The last weekend in June proved to be a busy one for Lost Nation. On the 28th, we traveled over to the beautiful Marriott Courtyard and taught 60 students the fine points of barbecue.

Friday was a busy day as we set up our site and helped deliver the fine briskets and pork butts generously donated by Pat Kilcoyne of Kilcoyne Farms and Steve Winkler of Lucky 7 Livestock. Twenty cooks received beautiful all natural pasture-raised meat. Later in the evening, we cooked chili lime chicken with a mango red pepper salsa and Kilcoyne all natural New York Strip steaks with a compound butter for the midnight grilling bash. Congratulations goes to the Lunchmeat team who took top honors for the grilling contest.

Saturday was the buck-a-bone contest and with the fine marketing of Kay Decker and Kathi Berkheimer, the Lost Nation team won the contest. Later in the night, the Olympic Region was given a much needed deluge that brought in a cold front and temperatures as low as 39°.

Overnight and on Sunday morning, the pit and team cooked great, but not good enough as the I Smell Smoke team was named Reserve Grand and the The Purple Turtle Catering Company was named Grand Champion. Congratulations go to Nancee and Greg for winning the contest with a tough field.

This contest is quickly becoming the finest contest in the Northeaast. Led by Carol Zeske, Steve Preston, Dimitry Feld, Frank Zeske, Jon Lundin, Gordy Sheer and the rest of the volunteers, these folks know how to run a contest. I can't wait until next year!

I traveled to my home state of Pennsylvania on May 16 for a whirlwind weekend of BBQ cooking. Arriving at 2 AM, I was up early for the Doylestown Country Club crowd. All I can say is that the 120 golfers were fed well.

  View the photos

Yesterday, Lost Nation "South" drove an easy 30 minutes to debut the new Meadow Creek at the 2nd Annual Grillin' on the Bay contest in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. We were joined by a lot of good friends who all had a great time at this unique NYC contest. We thought that we produced some great food and the judges agreed; we were lucky enough to finish first in pork with our ribs and fifth in chicken.

  Check out the pictures from Brooklyn

The killer ice and snow storm that recently hit the northeast left over 30 inches of snow at Rich's home in Essex Junction, VT. The storm is to blame for at least 15 deaths.

This is what 30" of snow looks like

Earlier this month, Junior Pitmaster Steve Raab and fellow BBQ enthusiast & friend, Scott Readlinger, purchased a Meadow Creek cooker and will start a spinoff team to compete in the Mid-Atlantic contests. The name of their newly formed team has not been decided, so they're taking suggestions.

  Email Your Ideas

The big debut for the new cooker will be at the Grillin on the Bay contest in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Good luck boys!

  Check out the new cooker

Barbeque Festivals Lip Smackin’ Good and Fun Lost Nation prepares to compete in the inaugural Lake Placid, NY—I Love Barbeque Festival (ILBBQF) on July 3 and 4. Read more about the contest and our pitmaster, Rich Decker's thoughts.

Lost Nation traveled back to our home state of Pennsylvania this weekend. On Thursday, I cooked 71 slabs of spares to go with the twelve butts and six packer briskets that I cooked last weekend for the Doylestown Country Club. Bruce and Jeff played in the tournament and came in third with Jeff winning the shoot out and a skin. Regardless of what happened in Bristol, it was a winning weekend. Tom Christine, being a cook and a vender, knows how to run a contest and always puts the cooks first. What can we say about any contest run by Linda Mullane? Everything always runs smoothly; Linda and her squeeze, Jerry, are true barbecue ambassadors and sacrifice so much of their time for the contests that take place the Northeast. At Bristol, our team cooked well and we are proud to have made a few walks and to finish as Reserve Grand Champion. We are looking forward to cooking this contest every year.

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We've been invited to cook at Doylestown Country Club again this year. At the club we'll cook 60 slabs of spares to go with the 12 pork butts and 6 packer briskets. Here are some pictures on how we pre-cook and package barbecue for later use and how we clean up after a cook. My trusty assistant is keeping the floor clean.

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With a lot of anticipation, Lost Nation started the 2006 season in the rain at Salisbury, Maryland's Pork in the Park. Salisbury is becoming one of the largest cook offs in the East and the reason is how well they treat their cooks. The weather and our scores didn't dampen our spirits to go to the next contest at Bristol with high expectations.

In an effort to improve on the Chicken and Rib scores, we will be joined in Bristol by our Co-Kitchen Manager of Chicken & Ribs, Stella Raab.

Back to the Jack 2006
Back to the Jack 2006 is our motto for the upcoming season. We will leave no stone unturned to bring Lost Nation back to the top of the podium.

In 2006 we will have pretty much the same schedule with the addition of New Hampshire and Lake Placid. We're sorry not to be able to go back to Cape Cod. In a few weeks we will open up at Salisbury MD. It will be nice to see some old friends and we hope to meet some new ones. If you can come to the contest stop by our site and I'll buy you a beer.