On August 28 we competed in the Lone Star BBQ Society sanctioned cookoff in Red River, NM. Red River is in the northern part of the state northeast of Taos. It is a picturesque ski town nestled at 9,000 feet elevation in the Sangre de Christo mountains. It is a beautiful setting for a BBQ contest.

We squared off agains 30 other teams in the "Texas rules" cookoff. We usually cook in Kansas City BBQ Society sanctioned contests. The LSBS rules are different, scoring and judging are different, and there are only 3 meat categories instead of the four seen at KCBS contests. In Texas contests there is no pork shoulder category, only chicken, spare ribs and beef brisket. Out of the 31 teams competing only 3 were from New Mexico. Most were from Texas and a few from Oklahoma.

This was our third year competing at this event and our Pitmaker BBQ Vault smoker came through for us again. The previous two years we finished third overall. This year we were 6th in chicken, 5th in ribs, 1st in brisket (for the second year in a row) and took the Grand Champion honors. Grand prize was a discada cooking stand from DISC-IT in Albuquerque. Congratulations to Wayne Ratliff, Ready Yet, for Reserve Champion. We were the only two who finished in the top 10 in all 3 categories.

For more pictures, visit the photo gallery