The Snowshoe Recap

By Kris

It's Sunday afternoon, Mike and I just finished the last of the cleanup and unpacking from yesterdays Annual Snowshoe Grilling Challenge. The months leading up to this contest have been filled with both anticipation and dread. We were very excited to finally compete after five long months and to catch up with all of our favorite BBQer's . The dread quickly followed, for those favorite BBQer's make up some of the best teams in the area. After weeks of practicing the four grilling categories, the day finally arrived.

The Contest, held at the Abington VFW, was well organized by Gary and Michelle Taft. Once again they did a great job. They provided coffee and donuts, goodie bags, raffles, and raised over $600 for St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry.

We arrived at 7:30 am, set up our site and started prepping and grilling immediately. Since grilling comps are fast paced and hectic, the day flew by. Before we knew it all the entries were turned in and the wait began for the results. We got one call for third place sausage fattie.

All in all it was a great day. Only 75 days until our next comp...but who's counting.

The Morning After

Sausage Fattie With Homemade Pancakes

This is our sausage fattie from The Snowshoe Grilling Challenge yesterday. Stay tuned for a full report on yesterday's event.

Friday Night Food Porn

Cranberry stuffed pork tenderloin with a maple syrup glaze

Since I'm packing up right now and getting ready for The Snowshoe Grilling Challenge, I figured I would post a picture of a past turn in from a grilling competition.

This was our pork tenderloin turn in from Hogstock 2007, in Warren, NH. It was open garnish but you had to use maple syrup. This was all Kris. She formulated the recipe, she practiced it for weeks before, she did the prep, and she did the presentation. When it got a call for first place I was so happy for her. If you want the recipe you'll have to get it from her.

Two Days and Counting

Packed and almost ready!
You know BBQ season is close when our garage turns into Lakeside Smokers Headquarters.

Getting Ready

It's going to be a slow week on this blog, but a very busy week for me. The week before a competition is always a hectic one for Kris and I. The grilling practice is all done, but now its time for inventory, organizing, cleaning grills, prep, shopping, packing...The first competition of the season seems to be the hardest to get ready for. Some of our stuff is in the garage, some of the stuff is in the basement, and some of our stuff is missing. So this is the week for us to go over everything and see what we'll need for the year.

So, sorry for the lack of posts this week. I will be posting a Friday Night Food Porn this Friday. But from this post till then, I can't promise anything.

The Snowshoe

One week from today The Snowshoe Grilling Challenge will be happening in Abington, MA. Some of the best teams from New England and New York will be converging on the VFW parking lot to compete for the title of Snowshoe Grand Champion. A much sought after title in this area.

Kris and I are really excited about this event. It's been a long winter and just seeing some of the teams that we have not seen in a while will be great. But also it's been a long time since we have competed. Our last competition was on October 21, 2007, in Salville, NY. That was five months ago! Way too long. I remember driving back from New York thinking to myself, what should we cook for The Snowshoe? It's a sickness, I know, but most of the people reading this blog understand it completely.

So for the past 2 months we have been grilling every chance we get. My fish monger and butcher are in their glory with the amount of practice we've been doing. Our neighbors are always willing to come by for a snack and give us some feedback. I'm sort of happy with most of what we're doing so it should all come down to execution. But with this field of competitors I fully expect to finish somewhere near the bottom...

Here is the team list:

Transformer BBQ
Smoke'em if ya Gott'em
Lakeside Smokers
Q Haven
Purple Turtle
Feeding Friendz
Que Ball
Uncle Jed
Boneyard Smokers
I Que
I Smell Smoke!!!
Yabba Dabba Que
Dr. Frank N' Swine
Big Boned BBQ
Dirty Dick & The Legless Wonders
Porkaholics
Pokey Smokers
Wildwood BBQ

Friday Night Food Porn

Pastrami Poppers

Pastrami poppers, or PBT's, are halved jalapeños, stuffed with cheese, then wrapped with raw corned beef. As far as I know they were invented by a guy on The BBQ Brethren who goes by the handle trp1fox. As soon as I saw his I knew I needed to make some for myself.

This is how I made mine.
I halved the jalapeños, took out the seeds and stems, then soaked them in Sprite overnight. The next day I smoked them for about 1 hour at 250 degrees.



After one hour I took them out of the smoker and stuffed them with Pepper Jack Cheese and wrapped them with thinly sliced corned beef. I seasoned them with lots of fresh cracked pepper, garlic powder, and a little BBQ rub. I used a toothpick to keep them together and got them back into the smoker.


I finished smoking them for about another hour, until the corned beef magically turns into pastrami.



Enjoy!

New Toy

Looks like I might be busy for a few days....

iPhone

Goodbye Dozer, You Will Be Missed

Today my friends English Bulldog, Dozer, died. My friend Ryan has had Dozer for all 12 years of her life. She was a great dog. She was lazy, clumsy, and a little stupid...hard not to love. We will all miss her.

It makes me think about my dog, Maggie. She's just over one year old now and we love her very much. She's still very much a puppy, curious and playful. Kris and I walk her all the time, she plays with other dogs, and loves playing with our Nieces and Nephews.



When something like this happens, it makes you thankful for what you have. Going out for a walk now. Talk to you later...

Limerock Canceled!

Last night we found out that Limerock Rubbn' and Racin' is canceled. The competition was going to be held at Limerock Park in Lakeville, CT; the same place as last year. All of last years competitors said it was a great venue with room to grow. It was not to be I guess. We were really looking forward to this one. It was close, room for a motor home, and it was coming up soon. It was planned for May 23-25. So this means that we will not be doing a KCBS comp until June 13-14, Peters Pond. Luckily, The Snowshoe Grilling Challenge will be here in less then two weeks!! I'll blog about that soon.

Why?

This is my first post to The Lakeside Blog and all I can think is...why? Why would someone read what I have to say? All my friends who have blogs always tell me 'Mike you need a blog.' OK...here it is.

For the most part this blog will cover BBQ. Or more specifically, competing on the BBQ circuit. But I'm sure some cooking, drinking and travel posts might end up in here also. Hopefully you guys will look past my horrible grammar, my poor spelling, and the long time between posts.

Was that enough to write? Should I keep on going? I'm drinking coffee right now...is that what people want to know? Maybe someone can post a comment and tell me if I'm 'blogging' right...