Memphis In May

[KC//CRIMSON]

Heading out to Memphis In May tomorrow for The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. My brother in law's team is entering the whole hog competition and asked me to help with some of the work. This will be my first time in Memphis and the competition. Has anyone here ever been? I can't remember if we have any posters from Memphis on here? I will be passing on Graceland this trip. However, I'm planning on going to Beale Street and The National Civil Rights Museum. Pics from today's set up.

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[olevetonahill]

Been years since Ive been there
Enjoy ;)

[Rogue]

I was in Memphis in January with some work friends for a superbowl party.

Try the bbq! ;)

[Turd_Ferguson]

Hadn't lived there in a long time. Beale, Overton Square and the Peabody were all a lot of fun back then. Ya might try Mud Island too. I think it's been redone and may not suck as bad as it used to.

Oh, and the few times I went to MIM, there was always this old, tall, skinny man with a cane that would dance, drink and hit people with his cane. The medics would have to patch him up ever couple of hours after he hit the wrong person with his cane.:D By the end of the day, that old man would have three black eyes, two broken noses and miss'n a few teef.:D

[Okla-homey]

Through there just last weekend. Was stationed about 60 miles north of there in the late eighties.

Gonna be rather soggy this week. Make sure to bring your rubbers.

[TUSooner]

I've been there often but, unfortunately, hardly ever got out of the Germantown area where the big soccer complex is. I think you've got the BBQ end of things pretty well covered though.

[C&CDean]

Go leave your donation to the local economy in Tunica.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Go leave your donation to the local economy in Tunica.leave my ex girlfriend outta this!:mad:

[picasso]

Through there just last weekend. Was stationed about 60 miles north of there in the late eighties.

Gonna be rather soggy this week. Make sure to bring your rubbers.

hmmmm, a military guy, being stationed and rubbers. this can't be good.

[StoopTroup]

Especially if your gonna use the porta-****ters.

[IronSooner]

I live in Memphis actually. BBQ Fest is one of the big-time weekends around here (along with MusicFest two weekends ago). Thursday and Friday nights = bigtime Drunkytown. Saturday I think is judging, Sunday is cleanup. I'd suggest wandering around and checking out other tents...it's a ridiculously big party after dark.

Other things to do...there's the River Park just north of Tom Lee Park where you'll be, they have a big scale model of the lower Mississippi River..interesting to walk around. Peabody Hotel is worth checking out...I think it's at 10am and 5pm that they have the march of the ducks. Beale St should be pretty busy this weekend too with all the people in town, plus it's plenty warm out now and maybe won't rain as much as it has been. Lots of clubs and bars with live music, and on weekends bands will play on the street also. That's about all of downtown worth walking around...it's a pretty small downtown and not much to do once you're off Beale.

Check out Bosco's in midtown for good micro-brew beer.

That's probably the stuff worth checking out. Glad you're in town this weekend...May is the big month to visit, with Musicfest one weekends, BBQ a couple weeks after, and other stuff going on around town as well. Enjoy your stay!

[picasso]

you could just go walkin'. like in the song.

[Crucifax Autumn]

Whole Hog?????

I hope I'm never last in line for that meal!

[Okla-homey]

I live in Memphis actually. BBQ Fest is one of the big-time weekends around here (along with MusicFest two weekends ago). Thursday and Friday nights = bigtime Drunkytown. Saturday I think is judging, Sunday is cleanup. I'd suggest wandering around and checking out other tents...it's a ridiculously big party after dark.

Other things to do...there's the River Park just north of Tom Lee Park where you'll be, they have a big scale model of the lower Mississippi River..interesting to walk around. Peabody Hotel is worth checking out...I think it's at 10am and 5pm that they have the march of the ducks. Beale St should be pretty busy this weekend too with all the people in town, plus it's plenty warm out now and maybe won't rain as much as it has been. Lots of clubs and bars with live music, and on weekends bands will play on the street also. That's about all of downtown worth walking around...it's a pretty small downtown and not much to do once you're off Beale.

Check out Bosco's in midtown for good micro-brew beer.

That's probably the stuff worth checking out. Glad you're in town this weekend...May is the big month to visit, with Musicfest one weekends, BBQ a couple weeks after, and other stuff going on around town as well. Enjoy your stay!

Don't forget the Memphis Belle. She used to be out in her own pavilion on Mud Island.

[KC//CRIMSON]

Well, day two is in the bag. Man, this place is absolutely insane, and by insane I mean awesome. It's literally a Sea Of Pork. Imagine an area of land that's three football fields wide and nearly two miles long. Now imagine it's packed with every type of grill, smoker, hot box, bbq'er ever made. That's Memphis In May.

Today we got the pigs ready for BBQ'ing. Talk about some work, good grief. After that, we went up and down Beale Street and took in the sights. We stopped off at the Rock & Soul Museum, Gibson Guitar Factory, and Dyer's Hamburger Joint. All in all a pretty good day. We haven't had a drop of rain since we got here, but the heat and humidity is off the chart. I'm thinking to myself, damn, if this is your May weather, then your July & August must be pure hell.

One thing that has really caught my attention is the Mighty Mississippi River. I can't even put into words how enormous this thing is. We drove over one of the bridges that goes into downtown Memphis, and looking off, the river goes for as far as the I can see. It's really amazing, at least to me anyway.

Anyway, back to the real story here, BBQ! Tomorrow is Judgement Day at noon. We start with the Blind Box judging, and then we have the live presentation an hour or so later. We should know by two-ish if we made the finals. We are competing with 29 other teams, and three will make the finals. There are people/teams from all over the USA attending and entering the competition. There's actually a team from Denmark in the rib competition, they have some good Q too. They should do very well.


Some pics from today's prep:

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Some Baby Back Ribs we prepped for Corporate Night. As of today we've gone over a hundred slabs. Ever had to pull the membrane on a hundred slabs of ribs? Yeah, no fun.


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Bring in the pigs! The one on the far table goes about a hundred pounds, the other goes about a hundred and twenty pounds. Add around another six to eight pounds after injections, rub, and glaze.


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Time to make the injection/marinade. That's several gallons of Apple Juice, Olive Oil, and about fourteen different spices. Mix the ingredients together over a slow simmer and get the pump and injector ready. See the four prongs you stick the pig with?


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Injecting the pigs.


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Cleaning up the BBQ'er.


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After the injections, rub down with spices and glaze.


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Apply generous amounts of Pam cooking spray and in she goes! This will go down for eighteen hours. When it's finished, the judges will get the choice cuts and the rest goes to us.

[IronSooner]

Good luck! I went down last night. Showed up too late to actually eat anything but just in time for the world's largest outdoor frat party. Best part of the thing is having friends on different teams and just tent-hopping all night. Hopefully you get to do a little of that yourself.

I was actually pretty impressed with the weather this year. Last year it was cold and rainy during BBQ. This year was pretty good. And for the record, yes, July/August are pure hell. 83 and 70% humidity is nothing. Also be thankful it hasn't rained. It's rained for nearly a month up until this week. Musicfest was Mudfest this year, it was ridiculous. I'm sure you've heard stories and have seen the dried ruts and absolute lack of grass in the park.

I've been here a year and a half and I still forget how big the Mississippi is until I get down next to it. And how fast it flows. I think it's also above typical levels given the rain here and upriver, but it was even higher last year in April. It tends to flood the Arkansas side, but the Memphis side is usually fine.

Good luck with the judging, and enjoy the rest of your stay!

[KC//CRIMSON]

Good times! We finished in the lower half of the competition, but had a really great time in doing so. BBQ competitions are pretty subjective and somewhat political, but there's always some strong competition as well. Our pig was awesome, but hopefully we'll have better luck next time. I'd do it all over again tomorrow if I could. I guess we're going to check out a few more things while we're here. Tomorrow is breakfast at the Arcade and then off to the Peabody Hotel for the Duck Walk and The National Civil Rights Museum. We've been staying in Olive Branch, Mississippi and Collierville, Tennessee and the weather is flat out awesome.

More pics from the third and final day at Memphis In May:

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Yay! More ribs!


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Second pig going down, and for some reason I thought this one turned out and taste better than the competition pig. Which is weird, because they were done the same way, but it happens.


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Our judges table presentation. The eyes light up and smoke actually rolls out of the pigs nose with a flip of a switch.

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BBQ presentation for the judges. Each judge requires/gets a sample of the shoulder, tenderloin, and ham.


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Presenting to the judge.


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Breaking down the pig afterwards. Mighty mighty tasty, trust me. The bacon section is money!


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The Mississippi River. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice. You really have to see it in person to appreciate the magnitude. Unbelievable.


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Memphis in May at night, and this is a tiny section. It goes for a long long long ways. Good times.

[Rogue]

Looks like a great weekend KC!