BBQ Forum Blog

Steve e-mailed me when he returned from Vegas to get my address, he was sending the plaque to me for 5th place sausage, which I thought was great. I gotta tell you, I really got some mileage from that plaque. I displayed it obnoxiously prominent in the kitchen and was sure to wave it in front of anyone’s nose that stood still for any more than 30 seconds in the area. As Christmas approached, Jo insisted that I transfer it to my office, which I did, where it remains today. I am sure she was glad to have it gone from the kitchen, although I would still give anyone that would listen a full blow-by-blow account of the contest anytime I was asked, which would include a trip to my office to see “the hardware”.

During the 2006 holiday season as my friends and family became glassy eyed while listening to my sausage cooking escapades for the twentieth time, there were a few that not only didn’t glass over, but that actually appeared interested. At times, bringing the subject up and asking if they could go down and “take a look” at the plaque. Especially as I thought out loud that I would like to start my own team, there actually seemed to be some interest. I was pleasantly surprised that there were others that would be interested, I might be able to pull this off I thought.

My friend Bobby, the superintendent of the recently completed kitchen project, was very interested. He asked many questions and was excited at the idea. Bobby is always very busy with his regular job, his family and other side jobs that he is working on, but said that he would like to get involved. Just recently, Bobby had ventured into the kitchen and began to try his hand at cooking various dishes, other than cooking on the grill. He really enjoyed when he came to our house, jumping in and getting involved with the food preparation, he was enjoying his move from the grill to the kitchen and was looking to learn more.

Erich, my friend and neighbor had listened to all of my stories and tales many times over, always laughing as if he had never heard them before. He also had been by to visit us for the two years that we cooked at the tailgater challenge. We walked around together, looking at the cookers and talking to the cooks. One thing is for sure, Erich shared my passion for drinking beer and eating BBQ. Anytime I made anything on the grill or the smoker, Erich would always volunteer to test out the grub. A decent grill cook, Erich was also eager to learn about the low and slow method of cooking BBQ.

Mike and I had cooked together at both of the tailgaters at Bel Air and he is very skilled around the stove and the grill. An accomplished home chef, he was a natural to be a team member. A skilled outdoorsman, he is very helpful with his knife skills and knowledge of meat trimming and preparation. Mike and I spent a lot of time together discussing various cooking techniques. I bounced many thoughts and ideas about the teams’ formation off Mike, which always resulted in spirited discussion. Some would say that any time Mike and I are in a discussion that it is spirited, but I would say they would be exaggerating, well, maybe not, that is what makes it fun.

Al and I have been friends for around 30 years. It hardly seems that long, when I think back of all the great dinners that Jo and I have enjoyed with him and his wife Arlene, better known as “Pete”. Other than my Mother, I would say that Al and Pete had the most influence on me as far as my interest in cooking. Many summer afternoons were spent around the grill at their home as we cooked everything from london broil to chicken wings to Canada goose. Over the years, Al has also developed into a fine home chef, while a traditional southern Sunday dinner cooked by Pete surely cannot be beat. When asked, Al did not hesitate, he wanted in and the team was complete, after all, it would be a good reason to get together a couple of times through out the summer and drink a few beers.

I was counting the days until the Summer Fest. While checking the web site I noticed a BBQ class offered By Smoken Dudes BBQ at the New Holland location on Thursday just before the Summer Fest. My friend Al and I signed up and drove to New Holland early Thursday morning. The e-mail conformation said not to eat breakfast and they were not kidding. The guys at Smoken Dudes put on a great class that included an awful lot of good BBQ to eat. They demonstrated cooking methods for brisket, pork butts, chicken, ribs, prime rib and even a whole hog. The best part was the students could sample everything that was cooked for the class, we didn’t have to buy breakfast, lunch or dinner that day! Meadow Creek BBQ was moving their display cookers onto the fair grounds and you could just feel the excitement building for the weekend cook off.

Friday morning came and I hit the office early trying to clean up loose ends with intentions of taking a half a day off. By 11:00 I couldn’t take it any more and I jumped into my truck for the 1 ½ hour ride to New Holland Pennsylvania. I grabbed a change of clothes and my shaving kit and headed north but not without a stop for a bottle of agave juice.

Steve was already there. He was cooking with his Father Dale under the name of Team Agave. The year before, Steve and Dale won the Grand Champion at New Holland so this year they were the ones to beat. I had no idea what to bring or what to expect as I wandered around the fair grounds looking for Team Agaves site. I eventually located Steves rig and knocked on the door. I was greeted with a big grin and a quick handshake then told, “hand me that brisket…no…not the butt…the brisket…that’s it.” Sort of reminded me of when we ran out of gas on a boat out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, when the Captain in the assisting boat was preparing to tow us in, he tossed the line, “tie it to the pointy end” he said. From then on, it was non-stop. It began with instruction, followed by hands on training. I could not believe how much meat we were preparing. While we worked to trim and prep the meat, other cooks and team members would stop in to say hello. There was a lot of talk about recent contests, who finished where, who did what to their chicken ( that doesn’t sound right does it?) and some good-natured ribbing, but overall, everyone I met was very friendly……. and this was a competition?

As evening approached and we were finishing with the meat prep, teams from nearby sites stopped in to invite us to come over and have a bite to eat or a cold drink. Dale had brought some steamer clams from home and he cooked then up with some melted butter, they were great. Folks stopped by and we went visiting, it was just like a big party, this looked like it was going to be fun.

I met many people my first evening on the BBQ circuit. Chris and the Dizzy Pig gang invited us in for a bowl of their “nad” soup. They had the blues playing and the smoke rollin, talk about mojo. I don’t know what was in the soup, but it sure was good. Brett Brown from Free Range BBQ was nearby and cooking alone this weekend, now that is an iron man. I was also introduced to Rich Decker from Lost Nation Smoke Company and his rendition of a clonesickle. (Note to self, stay away from anything presented in a block of ice on an August night in New Holland)

After a few more trips around the fairgrounds punctuated with a couple of nips on the clonesickle, we loaded the meat into the cooker and I went (staggered) off to grab a few hours sleep. (another note to self: bring sleeping bag and pillow to facilitate getting a few hours sleep) (a third note to self: Attempting to sleep in a Chevy Tahoe without a pillow or blanket on a hot August night after consuming steamer clams and bourbon whiskey from a block of ice does not necessarily make for a restful night…add Rolaids, Tums and Ibuprofen to the must have list) Steve said he would be up early to put the ribs on, I think my reply was, “if I am not there, start without me.”

Saturday morning came and despite the fog in my head, I rolled back to the site and met Dale and Steve for breakfast. I had missed the ribs going into the cooker. The folks from Smoken Dudes put out a good feed, nothing fancy, but very tasty. A few eggs, a cup of coffee and a couple more Ibuprofen and I was as good as new….yea right! Oh, by the way, Steve wants to know if I would be interested in cooking the sausage entry. Sure, I will cook it, do we have a grill? No grill, no problem, Steve calls his friend Jack McDavid of Jacks Down Home BBQ, and presto, I got a grill. A black Weber kettle, now this I could cook on. I was about to cook in my first official KCBS BBQ contest and I was not even nervous.

Sausage was due first, at 11:30, before chicken, I lit an indirect fire and tossed them on. I tried not to burn them or cause them to split. When they were done, I tossed em in a bath with beer and some other goodies and slid em into the smoker until turn-in time. Dale made me up a box and Steve helped me build the box. At the appointed time, I walked the box up to the table. A smiling woman took the box after I sat it down, that was painless.

Back to the site as Steve was getting ready with his chicken turn in and it was off to the races until brisket went in at 1:30. Even though Steve was basically cooking by himself, Dale prepped and ran the boxes, and I did what I was told, he was, in my opinion, very calm and organized. He would ask for an opinion, call for a look-see, or have us taste a product, he moved around like a well-oiled machine. No pressure, no worry, amazing. He even had time to speak to a group of folks that stopped by the site from his hometown, wow, how does he do that?

After the brisket went in it was time to clean up as Steve and Jack McDavid were leaving New Holland after the last turn in for a two day drive out to Las Vegas to film a BBQ contest on the VERSUS network. When we were packed up, Steve and Jack hit the road, Dale asked if I was staying for the awards. Jo had just called and said she picked up some fresh swordfish from the market, when would I be home. After my meeting with the clonesickle and the sleep that I didn’t get in the Hotel Tahoe, I thought it would make sense to go ahead and get on the road. After all, I was really beat. Dale would stay and collect any accolades for Team Agave.

Cell phone service at my home is spotty at best. While sitting at the kitchen island, dining on blackened swordfish and drinking a glass of Merlot, 6:00 PM Saturday evening, my cell phone tells me I have a new message. That’s funny, it never even rang, typical for the service around here, where’s that guy with the black framed glasses when you need him. I dial in to retrieve my message and work through the menu, finally getting to the new one, its scratchy, sounds like the caller is also in a bad cell. I can make out Steve’s voice, as he is somewhere in western Pennsylvania, I can tell he’s excited, Team Agave took the Grand Championship for the second year in a row!!! And to top it off, we got a call for 5th place sausage out of 72 teams! I can’t believe it, amazing.

Upon reflection, I had had a great time and met some great folks. Other than my self-inflicted overindulgence, I had a great weekend. This really looks like something I would like to get involved with. I wonder if I can find a couple of interested people and start our own team.

The Beginning

My name is George Hensler. My BBQ team is called “Who are those guys?” We are a new team from Street, Maryland and have just finished our second season on the BBQ trail. Hopefully, this blog will give a little insight to starting a BBQ team, competing in the start up season, and cooking/competing in the seasons to come.

I like to say I am starting at the beginning in 2004, but the truth is, I have always had an interest in cooking. I can remember as a Boy Scout, wanting to learn how the older scouts were cooking on a fire and eating well, while my patrol dined on Dinty Moore beef stew from a can. I wasn’t sure, but I knew there had to be a better way.

The following tail is how I became involved in this hobby/sport/addiction called Competition BBQ. As I noted above, I am a beginner, and still have a lot to learn. I am by no means a BBQ expert. I do believe however, that I can offer some insight to anyone that is considering making the step to get involved in this very worthwhile endeavor of competition cooking.

I will also note, as I am sure that frequent visitors to the BBQ Forum already know, you will not find a friendlier, more helpful, or caring group of “competitors” in any other sport. In my opinion, the folks involved here are the best, second to none. I hope you enjoy my story, please let me know what you think.

Summer of 2004 I had the application for the “Tailgater challenge” at the Bel Air BBQ Bash all filled out with the check written, in an envelope, sitting on my desk. I just could not bring my self to mail it.

I had been to the Bash in Bel Air the year before and walked around looking at all the different cookers and talking to many of the contestants. I even found myself riding through town the following Saturday just to get a whiff!

Pretty intimidating to me. Months before I had bought my first smoker, a $200 offset from BBQ Galore. I had produced some decent stuff with the offset and my Weber kettle, folks liked my Que, but a contest, I don’t know about that. Talking it over with my friend Mike and to heck with it, we would enter and see what happens. What is the worst thing that could happen; we would sit around for a Friday afternoon and drink a few beers, that ain’t all bad. We cooked up some pulled pork, got a couple of dozen ears of sweet corn and some cold beer and invited a few friends to stop by and see us.

Mike and I arrived at the appointed time and unloaded the truck. We went to the cooks meeting and were given our rack of ribs to cook. We fired up the offset and were in business. At least we thought. They also gave us a turn in box and told us that we could garnish our ribs, garnish, we did not have any of that with us, what could we use? what was legal?, and we thought this would be easy.

Not to worry, the fellow next to us, Ron Loveland (Ribinit), was very helpful. He filled us in and a few cell phone calls later we had it covered. Cooker going, sitting back having a beer in the middle of town on a Friday afternoon in August, this sure beat working!

It wasn’t long when we had a visit by two very friendly guys Steve Farrin (I Smell Smoke) and Dave Frary (I Que). They introduced themselves, asked some questions, made a couple of suggestions and invited us to stop by and see them at their site later on. They were cooking as Team Agave over on the “other” side, where the big boys were.

Our ribs were cooked and we made up our box, looking back, I wish we had taken a picture. I think there were 12 teams, we got a “call” for 6th place and even got a ribbon! Many friends stopped by and had some grub, overall, we had a ball. I would say this was the beginning, I was hooked but didn’t know it yet.

After we cleaned up, we walked over to see Steve and Dave. They were very friendly and showed us around their set up, answered many questions and even offered a shot of the magic agave juice to the new guys. We wandered around after a lot of the crowd left and spoke to many of the other cooks, all very willing to show you around and talk BBQ. This sure looked like fun. But the thought of cooking 4 categories, and one of them was brisket, all done on a rigid time schedule, I am not too sure about that. And brisket, never cooked one of those before. Before we left, Steve asked me to stop by on Saturday to taste their que, hmmmm, Saturday, I had nothing else to do.

Saturday early afternoon found my wife Jo and I walking through the smoke and excitement of turn in time. You could feel the excitement, but not much to see as a spectator, not like watching a NASCAR race or a football game, just not much for the spectator to see. Until we got to Team Agaves site. Steve and Dave were in the middle of their turn ins. They made us welcome and we stayed out of the way and just watched. Now, this was exciting. The best thing was that Steve gave us samples, especially the brisket, how did he get that so tender. Jo and I stayed after turn in and helped Steve and Dave clean up and pack up and they gave us a couple of zip locks full of meat to take home, not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Around 3:00 (before awards) Jo and I hit the road but not before exchanging e mail addresses with our new friends. Steve suggested that I visit the BBQ Forum and said I could get a lot of good information there. He also gave me a container of Blues Hog Rub and suggested I give it a try on my next rib cook. We wished the team luck and went home with our carry out bags and a new found appreciation of competition cooking.

Wednesday afternoon and the local paper is delivered, Steve and Dave are on the front page, Team Agave wins the Bel Air bash! How about that! I think I will check out that BBQ Forum and see what this is all about.

It was not long before I was a regular lurker on the BBQ Forum. Reading the posts and contest results became a daily routine, just like reading the morning paper. I searched the archives, clicked on links and googled for all things BBQ. All the while trying to get a consistent cook with my offset, without having to sit there and watch it every minute. When I had the time to spend sitting with the cooker, I could hold a steady temperature, but leave it alone for and hour or so and you never knew what you would find upon your return. There had to be a better way.

My wife Jo and I had been taking cooking classes together for the past several years and really enjoyed the time together and learning different cooking methods. Our instructor Tom and his wife Carol have become good friends as they open their kitchen up once a month to us students for what is always a great meal.

The one problem that developed because of our increased interest in cooking was we found that our kitchen was too small. (Just a friendly word of caution to those thinking of increasing your cooking knowledge and or skills.) So, in the spring of 2005 we decided to remove a bearing wall and expand our kitchen, more than doubling its size. With the hard work of many of our great friends, (thanks Bobby, Art and Jack), we installed our dream kitchen.

The new floor plan included seating for six around an island complete with a new gas cook top. The room became our kitchen/family room. As was always the case, when family and friends came over, everyone always hung out in the kitchen, only now there was plenty of room and they could watch all of the action. We located a new Weber Genesis gas grill just outside the side kitchen door and ran a gas line from the main LP source to eliminate the need to replace grill bottles. The new grill is not far away so the cook can stay in the conversation and does not get lost behind the grill. I am not sure if the guests appreciate this fact as much as I do!

I communicated regularly my new friend Steve and he asked me several times to come and hang out with him at various BBQ contests. I had mentioned to Steve earlier that if he ever needed a pot washer or runner at any contest to let me know. Teenage sons in the final years of High School along with the ongoing kitchen project just would not let it happen. I continued to read The Forum and work on my BBQ skills. Some results were good, while others, well, let’s just say, not so good.

As the Tailgate Challenge approached in August 2005, Mike and I again signed up. I had been working on my ribs in the offset and was not happy with the result. I felt I could get a better rib cook with the Weber kettle. When the day of the Bash arrived, we hauled the kettle down to Bel Air. It was what seemed like 110 degrees that day and cooking on an asphalt parking lot made it seem even hotter. We were much more pleased with our product that day and came in 5th place. We did not get a ribbon, but it was nice getting the “Call”. We had a lot of friends and family stop by again which made for a good time. Steve and Dave again cooked as Team Agave and after we cleaned up, we stopped over for a visit. It was good seeing our friends again but the heat of the long day and a planned full day on Saturday with the ongoing construction project caused us to call it an early night.

An e-mail a few days later from Steve invited me to New Holland for the Summer Fest 2005. The new cabinets were on the schedule to be installed that day and I had to stay home. Not that I have the ability to install kitchen cabinets, but somebody has to hand the skilled workers the unpacked cabinets, fetch beers and cook lunch, and that somebody was me. BBQ contests would have to wait.

By October 2005 the kitchen project was wrapping up and it was time to break it in. Christmas was our first big meal and things worked very well, Jo and I could not have been happier. In February 2006, we hosted a dinner for all of our friends that helped with the kitchen project including Sheila from Lowes that did the layout design. Our guests dined on fillet mignon and seared tuna and a good time was had by all.

The annual family vacation for 2006 was set, deposit sent, house reserved, plans in place. When is the Bel Air bash this year, THE SAME TIME AS OUR ALREADY SCHEDULED VACATION!!!! How did that happen?? I sure would like to blame it on Jo. Perhaps the BBQ schedule was not consulted before vacation plans were made. Surely, she should have looked, ah, maybe not, perhaps she’s not into this cook off thing like I am. You can bet that will never happen again if I can help it.

We did arrive home mid afternoon on the day of the Bash. Jo and I drove down to Bel Air in time for the awards. The Dizzy Pig gang won as Grand Champion and a mental note was made to check the BBQ dates before making vacation plans in the future.

Wait a minute, things are looking up, Steve is heading to New Holland August 25th to attempt to repeat as the Grand Champion and he needs a dish washer, hmmmmmm I think I can make that!

Here’s an update of the new G1 Cell phone. Not all has gone just as planned. When they transferred the cell phone number from the old carrier something went wrong with the email and text messaging. These two items are not working. However T-Mobile finally figured out what is wrong and it’s supposed to be fixed today or tomorrow.

What I wanted to tell you about is one of the best features of this phone and that is it has then new Google operating system. With this Google operating system is the ability to download free applications that have been created by Google and third party sources. Every day new applications come online.

Here are the applications that I have put on my phone so far. These are in addition to the ones that came pre loaded like, Gmail, Messaging, Email, Google maps, alarm clock, calculator, camera, IM’s, music, picture viewer, voice dialer, you tube videos, etc.

• Accua Weather – With this app I can get all the latest weather forecasts, temperatures, and weather radar maps.

• Score Board by Google – This is a great tool for sports fans. You can have the latest sports scores downloaded to your phone as the games progress. It will even notify you when ever point has been scored on your favorite games. I used this last Sunday and I was able to see all the football scores on my phone.

• Twitter application – Send and view tweets.

• Quote Pro – Instant information and charts on your favorite stocks. I don’t own any now but I like to watch what is going on.

• Voice Recorder - Simply records voice messages and plays them.

• Ring toggle – Quickly toggle between modes like ring, silent, and vibrate.

• File Manager – Like file manager on your computers. Delete, rename and move files.

• Quickpedia – Good tool to browse Wikipedia.

• Rings Extended – Makes it easy to select ringtones form ringtones, music tracks or other sounds.

• Ringdroid – Create your own ringtones by editing music tracks or mp3’s.

• The Weather Channel – Another Weather app. I am trying to decide if I like this one better than Accua Weather.

• Any Cut – Allows you to create custom shortcuts and Icons for your desktop.

• CompareEverywhere – Helps you shop smarter. Compares prices of other merchants for items your looking for in your area.

• ShopSavy – Users can scan the bar code of any product using their phone’s built-in camera. ShopSavvy will then search for the best prices online and through the inventories of nearby, local stores using the phone’s built-in GPS..

• Tune Wiki – Next Generation Social media player. It synchroizes lyrics to audio and video files it all languages. Check out the top songs and view the videos while reading the lyrics. See who is listening to what on Tune Wiki in your area by GPS.

• Atrack Dog – Helps you manage installed apps and keep them up to date.

This is great stuff. More to follow…….

Ray Basso

In the early 1990’s I went to my first barbecue contest and it was the American Royal Contest in Kansas City.  One of the things that I noticed was there wasn’t anyone that was talking on a cell phone.  Now everyone has a cell phone.  So it’s kinda barbecue related for me to talk about my newest cell phone. 

I have been using a Motorola Q since they first came out about three years ago.  It was a good phone but just never did what I needed a cell phone to do.  I needed a cell phone that is first of all a good easy to use phone.  Then I need a cell phone that is a good web browser.  I need to be able to look at my web pages and do things on them and I need these features in my cell phone so I could stop carrying around a notebook computer.   I have never seen a good web browser in a cell phone until now.   So I bought the T Mobile G1 cell phone as soon as I saw it.  Web pages can be viewed on this phone, as they really are and it has a great keyboard that allows me to input information quickly on the web page.  I can for example view the BBQ Forum web page and read the messages that have been posted on it.  I can also access the admin features of the web page and delete messages if necessary.  Most importanlly I can do all of these functions quickly.

This phone has the revolutionary Goggle operating system installed which allows me to view my email, my G mail account, send and receive text messages, check the weather, record voice messages, check my Google calendar, take pictures, look at Google maps, check twitter and on and on.  I hope you get the idea.  If the phone didn’t come with the features you wanted you can go to the Google Market place and download free applications that will take care of your dream items for a cell phone.  Of course on top of this it’s a great phone.

On top of all of this I was able to cut my monthly phone bill by switching from Verizon to T-Mobile.  The cell phone bill dropped by $50 a month and I like that.  So if you need a great phone with a lot gadgets then take a look at this one.  You can get a good look at it by going to the T-Mobile site and or visit the G1 Emulator.

One other thing.  I was at Blockbuster looking for a good DVD to watch.  So, I opened the browser on the phone and pulled up IMDB movie review site.  I did searches on three movies and looked at the ratings, made my choice and enjoyed a good movie. 

Ray Basso

In the middle of last year I started a new web page http://www.bbqcontestinfo.com. It’s a web page to help promote barbecue contests all over the country, of all types. I wanted to promote sanctioned contest, backyard contest, large and small contests. With limited promotion there were some very good results.

Last year there were 24 contests that used the site to help promote their events and some of the contest articles had over 600 people view their information. That’s really good for a new web site. It is also great for the contests.

What is unique about this site, is the contest promoters are given access to use the site an post news articles about the contest. The contest promoters that used the site did a great job but I really hoped they would use it more. I had hoped that they would post follow up articles about how the contest went but that didn’t work.

So, this year I am going to start promoting the web site early. Those promoters that were given access can still use the user names and passwords I gave them to start promoting their events right now. If you have lost the login information then let me know by using the "Contact Ray" link on the site and I will re-issue the login information.

If your a new to the site then use the "Request Access" link to apply for access. This is a great way to get free advertising for your contest and events.

The web page is a great "One Stop" place for everyone to get a lot of information about the contests that are out there. That is, it will be a great place, once again, if I can get the contest organizers to use this resource, again this year.

So everyone please take a look at the web site. Tell people about it so we can promote barbeque contests everywhere.

Ray Basso

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Ray Basso
Internet Consultant

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ceramic BBQ Forum

CERAMIC BBQ COOKERS DISCOVER FORUM TO COMPARE EQUIPMENT, RECIPES, PICTURES AND TECHNIQUES.
Users are encouraged to discuss different types of ceramic barbecue cooking equipment - http://www.ceramicbbqforum.com 

Kansas City, MO. August 11, 2008: In the past, forums of this type have been operated by equipment manufactures that restricted the discussion to their own ceramic BBQ products. This new “basic forum” encourages free open discussion about all types of ceramic cooking equipment. Product comparisons are encouraged. 


What people are saying about this Ceramic BBQ Forum.
Testimonials from the forum:
1. Posted by stike on August 08, 2008 at 11:44:52: “Funny that this hasn’t come about sooner. It’s a good idea.”

2. Posted by Sundown on August 07, 2008 at 20:41:37: “It’s about time we had something like this…. This should be al lot of fun like back in the “old days.”

3. Posted by Poppasam on August 05, 2008 at 12:16:50: “This will be as great as the BBQ Forum for us Ceramic Folks. As a total ceramic team I look forward to thought and ideas on what we are doing from others.”

4. Posted by Old Dave on August 05, 2008 at 06:42:38: “Thanks so much for starting another great forum. I am sure it will soon be one of the best locations on the web for the ceramic owners.”


About the Ceramic BBQ Forum.
The Ceramic BBQ Forum was started by Ray Basso the moderator of the World Famous BBQ Forum. The BBQ Forum was the very first Internet Forum about BBQ that was started in 1995. Since The BBQ Forum’s inception over 650,000 messages have been posted to the BBQ Forum. 

The Ceramic BBQ Forum will also be operated and moderated by Ray Basso. The advertising on the Ceramic BBQ Forum will be provided by bbqads.com.

# # #

If you’d like more information about the Ceramic BBQ Forum or the BBQ Forum, or to schedule an interview with Ray Basso visit http://www.raybasso.com and click on the contact Ray link.

His posts on the forum come from the enigmatic handle, Ford. Just one word, like Prince (or whatever he calls himself these days). But if you’ve been around the forum and the competitive bbq life for a while, you really don’t need to know more than that one word.

With his wife, Carol, and their pooches, Ford has been competing and racking up trophies and ribbons under the Great Lakes BBQ and Feed Co. name since 2001 and along the way they’ve taken many others into their tent and helped them get their starts, as well.

Always generous with advice and recipes (including his legendary breakfast beef tenderloins), Ford has a straight-shooting, clear headed style for posting, and a fairly well respected sense of style in living (wearing Wingtipped shoes in a severely muddy competition in Texas is the way they seem to remember him down in the lonestar state), such as the ‘colorful’ shirts he and Carol wear to the Friday night parties at competitions.

Others remember his readiness to share advice and guidance on cooking temps, times and recipes, or his cooking with Long Island Bob Regan and other members of the U.S. Air Force at the American Royal in 2003. Ford is proud of his country, the young men and women that serve for us all, and cooking bbq. I can’t think of too many better examples of people giving back to all of them at once.

Name? Ford Alison

Where From and/or where do you currently live? Grew up in Toronto and moved to Michigan in the early 90’s. Currently live in the country with a mailing address of Sparta MI.

Married, kids, etc…? Married Carol in the early 90’s. Neither of us had children prior to our marriage so our “kids” are our dogs – Becky, Max, Jim and Candy. Candy is our pup at 2 years old and the others are all between 9-10. All 4 are Brittany’s and both Jim and Candy were rescues form American Brittany Rescue. We’ve brought them to a few contests in the past and they are great QC inspectors. My only problem is that they think other teams food is just as good as mine. Wouldn’t make very good judges as they don’t take time to look at presentation before diving into the box. Good place for a judges joke here but I don’t bash judges anymore, just the system.

Profession (even if not bbq 24/7– if you cater, vend,etc please mention)? I’m a Project Management Consultant for PM Solutions, Inc based out of Philadelphia. We provide methodology/process improvement in the Project and Portfolio Management areas as well as extended staffing for managing large projects.

We’ve started to do a little catering but it’s limited due to my travel schedule and contests on weekends. My goal is to eventually retire or go part time with consulting and augment my income with catering.

# of pits and what are they? I now have 3 FE’s as my main cookers. I also have 2 BGE’s – XL and L that are for sale. I also have a Weber kettle with rotisserie, WSM and Smokey Joe. And I own a Weber Summit D6 with the smoker attachment.

Have you ever made your own pit, if so, how many and what styles? Never tried it.

Earliest memory of bbqing– is/was your family involved? I’ve been a griller for many years but living in Toronto, BBQ was not a big thing in the 60’s- 80’s. But travel introduced me to slow smoked food and when I moved to Michigan buying a smoker became a priority. And that was before I found the BBQ Forum so I learned a lot reading some books and just experimenting.

Favorite thing about bbqing? It’s my favorite relaxation from work. Whether a competition or preparing dinner for just the two of us, it is therapy for me.

How you found the forum and when (if you can remember)? I found it in 2000 and did my first post o10/25/2000. I first found competition BBQ and the websites when I judged the 2000 State of Michigan championship. A pit was there with a website www.bbqpits.com and that led to the Forum.

What was your first pit? My first pit was a Charbroil charcoal bullet – charcoal fired, then an el cheapo Brinkman offset. I graduated to a Klose Mobile Catering Rig and sold it when I bought a Klose 36”x8’ with fajita grill and 2 burners. Then reality set in and I bought a 16 foot enclosed trailer – 8.5 wide and added an FE100.

First thing you remember cooking (doesn’t have to be bbq)? Baking actually – I learned from my grandmother and she was a great baker. We’d visit her most weekends as I was growing up and the house always smelled of fresh baking. There would be pies, cakes and cookies ready for us. Then I said something about wanting to see her bake and next thing I was making chocolate chip cookies. I’ve been hooked on cooking ever since and still have that recipe. I know it was before my brother was born so I was probably about 5.

Favorite bbq woods, charcoal, rub, sauce, etc? I use all hickory pellets now. Like Pecan chunks when using the Kettle to do chicken. On the offsets I always burned a mix of hickory and apple. Charcoal – Royal Oak lump. Rub & Sauce – for competition I use Slabs and at home I like it as well but also play around with many rubs and sauce. Now for beef tenderloin I like either Slabs beef or Dizzy Pig Cowlick as a rub and no sauce.

Favorite/best competition memory (where, when, who with, team name, etc….)? Tough – I guess finally winning Grand Rapids in 2007. But my first contest where we didn’t get a call, so tired we could barely stand up and got the score sheets and finished 9th overall was enough to get me hooked. And that judging experience in 2000 where I first saw the world of competition BBQ was just overwhelming, especially when I called a few places and asked about the cost of smokers.

Do you eat bbq in restaurants– if so, where, when why? Sure. But not at the big chains like Damons, Applebees, etc. I look for local places and for competition teams that also have a restaurant. I spend a lot of time on the road and some years eat 150+ dinners at restaurants so I get to try different places. Some good, some not so good. I use the Forum to help find these places.

Favorite record albums, books, TV shows, movie,etc…whatever you want to include. Music – a C&W fan as well as pre 1970 rock and roll. Most times however music is a background filler for me.

Books –I love to read and spend hours doing it. Mystery books – love Robert Parker.

Other than sports on TV I don’t really watch a lot. Some Food TV stuff and some home improvement shows are OK. Movies are OK when they come out on DVD but I rarely do the cinema thing anymore.

Favorite non-BBQ Food to eat and/or cook (or thing you eat most often when not eating bbq)? Hard to say but probably a good steak, nice and rare. But I enjoy a lot of different foods leaning toward Tex-Mex, Chinese, Cajun and some seafood. And I love my wife’s Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

Favorite beer, favorite beer to drink w/ food? I usually drink Red Dog. I like most beers although heavy dark ones limit how much I can consume.

Favorite BBQForum Thread (can include “what’s an abt?” if you want)? I get a kick out of the food pics that Chez posts these days.

Least Favorite BBQForum Thread (ditto)? no comment.

Do you have a web site and when did you start and why? Yes – but I don’t keep it up to date and no longer send it out.

Many people (even in the bbq world) may not know the name Ray Lampe, but if you say Dr. BBQ, most will nod with recognition. Some may even have some non-family-friendly things to say. But as they always say, actions speak louder than words. In Ray’s case, this means alot.

His list of awards and trophy wins is constantly growing, he was a member of the KCBS board, is the spokesperson for the Big Green Egg cooker, and he’s been seen on television beating some of the biggest names in competition barbecue.

Dr. BBQ is also an author who’s numerous books can be found in almost any bookstore in the country, and on the shelves of many a serious ‘quer as well as many lists of the best bbq cookbooks. The good Dr. also tours the country teaching bbq classes and writes a column answering readers’ questions in Fiery-Foods & BBQ magazine. He was recently asked to teach bbq at the historic Greenbrier in West Virginia, where Steven Raichlen held court for many years.

His commitment to promoting and sharing his craft is undeniable and when he’s not out competing, teaching or helping others hands-on, he can be found on any number of bbq forums answering questions to help others improve their own art. His straightforward no nonsense style may not always win him friends, but there’s no denying it is authentic.

His new book, The NFL Game Day Cookbook is set to be released in June, 2008

Take it away, Doc….

Name? Ray Lampe aka Dr. BBQ

Where From and/or where do you currently live? I was born in Chicago and lived in the suburbs until 2000 when I moved to Lakeland, Florida where I live now.

Married, kids, etc…? Single

Profession (even if not bbq 24/7– if you cater, vend, etc please mention)? I’m a full time BBQ man. I’ve written three books on BBQ and one on tailgating. I write the “Ask Dr. BBQ” column for Fiery Foods & BBQ magazine and www.fiery-foods.com I’m the spokeschef for Big Green Egg. I teach BBQ competition cooking classes. I do personal appearances for businesses and stores. I’m one of the new BBQ instructors at The Greenbrier in West Virginia and once in a great while I do a catering job.

# of pits and what are they? I was telling someone the other day that I don’t actually own any BBQ pits right now. I work for Big Green Egg and have 2 medium eggs, two large eggs and an XL egg around here and the guys at Cookshack keep me in a loaner FEC100 all the time and then there’s that FEC500 in Tampa that I have access to so I guess I don’t need to own any. I do have about 10 grills in the shed and on the patio but they don’t get used.

Have you ever made your own pit, if so, how many and what styles? My buddy was a welder and we made a grill out of a big toolbox once and a few barrel grills but that was a long time ago.

Earliest memory of bbqing– is/was your family involved? My first crack at real BBQ was actually my first cookoff. It was a rib cookoff in 1982 in Grant Park in downtown Chicago. I read up a little and cooked some pretty good ribs on a borrowed Weber kettle. I didn’t win anything but it was the beginning of an amazing trip.

Favorite thing about bbqing? The people I’ve met and the places I’ve been able to go to.

How you found the forum and when (if you can remember)? In about 1998 my neighbor got a computer and got hooked up to the internet. She didn’t really know what to do with it and neither did I, but we somehow found the BBQ Forum. It was so lean back then that we weren’t really sure it was even alive. The functional internet was very new at the time. A short while later I got my own computer and started reading the forum daily and soon began posting.

What was your first pit? My first BBQ cooker was an el cheapo Brinkman but my first real pit was a Jedmaster on a trailer. It was one of the first ones built.

First thing you remember cooking (doesn’t have to be bbq)? Apple Pie in high school foods class. 1972

Favorite bbq woods, charcoal, rub, sauce, etc? I like to cook with lump charcoal and 2/3 cherry and 1/3 hickory wood for flavor. I’m also a big fan of pellet cookers.

My favorite sauce is Gates Original and my favorite rub is my own Bonesmokers. As an exotic rub I like Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin. It’s great on chicken.

Favorite/best competition memory (where, when, who with, team name, etc….)? So many to pick from. Getting a jug at the Jack or a trophy at the Royal are up there. I got a special award at the cookoff in Lebanon this year for Blazing the Trail. That was pretty special. Getting elected to the KCBS board was quite an honor. First Grand Championship in Michigan in 1994 was very cool too.

Do you eat bbq in restaurants– if so, where, when why? Yeah, all the time. I like restaurant BBQ much better than contest BBQ. Every time I go somewhere people want to take me to the local BBQ joint and I don’t mind. They’re usually pretty good. Of course I ate in many BBQ joints all over the country while I was writing BBQ Road Trip. I like going to Big Bob Gibson’s and Arthur Bryant’s. I like Cozy Corner and Black’s and Clem Mikeska’s and Interstate and Dreamland and Blue Smoke and I recently ate at Hill Country in New York and it was good too.

Favorite record albums, books, TV shows, movie, etc…whatever you want to include. I just got a new Voyager phone and the first album I downloaded was John Prine Live. I listen to John Prine all the time. I like the same music I did 30 years ago. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Little Feat.

I like South Park.

Movie? Blue Velvet.

Favorite non-BBQ Food to eat and/or cook (or thing you eat most often when not eating bbq)? I love to eat the native food wherever I am. Cheese Steaks in Philly, Italian Beef in Chicago, Lobster in Maine. If I’m cooking it’s something braised. Lamb shanks are my favorite.

Favorite beer, favorite beer to drink w/ food? Old Style. It’s not the same great beer that it used to be but the memory still serves me well. I drink more Hard Lemonade than beer these days. With food I’d rather have a Diet Pepsi.

Favorite BBQForum Thread (can include “what’s an abt?” if you want)? I’m a real straight shooter and I expect the same from others, so I like it when bullshitters get caught bullshitting.

Least Favorite BBQForum Thread (ditto)? The threads from the soap boxers that think they can really bring a light to the subject at hand and everyone will understand and agree. Get serious.

Do you have a web site and when did you start and why? Yes, I have www.drbbq.com and a bunch of other addresses. They all point to the same site though. I am fascinated by the internet so when having your own website became doable I jumped in. Ray Basso helped me out (and still does) and we put up a fun website. These days it’s professionally done and strictly business, it’s been a very good tool for business.

Photo of Ray Lampe by Michael Carabetta