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...