November 7-8, 2008 5rd Annual Pig at the Park Kissimmee, FL

[Fatback Joe]

http://www.greatoutdoordays.com/

Feels very odd posting this on a Texas forum, but what the heck.......anyone coming out for this one?

Stop by and say "hi", I always have plenty of cold beer for a visitor.

[OSD]

Joe, it was a pleasure meeting you today. Glad to be able to put a face to the name.
Good luck Hope you bring home a GC.

[Fatback Joe]

Nice to meet you too Jim, I enjoyed talking to you on Friday.

No GC.........not even a threat.

Chicken -11th
Ribs - 14th
Pork - 5th
Brisket - 11th

To make a long story short, I took the chicken out too soon, it was great chicken and I was very happy with it........about 20 minutes before turn in. I could have won chicken IMO if I would have kept my head out of my ***.

Ribs - Usually best category and the one I can count on for a top 10. I was monkeying with a PITA brisket and let my ribs suffer as a result, looking back, I should have left the brisket alone and done the ribs some justice..........down side of being a one man cook team, I suppose. If more than one thing needs attention something has to give. They were edible, but not competition quality.

Pork - I was very happy with the pork and got my highest total score yet in that category. Being pretty new here, most of you don't know that I really, really struggled with pork (next to last 2x in a row ), I feel like I have turned the corner and "get it" now with a top 5 finish in the last 2 comps.

Brisket - It was a hassle from start to finish. Was a bit dry and trying to fall apart on the bottom. All in all, I managed to salvage it into something that I was not overly embarrassed with and I don't think I could have done that earlier in the year.

I was disappointed with things on the drive home, but reminded myself that this is still just my first year doing this and need to expect many more bumps in the road. I think I have pork figured out and that makes me happy. Also, I know what went wrong and why.........which beats the heck out of looking at the results and just scratching my head wondering WTF.