For those of you whom cook competitively.......

19 months. I would have done it sooner, but that fear of "pulling a Paul" kept me from doing it sooner. My words of advice...go for it!
I've competed in 2 contests so far...got a 6th place call in Chicken at our first contest thanks to my teammate TrustTheDust and a first place call in Brisket my last go round.
We'll be competing in our 3rd contest ever in two weeks with hopefully equal or even better results...

2 years. Most of that time was due to monitary and new baby issues.

If I had any advice to give, it would be to find a team in the Mentoring Section of this fine forum (Mods; make my check out to...:becky and work with them for a contest or two if you can. You'll work your butt off, make some lifelong friends and learn more than you thought possible. Ask questions, take notes, listen... And above all else HAVE FUN!!! This is the greatest hobby (obsession, whatever) on Earth and the coolest people on Earth are as equally obsessed as we are.

tmcmaster is right on the mark! The mentoring area is there especially for those who want to get their feet wet in competition BBQ. If you can't hook up with any local brethren, at least attend a local competition or two. Talk to as many of the cooking teams as you can and observe everything. You will discover all sorts of different methods to produce good BBQ.

Competition BBQ is different from backyard BBQ. If your backyard BBQ is done a little late, it's not that big of a deal. In a competition, it is. A backyard BBQ is the place to experiment with new sauces, rubs and techniques, but definitely not at a competition. I have only done a couple competitions myself, but the focus is more on time management and eliminating any "variables" that could creep into the cooking process. The objective is always to produce a specific result within the exact time frame provided.

As for your question it took me about twenty years to go from backyard cook to my first competition. That being said, I wish that I had done it a lot sooner. But then, I didn't have the BBQ Brethren site to teach me what I needed to know!

Good luck!

Just do it!

I bought my first smoker, a Char-Broil Silver Smoker (COS) in 2007 and used it a few times each summer to smoke ribs. I joined this website in 2009 looking for some help with my ribs and began to take backyard bbq very serious. In 2010, I got 2 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountains and a 22.5" Weber Kettle and decided to take my passion for bbq to the next level. It was the knowledgeable and friendly members of this website that convinced me to enter a competiton. So in May 2010 I began practicing heavily in my backyard. After going crazy practicing, making checklists and timelines, making and modifying rub and bbq sauce recipes, I was ready to enter my first competition, The Battle of the BBQ Brethren, in August 2010.
I took 4th place in the pork category and 31 out of 36 overall. I would've done better but I got hammered in the chicken category. (Note: If something tastes good when you cook it in your backyard, don't change the recipe at a competition!) It doesn't really matter what place I came in though, the fact that I had a great time with my father and uncle, met some really cool people, especially the brethren, and learned a few things made it a success.
So, my advice is, if you are considering entering a competition, just do it. Go and have fun and don't take it too serious. Everyone there was a rookie at one point. And you'd be suprised to see how friendly and helpful the other teams can be. If you're serious about it, look in the events section of this website, or on the kcbs website, and look for an event near where you live. Find out if any brethren are competing in this event and pm that person and see if they can mentor you.
Bottom line, if you practice and prepare, and don't go into it thinking you're going to walk away the Grand Champion, you will have fun and you won't regret it.
I had so much fun at my first event that I am now competiting in 2 more events in the next month. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
Good Luck!

Johnny did various non-sanctioned stuff for three years before we hooked up. After 18 months of cooking together, we started entering sanctioned shows as "pro" cooks.

:arrow:Where is the "mentoring" section?

I am looking for a BBQ Yoda in my neck of the woods.ray::biggrin1:

Guess this is going to age me, but +- 25 years. Lots of reading along the way, and
lots of trial and ERROR. The web would've shortened it greatly. Now 6+- years ago
I started judging. It REALLY helped see what was coming across the table and why
something won and why something didn't do well. Then talking to successful
competitors and later helping a few out when not judging. Then about 3 years ago
we started on our own. So far we've about broken even on the money, and to me
that's not too bad for a hobby. I still judge some times too, but I really prefer the
competition and goofing with friends.

Just get involved! If there is a BBQ organization in your part of the country, become a member. Volunteer your time, become a judge, take a BBQ 101 or Competition class. It is not a cheap hobby, so start planning what you'll need to cook the 4 meats on. PNWBA is all about mentoring new teams that want learn.

I cooked for 2 years before jumping in the ring, and the first couple of years I only did 2 or 3 a year before moving on to the current "Hey, we are competing 5 weekends in a row" kind of schedule.

Don't wait, it's a learn-by-doing kind of sport. Look for reasonably priced contests to start, and do a practice cook. Maybe you make great stuff, but can you cook everything at once on the same smoker and have it all done on time? Have a plan, test it, and then dive in.

Smiter Q said:

:arrow:Where is the "mentoring" section?

I am looking for a BBQ Yoda in my neck of the woods.ray::biggrin1:

Click to expand...

In the competition bbq section.

pigdog said:

Do you use your barrels for comp?

Click to expand...

Yep. 2 UDS and a Traeger that we use just for chicken.

Just over a year and a half.

Ken

About 11 years for me, I never knew there was such thing as BBQ competitions until our city hosted one a few years back. It was an MBN comp and we just thought it would be a bunch of locals. We borrowed a pit and only entered ribs, we came in 7 th out of 30 teams and were very surprised. We only did the local comp 1 time a year but I have now bought my own pit so we travel to a few a year now. I've never done anything but MBN and unsanctioned events so far.

We got our first offset smoker, a Bar-B-Chef (!) in July 2005. We didn't even know there was such a thing as BBQ competitions until we heard of and entered a local one in November 2006. We took QN4U's class the following February, spent most of that year practicing and helped out on a couple of cooks, then debuted as RnQ on Labor Day weekend 2007. It's been all downhill since.

It has been about 2 years of really doing a lot of research as well as trial and error. My first contest was a first year event that was pretty small (23 teams). It had a small entry fee ($50), and all I thought was at least I could meet some cool new people, have a beer or two and make some leftovers for lunch for the upcoming week. I ended up having a blast, getting a call for my pork (8th place) and learned about the Brethern from Stockcar BBQ! So I say go for it, and like me, at least you will have leftovers for lunch and meet some cool people!!

I've been messing around with low and slow for at least 15 years in one form or another on anything from a modified gasser, clay pots alla alton brown, to el cheapo uprights and offsets. My now BBQ partner (cousin's husband) who loves to cook as much as I do decided to put some money into a real smoker and settled on a 22 WSM in April of last year. I helped him fire it up the first time with some loin backs and the results blew our minds. Best ribs by far either of us had ever cooked. So I bought a WSM as well and we quickly improved our results and got many accolades from family and friends. This led to the crazy idea of entering a bbq contest so we settled on the backyard event at Ribberfest in Madison, IN last August. Got a 2nd place call in brisket and of course we were hooked! This BTW was IndianaGriller's (aka Big JT) first outing as well were he got 1rst place in brisket. :boxing: :-D We didn't make this connection until meeting up this year at a pro comp in Liberty, IN. Anyway we did 2 backyard events last year and a whole lot of cooking and have done 3 sanctioned and one open this year. Have managed a call at every outing including a GC at the open event and a 2nd place rib in Liberty. Getting consistent top notch results on ribs, pork and brisket...chicken though is another story. Those little buggers (thighs) are a pain in the arse!

It took me way too long to jump into competition BBQ. When I turned 18 and left home for college, I took my dad's old Weber kettle with me. It was 20 years later that I attended my first contest, one in Gladstone MO. I got the bug at that point and found myself helping on several teams over the next 15 years. Timing was never right to officially join a team though. Three years ago, Chris and I decided to form our own team and Border War Smokers was born. This is our 2nd year competing. I guess when the years are added up it took me about 36 years to get my own team started.