Competition Barbecue - Why compete?
By Bill Wight, cbbqa member and member of Coyote Road Kill team
In any endeavor, it is often through competition with others in the field that one can reach their highest levels of achievement. This is very true in barbecue.
These pages will describe some of the issues involved in competing. The winner at a contest will have mastered not only the intricacies of cooking great barbecue but how to begin the process the evening prior to the judging, how to cope with weather and equipment problems, how to complete cooking at the required time, how to arrange the meat in the turn-in containers, how to manage the stress of having to do too much in too little time, and the many other issues involved in competing.
First off, a piece of advice--don't go into barbecue competition because of the prize money. Chances are, you will make more money mowing laws on Saturdays than you will make winning barbecue contests. Very few barbecue cooks ever win more money than they spend on contests, especially when you include the cost of equipment. Compete in barbecue contests for the fun and experience of it. You will meet some very nice people on the barbecue circuit, some who may end up being lifetime friends.
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| In the above photo, Frank Boyer, past president of the cbbqa, receives another Grand Championship trophy. One of the hazards of getting to be as good a barbecue cook as Frank is figuring out where to keep all those trophies. |
At a barbecue contest, a team will be up against other barbecue cooks with different cooking experiences and styles. At a local contest in the Los Angeles or San Diego areas, there may be teams competing from Oregon, Washington or Arizona or as far away as Texas and Tennessee. A good barbecue cook must know the tastes of the local barbecue judges, as his or her entries will be different when presented in Kansas City than in San Diego.
The California Barbecue Association is a member of the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS). The KCBS is the largest sanctioning body for barbecue contests in the USA. CBBQA approves, sponsors and promotes only contests sanctioned by the KCBS.
Judging
Some contests are conducted under the rules of the Kansas City Barbeque Society ("KCBS"). In such contests, certified barbecue judges in blind taste tests select the best barbecue in several categories, and the Grand Champion is the team which scores the most points in the “big four categories”:
- Chicken
- Pork Ribs
- Pork Shoulder
- Beef Brisket
Additional categories may also be contested, such as whole hog, lamb, sausage, seafood, tri-tip (in California) and sauce.
Other barbecue contests are conducted under the rules of Memphis-in-May and the International Barbecue Cookers Association. Those contests use different rules and criteria.
Competitors, judges, volunteers and visitors enjoy these contests, which usually start Friday evening and continue through Saturday afternoon or evening. Everyone has fun, and the winners receive fame and the envy from their neighbors and co-workers. (Winners also receive trophies and other great awards, like barbecue pits and even cash.)
Visitors
Visitors should feel free to talk to the teams, judges and other contest volunteers. Visitors should introduce themselves to the teams, ask the cooks about their pits, the wood they are burning, how they prepare their meat (many use rubs, mops, and glazes), the cooking temperatures, and the like. Cooks enjoy talking with visitors about barbecue. Of course, they might not give them the recipe for their secret rub!
During contests, there are some important rules that everyone should follow. Authentic barbecue samples, as well as other food and drink, is usually available for purchase at the event from licensed vendors for everyone to enjoy. However, visitors should not ask a team for a BBQ sample, because Health Regulations may not permit it.
Between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm, the teams and judges will be preparing their entries for judging. During this period, visitors must not talk to the teams or judges. Visitors are invited to silently watch the preparations and judging. At most contests, the teams must turn in their entries for judging at the following times:
|
Time |
Entry |
| 11:30 | Optional Item |
| 12:00 | Chicken |
| 12:30 | Pork Ribs |
| 1:00 | Pork Shoulder |
| 1:30 | Beef Brisket |
The judging area is arranged with tables for a Table Captain and six judges. Each judge will sample and score the entries of six different teams without knowing which entry came from which team. The judges will be scoring each entry in three areas:
- Appearance
- Taste
- Tenderness
For each meat entry, each judge awards an Appearance, Taste and Tenderness score from 9 (perfect) to 1 (disqualified).
While they are sampling the entries and entering their scores on their scorecards, the judges cannot talk, signal their impressions, or compare entries. After the judges have turned in their score cards, they are free and encouraged to discuss and compare their scores and evaluations. Of course, none of the judges will know which entry came from which team, until after the awards ceremony.
After the score cards are completed in each category, a contest official enters the scores into the computer, which tallies the results. The winner are announced on-stage about 4:00 pm.
Competitions
The linked pages in the box to the right will describe some of the issues involved in competing. The winner at a contest will have mastered not only the intricacies of cooking great barbecue but how to begin the process only the evening prior to the judging (contest cooks cannot marinate their meats for days), how to cope with weather problems, how to complete cooking at the desired time, how to arrange the meat in the turn-in containers, and the many other issues involved in competing, as opposed to "only" cooking barbecue.