Projec Host BBQ Cookoff

Last week, I shared that this weekend would be crazy busy!  My husband and I both participated in competitive cooking events.  You can read about my cake event here.   

My husband and his friend Morgan participated in the Project Host BBQ Cook off.   Project Host is a group in Greenville, SC that help to feed people in need.  They also have a culinary program that helps people who are unemployable and underemployed to prepare them for careers in the food service industry by teaching them culinary arts and life skills.

This is Project Host second year hosting this BBQ Cook off as a fund raising event.   This year there were 25 teams competing in the 2 day event.  Friday night was the Best Chicken Wings Ever Night.   Saturday featured ribs and pulled pork. Guests could purchase tickets for $10 and sample all of the wings and bbq. 

This was my husband's first time doing anything like this.  Morgan has competed in several BBQ events so we consider him the old pro.   Andy was in charge of chicken wings and Morgan was in charge of ribs and pork butts.    My husband has been practicing for months to get his wings and sauce just right.     Needless to say, after this weekend, we are chicken winged and BBQ'd out!

The guys set up Friday morning and by around 3:30 they were cooking wings! 


Then the crowds showed up. We served chicken wings from 6-10!   It was pretty intense serving all of those people and it seemed like just as a rush would hit, we would have some sort of delay.   Those darn chicken wings just wouldn't cooperate.  It takes about an 1 1/2 to 2 hours to smoke the wings, but it seemed like it take 5 hours to cook the batches.

While the guys maned the smoker, I served somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 chicken wings and lobbied hard to get the fan favorite vote.   We didn't win fan favorite, but we were thankful for those who did vote for us. There really were a lot of great teams, so it made all of the hard work  worthwhile. 


The guys stayed after the chicken wing tasting to get the ribs and pork butts on the smokers.  They were real troopers staying up all night to tend the smokers.   At 10 am Saturday, they turned in the first tasting box to the judges.  Then at 11am the second box went to the judges tent.   The crowds were great, with lots of live music in the background. 

The judging results were announced at 5.  Again, we weren't in the top 3, but we did place well in both events.   We placed well in the top 10 teams for both meats.  It was a great learning experience and I think my husband really has the BBQ bug.   I am sure that he will be next year for this event.