What:

2nd Annual Harry Soo Backyard Contest. This will be a Volunteer-led event by Slap Yo Daddy BBQ and Desperado BBQ to bring the City of Anaheim Together with acts of Kindness with the Love of BBQ & Brew

Fun, practice and learning about competition BBQ whole day on Saturday where you cook and submit chicken, ribs, and tri tip for judging by Certified BBQ Judges (CBJs)

Very informal competition where the main purpose is for novices to get a chance to get the feeling of a “real” competition

Live judging in front of Certified Barbecue Judges

Experienced teams will be there to help and offer advice

When: June 20, 2015 – Saturday morning 6 am to 3 pm

Where: West Center Street Promenade, Anaheim, CA

Websites: 

https://www.facebook.com/QingandBrewing

https://www.crowdrise.com/qingandbrewingbbqcompetitioninanaheim/fundraiser/harrysoo

Sorry we are full as all 25 spots are taken.

Entry Fee $100.00 per team (most teams are 2-3 persons); more than that, it’s difficult for the team to focus on the contest cooking timeline. Friends and family are welcome to visit you as it’s open to the public. Please refrain from being distracted by trying to cook and entertain your friends and family as you’re there to gain experience as a competitor. The goal is not to prove that you can pull off a successful barbecue party for the masses. If you bring little ones, be mindful of the hot pits, hot coals, and sharp cooking knives as safety is paramount.  We will have several veteran teams who have volunteered to mentor the new teams.  Harry will assign mentor(s) to your team on the morning of the cook.

NOTE: The cost does NOT include any meat. Each team is responsible for bringing their own contest meat and cooking supplies. You will need a mandatory fire extinguisher. See Contest Check List and Sources. We will have some costs in this event – trash dumpster rental, gift bag items, napkins, boxes, water, trophies, prizes, etc. We’d like to be able to cover these as part of doing this event and not have to look elsewhere for funding.

Purpose

Fun, practice and learning about competition BBQ whole day on Saturday where you cook and submit chicken, ribs, and tri tip for judging by Certified BBQ Judges (CBJs)

What is a “Backyard Event?”

It is a very informal competition where the main purpose is for novices to get a chance to get the feeling of what a “real” competition would be like without the expense/entry fee or pressure of a “real” competition. In a normal KCBS, PNWBA or IBCA event, a team would arrive at the event on a Friday afternoon, set up, start prepping their meats and start cooking the brisket and pork butt sometime on Friday night/early Saturday morning.

To make this cookoff more newbie friendly, we’ve eliminated the overnight cook so new pitmasters can focus on three meats that can be cooked within a Saturday morning window. In the backyard event, more experienced teams also have the chance to help less experienced teams and offer some advice (only if requested!!).

Harry will show how to prep a box (SYD Lazyman Box Technique) and other presentation issues which may be something of a puzzle to anyone who has never entered a contest before. Novices also get a chance to practice timing, get a feel for the “pressure” of having to turn in product during a specific time frame, and get a feel for the type of equipment and additional food items (i.e. apple juice, brown sugar, honey) that they might need to bring to a “real” competition.

Unlike double-blind silent judging at a sanctioned contest, our CBJs will be openly discussing your entries aloud with you and the other teams, which allows the judges to offer comments about the product judged (i.e. too salty, too spicy, over/undercooked, etc.) as well as numeric scores. This helps the judges clarify and articulate their standards while providing valuable feedback to the cooks. Don’t attend if you have thin skin – you come to this to hear others opinions and that’s what you will get.

We do use KCBS-style scoring, so again, novices can get a good idea of what a competition would be like — especially with so many CBJ’s showing up to judge! Finally, one of the main purposes of the gathering is friendship and fun and sharing some Q with others who enjoy doing what we do. Each team is asked to cook a bit more than what is necessary for the 6 piece turn-in box. After the competition is over, we all share our BBQ and get to taste and compare and joke with each other about how the cook went! Kidding aside, this is an invaluable aspect of learning as you’ll get a good idea of what flavor profiles judges are looking for in contests.

How you can help?

SYD Alumni Steve Botkin of DesperadoBBQ.com and I finalized 5 months of efforts with the City of Anaheim to host the 2nd Annual Harry Soo Backyard contest in downtown Anaheim on Center Street on Saturday June 20 from 5:30 am to 5 pm. It’s an entirely volunteer-led event and all net proceeds will benefit charity (including Operation Homefront, Save The Children, and American Cancer Society).  Many of you have volunteered to help as competitors, judges, table captains, Peoples Choice cooks and servers, and helpers.
 
Because it’s held on a private street, I’m responsible for payment of rental fees, trash dumpsters, portable restrooms, wash stations, permits, event insurance, etc.  We are also purchasing meat and supplies to provide 2-oz BBQ samples to the public which we will charge $2 for each sample.  After adding up the $100 entry fee from each team and forecasted revenue from the samples, we will not have much left to donate to charity.  So, I’ve created a crowd funding site if you’d like to help out a good cause.  You have my personal guarantee that every dollar of net proceeds will go to charity and I’ll publish a full transparent accounting of the event expenditures on my website after we settle all the expenses.
 
Please help out financially if you can. Any amount will be greatly appreciated.
 
https://www.crowdrise.com/qingandbrewingbbqcompetitioninanaheim/fundraiser/harrysoo
 
 
 BBQ Tasting Teams: Double Barrel Smokers – Roger Cason and Seven Sins – Jesse Collett


THE DETAILS – What are we cooking?

You may pick as few as one, two, or three meats – chicken, pork ribs, and/or tri tip. You arrive to set up early on Saturday around 5:30 am.  Electricity will NOT be provided but you are encouraged to use your own generators and/or batteries.

All meat must not be seasoned, marinated, rubbed, injected, etc. You can trim your meat at home or have your butcher do it before you arrive.  All meat will be inspected like in a real contest and all cooking MUST be done on site! Your meat must be properly refrigerated and safely handled.

Gas grills or electric smokers are not allowed. You can use pellet smokers like the Green Mountain, Traeger, and such. Remember that you need a portable generator to run a pellet smoker.  Be mindful that so long as the fuel is not gas or heat is by electric, you are OK.

How will this work?

It is STRONGLY recommended that ALL team members stay in the judging area as long as possible to gain the most insight as to what the judges think, not just during your teams turn in. Turn in times will be assigned so as to maximize this exposure. The thing that’s most important at this contest is the feedback the judges provide to the cooks. This comes at a sacrifice of maintaining any semblance of standard turn-in times; it’s just not possible to do both at the same time. Once you have your taste and tenderness formulas down, you can practice your timing at home, with your own clock, even for all the 4 meats in a regular contest. That said, we still want to impress upon the cooks that timing IS very important, and given this, we’ve come up with a turn-in schedule that provides 7-8 minutes per team to be judged (which we’ve seen is a good number). Since not all teams will be cooking all meats, the judges will get some breaks and will have the option to get up and have someone take over nearly anytime.

Event Timeline

–5:30 am – Team Check-in

–7:00 am – Cooks Meeting

–7:45 am – Harry’s Turn-in Box Class

–10:00 am – Judges Check-in

–10:15 am – Judges Meeting

– 11:00 am – Public Tasting begins

–11 am -12:00 pm – Tri Tip

–12:15 – 1:15 pm – Chicken

–1:30 – 2:30 pm – Pork Ribs

–4:30-ish – Awards

– 5:00 pm – Public tasting ends

Team Mentors/Coaches (assigned to teams to advise but not cook; ambassadors to general public)

 

1 Harry Soo
1 Dan Ronchetti
2 Donna Fong
3 Ken Goldenberg
4 Peter Graves
5 Steve Botkin
6 Taylor Jonason
7 Chris Allingham
8

 

Teams Sorry are we full as all 25 spots are taken. 

Team turn-in schedule (10 mins per team X 4 tables of judges)

 Team #
Head Cook
Team Name
Tri-Tip – Table
Chicken-Table
Ribs – Table
100  Brad Fiske  Hot Stuff BBQ 11:00AM A 12:15PM B 1:30PM C
101  Chris Epperley  Smokin Fat Boys BBQ 11:00AM B 12:15PM C 1:30PM D
102  Ryan Conner  Roc N’ Moore BBQ 11:00AM C 12:15PM D 1:30PM A
103  Chuck Chiodo  Coto Pitmasters 11:00AM D 12:15PM A 1:30PM B
104  Kevin Arcaris  D & K BBQ 11:10AM A 12:25PM B 1:40PM C
105  Derrick Judge  2 Live Q 11:10AM B 12:25PM C 1:40PM D
106  Donna Barr  Encantodora Smokin South of the Border 11:10AM C 12:25PM D 1:40PM A
107  Cecil Ambuehl  Q-Time BarBQ Love 11:10AM D 12:25PM A 1:40PM B
108  Eli Stella  Dukes of BBQ 11:20AM A 12:35PM B 1:50PM C
109  Bryan Wyman  Smokey and the Brisket 11:20AM B 12:35PM C 1:50PM D
110  Lonzo Terry  Lab Geeks Rule BBQ 11:20AM C 12:35PM D 1:50PM A
111  Michael Grismer  Team Smokey 11:20AM D 12:35PM A 1:50PM B
112  Mike Bowman  Bowman’s BBQ 11:30AM A 12:45PM B 2:00PM C
113  Mike Leckliter  Blazin Tikis 11:30AM B 12:45PM C 2:00PM D
114  Mike Morrill  Mike Morrill BBQ Team 11:30AM C 12:45PM D 2:00PM A
115  Mike Swan  Cowboys Smokin’ Q 11:30AM D 12:45PM A 2:00PM B
116  Neil Aldridge  DBHR Industries 11:40AM A 12:55PM B 2:10PM C
117  Rich Pedraza  Hot Rods & BBQ 11:40AM B 12:55PM C 2:10PM D
118  Rick Lewis  Gettinghawgwild 11:40AM C 12:55PM D 2:10PM A
119  Omar Rivera  Smoked Puercos 11:40AM D 12:55PM A 2:10PM B
120  Royce Armstrong  I’ll be good to you BBQ 11:50AM A 1:05PM B 2:20PM C
121  Sean Guarino  Undercover Operation 11:50AM B 1:05PM C 2:20PM D
122  Shaun Guyot  Creole Brothers BBQ 11:50AM C 1:05PM D 2:20PM A
123  Vincent Wong  My Uncle Vinny’s BBQ 11:50AM D 1:05PM A 2:20PM B
124     12:00PM A 1:15PM B 2:30PM C

 

Judges (All Certified BBQ Judges minus Guest Judges) (Judges Application Form)

1 Benny Chang
2 Beverly Carpenter
3 Bill Abalos
4 Brenda Zalewski
5 Brian DeCoud
6 Brian Zalewksi
7 Christine Davis
8 Chris Allingham
9 Dan Ronchetti
10 Edwin Hill
11 Frank Smith
12 Gloria Lee
13 James Crumpton
14 Jason Levine
15 Jeff Hutcherson
16 Ken Goldenberg
17 Kevin Davis
18 Mark Kato
19 Peter Graves
20 Robert Bill
21 Robert Stouffer
22 Quentin Lo
23 Todd Carpenter
24 Tom Anderson
TC Debara Traver
TC September Krafcisin
TC Teree Rola
Waitlist Mercy Baron

 

Results

Rank No. Contestant Name Chicken Pork Ribs Tri-Tip Overall
1 120 Royce Armstrong 166.2858 176.5716 168.0002 510.8576
2 113 Mike Leckliter 169.1428 166.2858 169.7142 505.1428
3 122 Shaun Guyot 157.7146 170.8572 176.0002 504.5720
4 100 Brad Fiske 174.2856 160.5716 169.1430 504.0002
5 123 Vincent Wong 161.1428 173.1430 168.0000 502.2858
6 105 Derrick Judge 170.2858 169.7142 159.4286 499.4286
7 108 Eli Stella 173.7142 156.0000 163.4286 493.1428
8 102 Ryan Conner 162.8570 169.7146 160.5712 493.1428
9 109 Bryan Wyman 166.2856 157.1430 166.2860 489.7146
10 104 Kevin Arcaris 162.8572 163.4290 158.2858 484.5720
11 119 Omar Rivera 165.7144 162.2858 156.0002 484.0004
12 101 Chris Epperley 161.1428 157.1424 164.5716 482.8568
13 116 Neil Aldridge 161.1426 171.4288 150.2854 482.8568
14 110 Lonzo Terry 156.5716 162.8572 161.7144 481.1432
15 118 Rick Lewis 156.5714 156.5716 164.5712 477.7142
16 103 Chuck Chiodo 162.2854 166.8574 148.5714 477.7142
17 114 Mike Morrill 151.9996 165.7144 157.7144 475.4284
18 106 Donna Barr 161.1428 162.8574 149.7138 473.7140
19 121 Sean Guarino 141.7140 158.2858 168.0002 468.0000
20 112 Mike Bowman 158.8570 149.1428 152.5716 460.5714
21 117 Rich Pedraza 155.4284 148.0000 154.2860 457.7144
22 111 Michael Grismer 148.5714 160.5716 146.2854 455.4284
23 107 Cecil Ambuehl 143.4284 154.2856 149.7142 447.4282

Chicken

Rank No. Contestant Name Judge1 Judge2 Judge3 Judge4 Judge5 Judge6 Sum of 5
1 100 Brad Fiske 36.000 33.714 36.000 33.143 28.571 35.429 174.2856
2 108 Eli Stella 35.429 34.857 33.714 33.714 36.000 32.000 173.7142
3 105 Derrick Judge 34.286 34.857 33.143 30.286 33.714 34.286 170.2858
4 113 Mike Leckliter 33.714 32.571 31.429 36.000 34.857 32.000 169.1428
5 120 Royce Armstrong 34.857 32.571 34.857 32.000 28.000 32.000 166.2858
6 109 Bryan Wyman 36.000 29.714 32.571 31.429 30.286 36.000 166.2856
7 119 Omar Rivera 32.000 30.857 32.000 34.286 34.857 32.571 165.7144
8 104 Kevin Arcaris 32.000 34.286 33.714 32.000 30.857 30.857 162.8572
9 102 Ryan Conner 32.000 33.143 33.714 30.857 33.143 29.714 162.8570
10 103 Chuck Chiodo 31.428 33.714 33.143 34.286 26.286 29.714 162.2854
11 123 Vincent Wong 35.429 32.000 30.857 30.857 28.000 32.000 161.1428
12 106 Donna Barr 32.571 32.000 29.143 33.714 31.429 31.429 161.1428
13 101 Chris Epperley 35.429 28.571 28.571 30.857 32.000 34.286 161.1428
14 116 Neil Aldridge 34.286 30.286 33.714 33.143 29.714 28.571 161.1426
15 112 Mike Bowman 32.571 29.143 33.143 32.000 32.000 28.000 158.8570
16 122 Shaun Guyot 30.857 33.143 30.857 30.857 28.000 32.000 157.7146
17 110 Lonzo Terry 31.429 31.429 30.286 28.000 31.429 32.000 156.5716
18 118 Rick Lewis 28.000 29.714 34.286 32.000 28.571 32.000 156.5714
19 117 Rich Pedraza 32.000 29.714 29.714 29.143 32.000 32.000 155.4284
20 114 Mike Morrill 30.857 33.143 28.571 29.714 28.571 29.714 151.9996
21 111 Michael Grismer 28.000 31.429 30.286 30.286 28.571 28.000 148.5714
22 107 Cecil Ambuehl 30.286 30.286 26.286 28.000 26.857 28.000 143.4284
23 121 Sean Guarino 29.143 24.571 28.571 30.857 24.571 28.571 141.7140

Pork Ribs

Rank No. Contestant Name Judge1 Judge2 Judge3 Judge4 Judge5 Judge6 Sum of 5
1 120 Royce Armstrong 35.429 32.571 35.429 33.714 36.000 36.000 176.5716
2 123 Vincent Wong 34.857 34.857 34.857 34.857 34.857 34.857 174.2860
3 116 Neil Aldridge 32.000 30.857 34.857 34.857 34.857 34.857 171.4288
4 122 Shaun Guyot 32.000 32.000 33.714 35.429 34.857 34.857 170.8572
5 102 Ryan Conner 35.429 34.286 30.857 30.286 34.857 34.286 169.7146
6 105 Derrick Judge 34.857 33.714 32.571 32.571 36.000 28.571 169.7142
7 103 Chuck Chiodo 34.286 31.429 36.000 34.857 27.429 30.286 166.8574
8 113 Mike Leckliter 29.143 31.429 36.000 32.571 32.571 33.714 166.2858
9 114 Mike Morrill 34.857 36.000 32.000 30.857 29.714 32.000 165.7144
10 104 Kevin Arcaris 31.429 32.572 31.429 28.572 34.286 33.714 163.4290
11 106 Donna Barr 34.857 33.143 32.000 32.000 30.857 29.143 162.8574
12 110 Lonzo Terry 33.143 30.857 32.571 30.857 28.000 35.429 162.8572
13 119 Omar Rivera 32.571 31.429 34.857 31.429 29.143 32.000 162.2858
14 100 Brad Fiske 32.000 31.429 34.286 30.857 32.000 29.714 160.5716
15 111 Michael Grismer 34.286 30.857 31.429 33.143 28.571 30.857 160.5716
16 121 Sean Guarino 30.857 32.000 28.571 30.857 30.857 33.714 158.2858
17 109 Bryan Wyman 30.857 31.429 31.429 28.000 30.857 32.571 157.1430
18 101 Chris Epperley 30.857 28.000 30.286 32.000 30.857 33.143 157.1424
19 118 Rick Lewis 30.857 30.857 30.857 30.857 31.429 32.571 156.5716
20 108 Eli Stella 32.000 30.857 29.143 30.857 31.429 30.857 156.0000
21 107 Cecil Ambuehl 32.571 32.000 32.571 31.429 24.571 25.714 154.2856
22 112 Mike Bowman 30.857 29.143 28.571 28.571 28.571 32.000 149.1428
23 117 Rich Pedraza 30.286 29.143 28.571 28.571 30.857 29.143 148.0000

Tri-Tip

Rank No. Contestant Name Judge1 Judge2 Judge3 Judge4 Judge5 Judge6 Sum of 5  
1 122 Shaun Guyot 35.429 30.857 34.286 34.857 35.429 36.000 176.0002  
2 113 Mike Leckliter 33.714 31.429 36.000 32.571 34.857 32.571 169.7142  
3 100 Brad Fiske 31.429 34.857 35.429 34.857 32.571 26.857 169.1430  
4 120 Royce Armstrong 32.571 34.286 34.286 29.143 33.714 33.143 168.0002 higher in texture, tied in taste
5 121 Sean Guarino 34.286 31.429 36.000 34.857 28.571 31.429 168.0002  
6 109 Bryan Wyman 35.429 33.714 31.429 32.571 33.143 30.857 166.2860  
7 101 Chris Epperley 32.000 34.857 36.000 30.857 30.857 28.000 164.5716  
8 118 Rick Lewis 30.286 36.000 33.143 32.571 32.571 28.571 164.5712  
9 108 Eli Stella 34.286 28.000 33.143 32.000 32.000 32.000 163.4286  
10 110 Lonzo Terry 31.429 31.429 34.857 31.429 32.000 32.000 161.7144  
11 102 Ryan Conner 32.000 29.714 35.429 30.286 33.143 29.714 160.5712  
12 105 Derrick Judge 34.286 32.000 33.143 28.571 28.000 31.429 159.4286  
13 104 Kevin Arcaris 32.571 32.000 30.857 34.286 24.000 28.571 158.2858  
14 114 Mike Morrill 32.571 30.286 29.143 33.143 30.857 30.857 157.7144  
15 119 Omar Rivera 30.857 31.429 30.857 30.857 28.571 32.000 156.0002  
16 117 Rich Pedraza 28.571 31.429 31.429 33.143 27.429 29.714 154.2860  
17 112 Mike Bowman 32.000 31.429 30.857 28.571 29.714 26.857 152.5716  
18 123 Vincent Wong 30.286 30.286 30.286 30.286 30.286 30.286 151.4290  
19 116 Neil Aldridge 28.571 32.000 29.714 30.286 29.714 28.571 150.2854  
20 107 Cecil Ambuehl 27.429 29.143 28.571 32.000 29.143 30.857 149.7142  
21 106 Donna Barr 30.857 29.714 30.286 30.286 28.571 28.571 149.7138  
22 103 Chuck Chiodo 28.000 32.000 28.571 28.000 32.000 27.429 148.5714  
23 111 Michael Grismer 29.143 28.000 29.143 29.714 29.714 28.571 146.2854  

 

6 Comments on “2nd Annual Harry Soo Backyard Contest 2015 – Q’ing and Brewing”

  1. I want to give it a shot with my wife helping. Could be a mess. Really just looking for guidance from the team to see how completion really works and participate in a charity event. We are Gettinhawgwild!

  2. Thanks to the Whole Slapp To Daddy Family for what turned out to be a Dream Come True today!(6-20-15) if it wasn't for Steve Bokin and these to BBQ PIT MASTERS, this dream today wouldn't have come true! Thank you very much! My wife and I had so much fun! We hope to be involved in BBQ for a very long time! Looking forward to many more events guys!!!

    1. Congratulations! Now you have experienced the thrill of competition and are ready to begin your journey to spread more bbq love in the world!

  3. Harry, Donna,
    I had a super time. Teams were fun and prepped. It's scary how good the newbies are these days. That's a good thing!!!
    Peter

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