Hallett 2021 - MEGA Grub Thread.... ITTTTTTTTSSSSSSS TIIIIMMMMMEEEE!!!!

[Fbody383]

Hallett Mega Grub Thread

AI/CMC here we go... This seems to be a good way to do it and cut down on the extra 10lbs of po-ta-to salad that gets tossed. And yes, this includes the idea/concept/genre of Midnight RibsTM.

If you want to call "dibs" on an item, add an item, delete an item, just add a post and I'll clean it up here. As in the past, we can accommodate cash support (anonymous or not) in lieu of other product. First come/first bring - if your on the list you better bring AT LEAST as much as you're down for.

Our version of an OK "The List:"

Brisket ---------------------------------------------- OIF
Buffalo chicken dip -------------------------------- MOSTY!
Cheesey po-ta-tos --------------------------------- Martin??
Jalapeno peppers ---------------------------------- Busted Arse Garage
World Famous Beans ------------------------------ The Ole 77, check!
Red Shift Margaritas ------------------------------- ARC and crew
Water/Coors Lite/Natty Light (all the same)
Sodas/Candy Beers (all the same)
Cheap-ass bottom shelf cookies ------------------- MOSTY!
(Baked) Po-ta-to salad ------------------------------- Lienert
Smoked Mac & Cheese ------------------------------- FScott
Guac/Brownies/Colorado Water --------------------- McFall
Veggie plate
Chip(s)/Dip(s) ---------------------------------------- Alien (yeah, I forgot to update it)
Chip(s)/Dip(s) ---------------------------------------- Gerno
Plates/NapkinsPlasticware ---------------------------- Dylan, new guy not Bob. (Probably faster than me)
Generic Banana Pudding
Extra-Galactic 'Nanner Puddin'------------------------ Leinart
Ice cream
Smoker baked chocolate chip cookies --------------- OIF. Cheryl, you hear about this?
Assorted Fruit Cobblers

Quick shout-out to:
Anonymous Donor #1
Anonymous Donor #2

EDIT: No rush but remember we'll need to do a headcount at some point. We can flex that as we get closer. If you think you're eating, give an estimate for your group.

HEADCOUNT
OIF - 2
Mosty(s) - 5?
Leinart - 2
Martin - 4
Patterson - 2? (WAIT?!? He's one of THOSE now...)
Fscott - 3
Gerno - 1?
McFall - 2
Dylan?
The 45 McDonalds Car - yes, still invited
Denton - ?
Robertson - 2?
Pranav - 2
Flyin Bryan - 2?
ENGLISH! - 4
Crumpacker - and creamsicle makes 4
Fisher - ?
Bryan - ?
Weston - ?
Jordan(s) - let me know if you guys just want some brisket
Sook - there's goes the front of the field - 5
Capps - get the AI guys in here too

VENUE
Historically we've done the grub at the OIF raceport. Because it's Hallett, and part of the family has gone tube chassis racing, this year we're going to partner up with the AMCM group for Saturday dinner and Midnight Ribs(tm). Be a good chance to put some names and faces with the AMCM drivers so they'll learn to pass us on the correct side.

[Supercharged111]

It may also be appropriate to post up the list of us slackers who still owe money. Hallett might not be a no go this year, fingers crossed!

[Fbody383]

Hallett might not be a no go this year, fingers crossed! Prolly best for you... no way you get around the 77 and 88.

[Supercharged111]

Prolly best for you... no way you get around the 77 and 88.

No need to. If I finish behind them in one race, I'll start in front of them the next. ;)

[Fbody383]

I'll start in front of them the next. ;) Doesn't mean you stay there...

[Supercharged111]

Doesn't mean you stay there...

Randy's wide ass is better suited to pass prevention. That said, Hallett is a magical place that induces driver error that I don't normally encounter so your point is taken. That's what makes it so fun.

[AllZWay]

When is Hallett this year?

[ShadowBolt]

When is Hallett this year?

6-5-21 and 6-6-21

[michaelmosty]

We'll definitely bring a giant pot of buffalo chicken dip and Frito's scoops.

Thanks for starting the thread Dave, now I have 2 months to dream about OIF brisket and midnight ribs!!!

[Fbody383]

I have 2 months to dream about OIF brisket and midnight ribs!!! What's your point?

[ShadowBolt]

What's your point?

The point is the point. You can have the flat!

JJ

[fscott]

If you can make room in the smoker for a foil baking pan or two, I have a recipe for smoked macaroni and cheese that will rock your world.
I can prepare it at home, freeze it, and bring it with me.

As for eaters, there's me, Lobster, and Bruno.

[rleng1]

The 77 from Rocky Mtn high will be there. I can do beans if needed.

[Supercharged111]

The 77 from Rocky Mtn high will be there. I can do beans if needed.

https://youtu.be/VPIP9KXdmO0

[rleng1]

����

[Supercharged111]

����

Did you not watch the video?

[marshall_mosty]

I’ve got the bottom shelf cookies covered!

[64GunPilot]

I’ll bring plates, cups, plastic ware, napkins, paper towels. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

[Fbody383]

Whoop whoop... be sure to register. If you're fast bring a bunch of 15 heat cycle tires to use in all the races.

I've made the updates as I've seen them come in. If you think/want/plan to participate differently than noted, just let me know.

[Cody Powell]

We will bring a case of stones for The Mosty! And some Lite for down under

[Fbody383]

Practice brisket this weekend for the daughter's graduation... will be updating and getting headcount over the next week. Get your stuff ready, looks like a barn burner field already for sure this year!

[Gerno]

I can bring the chips/dip

[BryanL]

I can bring the chips/dip

You going to be bringing those chips/dips from the rear I assume...which ends up being the front on inverts.

Can't wait to hear my kid trash talk me about how many people pass me over the weekend. "you let a rookie pass you"

[Gerno]

I'm bringing a spare clutch and trans this time in car you make me destroy my car again by passing me... such shame I couldn't take it


You going to be bringing those chips/dips from the rear I assume...which ends up being the front on inverts.

Can't wait to hear my kid trash talk me about how many people pass me over the weekend. "you let a rookie pass you"

[Fbody383]

...you make me destroy my car again by passing me...
https://youtu.be/b7iUKaPlBl8?t=125

"... you obviously have no personal safety standards... I assumed you would crash in front of me and BURST into flames."

[RPMcFall]

Callie and I will be there!
We will bring community Coors Light, guacamole and tortilla chips, and brownies of some sort.

[Fbody383]

Alright... go see the first post and the HEADCOUNT section. We just need to be close. Ish. As long as we don't plan on 30 and have 100 show up we'll be good. Truthfully, there have been years we needed people to show up and eat everything.

If you have a plastic table and can loan it for dinner, that would help. We usually have a couple but a couple more wouldn't hurt - let me know and I'll add to the first post. General idea is to eat around 6pm on Saturday. That gives us some time to cool off and clean up.

I looked at the entry list - if I missed you let me know.

[martinsntx]

+2 for Martins, we'll being cheezy potatoes and green bean casserole. Have table we could use as well but will need to use it at the sip n flip finish line. Time to assemble your 4 person team! Sponsored by AMCM, Flamboyance Consulting and Cody Powel Enterprise.

[RPMcFall]

Only 2 McFalls total. Parents won’t make it this year.

[Pranav]

+1 for Pranav

Leah will be flying up ahead of me back home

Should I bring samosas?

[BryanL]

Leinart and Dax in for whole weekend-Dax will get up for a midnight rib, too. I'll see about getting a plastic table as well but lost the one I've used.

I'll eat Samosas for sure.

[Fbody383]

Should I bring samosas? Who's going to say no?

[Fbody383]

Another day closer to the excitement that is Hallett and The Summer Shootout.

I put a VENUE update in the first post; this year we're going to do a combo dinner with the AMCM group since several of them are AI/CMC castaways... or expats... traitors? Nah, traitors is too strong...

I don't expect this to be a regular event thing but I had asked Craig/Al what they were doing, they asked about brisket, and here we are... we'll give it a go.

[fscott]

Please increase my headcount to 3 (me plus two guests). I've got two friends staying in the RV with me, and it would be rude to exclude them. Please do your best to be polite to them, and overlook the fact that they are Corvette driving trash. :)

[Fbody383]

...it would be rude to exclude them. Please do your best to be polite to them... We're always polite. Before X drinks... plastic car driver not too bad, as long as they don't ask for BBQ for the brisket. If they are THOSE people... they need to bring their own.

[ShadowBolt]

We're always polite. Before X drinks... plastic car driver not too bad, as long as they don't ask for BBQ sauce for the brisket. If they are THOSE people... they need to bring their own.

I fixed it for you Dave.

JJ

[Sook]

Red shift will have one extra crew, and that crew member's GF. 4 Total.

Planning on Redshiftaritas, and beers with light after the name.

- Josh

[Supercharged111]

Come to think of it my friend is coming up from AR to hang out. The same friend who helped me until 0400 Saturday morning back in 2018 when I had to drop the damn trans because it stopped wanting to shift in the Friday CBP session.

[39PitCrew]

Please increase my headcount to 3 (me plus two guests). I've got two friends staying in the RV with me, and it would be rude to exclude them. Please do your best to be polite to them, and overlook the fact that they are Corvette driving trash. :)

David is used tolerating Corvette guys ... I wrenched on his car for several years and he had to put up with my 94 at the shop for several years.

[rleng1]

English +3. My people from my village will be there.

[Crumpacker]

Now that my car can move under its own power, count us in - 2 Crumpackers + 2 friends. Planning to bring chips, popper dip & some cash.

[Sook]

Update from redshift/team space racing. Showing up Friday morning with RV and 5 folks in total. Looking forward to the thrash!

- Josh

[Supercharged111]

Now that my car can move under its own power

You too? Gotta love the last minute.

[Fbody383]

Aight... all over but the cryin', I mean smokin'.

Good news - I expect there will be a little pulled pork left over on Friday night, no promises, first come first served. And, you might not like it anyway.

Bad news - Sean is unable to attend, so... but my son is coming as newly promoted Asst. Head Smoker Assistant, so there's that.

Because Hallett, and the "defection" of several of the stalwart AI/CMC to AMCM, we're trying a joint Saturday dinner with AMCM. Some different people, slightly different vibe... until the brisket is sliced and beer is flowing. Feel free to give any feedback on how it works out. Or doesn't work out in your eyes.

See you guys Thu/Fri and we'll see if we're missing anything. Travel safe.

[Fbody383]

I'm sure everybody will take one last look... come chat with me in passing Friday morning but I think, based on all our prior events, we'll be good to go for Saturday night.

Going just a little light on ribs for Midnight Ribs so we might ration early... but better than tossing a bunch out.

[marshall_mosty]

I will have my oldest and middle boy is tow, so for just my part of the Mosty clan we are 3!
Will be shopping for bottom shelf cookies tomorrow morning!

[TJohnson]

Hello everyone

Looking forward to meeting you all. I think I met a few of you at COTA

Bringing a few of us ai guys down from central.

Guess we will be the meat in the middle of the stock cars and CMC cars.

See you soon.

Ted Johnson
Central Region AI Director

[Fbody383]

tl;dr - food successful, some rando's got in line early, let's make it better, gimme your $0.02. Or $20, your call.

RECAP

2 smokers/45-ish lbs. of pellets
30+ ish lbs of brisket
10 racks of ribs
4-5 recipes of Rub 2.0
5-6 bottles of BBQ sauce
6lbs of beans
Chips and dips out the wazoo
Buffalo chicken dip
Smoked Mac & Cheese
Jalapeno poppers
Nanner puddin'
Guac
Fruits 'n veggies
buns/bread/tortillas
cups/plates/napkins/plastic ware
60+ ish folks or so I believe
Crumpacker dip
Some ice cream
Some cobbler
Bottom Shelf Cookies
Greeen beans?
Numerous cash contributors

See, I lost track of the spread because there was a ton of it. Another Hallett dining experience success - but, please provide feedback, positive or negative. If you feel like you need to do it anonymously, that will be interesting but DM me if you don't want it public. It's all very much appreciated. Sean and I like doing it and greatly enjoy the fellowship of friends and family over some "potentially average" BBQ.

CONS
Let's call it the "can we make it better:"

Head count

We struggle a little with making sure we get the amounts close. You guys know Sean couldn't make it, and I made a conscious decision to try to shoot a little closer to the RSVP number, erring to the side of potentially "too little." What I believe happened is that we had some drive-by customers in line ahead of our group regulars.

PROS
RSVP
Participation - I think nearly everybody, that was not an invited guest, brought something
Almost enough

Let me be blunt - this was a bit of an experiment given the movement of several of the guys into AMCM. I thought the best thing for this Hallett was to coordinate the two groups given the nature of the event, and knowing it was a bit of an experiment and why I think the feedback is helpful.

Let's work backward - Midnight Ribs(tm) crushed it! 10 racks and barely teeny scraps left; folks were scraping up the leftovers. We did miss the labeling so for the scorecard some were Sticky Sweet/Sweet Heat and some straight up Sticky Sweet. There was a motion and a second to review (perhaps) when we eat those things since we lose people being so late. Express your thoughts on moving it up a bit.

Brisket - we put them on around 4pm on Friday evening. The BBQ Math says roughly 1.2 hours/lb. then allow 4-5 hours for resting. For those of you playing at home, the resting is the second most important part; cooking to 205F is the most. STUPID BRISKET. So both were done right around 7am Saturday morning. You did the quick math - they were wrapped in foil/towels in a cooler in the sun all day, 11 hours, and still almost too hot to handle when we sliced them.

Brisket 1 rated B-; arguable the lean end came up a little dry.
Brisket 2 rated A; potentially a little better. It was stupid good.

NEXT YEAR

So what's next? Oh yeah, I/we expect to plan on doing it again in 2022; I mean the raceport is already paid for. I think we could have easily eaten ~5lbs more brisket. I think we could have eaten 1, maybe 2 more racks of ribs. It was a combo in timing that the cobblers were done when they were. But all that includes some drive-bys that I will say were unaccounted for. Equipment wise we can do 3 briskets/10 racks of ribs. If we swap smokers we can do 4 brisket/12 ribs pretty easily. We have to go to 3 smokers to get much beyond that.

I don't want to literally issue tickets/wristband - but it would create some numbers certainty. I don't mind having a little leftover, but we've stranded a lot of food in the past. Let me know what you guys, rooks and vets, think about this. Especially the new guys - how did this work out for you?

I did have the thought that we could just prep up a whole brisket for the Hallett workers and staff. At least then it's known ahead of time that they have a slab of meat to allocate how they want.

That's enough for now.

[fscott]

Thank you for putting this together. I'm sure it was a ton of work, and I appreciate it.

[rleng1]

Great job Dave and Son. Delicious. I reduced the beans from 10# to 6#.
We should do our best on rsvp, then factor in contingencies (drive-by’s and Hallett crew). If the contingency is necessary, we have leftovers. I was stuffed and I appreciate you opening it up to guests.

[babablackgoat]

Rook comment: Thanks!

Thank you for organizing and cooking. Greatly appreciated. From someone who does not camp a lot, glad I could be one of the "Numerous cash contributors" instead of having to bring food.

[babablackgoat]

Not sure where else to post pictures so posting here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xSqSg39LuNGstLSW9

Please let me know if need to be moved elsewhere. Some amusing and some not so much but easier to keep all together instead of sorting thru.

Thank everyone so much for support and guidance on my first time out.

[BryanL]

Thanks Dave and Son -missed Sean this time. Myself and everyone else appreciates the time you put into it and I probably don't realize how much it takes but glad you enjoy doing it.

Unfortunately the success of what you do means more people show up who didn't RSVP, then people who are drive bys invite others on social media and before you know it you could have a catering business going. (That's my idea and I'll take less of a cut than Hallet-lol) Same thing has happened over the years with Midnight Ribs and that's all part of the fun in bringing groups together of course. There is just a limit to the amount available to produce and I don't know how you get around that without either planning to feed the whole complex, having tickets, some system that opened it up to drive bys for leftovers, but maybe someone has a great idea.

I love the thought of brisket for the Hallett workers and I would gladly chip in some money for them or maybe use the gate money to buy a brisket for their staff. My guess is they would like that when the track goes cold and they gather for a drink. Also, want to say I miss Indian and his pickled jars of vegetables and the way he pulled me out of the tire wall. My son didn't get the pleasure to enjoy his company unfortunately but I'll make sure and tell my son about him.

No issues with moving Midnight Ribs around, making it a moving target, keeping it midnight, or whatever. Yeah, it's late and I was tired but it's also part of the experience as no way my son would miss them and I bet he tells his kids about it at some point in the future, too. He tells everyone they are the best and then they ask him what are midnight ribs and he tries to explain-cool.

[fscott]

If anyone wants my recipe for smoked macaroni and cheese, here it is.
I tripled the recipe for Hallett, and then saved some back in the freezer after the two foil trays were overfilled.
If you're in a hurry, you can do the same thing with a Costco macaroni and cheese, and it works almost as well.

16 ounce package elbow macaroni
¼ cup butter
¼ cup all purpose flour
3 cups milk
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into large chunks
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups extra sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups Gouda cheese shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
(Optional) 1 jar of green chili sauce

1. Load the wood tray with one small handful of wood chips and preheat the smoker to 225° F.

2. Cook pasta according to package instructions. In a medium saucepan, melt butter, and whisk flour into the butter. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, until sauce is bubbly and thick. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes until thickened. Stir in cream cheese until mixture is smooth. Add salt and pepper.

3. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup Cheddar, 1 cup Gouda cheese, Parmesan cheese, pasta, and cream sauce. Spoon mixture into an 11 by 9 ½-inch aluminum roasting pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle top with remaining Cheddar cheese and Gouda cheese.

4. Place in smoker and cook 2 hours at 225° F, until brown, bubbly and delicious.