"Tater Days" Results!

The DoRagQ Gang just returned from our first competition of 2012.  Benton, Kentucky was the sight of the annual "Tater Days" festival.  Now I know your are wondering WTH is "Tater Days"? Well thanks for asking!  "Tater Days" was started in 1843 as a celebration of spring, and a time when all of the townsfolk would get together and trade in sweet potato slips, used to grow the plants.  There are many local events and the Kiwanis Club also hosts the annual BBQ Competition.  This year there were 41 BBQ Teams from several states competing & the DoRagQ Gang was darn proud to be one of them!  This year occasional DoRagQ Gang members Pam & David Wilson will be joining us on the entire 2012 "Pigs & Pie Tour".  David is in the "Music Biz" and with relocating to "Music City" was thinking of putting BBQ on hold until things settled down.  About that same time "DoRagQ Gang" member Richard Finley accepted an offer to cook BBQ & sample a new BBQ sauce on the market to the public.  "Garland Jack's Secret Six" sauces should be hitting the Nashville area markets soon!  Richard will be in and around the Nashville area sampling "Award Winning Pork" featuring Garland Jack's Sauces!  I will post a schedule soon.  We hope you will pay him and Jeff McPherson a visit when they are in your area.  Richards gig will keep him busy from April to August and the samplings will occur mostly on weekends which meant he would not be able to attend any contest during that time.  During a night to intense consummation of adult beverages I had a vision!  It was somewhat blurry but a vision none the less!  I made a phone call to David and shared my blurry vision with him...then I told him I would pay him to help me...after some shrewd negotiation on David's part we decided to join up and help each other.  So the "New" DoRagQ Gang Rides Again!

Ok enough BS....back to "Tater Days". Forty-one BBQ Teams converged on Benton, KY to compete in for most their first contest of the year.  The weather cooperated and made for a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.  We arrived late evening on Thursday & quickly unloaded.  We were right next to our good friends Sherri & Jackie Price of  "Smoke On This" and we headed out to the local Mexican restaurant for some Margaritas & some Tex-Mex!  Only one problem....no Margaritas!  Seems we were in a dry county!  We enjoyed the food and company none-the-less and headed back to the contest site for the evening where we finished setting up and had a few "adult beverages" cleverly disguised in "red solo cups"! 

After a good nights sleep we began to see more familiar faces such as "Blues Hog BBQ", "Old Man Larry's BBQ Team", "ShadeTree Cooks", "Rub-Won-Out", and "Team Allegro".  It was great seeing all our friends after the winter break.  After inspection we got down to work prepping our meats, getting the smokers positioned, and going over our BBQ Plan!  With the business stuff out of the way be commenced to continuing our sampling of adult beverages until it was finally time to call it a night. 

Saturday morning started out great only to find our brisket was a bit stubborn on getting up to temperature. We fought it right up to turn in time and it still wasn't where it needed to be.  We made the best of it and seemed to get everything else turned in on time.  We felt good about chicken, ribs were a bit salty, still not happy with the brisket, and not sure about the pork.  Regardless of how we felt it was in the hands of the Judges now!

We made our way to the awards and settled in for the news.  "Pappy Q" took the win in chicken with our good friends "Son Seekers" in 2nd.  The Judges must have liked our entry as "DoRagQ"  got a 4th place call with "Rub-Won-Out" taking 5th place.  In the rib category our friends "ShadeTree Cooks" got an 8th place call and surprise surprise, "DoRagQ" placed 3rd!  Weeeeeeeeeeeee!  I will say we were a bit surprised!  Takin the win in ribs was "4 Smokin' Butts"!  "Rub-Won-Out" placed 6th in the pork category with "Bubba Joe's BBQ" taking 1st place.  Some questions were answered about our pork as "DoRagQ" came in 27th (bummer)!  In the brisket category "Smoke on This" got a 8th place call with "Rub-Won-Out" placing 5th and "Team Allegro" taking 4th place.  "Bubba's Tennessee Smokers" took first place.  "DoRagQ" managed to place 17th. Better than I expected!  Overall top 10 went like this: 10th "Son Seekers BBQ", 9th "One2bbq", 8th "Gilly's BBQ", 7th "DoRagQ", 6th "Q2NV", 5th "Rub-Won-Out", 4th "Bubba Joe's BBQ", 3rd "Smokin' T's", 2nd "4 Smokin' Butts", and Grand Champion "Eat Mor Butt BBQ"!  Congrats to all!

Well it could have been worse!  Hell it has been worse!  I think this is the best the DoRagQ Gang has placed at "Tater Days".  We know we could have done better and hopefully we can improve on those things and do better next time.  Regardless we had a great time seeing our BBQ Friends and Family! We look forward to our next event in Gasden, Alabama and hope to be back at "Tater Days" next year!  Hope we see ya soon Peckerwood!

Here is a link to the complete results on the KCBS website!  http://www.kcbs.us/events.php?year=2012&month=3&id=3172