March 2007

Ric Gilberts Spring Training

San Jose, Ca.

I HATE THE WINTER!!

No competitions make me crazy! We have not done any sine the end of October when we went to the Jack. We have done some catering and charity work but it is just not the same as competing. When I heard that a group of bbqer’s were getting together at Ric’s place for a practice cook I figured it would be as close to a contest as I was going to get. It would also let me try a few new methods and products I have been working on.

We arrived Saturday morning and soon everyone started showing up. We also had my nephew Spencer with us for a few days so he came along.   There were seven teams in all and soon we started cooking ribs, chicken tri-tip and a mystery meat which turned out to be duck. Now that was interesting as I have never cooked duck in my smoker.

As I finished setting up I thought I would go say hi to some of the teams and introduce myself to those I had not met before. This is when I find out that this was going to be a mini contest with awards. Well this changed my whole mindset especially when I saw the coveted trophies and medals. I would need my “A” game.

We did the turn ins like a KCBS contest with the chicken and ribs in boxes and the tri-tip and duck anyway you wanted. Frank Boyer, Ben Lobenstein and Nate Stein, all KCBS judges and a local news reporter were the judges. The boxes were all laid out at once so that the cooks could watch the judges go through the process. They discussed openly what they thought about the presentation, taste and tenderness as they judged each box. It was information you do not usually get to see or hear about. For the newer guys it gave insight to just what the judges are looking for. At any stage of this game it is always hard to accept any constructive criticism.

There was a mini get together / contest going on in southern California today as well. In my opinion this is a great way for the association members to get together and get their feet wet participating in training like this. I would like to see these continue every year, north and south. These are very worthwhile events.

 After the event was done we had a large potluck dinner for everyone. It was a perfect way to spend the afternoon and we really appreciate Ric hosting the event and having all these bbqer’s invade his home.

 As for the awards, we did end up with the coveted 1^st place overall trophy and a couple of unique medals.

 ( The awards were old bowling trophies and medals from a goodwill store and the medals were old soccer medals from his daughters) It was pretty funny and unique!