luke, Author at Old Virginia Smoke - Page 5 of 7 Archive

Hold Her Newt…She’s Headed for the Buckwheat

Memorial Day weekend is always special for us. We make our annual pilgrimage to Rochester, New York, to visit Kim’s family for the weekend and participate in the Roc City Rib Fest. It is a fantastic event, hosted by Brian and John, two fantastic guys. Just a great crew of organizers and volunteers that make sure you don’t want for anything.

Roc City plays host to a rib only competition on Saturday, as well as the World Bacon Championships. We didn’t cook bacon last year, but practiced a bunch this year.

Roc City also plays host to a bunch of pitfalls to reach up and grab ya. Friday night last year was a hell of a party, one which Luke wasn’t quite expecting. This year, he came prepared.

After setting up Friday afternoon, and then having a marvelous dinner made by Aunt Debbie, Bean, Mommas, Uncle Mike, Kristine, Dusty, Vince and Mini Vinny….(and lest not forget 8 layer jello by Miss Carly), Luke returned to the park loaded for bear, and went to visit his buddy DivaQ with a pre-planned bottle of blackberry shine.

The whole DivaQ crew was in the house, and the first bottle of shine was eliminated in what seemed like minutes. The chant “pineapple! pineapple!” started. Then that jar was eliminated.

All told, it took about 45 minutes.

Everyone was feeling good. Real good. Except Miss Jessie, who kept looking at Luke and giving him throat slash gestures.

Not to go into too much detail, but there were many hilarious and somewhat tragic moments throughout the evening. Of note–

–Watched a grown man run in his underwear through the park and back to get a cheap beer hat. Was not Luke.

–Luke putting on a fantastic dancing display, of which many compliments were given the next day. (Whether it was magnificent or not is all conjecture. Very little was remembered.)

–a dancing display that was punctuated by Luke falling over in a cook site, destroying a chair, and not going over very well.

So Saturday begins with Kim arriving at the trailer to find Luke perfectly situated in his cot, heat on, and afraid of the light. We began our bacon prep and cooking, and began the apology tour that was necessary. (Again, I’m so sorry about the chair Jay.)

The bacon cook was fun. With all of that however, the rib cook on Saturday kinda got lost, and we didn’t do so well. But we did manage a 9th place call in bacon in a box, and Kim earned a 9th place dessert call with her fantastic bourbon bacon chocolate pecan pie. Everything back to normal, a beautiful air show by the Blue Angels, and Rochester garbage plates completed the evening. It was time to make the donuts.

The great part about cooking different events around the country is meeting new people. We met a ton this year, but wanted to give a special shout out to our new friends at Rack Em BBQ and Sweet Heat BBQ. Couldn’t ask for better neighbors or a better time.

We had a good cook. No surprises. And another air show which was fantastic. We went to awards feeling good.

Didn’t know what we were in store for.

We won chicken. That had never happened before. And then…we won ribs. Holy crap. Then a 6th place pork call. Looking pretty good, but so was our good friend Bill Gillespie with Smokin’ Hoggz, winner of last year’s American Royal Invitational. Who also collects beer hats.

Brisket comes down, and Bill gets his fourth call. And OVS gets shut out. They hate our brisket up north.

They announce the top ten and it comes down to the two of us. And OVS eeeked out a .5 point win for our second ever GC.

Such an amazing weekend, one that won’t be forgotten for a long time. We will miss our northern BBQ family, and look forward to seeing them on the BBQ trail.

Huge thank you to our sponsors Dizzy Pig, BBQ Guru, Hav’n a BBQ Sauce, Kosmos Q, and the Wine’ing Butcher.

On to the next one at the Beltway BBQ Showdown in Ft. Washington, MD.

Get Naked and Show Em the Biscuit

This past weekend was the first competition of the season for Old Virginia Smoke at the Go Naked Ironman held at Mason Dixon BBQ Services in Greencastle, PA.

The Ironman, put on by Eric Forrester and Mark Flanagan, is one of the more unique events in our area. You agree to cook only 7 pieces of chiicken, 1 rack of ribs, 1 pork butt and 1 brisket, all without the help of fans or electronic gadgetry.

We had never done anything like this…and missed our BBQ family terribly. So we signed up and went, despite everything that we have heard about the weather!

And boy, were they right. It rained during most of set up, and then got windy and cold. Pretty much all of the chalenges you would want while ccoking without controls and fans. We had to concentrate really hard, and really monitor our cook to make sure we hit all of our marks.

And we did a real good job in a pretty tough field. Finished 8th overall, with a 3rd place pork call.

You read that right. A third place pork call.

But that wasn`t the highlight of our weekend. That was reserved for getting to hangout with our BBQ family after a long cold ass winter. Uncle Dave from Pavone Brothers was there…so were Jack and Jenny from Black Cat…who are always up for a good time. Lets not forget the wildman from Smoking Gnome, Mr. Sal who provided us with a very nice post turn ins drinking implement. And who could leave out our pals from 3 Eyz, Bone to Bark, Pig Pen…who had the dubious pleasure of cooking next to us. Got to see our buddy Big Ugly. And who could forget cooking next to Mark Gibbs of Checkered Flag 500. The fun never ceases there…his brisket punched us in the face. The boys from Brown Liquor and 1752 were off in the distance…all good times and great fun. Mike Fay and Mike and Barb from Chix, Swine and Bovine were even around to cheer the group on.

But the constant during the weekend was the recent loss of our friend Bill Allen. Bill died 3 weeks ago at a competition in Georgia after receiving a perfect 180 score in chicken. He was signed up to cook this weekend. Our friends Mike Skahill and Sean Moffat cooked under Bill`s Hollywood n Swine Banner, and brought home a third place ribs. It was touching, emotional, and fun all in the same breath. 270 Smokers had a pot luck on Friday night to celebrate Bill, which was attended by our friends from PigPickers.

Wont forget this competition for a while. A really good time, and a very emotional time. Congrats to 270 Smokers for the GC, and to 3 Eyz on the RGC. Back in the saddle quickly…next week we enter into Delaware for the first time!

OVS at The American Royal

The American Royal. The World Series of BBQ. Kansas City, Missouri.

Old Virginia Smoke went there in our second year. How awesome.

By qualification from our win in Fort Washington, MD, we got to drive halfway across the country to compete with the world’s best BBQ teams in the American Royal Invitational and the American Royal Open.

It was quite the undertaking, to say the least. Lucas and his friend Keith set out on Friday night the week before for sort of a “boys” trip across America. We stopped in Big 12 country to see family and friends in Morgantown, WV. We then put in a full day down I-70 and ended up in SEC Country in Columbia, Missouri. (See…that doesn’t make much sense…)

Hit KC on Sunday and enjoyed watching football and trying out some bars in the area. On Monday, we were fortunate enough to have great seats at Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs thumping of the Patriots. A few days of work, and every food recommendation from Diva Q…and it was time to get down to business.

There are two sides to the parking lot at the American Royal. Lot A, and Lot B. We were on what’s known as “The Dark Side.” This area is populated by corporate parties, keggers, ice luges and generally tomfoolery. And OVS was right in the middle of it.

We were pretty sheltered from the madness, and spent a lot of time with the other invitational teams over on the other side. A fabulous steak dinner on Thursday night from our friends at Redneck Scientific (that was a perfect 180 steak, Sean) followed up by some guitar and guitjo playing from Luke, Leigh Anne and Sean resulted in one of the best Thursdays we have ever had at a BBQ competition.

Friday was game time. Neil Pappalardo, who came all the way to KC to help us out, landed around 10. We got the perimeter set up, purchased some firewood for the WSM fire pit, and prepped everything. Beautiful fireworks and thumpin bass set the tone for the evening. At about 3 a.m., all finally went quiet on the Western front.

We had a really good cook. Of course there were 10 things that I wish I had done different, but still…thought it went really well. Got everything turned in on time, and then sat down for some delicious beer with Jay Reeder at 420 Q, and the good folks at Aporkalypse Now. The girls and Neil got all of the sides and the dessert put together and turned in. All was over but the cryin’, part 1.

The awards were like nothing we had ever been to. Everyone in the BBQ universe was there. We had arranged to watch awards with our good friends from back east, Rock and Dreama from Rock’s Money Pit.

Awards came and went, and MABA rose up STRONG. (Again, I apologize if I miss anyone. It isn’t intentional.)

Big congrats to Tommy with Checkered Pig for 13th chicken, to Superman Jerry for 10th place Ribs, to our friends Mike and Barb with Chix, Swine and Bovine for 4th Ribs and 6th place pork, Beerbeque for 4th place pork. A special shout to Rock’s Money Pit, with a PERFECT PERFECT 180 (all 9’s) in brisket!

A very huge congrats to Chix, Swine and Bovine for a 10th overall finish. And a tremendous congratulations to our friend Bill Gillespie and his team Smokin Hoggz BBQ for their GC in the Invitational. We met Bill earlier in the year when we ventured up to Rochester, NY. It was such fantastic spectacle to see a friend win.

OVS finished highest in ribs with a 28th place finish, and a 69th place finish in brisket. I won’t lie. Despite knowing that the odds were low against such stiff competition, I still thought we’d get a call. Definitely thought the brisket was good enough. Got a nice little pep talk from Superman and, after another fantastic meal prepared by Roxanne with Redneck Scientific, we went back to the trailer and got after it.

A lot of time was spent thinking about the previous day’s cook. We talked about some little tweaks that we could make. We were being challenged. We had never cooked a back to back competition before. Everyone was beat. But we had to press on.

Much quieter the second night on the dark side. More fireworks, and another Royals victory. And another very solid cook. We did it, and that was a sense of accomplishment on its own. We went to the Open awards with our heads held high, ready to root for our friends. As customary, we went to the other side of the arena, which we do for every awards presentation that we’ve been to twice. And then, all of a sudden, we’re sitting next to Tuffy Stone, Jamie Geer, and Rod Gray. No big deal!

Another fantastic finish for MABA teams. Mike and Barb followed up their 10th place in the Invitational with a 10th place in the Open. That’s a tremendous accomplishment. And a huge congrats to Tuffy Stone from Cool Smoke on their GC. That gives them the Royal Invitational last year, the Jack, and this year’s Open. That’s unprecedented.

And lo and behold, Old Virginia Smoke got called up for 2nd place beans! We heard our name there. We got the boots dirty. And that alone was worth the trip.

We followed up the awards with going to the final recommendation from DivaQ, Stroud’s fried chicken. I cannot wait to go back to Kansas City, just to have that.

There are too many people to thank really. Thank you to my family and friends. Thank you to our Kickstarter supporters who helped us with the trailer. Thank you to Neil Pappalardo for coming out and helping. Thank you to Chix Swine and Bovine, Blue Bloods, Checkered Pig for the hospitality. Thanks to Rob at Q39 for the ride home. Thanks to Redneck Scientific for making us a part of their family for a few days. We hope to return the favor soon. Thank you to the people who called with encouragement. Thank you to DivaQ for the recommendations for food, and for the encouragement as well.

Thank you to our sponsors, first and foremost, Dizzy Pig and Chris Cappell. None of this would be possible without you guys. Thank you so much to BBQ Guru and Hav’n a BBQ for all of your support. And thank you to the Wine’ing Butcher for some great meat products.

But most of all, thank you to my best friend Leigh Anne, and my wife Kim. They are the rocks. They are the reason that we’re successful. And I couldn’t do it without them.

“What the wha. . . ?” Recovery Fest, Richmond VA: September 5-6, 2014

We love the folks at the McShin Foundation!!! They have such a wonderful approach to the treatment of addiction — “smoke meat not drugs.” How can you argue with that? As such, we were pleased to return to the mean streets of Richmond for their annual Recovery Fest and BBQ competition.

Pitmaster Luke D rolled into town and did a solo site-up and prep session. After that, it was time to sit down and visit with our friends at JD’s Smokin Misfits, Grand Slam, Pavone Brothers, Rock’s Money Pit, and Fred Vegas. Luke and Grand Slam pitmaster Neil Pappalardo had just wrapped up dinner when Kim and Leigh Anne showed up after work and struggles with traffic. Despite the turning of the calendar pages into September, it still felt like the dog days of summer. We had all the h-words — hot, hazy, and humid.

We were pleased to be joined by our good friend Nate Duke and his fiance Brittani Robinson for this cook. Nate has been up and down the BBQ circuit this summer, visiting festivals and learning everything he can about competition BBQ. It was great to have some extra hands and another strong back on the team. Nate was a working machine!

We were also pleased to introduce our newest team member, the flame-throwing weedburner that we use to light our trusty Backwoods smokers. Our friends in Serial Grillers turned us on to these bad boys down in Galax. After a few weeks of practice, we felt ready to put ’em in the trailer and bring ’em to the big dance. Boy howdy — lighting a firebox ain’t ever been easier!

Of course, when you hit 100% humidity at 4 a.m., sometimes a smoker reacts. So we found ourselves running a little hot through the night. Still, that probably worked out for the best because we had two monster pork butts from our newest sponsor, the Wine’ing Butcher in Ashburn, VA. These little piggies . . . okay, technically not-so-little piggies . . .came out looking and tasting amazing.

It was a weird awards ceremony. Despite our pleas and protestations, the McShin folks only read out the top fives for each category. And, for the first time in a long while, we didn’t hear our name in chicken, ribs, pork, or brisket. It was hot, uncomfortable, and disappointing sitting under that tent. We clapped for our friends and shared high-fives and hugs when they walked, but we sat there wondering just what went wrong. When they started announcing the top five competitors, imagine the surprise when “third place, Old Virginia Smoke” rang out over the loudspeakers. There was a collective “Huh?” When we finally got the score sheets, it turned out to be a three-call competition — 6th in chicken, 7th in ribs, and 9th in brisket.

So that hot afternoon in Richmond turned out to be our second best finish EVER. The world works in mysterious ways!!!!

A hearty congratulations to Rock’s Money Pit on the GC and Fred Vegas Smoker’s on the RGC.

And here’s a big chicken.

As always, we appreciate all the help we get from our sponsors — Dizzy Pig BBQ, the BBQ Guru, Bob’s Have’na BBQ Sauce,the Wine’ing Butcher, and all our Kickstarter supporters.

Up next . . .ROAD TRIP TO THE ROYAL. Your faithful barbecue team is headed to Kansas City for the American Royal World Series of BBQ. Heaven help us all!!!!

#pinkystrong — Sam’s Club Local Laurel, MD: August 22-23, 2014

The New Virginia Creeper, the name of our trailer, occasionally demands a sacrifice. On Friday morning, Pitmaster Luke raked his pinky finger across the edge of the diamond plate on her nose, shedding blood and meeting said demands. It was an interesting start to the weekend.

With one digit wrapped in gauze, Luke got the gear to the Sam’s Club parking lot in Laurel at 10 a.m. that morning, with Leigh Anne right on his tail. After getting the trailer parked next to our friends at Hog-It-Up BBQ, Luke departed to the nearest urgent care facility while Leigh Anne put the trailer together. The mighty pitmaster returned with Burger King for lunch, 4 stitches in his pinky, and a tetanus shot to find the facility put together. With Kim joining in on Friday evening, the team hosted an impromptu potluck supper. Our friends from Hog-It-Up, Pepper Monkey, Redneck Scientific, Brown Liquor and RESQ brought over some amazing food and great company. After a quick cat-nap, it was time to light the fires and get the smoke a-rolling.

The weather report called for a 50% chance of rain on both Friday and Saturday. Somehow, we made it through the night without a drop. It was actually a beautiful night, although no one took Leigh Anne up on her offer to play some produce department floor hockey at 4 a.m. at the local 24-hour Wal-Mart.

By mid-morning, everyone’s luck ran out. What started as a light drizzle would alternate with solid showers. We carried our turn-in boxes under a giant umbrella. Once brisket was turned in, everyone commenced to breaking down as quickly as possible, despite the downpour. We were told awards would start promptly at 3 p.m., and that’s exactly what happened. We tried to find some dry clothes as we gathered to hear the results.

Our new chicken process seems to be headed in the right direction, yielding a 12th place finish. No one seemed to like our ribs or pork, which is surprising. We swing back and forth on the pig products, despite not varying our process. We just don’t understand. Thankfully, we were able to produce an amazing brisket, which yielded us our call for the day and hey – 1st place ain’t nothing to sneeze at it. With a finish of 9th overall, we did not advance to the Sam’s Club Regional in Richmond next weekend. However, much love our mates at Redneck Scientific, Brown Liquor, and Checkered Flag 500 — we’ll be rooting for all of you next weekend. It was great to cook next to our old friends at Hog-It-Up and nice to make new friends at Big Block BBQ (also congrats on advancing). Way to go Pork Barrel for the GC and Sauce This for the RGC.

As always, we sincerely appreciate the support we get from Dizzy Pig, BBQ Guru, Bob’s Have’na BBQ Sauce, Hunts Point Meat and our Kickstarter friends. Thank you for everything that you do!

We’ll see you in a few weeks down the road in Richmond for Recovery Fest. Everyone have a great Labor Day weekend!!!!

“No pants!” – MD State BBQ Bash, Bel Air, Maryland – August 8-9

OVS hit the road to Bel Air for the MD State BBQ Bash. We had been to Bel Air before for the MABA awards in the spring, and had asked the question….where do they put all of the teams?

In a word….everywhere.

Luke and Kim showed up on Thursday to beat the rush of teams, and got a really cool spot next to our old friends’ Aporkalypse Now, and our new friends Rockin Robyn’s BBQ and Who Are Those Guys?…the esteemed Mr. George Hensler.

We will get to our other neighbors soon.

We had a nice dinner, watched some football with Rolph and Robyn (I use the term football loosely…it was the Ravens…and then the Chargers…)and then turned in for the night.

It was the 13th annual event at Bel Air, and from what we understand, they’ve never had weather as beautiful as it was this weekend. Slightly chilly in the morning, and then beautiful all day. We’d never cooked anything with such a crowd before. The music was cranked, and people were everywhere! All meats were prepped in time, and we were treated to a fabulous pot luck meal with Rockin Robyn’s, Aporkalypse, Pepper Monkey and the demons at Brown Liquor BBQ. LAT arrived and we were ready to go.

The cook went real smooth…no surprises. Except…as we were putting on meats around 12:30, the guy next to us decided to get his pork butts ready…in his underwear. If you look close enough, you can see him in the background of this pic. See him there…on the left…

OVS started a new breakfast regimen…yogurt and fruit first thing in the morning. Kept the energy UP!

Awards started on time…and man was it packed! Also, there was a drone above videotaping the awards. OVS brought home fifth place in ribs, a first place in brisket and 5th overall! For our brisket win…we got something that we had always been hoping for…a giant check! I dunno where we’re going to put it, but damn is it cool.

Congrats to Team Meat Coma on their GC, and to 3 Eyz on their RGC. Everyone in our little quadrant got a call. A first class competition by Craig Ward and the crew in Bel Air. We will be back next year!

Next up…our first venture into the SAMS Club tournament, with the local qualifier in Laurel, MD.

“Red Sky at Night . . :” Southern Maryland Brew & BBQ Festival in Leonardtown, MD (August 1-2, 2014)

Mike Palmer knows how to throw a motherhumping competition.

Beautiful location? Check. Ample power and water, and free ice? Check. 80’s hard rock band asking for sexual favors from the stage? Check! Professional wrestling mid-afternoon? Check! A 60-team field of heavy-hitting KCBS teams cooking their asses off? Check! A 60-team field of heavy-hitting KCBS partying their asses off well into Sunday morning’s wee hours? Check!

Luke and Kim helped out with the judging for the Friday Backyard competitions before settling down to dinner with our good friends at Grand Slam BBQ. By then, Friday evening was…in a word…moist. Demoralizingly wet. Yet, spirits were high. With awesome live music in the background, we got everything in order and did our best to light our fires.

Leigh Anne, who mans the night watch at the Black Gate (aka the OVS Porch) reported that the rain stopped around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, and it held off for the most part of Saturday. Our wonderful friend Roger Fair stopped by and dropped off our new banner holder. We proudly displayed our 2013 MABA Rookie of the Year Banner in it. Speaking of our favorite regional association, OVS hosted a well-attended 10 a.m. MABA shot, and Mike Fay gave all attendees MABA-branded shot glasses.

After our Greek tragedy of a chicken score in Galax, imagine our surprise to get an 8th place call for our bird in Leonardtown! We also walked away with a 3rd place for brisket, which helped us finish 10th overall. WOOT WOOT! At this point, the insanity began. With Kix blaring in the background, inhibitions were shed, moonshine was consumed, golf carts were commandeered, and hangovers were earned.

We cannot heap enough praise on Mike Palmer, Beckie Palmer, and the amazing crew at Full Effect Live! Entertainment Group. You folks have set the standard for organizing a competition. Just go ahead and take our entry fee money now for next year! Congratulations to Big Ugly on the GC and 3Eyz on the RGC. We love hanging out with our Dizzy Pig friends Grand Slam and Pepper Monkey. Always a pleasure seeing DivaQ — you keep spending time down here and you might as well get an apartment! It’s damn hard to find better neighbors than JD’s Smokin Misfits and Checkered Flag 500 BBQ. Roger Fair — thank you again for our sign and the photos!!! As always, we couldn’t have done this without support from Dizzy Pig, BBQ Guru, BBQ Bob’s Have’n’a BBQ, Huntspoint, and all our Kickstarter friends.

It’s a quick turnaround! We’re back on the road to Bel Air, MD next week. See you all there!!!!

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