turn out, & a great contest! We look forward to next year.

DoRagQ Contest Fall Schedule

September 4th & 5th - College Grove, TN
September 11th & 12th - Cookeville, TN
September 18th & 19th - Guntersville, AL
September 25th & 26th - Florence, AL
October 2nd & 3rd - Gallatin, TN
October 9th & 10th - Lewisburg, TN
October 30th & 31st - Talledega, AL (Tentative)
November 6th & 7th - Russellville, AR (Tentative)