brian j

dolly sods

2006-12-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

sorry for the lack of updates. i could blame it on work or a busy life blaa blaa blaa but in reality not much has been happening lately. just chill'in on the farm, cooking bbq and riding with friends when the opportunity arises.

i got to spend last weekend hiking in the dolly sods west virginia and hanging out with three great friends. we had a blast and put away some of kentucky's finest bourbon whiskey. the weather was beautiful with highs in the mid 40's and lows in the lower 20's. not bad for december eh?

the picture above is a bear paw we saw on the way out (click it to enlarge). i don't know about your but that looks a little too fresh for my liking. below is a link to a slide show of other pictures.

dolly sods pics

congratulations

2006-10-07T16:50:00.000-04:00

congratulations to dizzy pig bbq (fairfax, va) and cool smoke (richmond, va) for their fine showing at the american royal invitational bbq contest. the dizzy pig boys finished an outstanding 11th place and cool smoke finished 22nd in a strong 83 team field consisting of the best teams in the country. both teams along with the pigs on the run (fluvanna county, va) who also competed have shown once again that virginia is home to great bbq even though our neighbor to the south gets most of the credit.

way to go guys!

Chicken
1. Jiggy Piggy
2. Smokin Mother Ruckers
3. Lotta Bull BBQ
4. Carcass Cookers
5. Buttrub.com
6. CancerSucksChicago.com
7. Smoke & Spice
8. Lets Kick some Ash
9. Smokin Clones BBQ
10. Cool Smoke

Ribs
1. Backwoods BBQ
2. Pellet Envy
3. Baby Back BBQ
4. Buttrub.COm
5. Smokedelics
6. Great Grills O Fire
7. Ique
8. SMokers Wild
9. Bayoo Style BBQ
10. Big Bob Gibson

Pork
1. Boys from Tornado Alley
2. PDT
3. Ulce Acres BBQ
4. Muchin Hogs at the Hilton
5. Smokin Clones
6. Pink Flamigo
7. It Aint Prime
8. Pig In Pig Out
9. Dizzy Pig BBQ
10. Mokcan Meatheads

Brisket
1. Raccon Flats
2. Tipple A Cookers
3. Pit Crew
4. It Aint Prime
5. Lotta Bull BBQ
6. 3 Guys with Wood
7. Pattothead Smokers
8. Ulcer Acres BBQ
9. Smoke & Spice
10. Four Men and a Pig

Overall
Grand Champion Lotta Bull Bbq 655.7144
Reserve Grand Champ Smokin Clones 655.7140 (-.0004)
3. Boys from Tornado Alley
4. Ique
5. Smoke & Ice
6. Jiggy Piggy
7. Pellet Envy
8. Lost Gonz BBQ
9. Tripple A. Cookers
10. Carcass Cookers

september

2006-09-28T17:27:00.000-04:00

wow. where did september go? seems like labor day was just last weekend.

lots happened this month starting with a trip to the beach with nicole. we had a awesome time despite the rain. 3 days in oc and only 1 day on the beach.

after that was the always wild wilderness jam followed by fair-b-que '06. then last weekend was a great watershed ride with devo and then this weekend is nicole's horseshow to benifit the throughbread rescue league.

the picture from the right was taken at fair-b-que by my buddy chris. it was a great day of the bluemont fair followed by a bbq and bonfire at the ranch. Thanks to everyone who made it a good time.

good luck to everyone competeting in the kansas city royal next weekend. next year i'm gonna win my way in too.

ernesto

2006-09-01T22:17:00.000-04:00

hurricane ernesto is blowing through today. Supposedly we're getting ~ 5" of rain and a little bit of wind. who knows, not the weather man.

anyway, i wasn't going to let something like some wind and rain stop my from firing up the weber. this recipe is simple and produces a scrumptious meal that will fill the biggest appetite.

ingredients:

fat ass bone-in pork loin chop (the thicker the better)

marinade of your choice (i like lawry's baja chipotle or fatboy)

sweet italian sausage (links or patties)

bbq rub of you choice (i used dizzy dust)

marinate pork chops for 4 - 8 hours

cut a pocket in the pork chop and then stuff with italian sausage (remove casings if using links)

cover with rub

grill over indirect medium heat until internal temp reaches 160 degree fahrenheit (~ 45 minutes)

let stand for 5 minutes and then enjoy

mattie moo

2006-08-31T16:20:00.000-04:00

after a series of highs nicole and i have been dealt a blow. mattie has been diagnosed with cardiomyophy which is the same disease that killed a previous doberman we had (opie). mattie is almost 8 and the cardiologist has given her 1 - 2 years but she could suddenly die at any time. surgery is not an option but drugs may help a bit.

she's a great dog and loves living on our farm. the ground hogs won't miss her but nicole and i certainly will. we love this dog like a child.

i’m at a loss for words and don't know what else to say. please say a prayer for her. thanks.

reno

2006-08-30T11:23:00.000-04:00

i just wanted to give a shout out to everyone completing in reno, nv for the upcoming season of the all-star bbq showdown on oln. many big names are there to compete including mike davis, myron mixon, bad byron chism, dr bbq and johnny trig. in addition there are a lot of smaller "amateur" teams hoping this will be the second year the big boys get upset. good luck!

for those of unfamiliar with the format here's the deal... professional and amateur teams square off in a bbq competition where the meat and cooker they have to prepare the meat on is a complete surprise. competitors are then given an allotted amout of time to prepare and then present their food to a panel of judges who will then pick the winner. winners then move on to the next bracket where eventually an overall winner is selected. it's actually pretty fun to watch as some of these guys are quite the characters.

check out the bbq odyssey for updates on the action.

wow

2006-08-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

wow. i'm still in a state of shock and amazement. this past weekend i competed in the new holland summerfest bbq contest and i finished 8th out of the 72 teams that competed. i also got 2 calls to the stage for finishing 6th place in ribs and 9th place pork. the picture to the left was taken after getting my 6th place ribbon. woo hoo! do i look happy or what?

congratulations to steve from team agave for winning grand champion and to rich decker for winning reserve grand championship. both of you kicked ass in a strong field. also thanks to mel and his crew for putting on a fine event. the park in new holland is a beautiful place to hold a contest.

here's a link showing some pictures from new holland. yes i really did bring a bike to a bbq contest and yes i really did ride it while i was there.

more than likely this will be my last bbq contest for the season. i did three contests this summer. the first was in salisbury, md in april. there my goal was to get my boxes in on time and i finished near the back of the pack (46th our 55 teams). my next contest was in stevensville, md at the end of july and i finished 2nd in a small field of 18. now i finished 8th in a huge pack.

next year??? who knows but i better start practicing.

new ride

2006-08-17T13:35:00.000-04:00

i gots me a new ride. i'm a the proud new owner of a kona unit 2-9. it's time to get off my fat ass and get back in shape, and this will be my magic carpet ride. yea baby!

p.s. yea i know... it's been a REALLY long time (like a year) since my last post but i'm a new man! expect more regular updates. :)

fall

2005-11-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

fall is almost over and that can only mean that winter will be here soon. the weather has been great and i've spent a lot of time out side. the picture here was taken at passage creek near elizabeth furnace.

the warm weather is supposed to continue... it's time to get out and ride!

too long...

2005-10-03T13:34:00.000-04:00

wow. i can't believe it's been a month since i have updated this blog. sorry to everyone following along at home. my only excuse is that things have been crazy the last five weeks.

i haven't been doing much riding, just two days at the beach, but i have been doing A LOT of cooking. weekend before last i cooked for 40 people and this past weekend i cooked for another 50 people. between the two weekends i cooked 16 lbs of boston butts, 15 whole chickens, 4 racks of ribs, and what seems like a million hamburgers and hot dogs.

and to do all this cooking i just HAD to buy another smoker. ;0) i bought a web smokey mountain and i'm here to tell you this thing is awesome. talk about set it and forget it. so far i've cooked chicken using high heat and boston butts using slow and low, and this thing has shined with each application. if you're looking for a smoker check out the weber smokey mountain.

panic in the streets...

2005-08-06T08:55:00.000-04:00

i saw widespread panic last week at nissan pavilion with my good friends barry and nancy. i'm far being a huge panic fan, but i can say they put on a great show. it was loud in front of the stage but i'm not complaining. they got my grove going here's the set list for anyone interested (http://www.everydaycompanion.com/setlists/20050730a.asp). good times, i can't wait until they come back around next year.

i have to say the cops at nissan were where a huge pain in the ass. i understand they have a job to do, and they were cool about people drinking beer in the parking lot so long as it was in a cup, but i didn't really like the way the herded everyone out of the parking lot the minute the show started and the minute the show was over. and they were everywhere. ok, rant over.

while i'm talking about music, i've been listening to three stone coyote cd's barry loaned me. i've heard them on xm channel 12 a lot and always thought their music was 'ok' but sounded the same. now i can tell you the cd's rock and after a few minutes your foot will be tapping and your head bobbing.

other good cd's i can recommend are lucinda williams "live @ the filmore", willie nelson "countryman" and anything from donna the buffalo.

peace.

smoke rings

2005-07-19T21:36:00.000-04:00

i spent sunday recovery from the wuss liberty jamboree and cooking the brisket you see to the left. i knew this sucker was going to take a long time to reach 195 degrees so i woke up and started the smoker at 5:30 am before going back to bed for a while. i'm glad i did because it ended up cooking for 12 hours. sunday we ate it sliced with sweet corn and tonight i had had it diced on a sandwhich with bbq sauce. tasty!

here's the rub i used. enjoy.

1/2 cup sweet paprika
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup course ground pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne (or to taste)

great weekend

2005-07-11T15:50:00.000-04:00

wew, what a great weekend to be in virginia. hurricane cindy dropped 3" of rain on us thursday night but friday proved to be clear, dry, and quite comfortable. we opened the windows on the house and enjoyed the breeze all weekend long.

saturday i woke up and got in a short road ride to Upperville and back before mounting my lawn tractor and mowing grass most of the rest of the day. saturday night we met another couple and ejoyed the fine atmosphere at sweetwater in sterling. i had the drunken rib eye and nicole had blackened halibut. i think i'm going to have to find a blackened halibut recipe because this one was tasty. sweetwater grills all their food over hickory.

i got to go out mountain biking on sunday. the pic above is of the gang looking out over the trout pond valley. the ridge to the west is west by god virginia. we had a great ride, and i thank all for waiting while i changed 4 f'in flats. other than that it was a good ride.

hi

2005-07-08T18:37:00.000-04:00

hi. thanks for visiting my blog. i can't believe i started a blog, what's next???

this is my first post... tonight for dinner i'm cooking a rib eye drizzled with olive oil, greens saute with garlic and pine nuts, and maybe some corn. sound good?