Entering first cook off

C

Carolina gamecock

Knows what a fatty is.
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I'm finally entering a BBQ contest that is being held at our local tobacco festival in town this year. It is a SCBA sponsored contest and I'm entering the ribs portion of the event. I cook on a UDS and have only done a few racks for the family before, nothing major. Anybody got some killer ideas or methods I should maybe play around with before the contest? Right now I got some spares going on this afternoon using Myron's recipes in his Smoking' cookbook. Any and all suggestions are welcome!!
 
Honestly, cook the way you have done before. If you were satisfied with the results then you are good to go. Your first comp is probably not the time to try something new. Good luck.
 
Make sure you are confident in your timing since you'll be cooking to a deadline.

Also, find out who is judging. the general public will judge ribs based on what they link to eat and certified judges will judge ribs based on their training, which is usually different.
 
I'm not locked into any certain style to be honest. Im talking to some friends of mine that have competed in SCBA before and they offered to let me share some rent space with them if I wanted. I'm smart enough to know I don't know anything and will gladly take any advice from people who have been to that rodeo before. My motto: work smarter, not harder.


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If SCBA has certified BBQ judges, you'll want to find out precisely how the sanctioning body defines the perfect rib. The reason is that many define it differently. For example, KCBS defines tenderness as "bite through cleanly", which is different that GBA and MBN's "pull cleanly from the bone with only slight resistance". For the most part, if the rib tastes very good, tenderness will separate the top teams. If not certified BBQ judges, then cook them to an allllmost fall off the bone tenderness.
 
So far our team has only cooked SCBA events, and truthfully I don't know what their definition of tenderness is, but we've always shot for a clean bite ala KCBS, and have done well with that.

Definitely don't do fall of the bone, and it seems like a sweet with a touch of spice works for us.

Above all, have fun and learn from the experience. Is this comp not providing the pork butts to cook? It seems like if they did you may as well try smoking them.
 
They are having whole hog, ribs, and a wing contest Friday night. The whole hog is $225 to enter and they provide the hog. Too rich for my blood right now. The rib contest is $50. I think if you enter either one you get 10 pounds of wings for the Friday night contest thrown in.


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I certainly wouldn't want to do whole hog for my first comp either.
 
I've cooked whole hog a few times before on my homemade gasser, but it is nowhere near competition meat!!


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do a search and you will find more rib recipes and techniques than you'll ever have time to try. pick one or two that sound good to you and try them out.
 
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1344812486.202750.jpgjust finished a rack using Myron recipe. They are ok, but not outstanding. Might use the trigg butter, honey, rub wrap then finish with Myron's rib glaze. The glaze is awesome. Just not a lot of smokey flavor. Might figit with my wood/ charcoal mix some.


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Myron doesn't wrap, but he uses a very moist water cooker. If you don't have a water cooker, wrap those ribs in foil 2-3 hours into the cook. Everyone adds different things in the foil. but some brown sugar would be a good place to start. When they seem almost done, remove from the foil, mop with your sauce, and put back on the cooker for 30 minutes to set the sauce.
 
cpw said:
So far our team has only cooked SCBA events, and truthfully I don't know what their definition of tenderness is, but we've always shot for a clean bite ala KCBS, and have done well with that.

Definitely don't do fall of the bone, and it seems like a sweet with a touch of spice works for us.

Above all, have fun and learn from the experience. Is this comp not providing the pork butts to cook? It seems like if they did you may as well try smoking them.
Click to expand...

Chad from Yes Dear offers some sage advice and they produce some of the best ribs I have ever tasted & I am a SCBA, FBS, SBN & KCBS competitor and an SCBA Senior Judge.
 
Still Smokin said:
Chad from Yes Dear offers some sage advice and they produce some of the best ribs I have ever tasted & I am a SCBA, FBS, SBN & KCBS competitor and an SCBA Senior Judge.
Click to expand...

You speak too highly of our ribs!
 
Ordered some SM spicy Apple and a bottle of blues hog to play with also. Heard god things about their products..
 
Gamecock-
Are you entering the Lake City contest on the 15th? I think I'm going as a novice judge for the event (I think, only because I haven't signed up yet). If this is the one you're competing at, maybe I'll see you there.
 
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