Business had been dragging at the end of the 2010 season, which allowed me to do something I only seemed to talk about...I entered my first ever BBQ competition!    This one happened to be in Norwalk CT, 9/10-12/2010.  The "Bar*B*Que pit at the Oyster Festival" competition.... 

I flew under the flag of my buddy Eric Simon, who's team name is "I'm a Hog for 'Que, Baby!" (For all you Grateful Dead fans, this is an old cover tune the GD used to play, back in the Pig Pen Days!).         Eric and I have been friends for years, and we share a love of all things food, especially BBQ!    We've even attended a BBQ class together.   In the last year or so, Eric's dug in deep to develop his BBQ Competition skills and techniques.  This was Eric's 4th competition.   Because of the proximity to both our homes, and because there was a Whole Hog Category... Eric's prodded me pretty hard to participate.    (As much as I wanted to do it, I also have to keep my calendar open for paying catering clients, who book at the last minute).    There were 32 competitors participating in the Norwalk Competition, of which 9 participated in the Whole Hog Category. 

I'm really proud to say that in the Whole Hog Category, we placed 3rd!!   I'm very happy about that!  1st place went to Jack McDavid of Food Network's "Chillen & Grillin" fame, a guy who knows what he's doing.   We won $300! (Eric & I together invested about $1400 total to be part of this).

We did pretty lousy at many of the other categories, including the Peoples Choice chowder, the NEBS grilling categories (Seafood, Sausage Fatty, Dessert, RibEye) and the Iron man competition (Surprise Ingredients: Skirt Steak & Asparagus). We blew off the chicken wing and chili category.. it was just too much to deal with. And we didn't do well with the KCBS entries (Chicken, Ribs, Shoulder, Brisket) either, in fact we got slammed.

I don't think I ever had so much fun at a pig roast before. We had hundreds of people come by for 2oz samples during the "People's Choice" segment of the judging. That was *crazy*.

The Whole Hog judging was based on three scoring scenarios:

1.) 3 judges visited us at our booth, to get the view of it, the talk, and the first tasting. The goal is to make them feel comfortable, talk about what you did to prepare the pig, then let them taste. Gotta know what you're talking about. I kinda stumbled and stammered a little, with 2 hours of sleep on my hands. I know what I can do to make it better though.

2.) A blind box was submitted. Like a take out container submitted to 6 judges. My turn in box could've been prettier too...lots of confusion as to what garnish was appropriate.

3.) People's Choice. Festival attendees pay $$$ to get 2oz sample cups.  They visit the whole hog booths, taste, and the one they like best gets their "coin".  We did great here.  People LOVED our pig, LOVED my sauces, and LOVED how we presented it.

I'm not sure I'm gonna run off to join the BBQ competition circuit anytime soon though.  LOTS of work (Three 14 hour days of foodservice), and it's a roll of the dice if you win or not. Whereas with catering jobs, I'm guaranteed to be the "Grand Champion" of every category and take home the big check at every single job!   But I can now officially say "Award Winning Whole Hog" without feeling like I'm scamming anyone!  

Who knows though.   I've got the bug.    I'll probably enter some more competitions next season.   Either continue to fly under Eric's team name (if he even lets me!), or perhaps even under the "Eddie's Portable Pig out" team name.      But If I was to fly solo, I really need to work out some ass-kickin' entries for some of the other standard categories (KCBS, grilling, Desserts, etc)..

Here's some pics.