Smoked Meat and Country Music: Houston Rodeo Cookoff

Tom Donahue, Bellaire Boys

  The weather has been cold every year I’ve attended the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, preceding the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo – always on a Friday.
  Like last year, when I was among 244,185 people, almost all clutching invitations to specific tents, fighting cold, bitter winds all three days for a shot at eating like a real cowboy. And darned if there didn’t appear to be more participants at this year’s event.

Greg Moore of Rotten Wood Cookers

  When I checked the final count, the 84,257 happy people around me beat last year’s Friday night by over 500. In fact, each night was a record attendance, preceding the world's largest livestock show.

  I could believe, as I watched the thousands around me smile, greet, and embrace each other, that there’s more than the world’s finest smoked meat drawing my fellows to these tents buffeting in the breeze.

  The first invitation I had was to Rotten Wood Cookers, where a merrily toiling band has, in the past, taken Grand Champion over all the other entries with their chicken. So when the chicken comes out of the smoker, team member Greg Moore yells, “Chicken’s out!”
  Everyone comes running.

Jim Davis, Bellaire Boys

  Do understand this! When you take Grand Champion in a cookoff of this magnitude, as Rotten Wood Cookers has done, it’s the team’s ticket to superstar cooking events. That includes major cooking competitions such as the Jack Daniels. I believe this team will be there again, soon, and come away a champion.

  The Bellaire Boys cooking team has won many awards. I can’t understand why they don’t take top prize for ribs every year at this giant competition, because I’ve never had better. I really appreciate the hospitality the team affords me at their tent, especially the friendly greeting I get from hardworking team members, including Tom Donahue, Jim Davis, and Larry Gardner, who were so  kind to give me an invitation.
  I watch how hard they work in cooking teams as Rotten Wood and Bellaire Boys, cooking, serving, cleaning, and seeing to the enjoyment of their guests. I wonder how they muster the energy to smile. But they do. And they keep producing their wonderful offerings, serving after serving.

  There are some teams that compete in food, but also excel in party. Every year, I hear enthusiastic reviews of the party thrown by Texas Cowtown Cookers. 

  They had the only tent that had a line to get in, everyone clutching their special invitations.
  Any bar-b-que event that offers a beautiful crème brûlée for dessert is worth at least a look! The Texas Cowtown Cookers do, plus apple cobbler, banana pudding, and something called apple pie moonshine.
I soon discovered that their musical entertainment, signed for both Friday and Saturday nights, was also a big part of the draw.

Jake Kellen, right, with band

 It was the Jake Kellen Band. I encountered Jake first about five years ago, when country music fans began pulling his CD and singles off ITunes and Amazon, as well as catching him live around Texas. I immediately took to his ballads such as Take Me Home and College Days.
  My favorite is Bullet Proof, where he tells the bartender to set them up, get ready for that pretty girl to come, “Cause 12 a.m., I turn into George Strait.”

  I was told Jake was roots country. So as I watched the Cowtown Cookers stage, I was amazed as Jake Kellen and band moved with ease through many different genres of country music, including Bakersfield, Outlaw, Red Dirt, and Roots.
  At one point, Jake called up a guest guitarist who began a dueling lead guitar session, then pulled off a wonderful Stevie Ray Vaughn number with the musicians. The Cowtown Cookers and guests enjoyed a star-quality concert that everyone could dance to.
  “This is Jake’s first time at a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo event,” reports John Rufini, one of the hardworking coordinators of Cowtown Cookers. “He’s a really good guy and very enthusiastic. I think we’ll see him back next year!”
  If you weren’t as fortunate as me to catch Jake and band live at this event, this YouTube video will give you an idea of what a quality performance the Texas Cowtown Cookers enjoyed.

  As far as their reputation among the great party entertainers at this event, John emphasizes that the team really does work to win.
  “We do like to complete,” he assures me. “But we also make a point of having a great party for our friends.”
If this competition is the world’s biggest backyard bar-b-que, that’s the feeling that Cowtown Cookers is looking to reinforce. And John agrees, as I discovered and mentioned earlier in this post, that there's a lot more going on here than outstanding cookery.
  “We like to establish long-term relationships,” John says. “We’re a close family of friends and colleagues. Everyone contributes and the sweet desserts and baked goods are brought in by our members and their spouses. Just like having cookies at your Mom’s house.”
  Some of the team members are outstanding photographers and videographers. Be sure to check the Texas Cowtown Cookers Website after its upgrade, directed by John, in a few weeks and you’ll see what everyone is raving about.
  And if Jake Kellen and his outstanding brand of entertainment become part of those long-term relationships, many will want to join together for bar-b-que and fellowship in this backyard for a long time to come.