The First Annual Great Cove Point Barbecue Cook-Off, 2024

What a great event!

Jimmy, Don, and Mike (akaThe Grill Sergeant), set the event, and Jimmy generously offered his yard as the location. The event was set for July 6, the Saturday of the Independence Day weekend. It had been a beautiful weekend, with celebration after celebration, and beautiful weather. The humidity was low and there was a steady breeze off the water. Wonderful. July 6 dawned and the wind died and the humidity and temperature soared.

It was miserable, like “the times that tried men’s souls” at Valley Forge. Most people would stay home in air conditioned comfort, but not the hearty souls of Cove Point. Jimmy, Don, and Mike outdid themselves with an amazing variety of grilled and smoked foods, and their neighbors pitched in with even more goodies. I was overwhelmed. I’ll mainly let the pictures speak their thousand words, and add a few of my own. Note that there were no name tags on the food, and after the first chicken wing taking note on my phone was a no-go. I have no idea who brought most of the food, and I’ll probably attribute something to the wrong person. Please send me corrections and additions, and more photos of your dishes (johntannerlaw@gmail.com), and I’ll edit them in. Eventually. If you want your last name included (I left them out for privacy), let me know that.

I really need to mention the people behind the scenes, including of course, host Jimmy, and well as Mary N Mike Theissen and Kevin Robinson, and Mike certainly did a whole lot more than “just” cook, as if that weren’t enough. Kevin had the most visible contribution — the use of his garage with the hard working air conditioner in the world for the buffet. As you know, the people behind the scenes deserve lots of credit for all the success of the event – as do all the anonymous people who brought those delicious sides.

Working down the line, Don was up early with a fun and delicious variety of smoked treats. First up was Don’s chopped pork. Those who read the non-local posts on my blog know that I dearly love North Carolina chopped barbecue, especially with that wonderful vinegar-pepper sauce.

This was not only good, it was the best North Carolina-style barbecue that you can get within 100 miles. I loved it.

Don also did a pork loin with smoky, tender meat,

and pastrami.

This was good. I’m a fan of pastrami, and interestingly the top three places for pastrami in the Washington area are barbecue places — see here -and have you tried the Reuben/Rachel at Buckets? What a change!

Don also cooked some ribs which I didn’t get to try, alas. (I snuck off from time to time to cool off — and pause my eating.)

And he smoked some bologna.

I had some that had been through the slicer,

and it was smoky with hints of sweetness and heat. I’m a big fan of smoked bologna.

Don also cooked the pickle poppers – not jalapeño as I’d carelessly assumed — with bacon and cheese.

And the burnt ends were Don’s, too.

Don did the Cuban sliders, which I really liked.

As you can see, a couple of the buns got some extra char, but considering everything Don was working on, he definitely gets a pass, especially since they were all delicious. And he more than made up for it with these short ribs. They were as tender as a lover’s sigh and bursting with flavor.

I know there was one more from Don, who is a very creative person — smoked Cheetos!

Don smoked these with cherry for a light smoke flavor, and then hit them with “Swamp Venom”, a Dizzy Pig seasoning mix.

And the Grill Sergeant — by the way, I reviewed his ribs and chicken when he was set up outside Sneade’s here. Those were both delicious then, and I recommend them highly. Mike had a completely — and I mean completely — new take on the chicken. Here’s one of those pictures worth 1,000 words, maybe 2,000.

Yes, he cooked the chicken inside a watermelon. That’s Mike’s own rub on the chicken, a mixture of smoked paprika, pepper, and I don’t know what else, but it was so good! Even the breast meat was as juicy as can be.

Here are Mike’s wings,

Didn’t they look good? In addition to making me get my phone all sticky, they were top notch, delicious with yet another of Mike’s terrific rub mixtures. Mike also provided one or more fans for the group, and they really helped keep us going.

This pork was dressed with a sweet but complex sauce that many will find addictive turns out to have been done by Jimmy, who also contributed some fine pork loin.

Jimmy, as the host, was running around multi-tasking and sacrificed his ribs for the cause, but he recovered magnificently with this gorgeous brisket.

Doesn’t it look beautiful? The crust was absolutely delicious, and the meat was tender and bursting with flavor. And how about this macaroni and cheese —

Gary fried up some just-caught perch, and they disappeared almost as soon as they hit the counter.

(I swear I only had two.) And I only had two of the Buffalo deviled eggs

and two Fireball-soaked cherries.

There were many more beautiful salads and side dishes, and desserts, including an intriguing peach pound cake I didn’t get to try.

Plus a whole lot more.

There were far too many to keep track of or even photograph individually. I see that I left Matt’s bean salad and some others out of the picture, and from empty platters I know that some dishes disappeared while my back was turned. I certainly can’t leave out the great contribution from Chris who’d thrown a magnificent event the night before, and who brought over the three-tap beer truck from her event.

Someone brought a plate of biscuits.

I have no idea who, but they may have been the best biscuits I have ever tasted in a long life of biscuit-tasting. They were at least 80 percent butter, like the toast at Linda’s Cafe on crack. Some say butter and Crisco. The flavor and texture were superb, magical. Kathy Duncan has come forward with her recipe — “Gluten free Red Lobster biscuits with 2 times the cheese called for in the recipe, just because you can never have enough cheese…lol.” If I had know that, Red Lobster wouldn’t have gone out of business.

The First Annual Great Cove Point Barbecue Cook-Off was a wonderful event, a triumph. Those of you who stayed indoors missed a great time, and a whole lot of great food. I say first annual, because, friends and neighbors, we need to do this every year. I’ll be willing to stick my butt in — my barbecue pork butts, that is. I do, however, have a suggestion — a plea — for the future. Not July 4. Please. Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day … you name it. Making the barbecuers work out in that sun was just cruel and unusual, and we really owe them a deep debt of gratitude for hanging in there so well.

Start planning for next year, keep telling me what I left out, and sending in those names and photos!

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