Chicken Wing Contest 4/30

[Harmonica Bear]

Good to see ya again. Will do, the next time we got something going I'll let you know.

It was pretty awesome taking 1st. Never would have thought it. 15 minutes prior to judging we thought our sauce was way off. We quickly did some doctoring, but when they went inside for judging, we were pretty depressed (too much work involved to have them not just perfect). Ha! What did we know, probably a little too much over analyzing!

Here are some pics from my phone:

What it's all about!

It could have quit raining at anytime

ISB and our set up

The competition trying back magic voodoo hex

Didn't work, the wings leaving the grill/smoker

The wings, minutes before being delivered to the judges

[Harmonica Bear]

Finally the sun!

Time to eat!

[reinhard1]

great event, and family activity. looks like a great crowd. congradulations on a well deserved first prize. good luck.

[Harmonica Bear]

Funny thing was, I wasn't even inside when they announced who won. Didn't get to enjoy the glory. Was too busy outside holding down the fort as the wind picked up. That didn't work so well, still ended up with a tent on top of tent

[MNmikew]

Looks Great HBear. Congrats on 1st. I notice you have one of those char-grillers with the sidebox. How do you like it? I'm looking at getting one for smoking mostly. Does it keep temp ok? Any dislikes, ect.

[Harmonica Bear]

Thanks - ISB had a big part in that as well.

I'll try and do this quickly

I like the Chargriller a lot. I will say if I was going to do serious smokin, I would go with a vertical smoker. The reason being you will have much more even temps thoughou the unit. With the side box, that end of the grill will be at a much higher temp if your wood is going strong. Although once you get the entire unit hot, which may require some charcoal in the big end to speed that up, it does work work ok an can maintain temps fairly easily. We can pull off chicken, ribs, turkey good enough, but we kind of cheat our way through it.

If I were going to do mostly smoked meats and sausages from start to finish I personally would want a vertical smoker. I think they are more fail safe. They make them that way for a reason.

For grillin/cooking with good smokey flavor which I do most, I think it works great. I did a monster batch of jerky this fall that turned out good, but it did require rotation due to the heat coming from the side box. Which means opening and closing and fluctuatiing temps. I am not sure in a vertical smoker you would need that much TLC. That I don't know for sure since I don't have one. The chargriller is the only girl I have to dance with.

[MNmikew]

Thanks for the reply Bear. I would like to get into some more "hardcore" smoking, pork butts, briskets, ect, and was wondering how the CharGriller would work for those. I have one of those Brinkman charcoal virtical smokers but it dosent seem to keep the heat well enough.

Found some REALLY nice ones online. But at nearly a grand it's a bit steep for a recreational smoker.

[Ice Shack Baby]

Bumping thread up. We are doing this again. Basically the same as last year.

Hwy 65 and Hwy 18 (Crosstown) Ham Lake MN 763-434-8946