Decatur Jaycees Riverfest
The third episode was filmed at the Riverfest in Decatur, Alabama. This episode features the return of Paul Peterson and the Pablo Diablo team from McKinney, Texas. This team has finished badly in the first episode, and were absent from the second, but Paul went back to square one trying new recipes and holding a tasting to determine the recipes that would go to competition. One recipe that changed dramatically was his chicken which had been the competitively abnormal chicken halves to the more prominent chicken thighs.
In his thigh preparation, Paul used muffin tins to form the meat, and of course Myron got all saucy because Paul had "stolen" the idea from Myron. Myron had the last laugh in the end when Pablo Diablo missed the chicken turn in time by 16 seconds.
The producers tried to stir up some drama when Lee Ann was informed that the electricity would be cut by the competition organizer for 1/2 hour to make repairs. Her rotisserie needs the juice to keep moving, so she got huffy when her briskets had to sit above direct heat. All that anger disappeared when she tried her brisket and it was better than expected, and it got her a sixth place in the category.
Tuffy pulled a competition no-no by trying a new recipe for the first time in the competition without relying on a trusted back-up recipe. He swore all through the competition that this brisket was going to win him the prize much to the perturbance of Myron.
At turn-in time, Johnny Trigg was convinced that his pork woes were over after tasting what he thought was his best pork ever, but come crowning time his pork got him just 19th place.
None of the cookers on the show placed in the top five of the competition, with Myron being the highest at 6th place. Some high points were Johnny Trigg taking first in ribs and Tuffy taking first with his experimental brisket recipe. Paul Peterson's heading back to the drawing board again after finishing dead last again. His highest finish was 31st in pork, and he's now having second thoughts about competing at all.
One thing I enjoyed about this episode was the lack of manufactured drama, less of Myron's mouth, and more focus on the meat preparation and cooking. We'll see you after the holidays at the American Royal in Kansas City. Next week (Christmas Eve) is a rerun of Episode 2, in case you missed it.
- BBQ Snob
What the producers did leave out was footage of Myron at the last competition explaining his muffin tin technique to Paul's right hand man (the one who didn't quite run fast enough on the chicken turn in this time around). It's pretty hard to say something was stolen when it's given to you.
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