The Jack - Part Four - No "Kiss" - But Lots of Hugs...

Our overnight cook on Friday was rather "unremarkable" for the most part... Just a long night... With my Stump's smoker, I rarely have to check on meats throughout the night - that is, at least when I am cooking at home for family/friends. But when cooking for a competition - well, the ol' adrenaline is generally "flowing", and it was definitely flowing at The Jack. Venssa and the kids were all pretty much asleep by midnight... Venssa & our oldest son went back to the hotel, but my younger son and daughter decided to stay with me that night at the camper... They slept quite well, but I probably didn't get more than 2 total hours of sleep that night... And that was in 20-30 minutes increments here and there... Nothing was going wrong, mind you... I was just a little "wound-up"...

A light rain began again at around 4 AM - contrary to the weather forecast from earlier Friday evening... Not anywhere near as heavy a rain as it had been early Friday morning - but just enough to create a little "mud & mess" again... While it would stop by daylight, Saturday remained overcast and cool throughout the day...

Venssa and eldest son returned to the site at around 8 AM, just in time to help get the chicken going... My pork butts and briskets were well on their way to being done, and my ribs were coming along quite nicely... Life was good...

On Friday night, we had found out they were moving the turn-in times back 30 minutes compared to a "standard" KCBS competition... I had already typed up my cooking "schedule" (in & out times, resting times, prep for turn-ins, etc) based on the "standard" times... No problem, though... I had my "schedule" saved on my laptop computer... Venssa would simply make the time adjustments for Saturday, and re-print the schedule back at the hotel before coming out to the competition site...

Yeah... Right... No problem... Especially for "clear" and "rested" minds... Which Venssa and I were running just a little short on when she returned back to the hotel late Friday night... She got part of the "schedule" adjusted properly - but either due to a computer "glitch" or human error, the final 2 hours of my cooking schedule on Saturday was still just like the original...


We got through our first turn-in - chicken - with
no problem... And it looked gorgeous... At The Jack, you have to prepare both white and dark meats, and enough for 7 servings... This is a departure from the traditional KCBS cook, where we can cook either dark or white meat (most cooks will cook thighs) and we only have to have 6 servings... So getting a combination of both meats, providing 7 servings minimum, and making it look real nice in the turn-in box was a "challenge"... But Venssa, as usual, worked her magic - and we felt we had a "home run" right off the bat... (Click on photo for a better view)

But it was somewhere during getting our ribs ready for the next turn-in that I began to realize that something with our re-worked/re-printed "schedule" was not quite right... It had me doing certain things long before they were due to happen... I said something to Venssa, and our 2 weary minds finally figured out that the last 2 hours of the schedule were still incorrect!... Luckily we caught the error, made our adjustments with a pencil, and got back "on track"...


Our ribs were just fantastic in our opinion... A good friend of mine - John Garlinghouse with Seaboard Foods - had obtained some drop-dead St. Louis cut ribs especially for me to use at The Jack... These ribs were the nicest we had seen all competition season, so we were stoked before they ever hit the smoker... We smoked them to perfection, and after cutting into the first rack and tasting them, we looked no further (we cooked 3 racks)... Turn-in #2 went down without a hitch... (Click on photo for a better view)

I need to stop for a minute here, and for both the "novice and the "pro" talk about "turn-ins" at The Jack... We have specific 10 minute turn-in "windows" for each meat... Typically chicken is first, followed by ribs, pulled pork, and finally brisket... At this event, chicken was due in between 12:25 - 12:35 PM, ribs between 12:55 - 1:05 PM, pulled pork between 1:25 - 1:35 PM, and beef brisket between 1:55 - 2:05 PM... Show up to get into the turn-in line exactly 1 second too late - and you are disqualified... Period... End of discussion... And/or drop your turn-in box on the way to turn-in (and yes, that does happen)??... Well, you can generally kiss your "appearance" score goodbye... Bottom line, you have to be on time - and be very careful on the way to turn-in...

Now - this is generally not a big problem at most competitions we have cooked at... Yes, it is not uncommon to have some of the public strolling about in the "lanes" between the cooking sites... But generally it is not a problem...


Welcome to The Jack, baby... There were upwards of 20,000+ people at The Jack by the time turn-in's began at 12:25 PM... And while the entire Jack Daniel's event was rather "spread out" over Wiseman Park, the "lanes" between the cooking sites more or less resembled a sidewalk in Manhattan at lunchtime! We learned from a "veteran" that we needed to have a "blocker" (or two) to clear a path for the turn-in "runner", armed with a loud voice or a horn - and a soft "nudge" if necessary to get our meats through the crowds and to the judges on time and in good shape. Our sons, Dylan and Reid, put some of their newly acquired football skills to good use - and made certain Venssa arrived safe and sound for each turn-in.

The 3rd turn-in was pulled pork, and it is generally the one that takes us the longest to get ready... Pulling and slicing the pork goes pretty fast - it is always getting it to look "just right" that can take extra time. We used some great pork butts from Seaboard Meats and Paradise Meats (out of Kansas City.)

Finally, it was time to slice the brisket and get it ready for the final turn-in. Brisket is somewhat like "Christmas" in that you never really know what you are going to get until you "open the box"... You just hope that Santa Claus knows you have been a good little boy that year! Santa was very good to us at The Jack, and we ended up with two great briskets... One was just a tad bit more juicy/tender with a better smoke ring, so we went with that one for our turn-in...

Venssa and the boys were just a little later than usual in getting back from the brisket turn-in... Naturally, my mind began to race that something had happened right here at the end of the cook - she didn't get into the turn-in line in time, or maybe dropped the box... It turned out they had just stopped to talk with another team after the final turn-in... Needless to say, I was quite relieved when I finally saw them back at the camper and knew everything had made it to the judges...

We went into The Jack feeling/hoping that we would do "okay"... But in all honesty, when we finished the cook, Venssa and I both looked at each other and felt we had just turned-in one of our best cooks ever... We felt we had "nailed it" for certain...

We took a few minutes to "collapse" following the final turn-in. Several good friends called (including one all the way from Japan), and we actually had several people who read this blog stop by as well to wish us well, too. What a surprise/pleasure that was! The walkways between the teams were literally jammed with people. Our children took out big trays of leftover BBQ into the crowds - and they were devoured within a few minutes.

We were "bone tired", but we knew we needed to get started with the clean-up... The Awards Ceremonies were to begin at 5 PM, and we knew it would be dark (and cold) if we didn't get a lot accomplished before 4:30 PM... But despite what our minds and good sense were telling us, our bodies were definitely dictating something else!


We got about 1/2 of our clean-up completed, and then made our way down to the Awards Pavilion around 4:30 PM - only to find it was already 99% full (a Jack "rookie" mistake for certain)... We finally found seats at the very back of the pavilion and settled in with high expectations... There were the customary opening remarks and acknowledgments... A men's acapella choir that sang a song or two... The presentation of the Muriel Roith award to the outstanding woman in organized BBQ in 2009... And an award for the best decorated cooking site at The Jack...

Finally, the food awards began... We waited anxiously as we went through the "Top 10" for BBQ Sauce (we came in 14th, which we were very thrilled about), "Cook's Choice" (domestic teams only - a smoked prime rib won that one), and "Home Cooking from the Homeland" (international teams only)...

Then we got to the meat awards... Top 10 places in chicken... And no "call" or "walk" to the stage for Hoochie-Que... Hmmmm...

Top 10 places in ribs... No "call" or "walk" to the stage... Hmmmm...

Top 10 places in pulled pork... Again, no "call" or "walk"... Sheez...

Top 10 places in brisket... Surely we were going to snag something here... Sadly, no "call" or "walk" there, either...

As the Awards concluded, there were lots of "whoops and hollars" by the winning teams - and a lot of backslaps and handshakes as we all said "good-bye" to each other... As I walked through the Pavilion to pick up my final scores, I felt rather "dazed"... But as I looked around, I noticed I was far from being alone... I saw quite a few "big name" teams standing around afterward with that same "daze" in their eyes, too... I am certain they all felt they had "nailed it", also... Only to go home most empty-handed... It was kinda like that first date with that really cute girl girl who thanks you for a great time - but then leaves you out on her front porch without so much as a little peck on the cheek as she heads into her house...


We finished packing up in the cold and dark, ate a yucky Wendy's burger (I really wasn't hungry, despite not having eaten anything all day other than tasting the Que we were turning in), and got back to the hotel around 10:30 PM. I slipped out of my dirty clothes, mumbled "goodnight" to Venssa and our children, and fell into bed. But before I could fall asleep - which wouldn't take long that night - I was "ambushed" for a group hug by my kids. We tickled and laughed and hugged each other - and before you knew it, any "disappointment" I had felt from that day disappeared... I fell asleep that night with my head held high, and a smile in my heart...