Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-off

[fifi]

Around this time of year, the little city of Houston here in southeast Texas undergoes a transformation. It is time to RODEO! Being a native Houstonian, I accept this anachronism as a matter of course. But if you had been living in Houston for just the past year, you would think that you woke up in a weird dream. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is upon us.

A little history… Houston has never been a cow town. We are too far east for that and were never anywhere near the original cattle trails to the rail heads. Houston was built on the oil “bidness” and then branched out into medicine and high tech. The most common ranchers in our parts are the rich guys that like looking at cows so they keep a “little spread” on the outskirts. In recent years, some of these large tracts have been sold off for more urban sprawl and “development”. So, what is going on here?

I will give you fifi’s theory* of Rodeo in Houston. It can be summed up in that one word… bidness. Doing business here has always had a huge social component. And some of our robber barons are world champion philanthropists. So someone had the idea of hijacking the rodeo tradition ‘cause we could have a helluva good time and make some money for a good cause at the same time and, oh by the way, get together with our buddies and do a little bidness. (*Note that fifi’s theory may be total bull cookies, but it sounds pretty good and may not even be too far from the truth.)

But what to do about a good cause? Well, I suppose they figured that no one could have an objection to education, so education it was. Besides, that would help keep us supplied with bright young graduates to further the cause of Texas in general and Houston in particular. With that, the educational program was started with the first scholarship awarded in 1957. Since then, $100,000,000 has been awarded in scholarships. In the fall of 2003, 1,854 students were attending 94 Texas colleges and universities on a typical scholarship of $10,000. Learn more about that here.

A few days before the actual opening of the Rodeo and Livestock Show, we start getting ready. The Gucci loafers and the Ferragamo pumps get moved to the back of the closet and the boots come out. You get the Stetson off of the closet shelf and give it a good dusting. Hmmm… you gotta get a new hatband for that Stetson. This one is too dull. Get that flashy shirt cleaned and send those jeans to get starched and creased. You check the weather to see if you can wear that long canvas duster or maybe the bear skin coat. (Those are usually for the guys.) The symphony and bar music are traded in for Country Western and Tejano. Watching the ballet and disco is out of mind as participatory two-steppin’ and line dancing becomes the exercise of the day. Of course, with all of this going on, we need our food and libations. This usually means BBQ, beer and bourbon. So…

We have this modest little affair.

I had the privilege of attending the third and last day of the BBQ Cook-off. I have family members on the pig and chicken committees so I got into a lot of things. Please click on the link above so you can see what I mean by “a lot of things”. (I didn’t have a helicopter to get that picture.) By way of explanation, the way this works is an organization like a committee, a county, a company, or maybe just some guys with more money than sense, get a tent and sponsor a cooking team. Or, the cooking team may be made up of members of the group. The tents are decorated and the inside usually includes a bandstand or a DJ set up, an area for serving the BBQ and accompanying goodies, and, last but surely not least, the bar. You can only get into these places with an invite. To get an invite, you have to know somebody. This precipitates a lot of schmoozing and the inevitable corollary… bidness. After all, that is why we are here isn’t it? Food, fun, bidness, and, oh yeah, lots of money for the scholarships. A few more statistics… There were 359 teams entered this year and the three day attendance broke the previous record at 183,339.

With my camera around my neck and an introduction that I was a Forum Host from eGullet, I was offered unprecedented access to some of the cooking teams’ domain and got fed a lot of really good BBQ. So I will now shut up (more or less) and share some pictures with you here. Look for some more recent additions to the typical wardrobe. Beads and feather boas are common, as are pig hats, chicken hats and a few more outrageous costumes.

You have to start somewhere.

We will start at The Chicken Shack sponsored by The Chicken Committee. The operation of the Live Stock Show Committees is far too Byzantine to explain in any sensible detail here. Basically, they organize all activities having to do with the showing, judging and selling of the chickens. The first week is for the kids, the second week for the professionals. I don’t have the results for chickens from last year but I seem to remember that the Grand Champion Turkey sold for somewhere around $130,000. (What kind of roasting pan do you use for a $130,000 turkey?) Of course, anyone with any sense can see why you need this tent, and cooking team, and bar to support these activities.

The cooking area is mounted on a trailer. This is pretty typical.

This is the high alloy cooker with its high tech lid prop.

Getting to the meat of the matter.

Some of the team is working on serving up for lunch. They were finalists in chicken and brisket.

Finally, I get a snack.

Next on the list was Holy Cow Cookers. I think they won “Most Colorful Pit.”

A couple of the nice folks that make Holy Cow Cookers cook.

This little piggy is just getting started.

Mama Cow?

The Houston Pork Authority is going to do the pork committee proud. They made the finals in ribs.

Esteemed committee members hard at it.

The bar crew.

The cooking crew takes time out from watching ribs to play the hams. You will find that that is a common tendency of the cooking crews.

These guys have awesome ribs. Take a look.

Yes. They were as good as they look.

And now for a truly amazing sight. The Ultimate Smoker & Grill.

Yes. The whole 18 wheeler is a huge smoker and grill. This is a commercial operation that is used for advertising and promotions. Check out the link to get the amazing specs on this big bad boy. I got to climb around on it and they fed me sausage and pork tenderloin.

The grill in action.

Nibbles for me!

The nice guys that make this all go.

The Maverick Cookers working on sausage and ribs.

And there they are.

Another pig on a stick.

And the guys from Nacadoches County looking after him. Note the spray bottle of WD-40.

This is my favorite stop. Check out Devil's River Mountain Men web site for the story. These are just some guys that get together every year for this event, spend insane amounts of money and have a lot of fun.

Yes, the spit is powered by a water wheel. Sort of.

Mopping the pig, literally.

A couple of innovative pits.

I can’t imagine why this place was so popular.

You can’t have BBQ in Houston without Luther’s making an appearance. The racks in the pit go round and round.

The wrought iron on this set up was pretty amazing.

The winners of the categories await the award of the Grand Championship.

And the winner is… Sorry for the blur but the guy was jumping up and down.

The winners of the categories can be read on the link at the beginning of the post.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I want to thank the teams that were so gracious in giving me access to their tents and cooking areas. I will note that you don’t see brisket here because it was judgment day and no one wants to open that pit for a bunch of stupid pictures. Brisket is just too sacred.

[Richard Kilgore]

Great story and photos, Fifi. I'm glad these bbq competitors took a second from their serious work to let you take a few pics.

But that one fellow just doesn't know how to shop for turkey. Talk about talking bidness: I am sure we can find one for him for 50% off.

[chefrodrigo]

fifi

Thanks for all the great photos. I can't get over the semi-truck smoker.

Rodney

[hannnah]

I was one of those fortunate enough to receive an HLSR fellowship for graduate school - it was very much appreciated, and I'm pleased to see that so much good bbq is being committed in furtherance of funding more of them!

[fifi]

Thanks for that, Hannah. It is great to hear from someone on the receiving end of all of that largess. While all of the participants, whether in the form of committee members or the myriad other contributors, have a really good time, they work incredibly hard to pull this thing off. I was impressed with the conversations I had with the "heavy hitters" and just working committee members. They were relentless in keeping their eye on the ball and focusing on maximizing the proceeds for the education fund.

[HungryChris]

fifi,

That looks like a whole lotta fun. When will the 2005 event be? I wanna go.

[fifi]

I am not sure of the dates for next year. It is always just about the same time of year. I think this year it was a couple of weeks later than usual because of allowing some "recovery time" from the Superbowl. In fact, there was some concern that folks would be burned out and the attendance would be down. But then, the BBQ broke the attendance records pretty convincingly. The economy is pretty good here so there is a lot of optimism for the livestock auctions.

What you might want to do is go to that link on the BBQ and back up to "home" then save it as a favorite.

[BigboyDan]

"I have family members on the pig and chicken committees so I got into a lot of things."

A well-turned phrase fifi - been to many a "Fat Show" over the years myself, always great eatin'.

[foodie52]

DANG!!! Texas men are so gosh darn sexy when they're cooking up a storm!

I love it here!

Wouldn't live anywhere else.

[fifi]

No kidding foodie52. Get this picture... Cooking-Man slices off a rib and tests it before offering some to "The Lady." "Yep, these are good enough. Ma'am would you do me the honor of trying this rib?"

SWOON! (Hey... I'm not that old! )

[Dignan]

No kidding foodie52. Get this picture... Cooking-Man slices off a rib and tests it before offering it to "The Lady". "Yep, these are good enough. Ma'am would you do me the honor of trying this rib?"

SWOON! (Hey... I'm not that old! )

This is a great time, The Houston Livestock and Rodeo, but I've only been with a BBQ team hook-up, so I can't speak for those who attend without an invitation to a team's tent. It's a great atmosphere with tons of friendly folks, so you'll have a good time, I'm just not sure how one gains access to BBQ without an invite to a tent. The smell in the air is incredible, and I'm still trying to get it out of my clothes (only because it is embarassing to have folks in a bar ask "What's burning?" when I sit down). Don't let me sway you if you're inclined to attend, please do, but as fifi said a lot of what you see you can't sample without an "in," so figure that part out better than I have before you make travel reservations.

[fifi]

Hi Dignan. Thanks for the post and welcome. What team were you with?

I will say that even if you don't have an "in" it is still a good time. Just wandering around and looking at the outrageous "tents" and costumes is entertainment enough. And then they have the bands that play in the public areas. Lots of dancing goes on there. It is definitely worth the price of the ticket. I think that is just $6.

[Dignan]

Hi Dignan. Thanks for the post and welcome. What team were you with?

I will say that even if you don't have an "in" it is still a good time. Just wandering around and looking at the outrgeous "tents" and costumes is entertainment enough. And then they have the bands that play in the public areas. Lots of dancing goes on there. It is definitely worth the price of the ticket. I think that is just $6.

Thanks for the welcome.

I've a good buddy with The Dirt Road gang.... A smaller group as far as space but of course big on tastes. I added to their experience by subtraction -- from the meat and drink supply. They did brisket, ribs, pork loins, chicken, sausage, and "heart attack" chili. Some real good stuff.

My real concern for those who don't have a team to visit is how and what they get fed?

[fifi]

My real concern for those who don't have a team to visit is how and what they get fed?

I think what they will get fed is some kind of generic BBQ sandwich that comes with the price of the ticket. I have no idea if that is a good thing or not since I didn't partake. But for a $6 ticket I wouldn't expect much.

I really don't know how to direct folks to getting "invites" to tents as that is so dependent on local connections.

What I do know is that once you get "in" to a tent, the food and drinks are free. BUT... There is that "tip jar". You are expected to stuff it with bills of the 10 or 20 persuasion. The tips are only marginally shared with the "workers" if they are not volunteers. The rest goes to the scholarship fund.

What is mind boggling is that all of this "insider trading" in access and patronage still attracts 180,000+ attendees.