16 May Recap – Wild West BBQ – Lamar,CO
Whenver I hear the name Lamar I cant help but think of the black nerd from one of my all time favorite movies Revenge of the Nerds. Anyone 10 years older or 10 years younger than me probably have never heard of the movie, but it ranks right up there in my top 5. Neverthless, I was in Lamar this past weekend to compete against a small field of 26 but the field was talented and deep. It also welcomed back one of the esteemed members of the RMBBQA community. Denny Mildenberger from over the fence BBQ has been battling cancer and this was his first contest from winning his fight. I had the pleasure of cooking right next to Denny and meeting his daughters and brother in law. There was a very sentimental moment at the cooks meeting acknowledging Denny’s return, the tears were running! It was touching to say the least.
As many of you regular readers know – I think I am up to 5 now – one of the things I look forward to most at a comp is the potluck. The potluck at Lamar was hands down the best one of the year for me. Items that made it memorable for me include. Burnin’ Bobs catfish, steak left over from the backyard grillers contest (more on that later), Denver Cajun’s jambalaya, Florida skin & bones chile, cream cheese cornbread, chicken wings with hot sauce from team unknown.

Cheesy Grits!
If you lived in Lamar you were at the park that hosted the contest this weekend – It was the place to be, there was a car show, carnival and chamber of commerce event all going on at the same time. Florida Skin and Bones had their parrots out and I have never seen them before or new how much they enjoyed ribs.

Polly want a rib?
As far as the cook goes I liked every single turnin except ribs. I had thought they were a little underdone…..OOPS! goes to show you what I know. The judges loved my ribs at Lamar and the scores reflected it I earned 175.4 points out of a possible 180 for FIRST Place! I was shocked when they called my name for first. I was actually looking forward to them getting to pork as I thought pork was my best entry of the four. Boy was I off as I finsished 3rd to last in pork.

Pesky Pork Strikes Again
The pork entry kept me from having what could have been a memorable day as I finished 8th in chicken which I liked and 4th in Brisket which I also liked. I am really starting to feel like Brisket is my most consistent category and one I really enjoy cooking. I have done 7 contests and finished in the top 10 in the past 5 with brisket. I really hope I did not jinx my self as I am heading off to Vegas for this weekends USA BBQ championships. The contest features the largest purse of any one contest this year. $125,000 will be up for grabs as the nations top teams head to Sin City for their peice of the 125k pie. I am really excited to compete in my first national contest and see where I stack up. I hope I dont embarass myself and can have consistent turnins across the board. I am especially happy for my friend Steve Renfroe who won Grand Champion in Lamar and to Sweet Peppers who won Reserve Grand Champions. Congrats to all those who won a prize and see you in Canon City. I hope to take more pics and some video to post after Canon City.