Lazy ‘Que BBQ Co.
Please allow us to introduce you to Jim and Kim from the Lazy 'Que BBQ Company. They are entering their first BBQ Contest, the Dual in the Desert, in November. We here at the Smokin' Blues BBQ Rag are very excited as we follow them on their journey through their first contest. This is a firsthand account of their experience and will be updated with stories all the way through the competiton. Everyone here wishes Lazy 'Que BBQ the best of luck.
Note from the editor: We first met Jim on the forum at AZBarbeque.com. Jim had posted a topic concerning first timers and was asking for help from the other forum members. It was cool to see everyone replying to his post and offering up suggestions and ideas to help him. I contacted Jim and asked if he would be interested in writing a series of articles about the experiences of their first bbq contest. Jim responded with a very enthusiastic "YES". We appreciate Jim and Kim for taking the time to do this with so many other things going on like cooking brisket, organizing a team, cooking more brisket, working on techniques and recipes and cooking more brisket. We hope that everyone enjoys this as much as we have putting it together. I know who we'll be cheering for at the contest.....that is unless things work out to where we can go. In the words of the Big Kahuna from Portland, "then you will be on your own". Just kidding Jim. What follows is Jim's story.
My Back Ground…Let me start off with a little back ground on myself and then some of the other stuff. I am originally from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles California, in 1994 I moved to Phoenix Arizona right after the Northridge earthquake and have been here ever since. I met my wife Kim in 1996, and then married her in November of 1999, we currently don't have any kids but one day that'll change. I am a manager for a local stone and tile distributor and my wife is a funeral director. I have been bbq'n for, oh I would say the last 17-18 years, now when I say bbq'n I mean grilling on a gas or a charcoal (all be it rare) grill, I would try to use a smoke pouch for some cooks but it's not really "smoking" bbq. I thought I was cooking some pretty good food, friends or family never said anything bad about my cooking so I'm taking that as a good sign.
Smokers…My first true smoker was a Bar-B-Chef off-set smoker that my wife got me at BBQ's Galore, once I got it home and put it together I think I joined or looked at every BBQ forum on the internet I could find, I couldn't get enough info about this new hobby. Another gift my wife got me was a big bottle of Byron Chism's Butt-Rub for my first cook which was 2 racks of baby backs and a whole chicken. I spent the whole cook gleaming, watching the temps, keeping the fire hot, playing with the dampeners or what ever else needed tending. Once everything was off the smoker we ate and man oh man was I hooked. Prior to my new smoker I have never been able to cook ribs or a chicken so tender and juicy, it was pretty cool. So I played with the little off-set for a while and then the bug really bit me, I starting looking at manufactures web-sites for other versions, bigger off-sets, vertical smokers, smokers that were more user friendly and held more consistent temps. I finally settled on a Stumps and after talking (more like begging) the wife into letting me order a new smoker, I ordered myself a Stumps GF223.
Team Name...Now a few weeks after ordering the Stumps I was trying to think of a name for my future catering company (one day I’ll have it) and I received an email from the airlines my wife was flying out of town on, thinking nothing of it I printed off her confirmation number and it read "LZYQ7489" or something like that, I saw it and thought hmmm, LZYQ I shouted out to her "how about Lazy 'Que BBQ Co.? She liked it and so it stuck. Well the catering gig hasn't panned out just yet due to work/life issues but we haven't given up yet.
Signing Up...Then in early May I was on AZ Barbeque's website and saw the ad for the Dual in the Desert cook off here in town, I mentioned it to a few family members and a few friends saying it would be kinda fun and all but not really thinking to much of it. A few days later my wife asked me why don't I sign up and see what it's all about, I was kinda hesitant because of the fact that it was over $300.00 and that I've never cooked in a comp before. Then one night I was viewing a post on another forum and read how much fun these things are, win or lose, and how everybody is so friendly and eager to lend a helping hand. I went to AZBBQ's forum, wrote a post asking a few questions and the responses I got back really helped me made up my mind. I then called my best friends Lance and Mike to see if they were interested in helping out and starting a bbq team, they were in, no problem. Now I just needed to try and understand what it is I was getting us into.
The Team…My friend Mike Domagalski and I have been friends for a little over 20 years, he and his mom moved out here to Phoenix a few months after I did. Mike works for the local electric company's printing department, he's married to his wife Sherry and has 2 step daughters, Jennifer and Stephanie. Mike likes both creating dishes in the kitchen and doing a little bbq'n outside as well (The guy makes a mean albondigas soup and yard bird). The other team member is Lance Molnar, Lance and I have been friends for about 8 or so years. Lance is a Web developer/Marketing/Graphic Designer/jack of all trades (when it comes to computers), He is married to his wife Chris and has 2 kids, Brendan and Kayla. Lance is big into cooking/creating Italian dishes, baking pretty much anything he can, and whatever else he can tackle in the kitchen (his claim to fame is his spaghetti and meat sauce, best I've ever had), both of these guys are great friends and all around great cooks.
So, I been doing a bunch of research on bbq comps, printed off list after list of things I need to bring, the rules for the KCBS and the ICBA, recipes, etc. etc. I've also been practicing my cooks, timing myself, preparing the meat (still having a hard time with trimming spare ribs), fine tuning the rubs ( my wife actually creates and taste all the rubs) and trying to smoke a good brisket, (those damn things are hard to master!). I've paid the entry fee, borrowed my brother's motor home, still looking for a trailer for the Stumps and the off-set and counting down the days until I get to experience what it's like to be in a BBQ competition.
Lazy ‘Que BBQ CO.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
