Looking for some guidance. I built a UDS this winter been cooking all kinds of stuff on it. Been thinking of going to a comp. I know I have a long way to go in BBQ cooking. Should I just go and enjoy the festivities or enter in the comp?
Either way is a win. The venue is a great place for a competition. The teams that will be competing are a truly great, helpful, friendly bunch. It is fun to be there and just visit and hang with a team or teams. If you can accept the likelihhod that you're not going to do very well in your first competiton, than there is no pressure and the competition can be fun; just look at it as a learning experience. That said, should you decide to enter my advice would be to just enter the BBQ competition and skip the grilling competition. There will be a lot less pressure and it will afford you more time to settle in and meet other competitiors.
I feel that I would struggle to make turn- ins especially with only 1 cooker.
1 cooker may be a struggle, but it is doable with proper planning. Plus, you already have offers above for loaners which will take the "1 cooker" challenge out of the equation. That is just an example of the truly great, helpful, friendly bunch that I mentioned above. In what other endeavor do you find competitors that will help you?
I want to learn but don’t want to waste my money entering and not learn anything.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to enter a contest and not learn anything, unless you are completely stubborn and unteachable, and/or completely drunk out of your mind the entire weekend. If either one of those are the case, than do everyone a favor and stay home!
If you want to learn, then your first competition will be an eye opener, revealing two things. First, you'll learn and be amazed at how much you actually know, and secondly, you'll also learn and be amazed at how little you know. :twitch:
Any information would be great. Thanks in advance
You;re welcome.
can you walk around and get sample of food?
The short answer: no.
The long answer: As a Brethren, you will find yourself welcome in many teams' sites and probably be offered both food and beverage. Again, the competitors will be a truly great, helpful, friendly bunch. Just be willing to introduce yourself, and don't do so with an expectation that you'll be fed.
Yes, there are. There will be BBQ vendors, and the host is a bar so they will be vending beer and alcohol, and it's always a good idea to give them business in appreciation for the venue that they provide. They usually have some very good locally produced beers on tap served from their beer trailer.
are there any cooking class going on?
There have been in the past. I don't know if that has been finalized yet for this year.
FYI, depending on where you are in MA, if you come to the comp, it may be beneficial for you to travel via the ferry from New London CT, to Orient Point, NY. It's a nice relaxing ferry ride and may save you significant travel time. It also avoids the traffic going through NYC.
As a final note, I'll extend an offer to you to hang with us for the weekend at the competition, or if you decide to compete you may request that you be placed next to us and we'll impart to you what little information and help that we can. We're usually good for a call or two each competition, so we might actually know something! Now if only we could get all four cyclinders to fire together . . .
