Old Virginia Smoke featured on The Food Network’s BBQ USA

So many things to say.

Our episode aired last night, and we’d like to thank the friends and family that have supported us throughout this journey. A huge shout out to all the of the people who watched and participated in the show via social media.  The outpouring of support has been something to behold.

We couldn’t do this without all of you.  A special shout out to our teammates Leigh Anne Terry and Rick and Liz Hamilton.  You guys keep us steady when we need leveled and make sure we have everything we need to do this.  Also a huge thanks to Kelly Huff and Adam Bowen for helping to take care of our trailer and make sure it shined, and also for watching Odin at SissyCamp.

Filming BBQ USA was a tremendous experience.  It was a lot of work, a lot of fun and very rewarding in the end.  Getting to meet Chef Symon and work with him and his team is something we’ll never forget.

Top two questions we’ve been asked since the show aired—

• What’s Chef Symon like? – He’s about as genuine as they come. I don’t think he knows how to be anyone else but himself.  And you can’t help but laugh when he’s laughing.
• Was Kim standing on something during the interviews? –Yes! It’s called an apple box.  It was hilarious.

A huge shout out to all of the people who were on our episode with us – Darling Nikki, Amazie-Q, Top Gun BBQ and Wolf’s Revenge.  Class acts, all of them.  Honored to share the screen with them.

We couldn’t do competition BBQ if it wasn’t for our partners. Prairie Fresh, Snake River Farms, Big Poppa Smokers, Blues Hog, BBQData.com, Two Drummers Butcher Shop and Provisions.  You guys make all of this possible.

I couldn’t be more grateful to The Food Network, Chef Michael Symon, Simple Alien and all of the people who worked on BBQ USA.  Thank you so much for this opportunity!

This is just the beginning!  Make sure to keep up with Old Virginia Smoke on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and our website!  We got a whole bunch more flavor for ya!

Our sincerest thanks to all of you,

Luke and Kim

Old Virginia Smoke Comp BBQ Class Dec.

OVS Raffle – Journey 4 A Cure!

One of the best things that Old Virginia Smoke has had the opportunity to participate in is Big Poppa Smokers Cooking 4 Kids program for 2018.

The program involves 12 of the best teams and people in BBQ, competing in a season long points chase.  The winner gets money from Big Poppa Smokers to donate to the children’s charity of their choice.

Our charity is Journey 4 a Cure.  Journey 4 A Cure is a Pediatric Cancer foundation a committed to — finding ways to fund research, increasing awareness about the realities of pediatric cancer and enhancing the lives of children battling cancer.

We have been involved off an on with Journey 4 A Cure since its creation in 2010.  When we were approached about this opportunity this past offseason, we were very excited to combine our passion for BBQ and Journey 4 A Cure.

With that said, we wanted to do something during the season for Journey 4 a Cure as well.  So we are having a raffle which will take place this weekend, September 29, at 2:30 p.m. at the Smithfield Guinea Pig Contest in Richmond, VA.

Each entry will be $10, all proceeds going to Journey 4 A Cure.    The following items will be raffled–

• 2 entires into Old Virginia Smoke’s Next Competition Class
• A Cyber Q Cloud Controller from BBQ Guru
• A rub pack from Big Poppa Smokers
• A 10 piece BBQ knife set from Gunter Wilhelm cutlery, customized with the logo of your choice
• A 10 -12 lb USDA Prime Brisket from MisterBrisket.com
• A one year subscription to BBQData.com

We will accept entries from today until Friday at 11:59 p.m.  The drawing will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in Richmond, VA.

Thank you for joining us on this Journey 4 a Cure.

Participate here!   https://fundly.com/ovs-journey-4-a-cure-raffle

OVS BBQ Class – October 27-28! Edgewater, Maryland!

Old Virginia Smoke Competition Class Announced for April 14-15

Time to announce our April Competition Class! Will take place Saturday, April 14th and Sunday, April 15th at Galvinell Meat Company in Conowingo, MD. Spots are limited!

Download the registration form and sign up today!

OVS Competition Class -Galvinells

A great last minute Christmas present!

OVS World Food Championship – Post 2 of 3

It’s 10:30 on a Saturday night and you just finished 7^th in an all star BBQ field in the Word Food Championships KCBS portion of the contest, and you’ve been into the bourbon pretty good already…what do you do?

You shut down the party and get to work.

Fresh off a 2^nd place brisket call and a 7^th overall in the KCBS part of the contest, the OVS crew wondered through the gravel lot at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama, searching for the score sheet and just…kinda walkin’ around with dumb grins on their faces.

We couldn’t believe it.  We never dreamed that we were moving on.  We’d lived to cook another day.

But this presented some issues.

We sure as schnitzel had zero idea what we were going to cook.

As we continued to walk around, things started to fall into focus, and a plan began to take shape.  But it wasn’t from anything that we had to offer at this point.  It was coming from our BBQ family.

One of the first people we encountered on this walk were Brian and Shannon Turner of Muttley Crew BBQ.  They were quick to offer a congratulations and said, “We have four wagyu tri-tips in the fridge.  They are yours if you want them for tomorrow.”

A plan was starting to take shape.

Next, we saw our great friends Suzanne and Jared Huizenga from Insane Swine.  They had plates that we could use.

We grabbed the score sheet and headed straight back to the hotel at the beach, and sat down outside by the pool and started kicking around ideas.  The tri-tip was the ticket.  Luke had cooked it before (never in a smoker, let alone a Deep South), but at least it was something.  And it was high quality.  Luke messaged Brian and took him up on his offer.  The tri-tip would be picked up in the morning.

What else?

Luke said, “You guys never lose when you make the lobster bacon mac and cheese.  I think we should do it.  I can cook the lobster tails in the smoker, and also the bacon.  Then we can finish the mac and cheese in the smoker as well.”

The girls agreed.  We had a plan.  But we were now in WFC territory…with presentation and plating.  Time to bring in the experts.  More BBQ family.

Calls were placed to the two best cooks we know on the BBQ circuit, Roxanne Manley of Redneck Scientific and Danielle “DIVA Q” Bennett.  Kim, Leigh Anne, and Luke spent roughly an hour on the phone, plotting out the strategy and how to best execute our plan.

The next day would start SUPER early.  Luke went to the cooksite to figure out more about what time we could start, how the cookers would be set up, and other logistical things.  Leigh Anne and Kim set to increasing the bottom line of the Orange Beach economy by doing some shopping for ingredients and plating.

While figuring out all the logistics back at the site, Luke spent some time on the phone with some additional BBQ family, getting encouragement, tips, and operational procedures.  A call to the flavor guru Chris Capell with Dizzy Pig confirmed the flavor goal, and a call to Mark Gibbs from Checkered Flag 500 would give a road map on how to effectively use the Deep South.

We also were super excited that our friends Jared and Suzanne had decided to stay an extra day to support Old Virginia Smoke.  This was huge for us, as they had offered us encouragement all along.  Suzanne said she had a feeling about us the entire time.

The teams were assigned a spot, and we’d be cooking on a big beautiful red Deep South smoker, powered by a bright pink BBQ Guru.  We had a spot on the end, and would be right next to one of our BBQ mentors, Donny Bray and Warren County Pork Choppers.  Next to Donny was the Grand Champion from the previous day, Adam Gautreu of Cajun Blaze, and then next to him was Heath Riles from Victory Lane, one of the most accomplished pitmasters in all of BBQ.  And of course, next to him was the incomparable Matt Barber from Hot Wachulas.

Whew.   And another five teams on the other side, just as good.

Luke started moving things from the OVS trailer over to our temporary cook site, including decorating the Deep South with the white and blue OVS logos.  She sure did look sharp.  The girls showed up with everything they needed, and we got to setting up everything.

Everyone was deep in prep.  Wood was being cut for displays.  Teams were loaded up for everything.  One even brought in the head chef from FloraBama, one of the best restaurants in the area.  We had a start time, and everything looked great.

Except the temp on the cookers.  The guru’s all read 200 degrees.  But the dials were registering just under 400.  Turns out the BBQ Guru’s were all still on degrees Celsius for the Euro teams that cooked on them the day prior.  So a touch hotter than we expected.

And then it was go time.  2 hours certainly seemed like a long time.  But it wasn’t.  We cooked everything as we set out to do so.  The lobster tails were cooked in the smoker.  The bacon was cooked in the smoker.  And tri-tips were smoked until they reached an acceptable temp.

We had a cast iron pan sitting on the heat tube in the bottom of the Deep South Smoker, getting it piping hot.  About 15 minutes before turn in, Luke opened the door of the Deep South, leaned inside, and seared off all four pieces of tri-tip in the cast iron pan.  They looked and smelled beautiful.

The girls were still working on pulling the mac and cheese together.  But Luke was done with the tri-tip.  BBQ family member Todd from Uncle Toad’s was there.  Luke sliced off a piece and handed it to Todd.  (I wish I could remember his exact words, but they were basically, “Turn in 10 just like that.”)

We started to pull the plating together just as we had discussed the night before.  The sauce was made.  The mac and cheese was done.

As we turned in, we got to see a lot of the other entries.  Everyone’s plates looked amazing.  The displays were intricate.  Oh, to be a judge at that table…

We hit all of our marks and felt great about what we turned in.   Our goal was to stay at least at 7^th place and not drop after day 2.  But there were bigger issues at play.

Leigh Anne and Kim had to leave.  Our friend Bill Porterfield, who cooked across from us, had offered to take the girls to the airport.  With the help of Jared and Suzanne, we got all of our gear back to the trailer.  There were conversations about changing flights.  About driving home.

Leigh Anne looked at Luke and said, “Do you want to win?”

Luke said, “Yes.”

Leigh Anne replied, “Then we should leave.  Let’s go.”

And just like that the girls were on their way back to Virginia.

(There’s nothing quite like being in a parking lot doing dishes by yourself, with your thoughts.  Friends came by and said hello and helped.  But I felt kind of alone.  It didn’t feel right being there without Kim and Leigh Anne.  But sometimes with BBQ, thems the brakes.)

Luke walked to awards with Todd from Uncle Toad’s, Matt Barber, Mark and Niki from Serial Griller, and Mike and Barbara from Chix Swine and Bovine.  The plan was to go back to the Villaggio restaurant and sit in the same spot as the night before.   Once there, Luke sat with Jared and Suzanne and talked about how the girls weren’t there.  And consumed many bourbon and diet coke’s.  We’d find out that Chris Lilly, BBQ legend, and Michael McDearman, the face of the Sam’s Club and accomplished pitmaster himself, were two of the judges.  We were being graded by the best.

Finally, they got to the BBQ awards and brought up all ten teams to the stage.  On the way up, Luke was next to Chad Ward with Whiskey Bent and mentioned how much he wished Kim was there with him.  Luke also couldn’t stop saying, “Look, there’s Chris Lilly.  This is such a trip.”

(Luke—The next few minutes were a complete blur.  They would announce the top three.  I made Matt Barber stand in front of me so that he could be closer to the front, and so that he could see.  Third place, Cajun Blaze.  Huge shock.  Had their food and it was wonderful.  Second place, Warren County Pork Choppers.  Donny Bray.  Then first place.  “Biggest shock of the night,” said McCloud.  Moving up 6 spots.  I was trying to figure out the math and who it was. And then McCloud said it, “Luke Darnell, Old Virginia Smoke.”)

Thank you Feiny

Old Virginia Smoke had just been crowned World BBQ Champions. They would be cooking again on Tuesday at the final table for the grand prize of $100,000.

You can watch it here.

A link to the interview…

The rest of the night was a whirlwind.  There were things to do to get ready.  We had to get the Lil’ General and Leigh Anne back down here.  Later, the girls would tell Luke something that they had hidden from him all day.  Leigh Anne’s grandfather had passed away that morning.  They made the decision not to tell him, to keep his mind right.  So while Lil’ G was making plans to come back south, Leigh Anne would not be able to join us so that she could be with her family.  Which sucked on a variety of levels.

Everyone helped Luke back to the trailer, loaded up all of the booty from the win, and then headed off to Serial Griller’s coach for a pretty robust celebration.  A jar of Virginia’s finest was consumed post haste.  Many phone calls were made.  But plans had to be made too.

More to come…

Old Virginia Smoke – 2016 World BBQ Champions

OVS World Food Championships – Part 1 of 3

On Wednesday, Nov. 9, after staying with my buddy Todd of Smokin’ Buttheads and his wife Jan, OVS pointed south toward the state of Alabama for the World Food Championships.

We had never cooked before in Alabama, but we were looking forward to it.  Kim was flying down Thursday night and Leigh Anne would be there Friday night.   It would be the last time we would all cook together for a while, as Leigh Anne will soon be moving permanently to Arizona.

We got the trailer into the spot and quickly moved to say hello to friends we had not seen in a long time, Mike and Barbara with Chix, Swine and Bovine and Mark and Nikki with Serial Griller.  Then it was off for a lunch with Jared and Suzanne of Insane Swine.  That was the great thing about this contest.  So many of our friends were here from all around the country.

That night was a reception at the fabled Flora-Bama Yacht Club, where great fun was had.  Got to catch up with more old friends from all over the place, and have some amazing food, including a wonderful alligator white chili.  We did a little Facebook live video from the arena…

Thursday would be the primary set up day.  We were located right next to the fabled team from South Africa, Team Braai-B-Que, and across from our new friend Bill, a great guy from Missouri.  And behind us was Loren and Cheryl Hill from The Smoking Hills, last year’s World Food Champions.

Thursday was also awesome because of two other events–the first, meeting our new friends from Holland, Southern Dutch BBQ, who would be cooking on one of our Humphrey’s Smokers.  Their spot was right down the aisle from ours, and we would certainly enjoy our time with Tom, Dorine, and Martijn.

Secondly, one of our best sponsors, Bob Trudnak of BBQ Guru, would be competing on Thursday in the World Steak Championships.  We served as home base for Bob and our new friend Eric McHugh, Bob’s sous chef for the day, as we were close to the chef arena.

Also on this day was the Fire and Ice Challenge.  This competition was for the top 10 female pitmasters from a year long challenge, and included friends of ours from our are including Theresa Bell, Shannon Turner and Jayna Coulon (the eventual Fire & Ice WINNER!).  It was fun watching them cook wonderful plates in only two hours, with a grill and a smoker.

The day was spent watching Bob, catching up with people, and settingup/prepping for the next day.  Luke would shoot out to Pensacola to pick up the Lil General that night after an event for Operation BBQ Relief.

Friday came, and it was game time.  Often in big events, OVS would miss a step here or there, and would be wondering “what if” for a while.  We vowed not to do that again.

The cook itself was pretty uneventful.   We hit all of our marks throughout the day and turned in some really good food.

But, the field was STACKED.  We went into the awards with the mindset that a call would be wonderful.  We cleaned the cooksite, packed up, and headed to Villagio, where our friend Chuck Piercy had reserved a bunch of tables for BBQ people.

And the awards…took a while.   The ceremony started at 6:45 pm, and included several other categories as well.  BBQ would be last.

The drinks were flowing and we were having fun with new friends and old.  Finally on to BBQ.  We sat and cheered for all of our friends, but did so this time with no regrets about our cook.   And then boom, almost out of time and hope, and OVS gets called for 2nd place brisket (tied for first).  So awesome to hear our name called in this crowd.

At the World Food Championships, they announce the top 10, and those ten move on to cook the next day in the BBQ finals.  There were a few teams with a couple of calls.  But it would be interesting to see who made it.

Needless to say, we were blown away by being called 7th overall.  Plans had been made earlier in the day with Whiskey Bent BBQ to head to New Orleans for breakfast on Sunday morning, and then to The Shed in Mississippi for lunch.   There was no anticipation of cooking.  Turns out the Whiskey Bent boys would be without beignets as well, as they would finish as RGC, and Cajun Blaze would win GC.

All ten teams would cook for two hours the next day, all on the same model of smoker, with the same charcoal.  The combined scores from day 1 and say 2 would determine the World BBQ Champion.

To be continued…

Southern Hospitality

OVS always likes to find new places and new towns to cook.  Enter Ayden, NC, and the inaugural Kings of Que competition.  We normally don’t hit the NC trail until later in the year, so the group was relishing this trip and the opportunity to see their BBQ peeps in North Carolina.

Luke drove down Thursday and spent the night at Redneck Scientific HQ, approximately 45 minutes  an hour and a half from Ayden. The chief execs of Redneck Scientific, the two girls, we’re certainly ready for Luke.

From El Presidente to the Princess.  Such is life.

(Pitmaster note:  If ever in the Raleigh area, please hit up Deep River Brewing in Clayton, NC.  Some tremendous brews there and great people.  Check them out at http://deepriverbrewing.com/.

On to Ayden bright and early.  Straight to our spot and setup began.   Usually this is where a first-time competition will drop the ball a bit in terms of logistics for the cook teams.

Not so in Ayden.  Everything was as it should be, with nice big spots, great power and water, and the most helpful people that you can find.  There wasn’t a half hour that went by where some representative from the town didn’t come by and ask us if we needed something.  A great job to all of the volunteers and everyone from the town of Ayden.

We’d have the pleasure again of cooking next to Redneck Scientific, which would automatically lead to a fun time with Jerry and Roxanne.  Roxanne would arrive on Friday afternoon…and two doors would open on the truck.

The Guv had returned.  The Mayor of G lot.   Read here if you are unfamiliar.

Oh, the great joy!  The group would have some cocktails and dinner together on Friday night, and then set to cooking on a rainy Friday night.  Kim and Leigh Anne would arrive late Friday night and the whole crew would be together again.

There were some slight changes to the cook, but everything went smoothly.  We headed to awards and hoped for the best.

A bit about the awards — Ayden raised the bar once more.  Wooden cutting boards for all 10 places in all four categories, with each category winner also getting a Dexter Cleaver, as well as cleavers for fifth through third overall.  RGC and GC would get two cleavers and a chopping box.  All handmade locally, and absolutely beautiful.

OVS was very fortunate to take some of that home — 3rd place chicken, 4th place ribs, and 1st place brisket would be good enough for Reserve Grand Champion, behind Grand Champion…Redneck Scientific.
The whole crew had a blast in Ayden and we can’t wait to go back next year.   A huge shout out to our NC BBQ family, Redneck Scientific, Smokin Skullies, Muttley Crew, Grillin Thyme, Fatheads, Fired Up, Recycled Smoke….gosh, so many good people down south.  A special shout to Billy Merrill from Holy Smokes BBQ for all that he has done for the comp…such a great experience.

And who can forget the Guv.  Brought the sunshine with him and made it an awesome weekend.