Tennessee Heritage Festival, Smyrna, TN

Grand Champion - Smokey Mountian Smokers
Reserve GC - Southpork
36 Teams
Chicken - 18th
Ribs - 5th
Pork - 11th
Brisket - 32nd
Overall - 16th

Hearth & Grill Shop BBQ Nashville, TN

Grand Champion - L.A. Grillers
Reserve GC - Allegro Comp BBQ
12 Teams
Chicken - 5th
Ribs - 2nd
Overall - 4th

Sundrop BBQ Festival, Pulaski, TN

Grand Champion - Late Night Whiskey Smokers
Reserve GC - Bill & The Dixie Chicke
48 Teams
Chicken - 22nd
Ribs - 7th
Pork - 8th
Brisket - 33rd
Overall - 14th

High on the Hog Winchester, TN

Grand Champion - Lotta Bull BBQ
Reserve GC - The ABS Cooking Team
55 Teams
Chicken - 36th
Ribs - 35th
Pork - 24th
Brisket - 32nd
Overall - 32nd

Benton KY

Grand Champion - Ulcer Acres
Reserve GC - Late Night Whiskey Smokers
30 Teams
Chicken - 11th
Ribs - 12th
Pork - 25th
Brisket - 23rd
Overall - 17th

Flickr Site!

I know it has been a while since my last post. I will do my best to bring you up to speed on out contest results and activities. While you are waiting check out my Flickr site @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/doragq

Flickr is so cool. It is a great way to share photos with friends and family. Just copy the url to your address bar or click the Flickr link on the right of the page. Check it out!

Do-Rag-Q Logo

2/25/2007 Spoke to my friend Robert Bowen last week when I was cookin. He lives in Birmingham and we have cooked together. He is part of a Chubb's Deep South Team. They have a really cool logo. He refered me to http://www.bbqlogos.com. So Saturday I sent them an email with some ideas. Today I received the new logo! We tried to incorporate a few of the thinks I love to do. BBQ, Harleys, Cigars, & Texas. Hope you like it.

Superbowl-B-Q

2/23/07 We were asked to do some cooking at one of imi's concrete plants in Livingston TN. The plant had won a contest and the prize was a BBQ! My cookin partner Jeff & I decided to use this opportunity to get some practice for the upcomming competitions. We planned to cook chicken, ribs, & brisket. I decided last minute to cook a pork butt using a new injection that BiPolar Smoker gave me. We also threw on some Slovacek Jalepano Sausage and a few ABTs. In all we had about 15 to cook for. Did some prep work on the brisket and injected the pork butt on Wedensday night. I put on the brisket & pork butt on Thursday @ 1:30 PM, prepped the ribs, and made the ATBs. It was a long day! Pulled the brisket around midnight. Wrapped and placed in storage. Packed up the smoker and headed to Livingston @ 5:30 AM Friday morning. Met Jeff with his smoker in tow on the way. Arrived and fired up the smokers @ 8:30 AM. Jeff started cooking the chicken and I placed 12 slabs of babybacks and several sausages in my smoker. Later I added the ATBs and heated the pork butt & brisket. Jamie Kemp imi's Sales Rep. brought beans & slaw. By noon we were ready to

start serving but waited untill 12:30 for some late arrivals. The brisket seemed a bit dry to me. The chicken was overcooked & dry. Jeff is still working out the kinks on his smoker since being modified. Ribs were moist & flavorfull. The real surprise was the pork butt! I think it was much better that I have done before. Everyone also liked the ATBs. They are always a big hit. I wish they wern't so labor intensive. In summary, I was pleased with the overall cook. Plenty of room for improvment.

Do-Rag-Q

2/11/2007 I have finally decided to call my Competition BBQ Team Do-Rag-Q. If you know me, then you know I wear Do-Rags when I cook & ride my Harley. This is something that I have done for years. It kinda makes a statement about me. I really don't know what it is, but it's a statement. It also is functional, it keeps the sweat out of my eyes. A do-rag, also spelled doo-rag or durag, is a simple piece of cloth tied at the back, used to cover the head.

BBQ Pit Project

My 87 year old Grandfather gave me a smoker that a cousin had made for him several years ago. Growing up in Texas he and I would smoke brisket, ribs, cabrito, and anything else we could fine. He is now in a Veterans Retirement home in Floresville Texas and I have moved to Nashville TN. During a visit several years ago he told me I could have the pit. Since I live in Nashville I usually fly to San Antonio to visit. this Christmas I loaded up the wife and dogs and headed to South Texas. Got back cleand up the Pit and fired it up. It's a little rusty and in need of some TLC.

BBQ Pit Pics

A little worn and rusty but not bad for a 12+ year old rig!

Added cooking area !

Firebox

Sandblasted to the bare metal.

Sandblasting done by Mike Taylor!

New Paint

Pit Bling!

We have almost completed our Pit refurbishing. Had rust areas on the back of the smoker patched. (Shout out to Mike Hartley for getting that done). Pulled the pit to Jeff Edwards place in Lebanon. We installed 1" plugs in the holes on the back and drilled holes and installed Spicewine Ironworks thermometers and BBQ Guru adapter. Not sure if I will use the Guru but I want to try it out to see how it works on the bigger pit. I used it on my Bandera with much success. We also finished painting the undercarriage and gave the white spoke wheels a touch of paint. Fired her up and cooked some Sloovack sausage.

BBQ Guru

ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds)

After hearing of ABTs for a while I decided to try 'em out. The were a sucess to say the least. Took a few to tailgate at the Titans game back in November. They were a hit!

Smokin on the Square

October 8, 2006
Gallatin was a blast! Although a bit nippy on Friday night. Anyhoo our 2nd competition taught us a lot. #1 Dont forget your drip pan.#2 Dont use a foil pan as a drip pan.#3 Go back home and get the drip pan, its only a 20 minute drive!#4 pay attention when the BBQ Guru is beeping, it's trying to tell you something.#5 Don't forget the fire extinguisher.#6 Closing the door & dampers will put a grease fire out.#7 When you burn your chicken, cook some more.#8 Bipolar Smoker is a Frickin Lunitic!32 Teams, we finished 15th. Brisket took 8th & Chicken 3rd! Glad its over, can't wait to do it again.

Entered as the Wireless Plus BBQ Team (our 1st sponsored event). 32 Teams entered - Finished 15th Overall - Got our first walk a 3rd in Chicken ($250 + trophy) - Ribs 19th - Pork 25th - Brisket 8th

2006 Fiddlin, Brewin, & BBQin Contest

My cookin partner Jeff & I decided to enter our 1st contest. Our expetations were low. It would be ok if we finished last as long as we got some experience. We set out to cook brisket & ribs. We were advised at check in that everyone turns in all 4 meats. So we called some friends and asked them to bring us some chicken and a couple of port butts. Hell, at least we will get some points even if we had never cooked chicken or butts. There were 85 teams entered and we finished 54th. Not bad for a couple of newbys. We had a great time, met some nice peeps, and got some 'sperience. Cant wait till the next one! Here are some pics of out turn in boxes.