For those who haven’t heard, H*QUE is on a bit of a hiatus this season in 2011. The team is not disbanded nor has anything nefarious happened, but we decided to team up with Doc and Susan Richardson from Que’s Your Daddy and form a new team this year called ‘The Q Factor’ and see how things go this year on the circuit. You can check in on us over at The Q Factor (http://theqfactor.net) to see how things are going. Otherwise, feel free to cruise the site and drop us a line anytime. Thanks!

Jen & I made it over to KC this weekend for the 2010 KCBS Banquet. We had a lot of fun overall. We met a lot of people that we had heard of but not met or got to really talk to in person.

Doc and I hanging with Bill Arnold

Several of the BBQ Pitmasters from TLC were there and we got to visit with them again and grab a few pics. The banquet was nice and it was cool to cheer for our friends who got called to the stage.

Doc & I with the great Johnny Trigg

We spent a lot of time with Doc and Susan from Que’s Your Daddy and had a great time with them. We made it out to Oklahoma Joe’s in Olathe, KS for lunch on Saturday. It was awesome as usual – burnt ends, ribs, pulled pork, brisket and there awesome fries! The best part about it, we saw all the people from the KCBS banquet show up there too!! Tuffy from Cool Smoke, Chad from Caveman Cuisine, Mike Davis from Lotta Bull and several others – so apparently we all know where to eat BBQ when in KC. Too funny! Went to the KC BBQ store next to Oklahoma Joe’s and bought some stuff to play with. That’s a GREAT store by the way – you can sample almost any rub and sauce you can think of. The guys were very helpful and introduced me to some new products I’ve not seen yet, but am ready to play with.

Best Burnt Ends on the BBQ Tour!

We took the KCBS BBQ restaurant tour on Sunday morning. We went to Smoking Guns (HIGHLY Recommended – best burnt ends on the tour!). Phil and his wife were awesome and it was cool to see his place. Congrats to him for making it, it’s a tough business! We then went to Gates BBQ, which was ok. They were very nice, but the BBQ was a little ‘off’ for my tastes. The ribs weren’t too bad. Good pickles – LOL!. Then we went to Arthur Bryant’s. The 2nd visit disappointed as much as the first time Jen & I visited in March of 2010. That sauce is almost inedible. Sorry, but it’s the way I see it. Although, the guy giving the tour was very nice and quite knowledgeable. After that, the 4th stop was Jack Stack’s at the Freight House. Awesome as usual! Had fun seeing the kitchen and pits.

To top it all off, before leaving town, Jen, Doc, Susan and I all made it to Stroud’s for fried chicken. WOW. If you’ve never eaten there – make a stop while in KC and try it out. The cinnamon rolls are to DIE for, the chicken was good but the gravy is over the top. Good service, good price and great food – a winner for sure!

We also stopped at the Hy-Vee in Olathe and bought a TON of milk from Shatto’s dairy. It’s a local milk and their web site is here – Shatto Milk Company They make a root beer milk that is OUTSTANDING. It’s like drinking a root beer float. If you ever see some try it – you won’t regret it. They also offer a tour of their farm – which Jen & I HIGHLY recommend – it’s a LOT of fun!

Anyway – a great weekend of BBQ and friends – it was hard to beat! More pictures under photos if you’d like to see more. Enjoy!

Jen & I are off to the KCBS banquet this weekend. We’ve never been before and are really looking forward to it. It’ll be fun to see everyone and be able to visit without having to worry about turn in times – LOL! We’re also going to be taking the BBQ Restaurant behind the scenes tour on Sunday morning – so it should be quite a weekend. Plus we’ll have to go frequent some of that famous KC BBQ and steaks. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Well – the season is done (at least for H*QUE anyway). We had a great year overall – and a lot of fun along with a LOT of changes. We changed equipment mid stream this year, not only in trailer but also pits (seasoned 2 of them brand new at comp – ack!). The trailer is winterized and we’re practicing on the ol’ backyard pit for the winter.

I think we had a great season in light of all the equipment changes and learning new pits on the fly. We still ended up in the top 5%-6% overall out of all those KCBS teams which IMHO isn’t too bad with all the mess we endured this season.

I’m already looking at next year and starting to think about the schedule and where we’re going to hit. We tried several new contests this year and we’ll be back to most of them I’m sure.

I know that we had a lot of fun, met a lot of new people and made a lot of new friends this year. I think we continued to make a name for H*QUE this year and for that I’m very proud. We were most solid in ribs and brisket this year – and we just about averaged 2 calls per comp due to those categories. I know that towards the end of the year we were starting to dial in and had almost all four categories in the top ten a few times which was really cool. We’re getting more consistent and better but we just need to get over that hump as it were to grab the ever elusive grand championship I’d love to win.

We’ll continue to practice this winter and get some more tweaks done. After competing with Jay in OK as MO Butts and OK Racks – and getting the call in chicken I’ve waited for all season, I can hope the same method will work next year too. We made a great change to pork in Ft. Gibson as well, which grabbed us a 4th place call in pork, so I think the change was good. Strangely enough, ribs fell off by the end of the season, so I think it might be time to tweak again and make sure we have our method down before next season. And I wouldn’t touch that brisket method right now at all.

Otherwise, we’ll see you guys on the circuit next year and hope for an even better year as we continue to dial in, hopefully keep the same equipment and keep cool in the shade as much as possible – LOL!

Seasons greetings and best wishes to everyone and thanks for stopping by – we’ll catch y’all soon!

So H*QUE teamed up with Jay and Lee Ann (Touch of Smoke BBQ Team From OK) and our combined team name was MO Butts and OK Racks (representing both states in the team name of course) and attended the Smokin’ the Fort – BBQ & Bluegrass Festival in Ft. Gibson, OK.

This was a really special comp for us for various reasons. We got to team up and hang out with our good friends Jay and Lee Ann again – which is ALWAYS a good time. The National Norwegian BBQ Team was there. Craig Whitson from the Norwegian team had contacted me to let me know he was in the states about 2 months ago and wanted ot know if we were cooking anywhere and maybe we could cook together. So this contest popped up and we made arrangements to get them entered, get them some equipment and meet them there. Also, Paul Kirk joined the Norwegian team as well – so we just had a great ol’ time!

This venue was very enjoyable from my perspective. We had plenty of electricity, water and space. It’s a very small town in OK but they appeared to work hard on the contest and 21 teams showed. Lots of local people showed up and plenty of fair like events and I liked the bluegrass music too. Would I attend again – yes. No major complaints other than people’s choice turn in time and handling – but otherwise, it was good to go. I reallyliked the atmosphere of the town and the comp.

Hats off to Jay for packing for 2 teams so the Norwegians would have everything they needed to compete and a big thanks to Cody Cook for lending us a pit they could cook on. It was a lot of work for Jay to bring all that stuff for 2 teams – but he pulled it off in Jay style and it went very well!

We cooked on Jay’s pit and I did chicken and pork and Jay did ribs and brisket. The cook went fine overall but I think due to low weather temps overnight, we were behind on the butts and briskets in the morning. We pulled our ribs off and ran 300* for a while until we got the butts and briskets where we needed them and then resumed 225* until we were done. Jay did a great job running the pit and getting us along where we needed to be.

Awards were awesome – we had a great run and while I didn’t think what we turned in was great the judges thought otherwise and we had 3 walks at the comp – FANTASTIC way to end out the season!

Our camera battery was dead and we couldn’t find the charger so no pics yet – waiting on Jay and the Norwegians to send us some. I’ll post as soon as we get them.

Here’s the scores –
Chicken – 6th – our FIRST chicken call all season – WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Ribs – 11th
Pork – 4th
Brisket – 8th
6th Place overall out of 21 teams – AWESOME!!!