Friday, June 29, 2007

Pigs Feet Results, NJ State Fair, 6/23/07

Complete Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

10 Minute Contest:

1 - Arturo "the Natural" Rios(9): 46 Oz., $750
2 - Erik the Red Denmark(14): 30 Oz., $350,
3 - Crazy Legs Conti(11): 19 Oz., $150
4 - Pat "from Moonachie" Philbin(24): Total not recorded

Sorry for the late update, I have been trying to digest what happened at this contest for the past week. It wasn't pretty in a lot of ways. Starting with the food: the pigs' feet were boiled and then chlled on ice and spritzed with lemon juice before serving. They were prepared by a local butcher and though this may have been the best or most traditional way to serve pigs' feet, I think it was a bad idea. The contest was originally supposed to involve pickled pigs' feet, which are by no means any tastier than the boiled pigs' feet, but are more of a novelty and they would have been easier to eat and easier to judge in my opinion.


these were more like pig legs - giant and nasty

It was apparent as soon as the food arrived in the coolers that this contest would not be an easy one to plate or judge. There were large chunks of pigs feet - bones, tendons, skin, nails, I don't know they were all there. Each leg probably weighed around 1.5 pounds but there was probably only 25 percent yield of meat. Only four eaters showed up for the contest - four! I have never been to such a contest.

Pat Philbin was coming only to watch and help out with the judging since he lives literally down the street from where the contest was being held. But Pat wanted nothing to do with the pigs' feet and I don't blame him. But since only Crazy Legs, Arturo, and myself showed up, Geroge Shea and Charles Hardy virtually begged Pat to come up on stage and at least pretend like he was eating sot that the stage would not be so empty.

Charles, Crazy Legs, and I spent about an hour trying to get the pigs' feet in somewhat equal trays and trying to determine how we could properly weigh them. The contest started about one hour later than it was scheduled even though there was only four of us there because it took so long. We ended up putting about 170-175 Oz. in each tray - around 11 pounds. Each eater was given 2 trays. Pat Philbin's trays were not really marked since he agreed to go on stage but he insisted he did not want to "compete".

Staring at the pigs' feet before the countdown to the start of the contest did not induce any feelings of hunger. The only saving grace for me was that a brought a bottle of Barrel no. 51 habanero BBQ sauce to dip the pigs' feet in to drown out the taste and texture of the pigs' feet. My friend makes the BBQ sauce and I am a big fan of the spicy habanero flavor. The first few bites however, made me gag. I dug straight in to the soft thick skin first but that was the worst part. Once you got past the first couple of layers, there was bigger chunks of meat close to the bone that actually did not taste too bad, kind of like cold pork.

As the minutes went by it got harder and harder to get to the meat, I felt like this was a digging contest as much as an eating contest. I ended up cleaning one tray pretty thoroughly and got in to about one fourth of the second tray. I didn't look up once during the contest, I kept my head down focused and tyring not to think about the fact that I was eating the whole feet of a dirty animal. Once the contest mercily ended, I looked up and saw that Arturo had picked chunks out of legs from three trays and were stacked in a large pile.

It was really hard to tell how much anyone ate until everything was throroughly weighed. In the end, Arturo was able to pluck off more meat from the legs. I have to say this was the most intimidating contest that I ever participated in. This would have been a nice title to have, a unique title. But to tell you the truth, I don't neccesarily regret not having eaten another pound of that shit.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Pigs feet results

1 Arturo Rios
2 Erik the Red
3 Crazy Legs

Friday, June 22, 2007

Going for 'the Glory' this weekend

This weekend will be one of the most exciting and I am sure memorable weekends in MLE history. With the Nathan's Molly Pitcher, NJ qualifier that was won today by Pat Philbin (congrats Pat), and the four contests Saturday there will undoubtedly be enough food and winners to go around on the circuit. Nathan's qualifiers will be held in San Francisco and Atlanta tomorrow along with now circuit giant contest with a $10,000 purse, Shoo-Fly Pie in Lancaster, PA.

And then there is the Pigs' Feet eating Contest; sure to be one of the most classic novelty contests in MLE history to take place at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. I can't let a weekend like this go by without getting involved; since I have already qualified for Nathan's (thank God), and super sweet foods are never going to be good for me, I will be going for the glory of becoming the Pigs' Feet Eating Champion of the world.

The pigs' feet were originally supposed to be prepared as pickled pigs' feet (you know like the ones in that nasty red vinegar jar at the local biker bar) but apparently the supplier fell through so now a local butcher will provide the pigs' feet and they will be boiled and prepared with squeezed lemon juice. So, who knows how they will taste or feel now but from my limited encounter with the swine hoofs, they will be "challenging".


Yummmmmm..............

From what I have heard, Crazy Legs, Justin Mih, Skinnyboy, and I will be the ranked eaters in attendance. In addition, there is rumored be a challenge between the winner of the undercard Amateur Funnel Cake Champion and the winner of the Pigs' Feet Chmpion for additional cash.

The contest will take place at 3:00pm EST, I hope to be able to provide results immediately after the contest on my blog via my cellphone. Check back for results.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Post Shea Qualifier - 950 KJR Interview

Click Here to listen to my radio interview with the Groz on 950 KJR regarding my qualifying win at Shea Stadium which advances me to the finals at Coney Island, NY on July 4th.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Nathan's Shea Stadium Qualifier, Queens,NY 6/3/07

Results, 12 minute contest, IFOCE rank in parenthesis:

1st – Erik the Red Denmark (14) – 26.5 HDB's, 3.5 in OT, first to swallow
2nd – Pat from Moonachie Philbin(24) – 26.5, 3.5 in OT, lost in swallowing
3rd – Allen the Shredder Goldstein(25) – 35.5
4th – Russ the Black Hole Keeler(30) – 20
5th – Big Brian Subich(26) - 19
6th – Darryl Newman (NR) – 17
7th – Pete Pretty Boy Davekos(40) – 15


That is a wince, trust me, I am happy but hurting

Uh, I am a little speechless. It is always hardest to find the words for things that are so gratifying. I definitely have been re-living the experience of this contest in my mind for the past four days. I would have to says without a doubt that this was the biggest win of my career up to this point. The win last year at Coney lsland the day before the fourth was huge but this one just feels so much more satisfying.

This contest was a serious battle. Allen Goldstein came out of the gates hot and held the lead for 10 minutes of the contest. Pat Philbin was probably keeping pace the whole way but he was two people down from me so it was hard to tell where he was really at. When regulation ended and I finally passed Goldstein, I thought all I needed to do was swallow what was in my mouth and the contest would be mine.

There was that moment when Charles Hardy told me that it was a tie that my body and mind said no, but it was only a moment, overtime in an eating contest are moments to live for and when it came I was ready.

I can't really describe what happened in overtime. My eyes were blurred not only because I was in such a zone of pain, determination, adrenalin and stress but also literally I did not wear my contact lenses for this contest. I thought it would help me a bit not to wear contacts because they have a tendancy to dry out my sinuses which is not good for swallowing. I guess it worked. Well we both ate 3.5 in overtime again and I needed the moisture to get those dogs down first.

Honestly, when the contest finally was called by Hardy and I was the winner, I was so happy and relieved but I was struggling to be able to smile. But that was such an awesome moment and an awesome contest. Not only for me, but for Philbin and Goldstein and the crowd as well.

It was a great crowd which included pretty much all of the NY eating legends: Cookie Jarvis, Badlands Booker, Charles Hardy, Don Lerman, Crazy Legs Conti, Brian Seiken, and Tim Janus. Not to mention the new world record holder with 59.5 HDB's, Joey Chestnut, my one and only west coast ally. I know that probably many of the eaters in the crowd were rooting for Goldstein because he is a NY guy that has been around the block as well. But I did also feel the love from them and I hope that they know I respect what they have done for the sport and bringing it to where it is today.

To say that I came from the West Coast and stole this NY qualifier from those guys might be somewhat true; but come on, it is a free-for-all on the circuit right now and you have to be willing to go anywhere to get a win. I hope that Philbin and Goldstein get their shot to make it as well, I have a feeling they will.

Click Here to read a post contest interview I with Liz K. and True Fan
Click Here to watch video of the contest provided by Beautiful Brian (the contest footage is at the end).
Click Here to see photos from the contest taken by Seattle Times Reporter Greg Bishop

I created a spreadsheet that identifies the growth in numbers being put up this year on the Nathan's circuit. Through 6 qualifiers, here is what I put together: A list of eaters' personal best HDB performance who had previously competed in a Nathan's contest before this year. Their previous PR's and this years' PR's are listed. The list is sorted in descending order by the percentage growth from this year:

2007 Nathan's PR Differential:



I retrieved most of my data from the Eatfeats database. If there are some people I missed or there is incorrect data, feel free to leave me a comment. The numbers are impressive. Obviously, those who had low numbers previously have a better opportunity to raise their percentage increase significantly. Anyway, I am ranked 7th on the differential list so far. I will update the spreadsheet as more contests go by.