River City Round-Up Results

Nebraska won’t soon forget Iowa BBQ cooks as the Iowa teams that made the trip had a pretty strong showing at the River City Round-Up held in Omaha this past weekend.
This contest was held in parking lot D of the Qwest center and in conjunction with the Rodeo that was being held all weekend. We also had a great view of the new stadium being built for the College World Series.

Jay and I left my place around 8:30 Friday morning heading for Omaha. We could have done without the head wind that day but it started to die down as we got closer to Nebraska. We arrived at our spot for the weekend around 12:30 (we had a few stops to make). Since it was just the 2 of us it took a bit longer to set up but wasn’t too bad. We were ready to prep meat by 2, so we were right on schedule.

My buddy Rick showed up at 5 to stay with us and help out. He turned out to be the night watch and box runner. It started raining around 2:00 am and didn’t stop till 2:00pm. Since it was raining and he was having trouble sleeping, Rick decided to stay up after 2. Probably a good thing he stayed up to watch things as almost all our thermometers were acting up due to the rain. First time I have had that happen, or it’s the first time we’ve noticed it.

We also entered a side dish in this contest. We have a pretty good baked bean recipe that has won many ribbons so we thought we’d give it a shot again. Presentation was anything goes as long it fits in a 9x9 clamshell box so we got a small pumpkin, cored it out and placed it on a bed of dried pinto beans. We filled the pumpkin with baked beans, closed the lid and sent it in. The colors looked great, we just hoped the judges thought so too. Wish we had a picture of it.

Next we sent in the Chicken, Ribs, Pork and Brisket. At the end of the Rib turn in, my niece Nikki and her boy friend Wil and some other friends came out to see us. It was nice of them to stop and hang with us for the afternoon. We sent them home with a couple of big pans of food before they left.
The sun broke out just in time for the awards and when all was done, below is the results from a field of 51 teams.

• 2nd - Side Dish ( Baked Beans )
• 16th – Chicken
• 2nd – Ribs
• 5th – Pork
• 30th – Brisket
• 6th - Overall

As this looks to be the end of the year for us, we would like to thank our sponsors, friends and family for their support this year.

Smokehouse 72

West Bound!

With nothing else on the docket, the River City Round-up in Omaha, Nebraska looks to be the last contest of the season for team Smokehouse 72. The River City Round-Up will be held this weekend, September 24^th – 25^th at the Qwest Center in Omaha. This is our first trip to Nebraska and to this contest so there’s not much we know about it yet. We have heard from other teams that it is a really great and fun contest.

It’s going to be a busy weekend as Bob and Rick have other commitments so it’s just Jay and I. I have a friend over in Council Bluffs that will be out so hopefully we can recruit him for some box running or be the dish bitch. Be ready Rick!

The last couple weeks off gave us time to adjust our brisket recipe. I think we hit on something good so keep your fingers crossed and pray for a good table.

We hope for strong finish and ending the season strong. Keep an eye on the site for updates and wish us luck.

Smokehouse 72

Iowa is done. We competed in 2 contests the last couple of weekends in Iowa, one in Nevada and the other in Ames. In Nevada, we placed 15^th overall with a 3^rd place call in Pork and an 8^th place call in Ribs. We also did a Friday night peoples choice ABT (Atomic Buffalo Turd) contest and placed 3^rd in that event. For those that don’t know, ABT’s are a bacon wrapped jalapeno stuffed with cheese, very good. Along with the ABT’s, we cooked up some pork lion and beef ribs to give out. We had a lot of complements on all the food and a lot of people walking about trying samples.

On to Ames. We thought we put out some great product here but the judges didn’t agree our best showing was in ribs at 11^th. The pork we thought was better than the prior week placed 25^th!? Who knows? Out of the 34 team field, we were stuck at the 19^th spot. Not what we were looking for but that’s what we’ll take if we want to cook in Iowa. If you didn’t know, the best BBQ cooks in America are from Iowa.

Our last contest of the year is coming up on September 24^th and 25^th. This contest is the River City Round up held in Omaha, Nebraska. We are adjusting our brisket recipe just a bit for this contest so keep your figures crossed it was the right direction. Wish us luck!