25th Annual PBC Grillin and Chillin for Charity

Of all the cook-offs I have ever been to this one probably was more work than all the ones I have ever done combined. This year being one of the directors of this cook-off I had the opportunity to help plan and learn a few things about what all is involved in putting a cook-off together. Aside from the director duties I also had a few other things going on such as a catering event Friday night for the Young Professionals of Midland. I had planned to cater for about 120 of our members but due to the weather and a few other things we only had about 61 show up. We also entered up a team to cook in the contest which is the very first time I have ever cooked under a different name.





Friday morning was very challenging. I arrived early to set up and start cooking and about 15 minutes after I put the food on I watched the wind pick my canopy up off the ground and carry it away. After I was able to retrieve it the wind continued to blow pretty much throughout the day. After I got back from Century Graphics to pick up the director shirts and apron's a few members of my team began to arrive and started to help put getting everything set up for our guests. We had water trucks in the arena but the dust still continued to blow most of the day. That was something I was not prepared for but it finally began to slow down about the time people started showing up. Friday night was a lot of fun but as soon as everyone began to disperse the real work began. It was time to start getting everything prepared for the contest and my team one by one began to call it a night and go home. After everyone had left I saw an ambulance arrive. I found out later that a couple of the camp's had gotten into a bad fight and one of the team members had seriously been hurt. It's sad things like this happen in an event that's put together as a fundraiser for charity.



Saturday everything seemed to be going our way for the most part. We entered up in Brisket, Ribs, Chicken, Fajitas, and Chili and most everything we had entered was really good. Out of about 50 teams competing we took 6th in Chicken but did not get a call in any of the other categories. I was disappointed our brisket did not place. We had a great brisket but the competition in this cook-off is really big. Most of the teams had sponsors and many of the Oil companies had their company's cooks competing. I think if many of them were to hit the circuit they would do very well. At least they did at this contest.