We Will Rock 'Que Competition BBQ

05/27/2026

Home and recovered from a long weekend in Lebanon, TN for the KCBS World invitational BBQ which included a Friday night invitational Chicken and Rib contest, a Saturday Open and a Sunday invitational. We had a few great moments, and plenty of not quite enough to even be in the middle of the pack, which makes for some initial frustrations, until you look at the calculated scores. Generally the top third of each category were scores that would normally win a competition, with less than a 100th of a point between places, and plenty of ties that get broken with mathematical and digital coin flip decisions. To good at these type comps, you need to be at the top of your game and then some.

Friday night
Chicken 65th out of 74 teams.
Ribs 47th out of 79 teams.

Saturday Open with 117 teams
Chicken 30th (I made some seasoning changes to bump up taste scores)
Ribs 70th
Pork 100th (taste and tenderness not appreciated)
Brisket 2nd with a 180. We agreed
38th overall

Sunday Invite with 82 teams
Chicken 66th
Ribs 46th
Pork 9th (what a difference a day makes)
Brisket 72rd (ditto)
65th overall

Thanks to Lisa Skiroock for her help and especially box running through rain and puddles on Saturday.

As always, we had fun hanging and joking with friends.

Next, a two month break, as there are no comps within a few hours of home. Gas is too expensive to run eight to ten hours each way for a single day competition. Plus, I am going backpacking at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico that has me gone for the first half of July. Come August and September, I'll be competing all but two weekends.

Have a good summer everyone!

05/17/2026

Another midwest comp weekend, this time at Rockin' BBQ in Warsaw, IN. Due to recurring conflicts, I haven't done this comp in a few years, but Kevin still works as hard as ever to keep the event running smoothly.
Friday night, I did the optional chicken contest, getting 6th out of 25 teams.
On Saturday morning, I woke up to and invasion of midge flies from the nearby lake. They invaded my back porch wall and dozens snuck into the trailer. They look like big mosquitoes but are harmless.
The cook went really smooth and I liked everything I turned in. Thankfully, the judges agreed.
35 teams
7th in chicken
2nd in ribs (having great luck with Wichita Packing lately
3rd in pork (trying some new pork from The BBQ Maestros
8th in brisket
Reserve Grand Champion with a 706.9028 score
Congrats to Scuffletown Smokers BBQ Team on their astounding GC.

It was great being surrounded by teams I consider good friends and family, though my neighbors heard from me on Saturday morinng about them blasting Michael Jackson's hits when I was trying to get to sleep Friday night.

This upcoming coming weekend is a return to Lebanon, TN for the KCBS World invitational BBQ, with cooks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

05/03/2026

Had a great weekend at Smoke in the Mitten BBQ Competition, in Westland, MI at the VFW 9885 "BOVA". This VFW has a great field to set park a bunch of teams, stable power hook up's, and a great garden bar set amongst numerous memorials and military recognitions.
Thursday night was party night. Friday featured a ribs only competition. I made some sauce changes after doing a taste test with Keith and Jason from DB BBQ. I rolled with our top choice and thought they were great. Unfortunately, I was on a table of judges that didn't like most of the ribs they had, which yielded an 18th place finish out 24 teams. After a bit of grumbling and reflection, I decided to shake it off and run the same ribs again on Saturday.
It was in the mid 30's cold at 4am on Saturday morning, but the space heater in the trailer did well and my cook went without issues. Out of 34 teams, the results were:

20th Chicken
1st Ribs with a 180 (big flip from the night before)
9th Pork
2nd Brisket

2nd overall for Reserve Grand Champion!
Congrats to Buddy Hammett with Shiggin Ain't Easy on his GC.

Thanks to Jim Hart and his crew that work really hard to put this excellent competition together. Jim announced he was stepping back from the lead, but I hope he keeps being the awards presenter, as he is really fun.

Next up, Warsaw, IN in two weeks.

04/21/2026

The other day, I posted about this past weekend, but it seems to have vanished. We'll try again.

This past weekend was the Great Lakes BBQ Association's Spring Fling competion in Coldwater, MI. It was one of the comps where you are happy you have a trailer to take shelter in from the wind and rain.
48 teams
4th in Chicken
23rd in Ribs (a little tough)
28th in Pork (not sure)
4th in Brisket (finally doing better after a year of not)
9th overall

Congratulations to Que-U on the GC and Smokin' E's on their RGC.

Next up is Smoke in the Mitten BBQ Competition, back in Michigan, on May 1-2.

04/04/2026

Good morning from Gadsden, AL for Smoke on the Falls.

03/23/2026

Back home from another run to the south, this time Smoke on the Shores in Lebanon, TN. This is a ten year old competition, very well run by Jason Cole and his team.
Friday night featured a chicken and rib only competition, so we took a shot at them. Chicken did well at 9th out of 71 teams and ribs at 31st out of 88.
Saturday's field was 125 teams.
79th Chicken (lesson learned to reread the process before mixing some of the ingredients)
18th ribs (a happy accident in setting up the smoker led to a gentler than usual cook, that I think I'll try again)
66th Pork (always learning)
66th Brisket (it was melt in your mouth, buttery that won over only 2 of the 6 judges)
54th overall

Sam's Club sponsored a free to enter dessert competiion so I talked Lisa into making me a cheesecake to join the dozens of other cheesecakes that get presented at comps. We kept it really simple, hoping simple would stand out. Not so much. 56th out of 79. As we don't do artsy-fartsy, that was probably a one and done.

Thanks to Daniel Skiroock for coming out to man the vents, run the boxes and help pack up.
It was also nice to have some local cousins, friends and Daniel's coworker stop by.

In two weeks, Lisa and I will be at Smoke on the Falls in Gadsden, AL. As Gadsden is my Mom's home town, we always look forward to this comp to see cousins and revisit old haunts.

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03/09/2026

Back home from the first competition of my season, and my first competition in Georgia. The Sip & Swine BBQ Festival in Lawrenceville (near Atlanta) is an established and well run event in the Cool Ray Field parking lot. I did share in the experience of driving near Atlanta and I can tell you it is as bad I had heard it was.
Back in December I took a bbq class held by Janky Leg BBQ which rejuvenated me with new recipes and processes, so I truly looked forward to trying them out.
Out of 44 teams, the results were:
35th Chicken, had some temperature control issues so the thighs got a little overcooked.
2nd Ribs, woohoo!
16th Pork, did better than I thought it would, but I know what I need to fix.
13th Brisket, I thought this Brisket was a vast improvement from anything I cooked last year.
12th place overall.
It was great reconnecting with my bbq family and meeting more fun people.
In two weeks, Dan Skiroock and I will be in Lebanon, TN for Smoke on the Shores, then two weeks after that, Lisa Marschke-Skiroock and I will be in Gadsden, AL for Smoke on the Falls.

12/09/2025

The BBQ season ended a month ago at the American Royal Invitational and Open. It was a pretty uneventful year, where basically I learned what I have turned in over the past few years doesn’t work very well now.

The high points of the 8 competitions in the second half of the season:
4th place Chicken at Puckaway Pigfest in Montello, WI
4th place Chicken at Praise the Lard in Murphysboro, IL
6th place Chicken at Rollin Smoke at Rustic Timbers BBQ Bash in Egg Harbor, WI
3rd Place Ribs at Madison Ribberfest in Madison, IN
4th Place Ribs at Brighton BBQ Bash in Brighton, WI
9th Place Ribs at Rollin Smoke at Rustic Timbers BBQ Bash in Egg Harbor, WI
1st Place Pork at Rollin Smoke at Rustic Timbers BBQ Bash in Egg Harbor, WI
12th Place Pork at the American Royal Invitational in Kansas City, KS

Chicken was my steady category this year, finishing in 51st place in the KCBS Masters division. Ribs started off weak and got better finishing with an overall ranking of 74th.
Pork and brisket were my nemesis, save for the last couple comps for pork.

This past weekend I took a class taught by Janky Leg BBQ, one of the best teams in the country. After having a generally disappointing season, I am now rejuvenated with new processes and knowledge, ready to start practice cooks and comps that start in mid-March.

Thank you to my BBQ-Family members who helped me throughout the season by tasting my entries and giving great feedback on what wasn’t working.
Thanks to all of the organizers and KCBS Reps for producing the competitions.
And lastly, thank you to my wife Lisa who went on many more comps than our original deal. She is a great supporter, box runner, pan holder and dishwasher. I am hoping to turn into a dessert competitor next year!

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07/22/2025

Sorry for the lack of updates this year. I’ve done 11 comps since March, in Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. It has been a transitional year, trying to change over to a new smoker and trailer, which I had hoped to have at the start of the season, but it wasn’t finished until the end of May. Over the winter, I removed my primary smoker off of the old trailer, so I switched back to my four drum smokers, which I had not cooked on at one time in two years. Muscle memory was there, save for a few tenderness issues, and the cooks were technically fine.

I received some judge feedback at several early comps that some of my meats were bland, so I spent most of the first half of the season changing ingredients, trying to pump up the flavors. Some things would hit at a comp, then fail miserably soon after. I can say that I know what doesn’t work. I’ll be going back to what worked last year and try to make it pop on the cutting board.

The new trailer is comfortable (plus the new truck to pull it), and running the new to me Outlaw 2860 smoker is smooth and steady.
The high points of the season so far:
• 2nd Place Chicken “with a 180” (total possible points) out 100 teams at Smoke on the Shores in Lebanon, TN.
• 5th Place Chicken at Kickin’ It Rt 66 in St. Robert, MO
• 9th Place Chicken at Smoke in the Mitten in Westland, MI
• 5th Place Chicken at the KCBS World Invitational in Lebanon, TN
• 1st Place Chicken “with a 180” at the Buckeye BBQ Classic in Hillsboro, OH
• 9th Place Ribs at Smoke in the Mitten
• 7th Place Ribs at The Hoosier BBQ Classic in Franklin, IN
• 6th Place Pork at Kickin’ It Rt 66
• 7th Place Pork at Smoke on the Falls in Gadsden, AL
• 8th Place Pork at The Hoosier BBQ Classic
• 7th Place Brisket at Smoke in the Mitten

Thanks to all of the comp organizers and KCBS reps so far this season. Congratulations to many friends who had stellar cooks and finishes.

I have at least 8 comps left to go this season, ending with the American Royal on November 8 and 9 in Kansas City. I have high hopes that things will start to click between the judges and I!

05/22/2025

And the next chapter begins.