We had our typical classy set up! We did get to set up beside Bullet BBQ which is an excellent team out of Port Coquitlam who made some excellent chicken wings!
For cookers we used the WSM and kettle as well as Pauls Smokey Joe. We also picked up a Napolean Charcoal grill piece of garbage) from a fellow in North Vancouver for $20 so we had it at the event! 
Paul brought a couple of brisket from Calgary, we rubbed it up nice and early with the coffee and cocoa rub again. We dud one on the kettle and one on the WSM, we ended up turning in the WSM one.
When you see this picture of our pork shoulder you will assume we got last place in that category. Basically the shoulder we picked up from Costco was a bunch of boneless small pieces. So not sure what to do we rubbed them all individually and stuffed 40 pounds of it into the WSM, the picture is pretty classic.
For the pot luck Jo made mushroom caps stuffed with escargot and topped with herbs and parmesan cheese. They went quick!
For cookers we used the WSM and kettle as well as Pauls Smokey Joe. We also picked up a Napolean Charcoal grill piece of garbage) from a fellow in North Vancouver for $20 so we had it at the event! Paul brought a couple of brisket from Calgary, we rubbed it up nice and early with the coffee and cocoa rub again. We dud one on the kettle and one on the WSM, we ended up turning in the WSM one.When you see this picture of our pork shoulder you will assume we got last place in that category. Basically the shoulder we picked up from Costco was a bunch of boneless small pieces. So not sure what to do we rubbed them all individually and stuffed 40 pounds of it into the WSM, the picture is pretty classic.For the pot luck Jo made mushroom caps stuffed with escargot and topped with herbs and parmesan cheese. They went quick!
While they did provide breakfast we just had to cook up some of our home cured maple bacon!
We decided to go with a lot more flavor on our pork for this comp and over sauced it. Here is our turn in box.
While the box definately looks awful but we did manage to squeak out 12th place in porkNext was our brisket box, the garnish is awful and it looks dry but it did taste good, we managed 15th in Brisket, with the flavor we actually did expect a higher finish.
Now it was time for our chicken turn in, not going to lie we thought we finally did better. Looking at the box now there were way too many greens but obviously the flavor and everything else was off as well as we finished 22nd.
Our final turn in of the day was ribs, we were confident with this turn in but the good old judges disagreed! We finished 14th which was actually our best rib showing of the year. The box could use a couple more ribs and less greens for sure!
Overall 2009 was a reasonable first season and a learning experience for us. Lets look forward to 2010!
Here is John setting up......
And here is the end result......(with Colin keeping us classy)
And here were our borrowed cookers
Being our first comp we were a little concerned about timing so we got the brisket and shoulder on early. We did the pork shoulder wrapped in banana leaves and with red clay salt. Cooked on the WSM.
The brisket was coated in a coffee and cocoa rub and cooked on the drum.
The open category was Rabbit. Being the losers we are we didn't realize that you were supposed to have a platter and serve it as a meal. One team gave the judges beer, you have to know we wouldn't go that far! The beer is ours! I digress, we braised the rabbit on the kettle in apple cider and a few spices. The flavor was amazing, our presentation not so much!
Saturday night we had a little garlic and cheese bread and some nice wild boar that Colin brought down. No pictures though. We proceeded to have a couple more drams after which John pretended to go to the bathroom and went to bed, leaving Colin and I up to watch the cookers all night. While it was cold we did get to hug the smokers and sit in the worlds greates lawn chair!
Sunday morning was rib prep time.
Now our traditional breakfast, home cured maple bacon, homemade english muffins, eggs, and some havarti. (This is the best way to wake up, trust me!), oh and it's better than it looks.
Sunday morning saw the pork shoulder came off of the smoker and we finished it with a white wine and dried mushroom sauce.
And here is our pork turn in box, we only turned it pulled, overall the box needs a lot of work but for the first time......
And now our brisket turn in, this is a bad bad box.....
And our worst turn in of the day was chicken......We marianted it in a worcy sauce mixture. We tossed it on the drum and then CBC interviewed us. Now one was looking at the chicken and there was a FIRE FIGHT! ot pretty burnt chicken turned in.
And our final turn in, ribs.......really needs to be cleaned up!
And finally our friend Rob from Prairie Smoke and Spice wone the Grand Champion
Overall we had a pretty good time at our first comp. The results were bad but what the heck it's about good friends and good food! Our finish was 12th out of 16 teams. Still we did manage 5th in Pork and 7th in Brisket. Our chicken was last, no big surprise and the ribs were middle of the road. Always could be worse!
Once you have the pork fat cut it into workable cubes, the smaller the cubes the quicker they will render. Put them into a dutch oven. 
Fill the dutch oven half way up the pork fat with water. Simmer on the stove top until the fat begans to render. The purpose of the water is to not scorch the fat, it will evaporate. 
Once it is evaporated put it in the oven at about 225 degrees or so.
Then I go to bed! It is done about noon the next day (depending on the amount of fat you're using). Pour the hot fat through a strainer lined with cheesecloth.
Let it cool to room temperature and then store it in the fridge or freeze it. All done!
5 pounds of pork fat gave me 2 liters of lard in this case. The total cost was $5!
We fired up a full chimney and tossed it on the WSM with a few unlit pieces of lump charcoal. Left all of the vents wide open and the let the cooker do the rest. About an hour and a half later it was done.
From there we made a spicy chicken stock out of the leftovers composed of:
We brought this to a simmer (skimming the fat) and then left it for a couple of hours, letting it reduce accordingly. There was about two liters of stock when all was said and done (strained through a fine strainer lined with cheese cloth).
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