Breaking in Competition BBQ

A

Astralman

Guest
I'm new to bbq-in' and I would like to compete in the BBQ competitions. What should I do first, bbq first with my neighbors, perfect my techniques on my own grill or just dive in pits first?

I love bbq everything, chicken, pork ribs, fish but I would like to compete at the different places.

Love to hear from you.
 
Astralman said:
I'm new to bbq-in' and I would like to compete in the BBQ competitions. What should I do first, bbq first with my neighbors, perfect my techniques on my own grill or just dive in pits first?
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Practice on your friends & neighbors first...

Get the timing down by doing a practice comp with the same turn in times as a real comp...

Find a team that is already competing and offer to 'Pit B!tch'...

The best part is that all of these can be done at the same time!
 
You ought to practice before you compete. This typically means your neighbors and friends become guinea pigs. You'll also need your own equiptment (pit).

When I first started competing, I didn't have sufficient equiptment so I simply competed in chicken and ribs. Nobody says you have to do all the categories at every event (most do, but it's not required).
 
I'd take a look at the sticky: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13677

And then peruse the earlier threads in the Competition forum. Everybody started out with lots of ??? and a lot of them have been redacted in the earlier posts.

Practice is good but nothing compares with actually doing a comp. You might want to visit a couple of contests and see if you can "assist" another team to get a feel for what's involved.

Good luck!
 
My advice to anyone wanting to get into competition BBQ is to first go take a KCBS judging class and judge a few contests. At each contest, identify the experienced judges at your dable, and between categories, open a dialog with the other judges at about which entries scored highly and why. For me, that eliminated a lot of the guess work and gave me a solid understanding of exactly what I was shooting for in my own cooking. Good luck!
 
NelsonC said:
My advice to anyone wanting to get into competition BBQ is to first go take a KCBS judging class and judge a few contests. At each contest, identify the experienced judges at your dable, and between categories, open a dialog with the other judges at about which entries scored highly and why. For me, that eliminated a lot of the guess work and gave me a solid understanding of exactly what I was shooting for in my own cooking. Good luck!
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I could not agree more. I learned more from judging that really anything else. I have found my neighbors are just happy to be eating BBQ and they think everythink i make tastes great. But by being a judge you can a real feel for what flavors score well.
 
My advice if you have the money, DIVE IN, THE WATER's GREAT!! :). While you are waiting to go to your first comp, you should get an idea of the world of a difference between home-cooked bbq and competition bbq. For that, I would take a look at the stickey threads in this forum at the top the competition forum page, titled roadmap to the competition. It will give you a good starting point to start practicing. I would also second most of everything else that has been said already. Good luck!
 
My team just dove in with no prior contest experience. Actually, one of us had judged before, and I suppose that's a good first step.

My bit of advice is learn what target you're supposed to hit: what flavor profile you're supposed to be using (e.g. the teriyaki sauce that your friends all rave about, or your personal favorite Carolina vinegar / mustard sauce is going to get you dead ass last in a sanctioned contest).

And like Divemaster said, practice cooking on a contest timeline. Do a few overnight cooks and know how your cooker (and you) react. Know what times and temps to cook each meat so they're done perfectly at the official turn in time.
 
Breaking In Competition BBQ Responses

Thanks for all of your suggestions. You gave me really good advice. I think judging is a good idea. I think I'll look into that. At the same time, I could set up a neighborhood testing group. I'm going to competitions also. I never thought about the flavors that pleases the judges. I'll look into that also. What flavors do you think I should avoid? I know that some flavors I absoluting hate on bbq-ed meat. Again, thanks for the advise. I'm review so earlier posting also.

Thanks again...I'll be reviewing more comments. Happy Q'in'
 
NelsonC said:
My advice to anyone wanting to get into competition BBQ is to first go take a KCBS judging class and judge a few contests. At each contest, identify the experienced judges at your dable, and between categories, open a dialog with the other judges at about which entries scored highly and why. For me, that eliminated a lot of the guess work and gave me a solid understanding of exactly what I was shooting for in my own cooking. Good luck!
Click to expand...


Thank you for this bit of advice. Judging is an excellent way to break into contest. I would learn alot from judging. You're right, it would eliminate the guess work. Thanks again...
 
Practice

Practice, Practice, Practice. Then Practice as if you were at a comp and start Friday afternoon as you would arrive and cook through the night using the turn in times of a comp. Find someone close by who you can turn the boxes in as you would at a comp. It's opens your eyes to some of what you would expect. Also cook out of your garage...meaning get everything you think you will need to cook and then anytime you go inside for something WRITE IT DOWN and that way you will have what you need when you really need it at the comp.

Good luck, you are going to meet some great people and really have a lot of fun
 
Astralman said:
Thank you for this bit of advice. Judging is an excellent way to break into contest. I would learn alot from judging. You're right, it would eliminate the guess work. Thanks again...
Click to expand...

Yes. Judging is a great idea. Because your friends and neighbors will always think your BBQ is the best stuff they've ever tasted (sort of a running joke amongst my friends and me).
 
Professor Salt said:
My team just dove in with no prior contest experience. Actually, one of us had judged before, and I suppose that's a good first step.

My bit of advice is learn what target you're supposed to hit: what flavor profile you're supposed to be using (e.g. the teriyaki sauce that your friends all rave about, or your personal favorite Carolina vinegar / mustard sauce is going to get you dead ass last in a sanctioned contest).

And like Divemaster said, practice cooking on a contest timeline. Do a few overnight cooks and know how your cooker (and you) react. Know what times and temps to cook each meat so they're done perfectly at the official turn in time.
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The thing about flavor is to try your meat 'cooler' than you would serve to a guest... Remember that the meat is going into a clam shell and sit for up to 10 minutes... If your looking at KCBS, it's going to more than likely have cold parsley & lettuce in there too...

Food can have a completely different flavor hot compared to cold....
 
Again thank you. I never thought about the wait time during judging. So the flavor has to be good cool. I get bbq from the restaurants. Some places I've been to doesn't taste good cool. The flavor of the sauce seem to fall away with time.

I'm learning a lot from all of you. Especially cookin' as you would at competition. I'll stay tuned in to all of the responses.
 
Astralman-
From a very new to the comp circuit guy, I'll add my $.02.
I didn't go to a judging class prior to getting into comps. I read everything I could on the internet. I found rub recipes and tried them all. I cooked and cooked and cooked Q every chance I got. I went to a few comps and hung out with any team that would let me watch what they were doing. I pit-beyotched for a couple Brethren teams. I mentally catalogued all the info I could and finally decided to do a comp. For over a year I worked on rubs and sauces and cooked every chance I had to get timing down.
Last summer I did my first comp.
And I have to warn you, it was a farking blast!
I set realistic, but relatively low goals: Don't miss any turn-ins, and don't finish DAL in any category. I met those goals, so everything else, including two walks (pork and brisket), was a bonus.
All of the meat I cooked at the comp I cooked the same way I do them at home, using the same rubs and sauces that my family and I like.
Mind you, I'm the cautious type, and wasn't going to throw $$ away by not being prepared. You may have a different personality. Do what works for you.
However you decide to pursue it, you will not regret doing a comp.
 
competition Question

I have not competed in any competitions yet and am ready to start out in the amature/shade tree ranks of competitors. THis is probably a dumb question but does different regional areas look for different tastes? For example if I am competing in NC shoudl I go with my own sauce or go for one that the people in that area like ( more vinegar based) or if I am in SC mustard based? I have concocted a sauce that so far everyone has liked and it even cleans stainless steel ( left some in a pan and you could see the line where the sauce came to, must be the vinegar!) and would like to try it in a contest.

thanks,
bald bill
 
baldbill said:
I have not competed in any competitions yet and am ready to start out in the amature/shade tree ranks of competitors. THis is probably a dumb question but does different regional areas look for different tastes? For example if I am competing in NC shoudl I go with my own sauce or go for one that the people in that area like ( more vinegar based) or if I am in SC mustard based? I have concocted a sauce that so far everyone has liked and it even cleans stainless steel ( left some in a pan and you could see the line where the sauce came to, must be the vinegar!) and would like to try it in a contest.

thanks,
bald bill
Click to expand...

Good BBQ is good BBQ.. regardless of geographics. Some who are really good now how to make certain tweaks but it's risky. Cook what you know how to cook best and don't try to prepare something you're not used to. Remember.. you never know where the judges are from. Not everyone is local.

Astralman - Don't get too caught up in flavors planning right now.. As Harbormaster noted, the keys to a successful first contest is a good gameplan, organization, timing and having fun.. Once you've got that nailed down then you can spend more time focusing on desired flavor profiles.
 
All of you have given great advice. Keep piling on the information. The more I get the more I learn and more I can practice. Harbormaster thank you. All of this is so nervy.

Keep it comin'
 
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