Yesterday pitmaster Frank, team president Clay, and team vice-president Erik attended the official BBQ Fest judging school at the Holiday Inn in Downtown Memphis. All three passed the final exam and are now trained judges!

None of the three plan on actually judging, but the information provided was valuable nonetheless. The team received plenty of information on what judges look for when they come to BBQ team booths: The bark, the texture of the meat, the presentation. The Moody Ques finished less than 7% apart in score from the first-place shoulder team in 2015, and we now have lots of valuable information to narrow that gap.

Next up is a very important practice cook. On Sunday, December 20, the team will cook for Frank Chin. You may recognize that name as the photographer who does great event coverage for the Memphis Flyer and other publications. Frank Chin is also a certified Memphis in May judge. He and another certified, experienced judge have offered to attend a practice cook on the 20th, going through the presentation as if it were official BBQ Fest judging. We will receive feedback on what we did well and what we need to improve.

Here are some photos from the judging seminar.

This past weekend, the team’s board of directors met and appointed the board for 2016. Due to Allison Moody moving to McAllen, Texas in December, some changes were made. The new board is as follows:

• President – Clay Thompson
• Vice President – Erik Karlsson
• General Counsel – Allison Kay Moody
• Chief Communications Officer – Win Bonner
• Pitmaster – Frank Howell
• Treasurer – Misty Roberson
• Chief Engineering Officer – Brent Long
• Director of Public Relations – Paul Ryburn
• At Large – Open

The at-large position is our plan to get fresh blood on the board. It will rotate every year, with a team member getting a taste of what it is like to be a board member, being heavily involved all the way through with planning, booth design, load-in, shouldering responsibility during the festival, and load-out. If you are interested in the at-large position for 2016, send an email to moodyques@gmail.com.

In other news, as of this weekend the Moody Ques expect to have three Memphis in May certified BBQ judges on the team. Pitmaster Frank, President Clay and Vice-President Erik are attending the World Championship Cooking Contest Judging class held annually by Memphis in May at the Downtown Holiday Inn. Assuming they all pass their final exam (and yes there is one) they will be qualified to be BBQ Fest judges. This will give the cookteam a better idea what judges are looking for in our championship shoulder. We want to be on stage collecting a trophy come May, and this will surely help!

In the last post, we showed that we’ve been busy in the off-season since BBQ Fest 2015. But what about BBQ Fest 2015 itself? It’s high time we posted some photos.

We took second in Best Booth, which we could not have possibly done without the expertise of Brent, Travis and the folks at Holliday Flowers. If you need to plan a wedding, party, or corporate event, these are the people you need to talk to.

We also got the cooking situation handled, with head cook Frank and his team of Clay, Erik, Brian, Dusty and Jason preparing the food. Although we didn’t bring back a cooking trophy, the team and our guests were well-fed and everyone was satisfied. Although we’re focusing a lot more on cooking, we still know how to throw a party, with Jello shots, gummy worms, DJ Cody selecting the music and of course plenty of beer and cocktails.

Here’s a look back at BBQ Fest 2015. Click any image to view at a larger size.

After BBQ Fest concludes the third week of May, many teams don’t even want to think about BBQ in the months afterward. They might not even get together to talk about next year until September, October, or even later than that.

Such is not the case with the Moody Ques in 2015. We’ve been busy! Here’s a look at all the things that have been going on with the team.

“A team to watch out for”

The Moody Ques may not have taken home a cooking trophy in 2015, but the food did impress people. Members of well-established, winning teams, as well as judges, offered feedback in the days and weeks following BBQ Fest ’15. “You always had the booth design and the party element of your team nailed down,” we were told. “But now you’re starting to look like a serious competitor in the kitchen too. Your food may not have been exactly what the judges were looking for, but we tried it and it was on point. We see you as a threat flying under the radar right now, a team to watch out for in 2016.”

Putting Bevo out to pasture

In 2014, our cooker Bevo had trouble holding temperature. That was understandable at the time, we thought. The night we cooked the competition meat in 2014, the weather was horrible, with rain, temperatures around 50 degrees, and wind. However, when we had trouble keeping Bevo at temp in 2015, when the weather was much more favorable, it was time for us to purchase a new cooker. Believers in shopping local, we made our purchase from Tucker Cooker Company, located right here in Downtown Memphis, a short walk from Tom Lee Park at 122 West Carolina.

Crop Hop 5K

If the Moody Ques are to be the threat that other teams project us to be, head cook Frank and his cookteam recognized that they needed to conduct practice cooks throughout the year. On Friday, June 19, we had an opportunity to get in a practice cook, get familiar with the new cooker, and support a great local nonprofit by cooking for the race after-party for Crop Hop 5K benefiting the Memphis Farmers Market. Considered one of the best farmers markets in the United States, the market provides regional farmers with a chance to sell their goods directly to residents of Downtown Memphis. Other local teams have been known for cooking for charity events in the past, and the Moody Ques were excited to get in the fundraiser game as well.

We cooked pork shoulder and beef brisket, serving over 100 runners who turned out to support the Market. After the race after-party was over, one of the team members was at a nearby South Main bar where he was told by a runner, “The Moody Ques food and the locally brewed beer were well above expectations compared to most post-race parties.” We even had a Texan compliment our brisket!

Moody Ques On The Edge

Our sponsor Holliday Flowers, responsible for four consecutive years of third place or better in Best Booth at BBQ Fest, including two firsts, recently acquired a warehouse in The Edge, an up-and-coming neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Downtown Memphis. A converted 1960s motor lodge with a large fenced parking lot, it provided the perfect space for a practice cook and team social on Saturday, August 8. One of our goals is to provide team members the chance to get together throughout the year, getting to know each other so that teammates aren’t strangers come May. Team members agreed the warehouse was an ideal venue and asked to have more events there.

MFM@TEN

The Memphis Farmers Market, founded in 2006, is wrapping up its tenth year of operation, and the Market folks threw a party to celebrate. Called MFM@TEN, the party was held Sunday, September 20 in the old Tennessee Brewery, the last function at the brewery before it was to be renovated into a mixed-use facility. Attendees were treated to a bounty of food from the market’s sponsors and vendors – and from the Moody Ques. Seeing the opportunity to do a third practice cook in a little over three months, head cook Frank and his team fired up the cooker, filling the brewery’s courtyard with the smell of beef brisket and pulled pork. Once again, the Moody Ques’ offerings were very well received.

Just for fun: Let’s cook some burgers!

Although the Moody Ques cookteam is taking as many opportunities as possible to do some serious practice cooking of our competition pork shoulder, they like to have a little fun, too. As a result, the team entered Best Memphis Burger Fest, held at Tiger Lane near the Liberty Bowl. There were five competitions: Bloody Mary, Veggie Burger, Anything But (beef), Margarita, and Best Memphis Burger.

The team’s best showing food-wise was Veggie Burger, finishing 14th with an absolutely beautiful black bean patty burger that was a treat to eat. Vegetarians love the Moody Ques!

Meanwhile, Dusty, our expert behind the bar, concocted some margaritas that were popular with the judges, earning the Moody Ques a 12th place finish.

It was a blustery October day, with temperatures never making it to 60 and wind whipping everything this way and that. In other words, conditions were very similar to those in which we cooked our competition shoulder at BBQ Fest 2014. Our new cooker never had problem holding temp! Our worries in that department appear to be over.

Congratulations to our fearless leader!

Our team president, Allison Moody, is taking the next step in her career in law, having recently accepted a job with the federal government in McAllen, Texas. Moody will be back for BBQ Fest 2016 and will continue to be a team member and our legal adviser. Obviously, though, she will not be able to run the team day-to-day. The Moody Ques board of directors will meet this weekend to figure out how to re-assign roles to cover the duties previously handled by Moody.

There will be a going-away celebration for Moody Friday, December 4 at Cafe Keough, 12 S. Main on the Main Street Mall, from 7 to 10 PM. The after-party will be at Bardog Tavern for those who wish to keep going.

Website news

This website has been updated infrequently in the past, which is a shame because we have a great thing going on the Moody Ques. Expect more regular updates and fuller coverage of what is happening with the team as the calendar rolls into 2016. Thanks for reading!