Ubons at The Jack!

This past week was the Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational BBQ event (Oct 24-25) and our good friend's Ubon's was representing and holding it down onsite. They placed 30th overall out of 78 contestants, and 2nd Place overall for Pork Shoulder! We here at the Hebrew Hogs would like to congratulate them in their strong showing and cannot wait to reunite at Memphis In May 2009 for some more low and slow smoking...

The BBQ Song!

Damn this song is good...and accurate too. I know I have been lax about posts recently and I know I still have to play catch up and finish my Memphis in May posts and also the Big Apple BBQ posts, not to mention my review on Wildwood BBQ and some friends reviews on it too, but Brian Campbell sent me this today and I thought it was great! The new job has not given me much time to work on this blog lately. Regardless, enjoy the BBQ Song, you Yankees!

Memphis in May 2008 - Day #2 (5/16/08) - Pt. 2

...Wow! That was a heckuva lot to talk about, and keep in mind, everyone is getting pretty soused up as the Bud Lights keep getting cracked all day long! Not to mention some Ubon's Specials thrown in. But these guys are pros, and booze doesn't throw them off their game whatsoever. In between the first hog prep and the second hog prep, the ribs for dinner that evening were prepped. This was all about Leslie, as she is the Rib Queen! I am surprised she has not competed in the rib competition before, but I guess she does not want to split off from the team, as this team specializes in Shoulder and Whole Hog. Adam had the audacity to claim he was going to eat 37 ribs before the evening was done. We had about 37 racks of ribs (12-13 ribs per rack) to go around, plus a few extra the guys over at Natural Born Grillers gave to us.

Leslie is supervising Gary rub the ribs down and she means business!

That is a shitload of ribs! You better believe dinner was sensational.

The second hog was prepped at this time, after the ribs were done being prepped and put in the rib smoker, a smaller smoker with many racks in it to hold the ribs and rotate them through the smoker. Brian Jay got his hands dirty officially participating on the second hog, as one of the four Yankees had to get messy and represent in this preparation! We were not carrying our weight around here otherwise. Eating and drinking our weight, yes, but carrying it, not a chance!

Way to get your hands dirty Brian Jay! Represent!

Who let that damn Yankee touch the hog?! Just kidding around. Brian invited him to do so.

Later on that eveing (after a quick nap back at the hotel), the boozing continued and the ribs were removed from the smoker after about 6-7 hours.

Memphis in May 2008 - Day #2 (5/16/08) - Pt. 1

Day #2 at "Memphis in May" began innocently enough with the 4 of us meeting outside on Beale St. and getting some coffee. Dave and Adam had already taken a walk over to the Memphis Redbirds minor league stadium and gotten some merchandise. Mind you, I was pretty fuckin' hungover, as those Ubon's Specials really go down easy and they kicked my ass! Given I must have had a 6-pack of Bud Light on top of a few stiff Ubon's Specials in a short amount of time, but I had no idea I would wake up with a pounding hangover. I was forced to get an egg and cheese crepe with my coffee to aleviate some of the brutal hangover I was dealing with. We waited 20+ minutes for the ONLY bodega in town to open (sign said "be back shortly", but no one ever came back. Apparently they were in the back the entire time and right after we walked away, it 'magically' opened up - go figure.)

Then we headed down to the booth site on the festival grounds and walked by the Ribs to get to the Whole Hog section. Pork Shoulder was past us. Since over half the competitors were in the Ribs category, it was a fairly far walk through the park to the Whole Hog and Shoulder teams. A quick side note here for those unfamiliar with the way the competition works: This year there were a total of 264 teams broken down as follows - 40 Whole Hog teams, 68 Shoulder teams, 119 Rib teams, and 37 Patio teams (1st year competitiors - Ribs ONLY - not eligible for Grand World Champion). There is a Top 3 placing in each category (Ribs, Shoulder, and Whole Hog). The top overall winner (among every contestant in all categories) is named Grand World Champion. The Top 10 in each category gain entrance back into next year's Memphis In May competition. You may only compete in 1 category per team per year. Many teams gain entrance into the competition by winning other sanctioned Mamphis In May competitions around the country leading up to this event. Others pay their way in, but those teams are more here to party and have a good time and cook up some food. They are not considered serious threats to win a Top 3 in any category. (But I will say they add to the chaos and drunken craziness of the event late night on Thursday and Friday nights!)

To provide more frames of reference, as it was told to me, the only 3 time winners of Grand World Champion are Mike Mills, a.k.a. "The Legend", of 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, IL and the Apple City BBQ Team (yes, he is always and will be again this year at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party, but no, he is no longer on the competitive circuit any longer) and "Myron Mixon, a.k.a. “The Man in Black,” of Vienna, GA, chief cook of Jack’s Old South Competition Bar-B-Que Team", who interestingly enough was right across from our booth and was also defending Grand Champion. Ubon's has a 1st place and a 3rd place finish in Shoulder over the past 13 years and this year competed in Whole Hog for the first time here in Memphis. Apparently the other Major BBQ Championship is the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue. It happens this year (19th annual) on October 25th, 2008 and they compete in the categories of Pork Ribs, Pork Shoulder, Beef Brisket and Chicken. I am surprised there is no Whole Hog category, but I can't say, as a Texas based BBQ guy, I don't like that addition of Beef Brisket.

OK, back to our story. We arrived around 9:30am the hangover is still present. What's the best way to get rid rid of a hangover? Start drinking again! Leslie, Gary Roarke's daughter (Gary is the proprietor of Ubon's), was making what I must say were the best bloody mary's I have EVER had! On top of a spicy bloody mary mix she was using (again, I hope I am not giving away trade secrets) Ubon's BBQ sauce and homemade pickle juice! She topped them off with a homemade pickle and of course the prerequisite large amount of vodka. I gotta say, I do like my bloody's spicy, but theese were just amazing! You could taste the Ubon's BBQ sauce and the homemade pickle juice as a sweet aftertaste on the bloody mary. I was in love with it and of course had 2 or 3 very quickly - well played.

Gary Roarke slicing smoked prime rib for "The Perfect Sandwich".

For lunch, Gary had been smoking 3 prime ribs the previous night and then let them cool to room temperature over night for service the following day. This is the base of "The Perfect Sandwich". I don't have the exact story, but apparently this was something Ubon's sort of stumbled over a number of years back and it has now become a tradition in which many of the teamms that have been coming here for years and years come round to Ubon's booth on Friday at lunchtime for a sandwich that is, well, PERFECT! Let me explain: The Perfect Sandwich is thinly sliced prime rib on an onion roll with mayonaisse and mustard on one side of the roll, horseradish on the other side of the roll and then sliced onions on the prime rib as well. I can't really explain it, but it is OUTSTANDING! Now you have to understand, Allen had been talking about this sandwich for months now, so it had plenty of build up, and in life, I have learned most things do not live up to the hype. It's just too hard. But 5 Perfect Sandwiches later, I was wrong. The hype stood tall and delivered perfectly (sorry for the pun). Leslie made some sauce to also go with it, which was optional. I tried it both with and without the extra special sauce, and I thought it really was delicious! I can't wait for Friday of next year's competition to devour 5 more (minimum).

Now we are a few bloody mary's into the day and about 4-5 Bud Lights as well. It's lunchtime. This day has just gotten started. Next, comes the preparation of the whole hog. Ubon's had 2 whole hogs (about 105-110 lb.s each) to be smoked, using 2 smokers. The idea was the first hog would be for initial judging, and the second hog would be for Finals judging. The head chef of this operation was Brian Campbell, Allen's brother. Their brother Mark, a welder here in Memphis, had built the smoker that Brian mainly uses. The second smoker was loaned to them by a friend, and Brian was not as comfortable using that one, as he had smoked a few hundred whole hogs on the one his brother had made. To watch this preparation was really a thing of beauty. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me, this was damn pretty! Here are some pictures of the hog before the jump. After the jump I will go into the preparation.

Dave kissing the hog right before it is about to be prepped.

Splitting open the hog to get it wide for prep and the smoker. Some organs were cleaned out and the membranes were removed off the meat.

Here, you can see Brian had just finished using a small electric saw to cut through the ribs and create the baby backs. Also, Alan is holding a basting of apple juice and seasoning which Brian is injecting into the hog in key areas to make it sweeter and juicier.

Here you can see a group of people rubbing the hog down with Ubon's Seasoning. The pig is moise and holds the seasoning well. We noticed some other teams rubbed their hogs down with French's Yellow Mustard to hold the seasoning and apparently to tenderize the meat as well. The mustard cooks off, but the vinegar in the mustard apparently helps to tenderize the meat.

Lastly, the hog is laid on the smoker for final preparations before the cover is closed to achieve a specific temperature and not reopened for between 22-24 hours.

I will try to go through this quickly, but they really have this down to an exact science. First, they clean the inside of the hog out by removing the few organs the butcher does not (like the kidneys). Then they remove some membranes that cover the meat and bones using their hands and a scissor. Next, they pull from each side to open the hog wider and then use an electric power saw to cut through the ribs and create split off the baby backs from the rest of the rib just to get the hog even wider apart. The apple juice/seasoning/mixture is then injected into key areas of the hog to make it sweeter and more tenders as it smokes. The hog is then rubbed down with seasoning (each team has it's own concoction, but at the end of the day they all have similar bases of salt, pepper, paprika, herbs, and other spices) thoroughly. Next, the hog is laid flat on the smoker. Some teams we noticed smoked their hogs skin-side down, while others, including Ubon's, smoked their hogs skin-side up. I think the method affects mainly the skin and how crispy it gets.

Ubon's choose to baste the skin in olive oil and then put a sheet (yes, literally a bed sheet you would buy in a store) over their hog and rebaste the sheet with more oil to keep the skin from getting blackened. Part of the onsite judging (which will be discussed on the post about Saturday, 5/16) is appearance of the hog. The smoker, which has already been heating up using wood and charcoal, is then closed and not reopened for between 22-24 hours. There is a lot of luck involved, as you need some perfect cooking conditions to have a great hog. Brian suggested the ideal heat being about 225 degrees and the challenge of maintaining that heat for essentially a full day. He is charged with the task of staying overnight with the hog and making sure this occurs. We watched as throughout the night the temperature climbed to that 225 degree range and then as they tried to maintain this temperature. If you open the cover, even for just a minute or less, you will let all that heat escape and lose all that temperature you have been trying to achieve and the entire hog will suffer a setback, one you may not possibly recover from in competitive cooking. To be continued...

Memphis in May 2008 - Night #1 (5/15/08)

Well, to start off my trip I met Brian Jay and headed to LGA to fly to Memphis and thankfully he checked in online for both of us while he was at work earlier in the day. I was greeted by the bad omen that due to a weight restriction issue, 10 people would not be allowed to board the plane for the flight to Memphis. I assumed myself being one of the heavier people, I was probably a goner! Luckily for me they don't do it by how much you actually weigh, but rather by the final 10 people to check in for the flight! Let's just say this would be a good start to the trip, as I figured if this were to happen on the way home, the fact that I was definitely going to gain some weight on this trip would not be an issue in me getting home.

David and Adam Rosen were already down in Memphis having taken an earlier flight and they were warming the group from Ubon's up for our arrival in typical Rosen fashion - shit talking about how much they could eat! We were made aware there would be some freshly smoked pork butt sandwiches and Ubon's Specials (hope I am not giving away a trade secret here - 2 parts Bourbon, 1 part pineapple juice, 1 part Sprite, and a few pineapple chunks thrown in for good measure) waiting for us when we arrived and to come down to the site of the cook-off about 3 blocks away from the hotel on Beale Street. After Brian Jay's fearing my driving from the airport to the hotel (so I may have headed towards St. Louis briefly!), we arrived and checked in.

We headed down to the grounds and it was quite an interesting scene. Unfortunately it was at this point of the weekend that I learned that my digital camera, which had served me well for a few years now (and Clef for a few before that), was no longer in operation. Thus, there are no pictures for you to see of night #1. But I will just say there were A LOT of drunk people walking around looking at folks setting up the different booths and getting their drink on! People were toting open alcohol containers all over the place, even right in front of cops! Apparently, we were told, it is not legal, but the cops were pretty cool about it and were more their for safety then for busting drunks with open alcohol containers. (Too bad that was never the case when I went to school in Ann Arbor 10 years ago!) Also, one other point to note was I was unsure of exactly what type of scene this would be in the sense of, Was this just a bunch of guys getting together to smoke pork and booze heavily and blast music? Or would there be some Southern Belles walking around joining the fray and enhancing the scenery around us? Thankfully, it was the latter! There were lots of women both participating and walking around boozing heavily and adding to the mix of what exactly this was all about. One thing I think is that the women of the South are used to this type of thing, as opposed to the haughty women of the North who would probably never dream of hanging out at a glorified cook-off all weekend. Hell with those Yankee women, I'll take a Southern Belle anyday!

Lastly, we got down to the booth site and joined Adam and Dave, and Allen (from the Ubon's team) made us some DELICIOUS pork butt sandwiches and mixed Brian and I some damn fine (and mighty stiff) Ubon's Specials and the weekend was ON in grand fashion. Damn those Ubons Specials flow down easily! We met the team, or those who were still down here drinking and hanging out, and got to know everyone. We were quickly dubbed "The Yankees" by the Mississippi crew and the booze was flowing. I was impressed (read: happy!) to see that they must have had a good 25+ cases of beer ready to roll for the weekend - folks after my own heart. We stayed down here until a little after midnight and then called it a night and headed back towards the hotel and Beale Street. Just as we were about to leave, Mike (with the Ubon's crew) accidentally bumped some young, drunk punk, and I thought we were going to have blood on our hands as the two sides gathered and the uncertainty of whether or not a fight was about to break out was in the air. It ended peacefully, but these misguided punks thought they stood a chance. Frankly, I almost wanted to see Mike (a tough-as-nails Marine) beat their asses, but it was probably a better idea to walk away and stand down...for their sake, anyway.

The 4 Yankees hit a bar on Beale Street just outside of our hotel and then packed it in for the night as we had to be up fairly early for Friday. Rumors of a legendary "Perfect Sandwich" for lunch, Ubon's Bloody Mary's beforehand, Leslie's ribs for dinner, and more Ubon's Specials were in the air and this was enough incentive to make sure we were ready for it!

1st post on the new blog - BBQ anyone?

OK, before I get into the "Memphis in May 2008" experience and tell you all about our travels, I would like to briefly open this blog with a quick disclaimer that this blog is something I hope to grow and change over time. I encourage input from friends and folks who just stop by too check it out. I have gotten more and more into BBQ as both a food genre, as well as a subculture within our country that definitely both amazes me and intrigues me. I had been thinking about starting something up and when I went to Memphis in May, as a guest of Ubon's Champions Choice Team from Yazoo, MS, I realized this was not only an opportunity to have an unreal and unique experience (and vacation!), but it was an opportunity to start my blog off right, with posts about learning the secrets to great BBQ, making new friends, and having a blast with old friends while we were let inside world that we are now excited to be a small part of! Thanks, and I hope y'all enjoy reading this.