H*QUE attended the 5th Annual Great Pacific Missouri BBQ Festival on Aug 13th and 14th. This is a well ran, local contest and was our second time attending. It was myself, Jen and D. Tillery competing this weekend in what seemed to be yet again the hottest day of the year for a BBQ contest – LOL!
It was by far the worst cook of the season for H*QUE as it seemed like everything went wrong and just fell apart.
12:30A – Cyber Q broke and was not reporting temps properly. AGAIN. This is the 2nd time this thing has bailed on me at a contest. GRRRR.
2:30A – Had hoped the Cyber Q was just out of whack, but 2 hours later – no difference. Removed the Cyber Q from the pit. So we had to run the pit manually. Tried various thermometers from Thermoworks and out of like 6 I carry with me, 2 worked right. So more or less began running contest just about blind.
3:30A – After the crazy heat all day long – massive thunderstorm rolls up on us. Spent 30 min trying to put stupid awning down before rain hit. GRRR.
5:30A – Ribs on.
6:00A – Grease fire in pit. Ribs ruined. *SIGH*
6:30A until turn ins – pit runs hot and is unable to be calmed down – so everything in the pit is getting the ol heat treatment
And then – just to add some salt in the wound….
We missed brisket turn in by about 30 seconds. Yup – H*QUE missed a turn in – the first time ever. So that helped us win our official 1st D.A.L. overall. It was a heartbreaking moment. We always play to win and we play hard – only to screw up and miss a turn in. No one to blame but ourselves.
I wish we had better news to report. I wish I wasn’t as dissapointed and upset as I am/was over this whole weekend – but I guess every team at some point has to eat some humble pie – I just wish the serving hadn’t been super sized if ya know what I mean. LOL. All I can do is to do better the next go ’round and give it my best. Something tells me we won’t be missing a turn in again.
A huge congrats to True Family BBQ – 3 calls and 5th overall – well done!
Congrats to Ques Your Daddy on those 1st place ribs too!! Awesome!
Congrats to RIPPEL-QUE as well – 3rd overall – a great day to be sure!
All that being said – we did manage a call in pork – 10th – so like I say – a good day if you get a call – and with us working on pork scores – it was cool to see it pay off. It was REALLY hard to wipe the frowny face off at awards – but we still cheered everyone on as usual and made the best of it. It felt good to cheer our peers and know we’ll come back again another day. I will say it was nice of people to stop by and talk to us about the mess of a cook we had and let us know we’re not the only ones this happens to and give us a handshake and a little smile to get us up and back on the horse. We’ve got a lot of great friends out there on the circuit, felt good to see them come through for us when we needed a pick me up. Thanks guys!
Here’s the scores…
Chicken – 33rd
Ribs – 26th
Pork – 10th
Brisket – 38th
Overall – 38th out of 38 Teams.
We’ll see y’all soon!




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