Sept. 16, 2011
LOBOS/ALBERTSONS 2011 TAILGATE COOK OFF CHALLENGE
Where: Northeast side of The Pit near KKOB pre-game radio booth
When: Two hours before kickoff for all Lobo home football games
Saturday: 11:30 a.m., “Ribs Challenge.” Lobos kickoff at 1:30 p.m. vs. Texas Tech
Sure, Texas Tech’s Darrin Moore is a marked man come Saturday because of something he did two weeks ago: catch 12 passes.
However, Lobo fan Barbara Thompson is a marked woman because of something she did two weeks ago, too. Thompson won the season-opening Albertsons’ Cook Off Challenge by smoking the field with her smoked beef.
But can Moore catch 12 passes against the Lobos? Let’s hope not!
And can Thompson cook ribs? Probably.
Her beef dish had the UNM judges drooling before she got within 100 feet of the contest table. (Of course, our judges drool almost constantly, so maybe that’s not a good indicator of who is going to win).
The good thing for Thompson is that there won’t be several thousand pounds of Lobos standing between her — or any entrant — in this Saturday’s Cook Off Challenge.
However, there will be a free gift for everyone who enters and there will be a $50 gift certificate from Albertsons for the weekly winner.
So, is Thompson coming back to defend her cook off crown? Who knows? One thing is for sure. The spices and love she put into her beef should adapt easily to ribs.
The rules for this tailgate contest are simple enough. You bring your dish to the Northeast corner of The Pit (near the KKOB pre-game radio booth), set it down in front of our panel of judges and then get out of the way.
This judging thing can get pretty messy and if there is barbeque sauce involved, well, the Northeast corner of The Pit might need a new paint job. So, cover up and back up.
The judging is base on a 100-point scale: 80 points for taste and 20 points for food presentation. Remember, every fan entering gets a prize. (Rumor has it that some hotshot tailgater from Lubbock is predicting he’ll take the title back to Texas soil).
“Barbara’s beef was outstanding,” said Kurt Esser, a huge honcho in the UNM athletics department and a weekly judge. “This week’s contest should be challenging for the judges because there are a lot of things you can do with ribs.”
Maybe. But there is only one thing our judges do when ribs are placed in front of them. They attack them like a starved piranha attacking a ham sandwich.
Come watch!
Here is a recap of this year’s Albertsons Cook Off Challenge:
1. Sept. 3 vs. Colorado State – Beef. Winner: Barbara Thompson.
2. Sept. 17 vs. Texas Tech – Ribs.
3. Sept. 24 vs. Sam Houston State – Tailgaters’ Choice of Hamburgers, Brats or Sausage.
4. Oct. 1 vs. New Mexico State – Chicken or Chicken Wings
5. Oct. 29 vs. Air Force – Green Chile Stew
6. Nov. 12 vs. UNLV – Chili