Take a moment to read through the previous episodes, especially the first one if you haven’t already. It will give you a better understanding of the “characters” involved with the show and with the rules and procedures for the BBQ competition circuit.
This episode was the American Royal Open held in Kansas City, Missouri. Held right on the back of the Invitational which took place Friday & Saturday October 2-3, 2009. The Open took place on Sunday and as it’s name implies is not exclusive with is competitors as you can see with the nearly 500 who have entered.
This is one of the largest BBQ competitions in the nation…so any finish remotely near the top is darn good. One of things about the American Royal Open is that there is a group of competitors that tend to do it more as a party rather than a contest. More power to them but the real serious guys don’t appreciate that much. Harry Soo had an issue with this as the team stationed right next to him held a party with 300 guests that went into the wee hours of the night affecting his sleep.
Another interesting thing about this competition is that they require a 1:1 competitor to judge ratio. That means that there are a lot of judges that have been certified just for this contest…which also means that they’re brand new and don’t have experience. Myron discusses this a bit and brings up the point that their tastes are different and mentions that if he had chicken legs he would serve those over his thighs.
No matter how much Conan (and I as well) hate the moniker CoCo, it seems his fans have taken a liking to it. How did it come about you might ask. Here is the video from the second episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien … a.k.a. the CoCo Christopher Show. Thanks to the announcer’s question “Bro’s a No No for CoCo?” which was obviously written because of the text (meaning he did it to himself) and to Tom Hanks insistence to carry on with the joke Conan now must live with this new nickname. Looks like The Tonight Show should be avoided, I think it’s bad luck.
Take a moment to read through the previous episodes, especially the first one if you haven’t already. It will give you a better understanding of the “characters” involved with the show and with the rules and procedures for the BBQ competition circuit.
This episode covered the Dover Delaware BBQ Championship that took place last October 16th and 17th. There was a total of 81 competitors and $15,000 at stake. The biggest thing here was certainly the weather. They continued to mention the hardships that were brought up by trying to cook in such cold conditions. It was very difficult for a lot of the cooks to maintain the proper temperatures to cook their meats the way they would like. They attempted to insulate their barbecues with mats and blankets. That’s not to mention having to be out in the cold and rain to actually cook too.
As always there were a couple of people from the 6 featured throughout the show that didn’t make this particular episode. There was no mention of either Johnny Trigg or Paul Petersen this time. The show mainly featured the competition between Myron and Tuffy. Tuffy has beat Myron the last three years in Dover and on top of that Tuffy supplied Myron with his brisket because his was not going to arrive in time.
LeAnn was featured a lot as well. She had a lot of problems because she normally has the help from her boyfriend of three years Billy but we learn that they have split up and she is not going to have his aide. She brings along her 10-year-old daughter Sam to help. Sam is knowledgeable and is able to help LeAnn but there is a lot of things that Billy would normally do that either LeAnn has to end up doing herself or just doesn’t know how to do it.
Another fun thing in this episode was Harry Soo’s buddy Gary Notley branching off from Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ and competing against him as Notley Que. Harry taught Gary a lot of what he knows about BBQ and it was interesting to see them compete. It’s not entirely new for them, they’ve been up against each other several times on the California BBQ competition scene.
If you haven’t heard of General Larry Platt by now odds are you aren’t actually reading this post because anyone with any internet connection whatsoever whether it be dial-up, via phone or even a Peek Twitter has heard about his American Idol audition. He is taking the online world by storm and leaving a trail in his wake. As evidence he will be on The View Monday January 18th at 10AM.
He wooed the judges in Atlanta with his self written song “Pants on the Ground” this last Wednesday night. It turns out that General Larry is actually quite a bad ass. Here is a little information about him:
He is 62 years old
September 4, 2001 was deemed Larry Platt Day in Atlanta by The Georgia General Assembly.
He gathered to march with the Civil Rights Veterans Movement in 1963 with Reverend Hosea Williams and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
He helped organize sit-ins with both the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
He caught a beat down during the Bloody Sunday March in 1965.
His nickname “General” was bestowed upon him by Rev. Hosea Williams due to his work with the civil-rights movement.
Not since William Hung (here are the best Hung remixes) has there been a more beloved American Idol try-out that has not been sent through to LA. As any true meme he has already spawned the requisite domain names, ring tones, Facebook Fan pages, t-shirts, graphs and of course YouTube remixes. Here are the top of the bunch for your enjoyment.
There are few more awkward and hilarious things than watching Martha Stewart try to keep her composure around an unruly guest. We’ve compiled the top 5 of the bunch for your viewing pleasure. From the S&M Cookie Monster to Amy Sedaris being called Martha Stewart on crack, “I’ve never done crack…I’ve only sold it.”
There is hardly a more hilarious moment on daytime TV than when And Dick, with his head inside a pumpkin, smashes it against the table. The only thing that might top it is Snoop teaching, a presumably 95% white audience, the necessary vocabulary of the day, “fo shizzle,” “what’s crackalackin,” “chuuuch,” “all-hood,” and “ball till you fall” or pretty much every second of the Conan appearance. Now grab your apron and follow along.
If you’ve missed the previous episodes of this intriguing series you can see our write-ups below. It’s actually a pretty entertaining show. If you’re unfamiliar with the competition BBQ circuit, which I’m assuming you are, take a minute to read through the first 3 episodes to get acquainted.
This episode was the American Royal Invitational held in Kansas City, Missouri. It has been called “the Super Bowl of Swine” by some. To be eligible you must won Grand Champion in at least one event the year prior. The total at stake is $10,000 and there are 124 competitors.
Due to the fact that it’s an invitational, understandably Paul Peterson was not an entrant. However, he took this opportunity to be schooled by the great Johhny Trigg and join Smokin’ Triggers for this competition. A wise move on his part and actually quite an enduring team the two made. It seems like Paul really took the chance to get inside the head of Johnny a learn from a master. I found him to be genuine in his interest to learn.
It was fun to watch Myron and Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson BBQ go at it a bit. The nice thing is that Chris can hold his own with Myron which isn’t the case with others sometimes.
I can officially now die a happy man. A creation of mine has been mentioned by Conan O’Brien on The Tonight Show. I hate to be the one to outshine Michael Cera (the secondary guest) but someone had to do it.
The third episode of BBQ Pitmasters is another KCBS, the Alabama state championship at the Decatur Jaycees Riverfest. There are a total of 59 competitors competing in chicken, ribs, pork and brisket for a grand total of $19,000. If you missed the first to episodes, here is a rundown (Episode 1 has a bio on the cooks):
TLC is following 7 total cooks (Jambo Pitts has yet to be on the show) but they seem willy-nilly on who they care to show each week. I assume Myron will be in each episode due to his mouth and attitude as will LeAnn for her sex appeal but the others are here-and-there. This week Paul, Tuffy and Johnny were all featured a little but there was no sign on Harry.
Since he didn’t get to be on this episode I’m share some stuff from him. Harry Soo’s blog has a few interesting tidbits, they “dodged 14 radar traps, 3 border patrol checkpoints, and pouring rain, to complete our three-day, 2,100 mile Iron-Butt drive through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and arrived at the Riverfest contest site in Decatur, Alabama.”
He mentions the dinner that Chris Lily’s Big Bob Gibson restaurant threw the night before the contest for all the cooks where they dined on seared giant scallops wrapped in BBQ brisket, bacon wrapped shrimp with basil mousse, BBQ gumbo , crispy fried okra, cranberry Caesar salad, grilled rack of lamb, Big Bob Gibson BBQ chicken and for dessert, lemon, peanut butter, chocolate, and coconut pies.
One of the more interesting things he brings up is how all the TLC BBQ Pitmasters chefs were sectioned off separately from the remaining 52 other chefs in the competition. Harry says that they were on a paved surface whereas the others were all on the grass. Considering it was raining pretty heavily I would take this as an advantage. That doesn’t quite seem fair to me and I would be upset if I were in the contest but I can understand them needing this for the filming.
Some notable events:
Tuffy went with a brand spankin’ new brisket recipe with a new marinade and a new injection. He talks about using the the “flat” of the brisket (“a packer”) as opposed to the point.
Myron talks about his wood choice. He likes a fruit wood with lots of sugar saps in it. This time he uses a peach wood he gets from a friend Ed Harris. He also showed how he boxed his pork differently than others. Rather than placing it on top of lettuce, he places it on top of chopped pork in order to keep the meat warm. He also cuts his sauce with water and drizzles a little of that on top.
Paul also tries a new recipe. He’s been placing dead last and having trouble reconciling whether or not it’s worth it to continue doing competition BBQ. He tries three types of ribs on some tasters. He did one his previous style, one using Johnny Trigg’s recipe and the the one he settled on, a cherry rub with chile powder, black pepper and onion powder. He mentioned that he “found” this recipe so it’s not something he came up with. Paul also steals Myron’s technique with using muffin tins to form his chicken. This was a highly featured event and Myron didn’t take to lightly to it. Oddly enough Paul was 16 seconds late in getting his chicken to the table so was disqualified from that category.
LeAnn had a bit of a tough time because they had to shut off the power for 30 minutes. She had just put her meat on and her cooker uses electricity to turn. Some of the others didn’t have that same problem. She got upset but was okay with her turn out.
Johnny spoke a little of his preparation. One of the interesting things is that he doesn’t use his own rub. He buys his pre-made. He basically said that someone else has already gone through the trouble of making a perfect rub and why should he waste his time and money when it’s already available.
Once again judging is done blind and based on three criteria, appearance, taste and tenderness, 9 being the highest score of each with a total of 27. Without further ado here are the final results:
Decatur Jaycees 15th Annual Riverfest
Location: Decatur, Alabama
Date: September 17-19, 2009
Categories: Chicken, Ribs, Pork & Brisket
Total Competitors: 59
Promoter: Kansas City Barbeque Society Website – Results
Chicken
11 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
15 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
17 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
20 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
27 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
DQ – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Pork Ribs
1 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
4 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
6 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
15 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
28 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
52 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Pork
15 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
19 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
27 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
30 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy
31 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
42 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
Brisket
1 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
5 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
6 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
17 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy
26 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
51 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Overall
6 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
7 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
9 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
10 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
15 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
59 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Memorable Quotes:
“I looked over at Paul’s tent…saw these damn muffin pans…you know that pissed me off….and I walked over jus’ see who the f&% he was taking my s&^%.” – Myron Mixon
“If you’re going to steal something at least be good at it. If you win today I expect a damn check.” – Myron Mixon to Paul Petersen.
“I need something to start my damn fires with.” – Myron Mixon when Chris said he bought 1/2 dozen of his books.”
“The fact the power went out did comprimise my product going into this competiton.” – LeeAnn Whippen
“I’m not going travel 1000’s of miles, spend 1000’s of dollars just to get back home empty handed. There’s a new front on the BBQ circuit and I’m it.” – Tuffy Stone
“I call her the Grillvette, she’s painted red, shes’s sexy, she’s beautiful but she cooks good. I got nicer wheels on my pit then I do my car.” – Tuffy Stone
“I’d do anything to win….except cheat.” – Paul Petersen
“Shiggin’ is the act of entering another’s cook site with the intent to steal their processes.” – Tuffy Stone giving Myron a shigging cup.
Overall the cooks did extremely well. Five of them placed 6-10 (with the inclusion of Jambo Pitts) in the overall out of 59 competitors. Johnny got first in ribs and Tuffy with his new brisket recipe placed first, both earning $1,250. For another excellent write up on the show check out Diva Q’s post.
The next show won’t be until January 7th and I’m guessing it’s the American Royal Barbecue Open in Kansas City, Missouri.
The second episode of BBQ Pitmasters was more like the Myron Mixon show featuring LeeAnn Whippen. Johnny Trigg and Harry Soo were also in the episode but both Paul Petersen and Tuffy Stone were strangely absent. The odd thing is both Tuffy and Paul were in the competition (I’ve included their results) so I’m not sure why they weren’t on the show. Tuffy actually did extremely well beating 4 other of the show’s cooks and placing 7th overall and a very impressive 2nd in both chicken and brisket.
This competition was a 2-in-1 at the Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-off. The first was the Kansas City Barbecue Society featuring chicken, ribs, pork & brisket. This was done as a blind judging (the exact same setup as last week’s). The second competition, which was held simultaneously was the Memphis Barbecue Network featuring whole hog, pork shoulder and ribs. This was a presented judging, where a series of judges come to the cooks rigs and do a tasting and walk-through of their cooking process.
If you liked to see a little more background on the 6 cooks and how the KCBS judging works you can read last week’s review of the premiere episode. Also Diva Q has a very thorough and in-depth interview with Myron Mixon on her blog.
If the cooks chose to they could very well be cooking 7 different meats. I think Myron was the only one who did all seven but most of them entered all of the KCBS and a few of the MBN categories.
The only time Johnny was really in the show was during two disputes. The first at the initial meeting of the cooks. He tried to get them to change the timing for plating the brisket. He felt that there was too short a window. A number of the other cooks spoke up about them wanting to change everything for one guy and thought it was unfair. It was a bit confusing but I believe they increased the window slightly. The second dispute was with another cook in the competition who, while drunk, came up to Johnny mouthing off about how he was better than him. Johnny and him got pretty heated and in the end put a $100 bet on who would place better (Johnny won this bet).
Johnny and Heckler
The MBN was a first for Johhny, LeeAnn and Harry. You could tell that experience in the presenting to the judges helped a lot. Myron was very relaxed and extremely versed in what he was doing. Johnny on the other hand actually came right out and told one of the judges that his ribs were tough and he didn’t even want to use them.
One of the interesting things was Harry talking about the differences in competition in the south as opposed to the west. He mentioned that he had to change his recipes quite a bit to make them a lot sweeter when in the south, adding a whole lot of various sugars. He has never won a competition outside of California. It was also interesting to see how much meat, and the cost, that each cook brings. Myron had nearly 190 lbs and $400 in pork shoulder alone.
Here are the results for both the KCBS and the MBN:
Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-Off State Championship – KCBS
Location: Murphysboro, Illinois
Date: September 24-26, 2009
Categories: Chicken, Ribs, Pork & Brisket
Total Competitors: 44
Promoter: Kansas City Barbeque Society Website – Results
Chicken
2 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
4 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
7 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
11 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
18 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
40 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Pork Ribs
5 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
14 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
21 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
24 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
37 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
38 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Pork
7 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
28 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
29 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy
34 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
36 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
40 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Brisket
2 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
5 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
7 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
11 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
16 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy
43 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Overall
5 – LeeAnn Whippen – Wood Chicks BBQ
7 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
10 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
17 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
18 – Harry Soo – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
42 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ
Whole Hog
1 – Jack’s Old South (Myron Mixon)
2 – Tower Rock
3 – Party Q
4 – Bonefide BBQ Team
9 – Wood Chick’s BBQ (LeeAnn Whippen)
Shoulder
1 – Jack’s Old South (Myron Mixon)
2 – Tower Rock
3 – Redneck Grillers
4 – Hawg N’ Dawgs
Ribs
1 – Jack’s Old South (Myron Mixon)
2 – Big Briq. Com
3 – Hawg & Dawgs
4 – Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ (Harry Soo)
8 – Wood Chick’s BBQ (LeeAnn Whippen)
20 – Smokin’ Trigger (Johnny Trigg)
Some memorable quotes:
“Lot a people come to these competitions they want to party have a good time, meet folks, socialize, have a damn homecoming. That ain’t what I’m about. I’m all about damn work, this is my damn job, this is what I do for living. Whole hog is a big part of that, it’s made me probably more money for any category out there. Get the damn hog on, get the judges ass in here, let them taste it…get my money and get my ass outta here.” – Myron Mixon
“When it comes to Myron Mixon cookin’ whole hog…well, that’s just like spitting off a damn train, that’s just how easy it is for me. What I do best is beatin’ everbody elses ass.” – Myron Mixon
“Been a long time since I built a fire this early. I got 18 slabs of ribs I’ve got to cook so I got to get my brisket and my pork off…never in my life have I done this before. Ah this is a new experience for me. It’s gonna be fun…I can BS with the best of them so…maybe I’m just hoping I don’t overdo it.” - Johnny Trigg on entering the MBN.
“I am the best hog cooker out here. Now whether I win or not, you know anyone can get bit on any given day but if I get bit it won’t be because my hog ain’t perfect…it’ll be because they got some sorry ass judges.” – Myron Mixon
“Well he reached up there and poked me in the chest and I said don’t you touch me one more time and I had fire in my eyes. I was getting revved up right there and Jaime thought I was fixin’ to pop him.” – Johnny Trigg
“I guarantee that in the 10 minutes that you did it in last year your box looked like s%&@ and you got a bad score. We’re not talking MBN we’re talking KCBS, that’s the whole point…you don’t know your ass from a whole in the ground about KCBS.” – Johnny Trigg talking to the heckler.
Jack's Old South Grand Champion
So there it is. Myron Mixon won Grand Champion again and over $3000 coming in first in all three categories. Not a shabby weekend. I must admit that his “damns” and “asses” got to be a bit much this time. I like him because he’s cocky and he can back it up but now it seems like he is doing it all just to spite people.
This episode was good but I enjoyed the first one more. I really liked Tuffy and hope he makes an appearance next show. I also like watching the cocky Paul fall flat on his face, which happened again this week placing 42nd out of 44, but we didn’t get to see it. Next week is another KCBS, the Alabama state championship at the Decatur Jaycees Riverfest.
If you haven’t heard of General Larry Platt by now odds are you aren’t actually reading this post because anyone with any internet connection whatsoever whether it be dial-up, via phone or even a Peek Twitter has heard about his American Idol audition. He is taking the online world by storm and leaving a trail in his wake. As evidence he will be on The View Monday January 18th at 10AM.
