Chicken BarBQue

Disclaimer  **This post has nothing to do with my previous post**

When Sid and I began looking at the website for the church where we are now serving I got to the committee page and chuckled.  I said, the have a BarBQue committee.  They have more than 1 BBQ committee.  Sid just looked at me like, what did you expect.  This past Saturday I got to see why we need a committee for the Chicken BBQ Fundraiser. 

Apparently the church is known in the community for it's bbq.  I am intrigued.  I've seen the pits across the street, but I haven't look closely at them. Here's how it all goes down:

8 am: About 15-20 people, mostly men show up to work.  They start by cleaning the racks, cutting some wire, starting the fires in the pits (all 5 of them), and  then "racking" the chicken. The racks are large, metal grates.  They remind me of the grill rack my parents used to use when they did fish on the grill, only big.  Really big.  They are swept off, then brush on some oil, open them up and lay the chicken on them.  It takes 4-6 men to wire the racks closed. 

10 am: Another 15-20 people show up, more women now, and they make the coleslaw and put the applesauce in little cups, people put sliced bread in baggies, and somebody starts the all important bbq sauce! (Sorry, I don't have pictures of any of these parts.)

1 or 2pm:  More people!  THis year there were quite a few teens who came, and they had the job of squirting sauce into condiment cups and putting lids on them. Good stuff!  Then... The Tables are set up.  The chicken has been on the pits, it's almost done. The tables are set up for two lines.  A plate of chicken will get a half chicken, a scoop of cloeslaw, a pickle, a cup of applesauce, 2 slices of bread, and a cup of bbq sauce.

3pm:  The chicken is starting to come off the racks.  Somebody checks the temperature, to make sure it's done.  They snip the wires, open the rack, making sure everything stays on the same side of the rack.  It gets a coat of sauce, then it's placed into a big tub and covered to stay warm until it's plated.  The plates are really 3 section to-go boxes.

4pm: Sale time.  And people are here and hungry.  Some have tickets (that were passed out or sold weeks ago), some people swing by and pay cash (from what I can see).  But by 6 pm all 1000+ chicken dinners are sold.  And this is the SMALL BBQ? 

It was a really fun, busy, long day.  I loved it. Oh, and the chicken is worth being known for!