Drooling Dog BBQ

There were 99 teams cooking this weekend. We are stoked to have received an 8th place call for ribs! Great to hear our number called.

Another weekend, it must be time for some bbq!

IBCA cookoff in Luling, TX. Just over an hour from home. Come see us if you’re out and about. We are set up across from the oil museum on the downtown square.

Drooling Dog BBQ very much enjoyed participating in the Smoke & Sounds BBQ Festival yesterday in Cedar Park, TX. A GREAT event that was well organized and well laid out, and to top it off, we had some amazing Texas fall weather!

We were fortunate enough to make it to two final tables with our ribs and brisket both placing 13th in their respective categories.

Thank you to the organizers, volunteers, musicians, fellow BBQ teams, and everyone who made this event a huge success. Already looking forward to next year!

Drooling Dog BBQ is competing at the Smoke and Sounds BBQ festival in Cedar Park, TX this weekend.

We are honoring the recent passings of our namesake Labrador retriever, Ella, as well Jimmy Buffett, whose music we truly enjoyed for several decades.

Come see us if you’re in the area!

It is with a heavy heart that we share our namesake black Labrador Retriever, Ella, passed away this morning. She was 12 years old.

We rescued her through the DFW Lab Rescue organization in 2013, at the age of 2, after her owner at the time was keeping her caged up for 23 hours a day, only letting her out to eat and go to the bathroom.

She has been with us through thick and thin - always using her sixth sense to detect when someone was upset or needed some extra puppy love, without the person saying a word. She greeted us at the door every day, tail wagging, genuinely happy to see us.

And of course, as the Drooling Dog BBQ team name states, she was always by our side as we prepped, cooked, and enjoyed BBQ'd meats for many years. As crazy as this sounds, we will miss those puddles of drool on our kitchen floor.

Our hearts are broken, but we know we gave her a much better life than she had before we adopted her, and we are thankful for the positive impact she had on our lives.

Her name and memory will live on, as we continue to honor her at BBQ competitions and catering events in the future.

Rest in peace, Ella Bella.

Drooling Dog BBQ is honored to share our love of smoked meats with guests and musicians at the first annual Chords on the Cove event being held at Lake Buchanan this weekend.

Thank you for the invite, and we hope you enjoy our creations!

The work has been completed and now we await the results. Feel pretty good about chicken and brisket. Ribs got over caramelized but were very tender and flavorful. Hopefully one of the meats is good enough for a call.

Pretty happy with how the chicken turned out. Super moist and good flavor.

Things are going well at our camp. All the meats are on the smokers, so it’s time for a celebratory adult beverage.

And to honor the passing of Jimmy Buffett, one of our favorite artists, cheers because it’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Rest in peace sir.

Cooking is done. Whew. Awards tomorrow morning.

Extremely happy with how my brisket turned out. Wagyu for the win!

Ribs were decent.

Will see what the judges think of it.

We are cooking close to home this weekend in Austin, TX. First time cooking at Rodeo Austin. This is a HUGE event, with 225 teams and a number of champions and cook of the year teams competing.

Will post updates as the weekend proceeds.

The golden rule of bbq competitions is to never try something new at a comp. Thus, we practice and cook often to delight our friends, family and neighbors.

Todays creation is a prime brisket cooked on our favorite Hunsaker drum smoker. Mixed up the seasonings a bit from what we have been using recently. If it is a good change, we will use it at an upcoming cookoff and see what the judges think.

Total of 66 teams at today’s competition. We had a 9th place call for chicken, which has historically been our team’s most challenging meat category. The poor performance in ribs bumped us down to 25th overall.

Congratulations to our good friends at Big Cat BBQ who placed 2nd in ribs and took home 12th overall. We always enjoy cooking next to them and sharing in the fun.

Messed up the ribs - too much caramelization on them. But I think I made up for that mistake on the brisket. Super tender and tasty.

Will see what the judges think at the awards ceremony.

Pretty happy with how the chicken turned out.

I get a lot of questions about cookoff logistics and venues. Typically we are in an open field with very limited resources. Usually trash cans and port-a-pots are provided by the organizers. The rest is up to each team - power, water, food, sleeping arrangements, etc. You have to prepare properly as you’ll be in the elements for 36 hours or so. We’ve seen it all - wind, thunderstorms, 14 degrees overnight to 100+ degrees during the day.

Some of the venues will have buildings with restrooms. Others will have paved lots, like the one we are on this weekend.

Here is a photo of our set up this weekend.

Yyyyaaawwwwwnnnnn. Let’s do this.

While we're taking a short break from our BBQ competitions, Drooling Dog BBQ decided to treat our houseguest to a lovely wagyu brisket, with a side of smoked twice baked potatoes.

Wowwwwweeeeeee these turned out good!

Smoker: Hunsaker drum smokers - Friends Of Hunsaker Vortex Smokers

Charcoal: HEB Grand Champion briquettes

Brisket seasoning: Big Cat BBQ Cow Rub Big Cat BBQ

We often travel over the Thanksgiving break, but were home this year and decided to smoke a turkey since it has been a few years since we've been able to do so.

HEB Naturals 15.5 lb turkey, Hunsaker drum smoker, Kingsford Professional charcoal, B&B wood chunks for flavor and color, Kerrygold salted butter and a few rubs/spices.

Came out amazing! Super juicy, very tender, and a good balance of seasonings with smoke. The juices poured out upon slicing. My better half said it's the best one I've made so far, and I agree.

Franklin's BBQ did not disappoint. The experience of hanging out with other 'Q enthusiasts was a lot of fun and the time passed quickly.

Their ribs were the best I've ever had. Need to figure out how to adapt mine to be more like theirs.

Brisket was fantastic, easily in the top three I've had.

Expecting a full meat coma to kick in shortly...

Looking forward to some great bbq for lunch. Arrived at 6am and there were already 10 others in line. This is our first time eating here in person. We’ve only had carry out in the past.

The Drooling Dog BBQ team competed at the annual Leander VFW cookoff this weekend. This is a great, well run event that we've attended the past three years, and the revenue generated by the event helps to support scholarship funding for local students.

Our team took 11th in brisket and finished 20th overall. Special thanks to Ivan from Barbecue Social for taking time out of his busy weekend to stop by and hang with us for a bit! Always great to spend time with other bbq enthusiasts!

We look forward to our next event in October, as well as competing in this amazing event next year, hopefully with cooler weather!

Welcome to Drooling Dog BBQ! We are so excited to have you here and watch us as we compete in sanctioned BBQ cook-off events throughout the state of Texas.

Some history...

The Drooling Dog BBQ team name and logo were created based on one of our dogs, a black Labrador Retriever named Ella, who loves to hang out in the kitchen and on the patio while BBQ is being cooked. She has been known to talk (bark?) her way into some pulled pork and brisket being shared with her from time to time. Her obsessive drooling while waiting for such handouts inspired us to choose the name and graphics of the team.

Below is a photo of Ella being patient while waiting for some of those handouts.

Drooling Dog BBQ updated their phone number.