Meat for comps

I could be wrong; I've never done a comp either, but I'm pretty sure you bring your own meat to the event.

I've never competed, but from what I have read on here, and heard from talking to folks. Generally yes, you supply your own meat...Though I have heard of some comps that supply you with meat. I'm sure those are few and far between though.

Again from what I've learned by just keeping my eyes and ears open, a lot of teams get their meat from trusted local suppliers

Based on what I have seen on Pitmasters on TV, each entrant brings his own meat. Guys like Myron Mixon of Jack's Old South and Johnny Trigger of the Smokin' Trigger appear to have a great relationship with their meat supplier who seem to order the cuts for each of them that they prefer in terms of fat content etc.

In KCBS competition, teams supply their meat. Years ago I cooked in an MBN comp where the ribs and butts were included in the entry fee (Smithfield).

Cooks often go to great pains to secure the best possible meats. For instance, never-frozen high quality chicken can be hard to find. Restaurant Depot, COSTCO, Sams, etc. often have good meat but can be inconsistent at times. Often, a cook will have a standing relationship with a butcher who obtains high quality cuts for him.

The shine you refer to can be brought about several ways. Sometimes it is done with a glaze that is somewhat similar to a sauce, but thinner -- pieces may be hot dipped in it. Some sauces have a lot of natural shine. Another way is simply to "spritz" with water. One cook I know uses a mixture of low flavor oils to achieve it. It is pretty, but there is no requirement in the judging standards that pieces be shiny. Appearance is a bit of a moving target. Shiny and red are popular right now.

Two additional questions. Is a $10 per lb. brisket actually worth the difference? Is comp cooked meat actually different tasting than back yard Q? The reason I ask is that each person has different tastes. What I like, may not be what a judge likes.

> Is a $10/lb brisket actually worth the difference?

More than anything it as to do with how you cook your brisket, whether you've selected a really good brisket, and frankly the spices you use with it. Some prefer the extra marbling they get with the higher end briskets, but that doesn't mean that they always win with them. IMHO, this is more a preference. Some feel strongly that it gives them an advantage. Watch the first season of BBQ Pitmasters if you can. These guys are at the level where there's only a slight margin between 1st and 10th, and they feel that the expensive Japanese beef gives them that *edge*. I'm not about to tell you that it doesn't or didn't, but know that they didn't win on those days, and were probably beaten by teams spending 1/3 that on their brisket. ESPECIALLY if you're just starting out competing; dont waste your money. Spend it wisely and get a really good piece of meat (or two), and then cook it to the best of your ability.

> Is comp cooked meat actually different tasting than back yard Q?

Depends on how you cook back yard really. Some will tell you a pronounced YES, because with competition Q you have between 1 and 3 bites to make a statement. It has to be perfectly balanced with sweetness, salty, smokey, spicy, etc. Any one of these out of balance with the others and you're toast. Some would argue that it should be very BOLD (usually towards the sweet). I have a differing opinion. I LOVE eating our competition barbecue to the point where I feel that I'm doing a dis-service if I'm not cooking the same quality of barbecue at home as I am at competitions. As a result all my friends want ME cooking at every barbecue, whether at my home or theirs. I'm not a vendor or caterer, however it's resulted in a few informal catering gigs...

I will say this about competition Q; the winning barbecue is at an extremely high level. It's mouth watering to gaze upon; it's moist and tender when squeezed between the fingers, but not mushy. And when you bite in to it your eyes will sometimes roll in to the back of your head; it tastes that marvelous. Honestly, I enjoy judging as much as I enjoy competing.

If you're working on flavors of your barbecue for competition, I HIGHLY suggest getting a group of people, men as well as women, to come and sample different flavors with you. Some like salty; others hate it. Same with sweet and/or spice. You know you've hit on something when they all agree. Also, have them taste your barbecue stone cold sober. Seriously. A bunch of happy but hungry drunks will always enjoy most everything in front of them and you wont get an accurate (and frankly blunt) criticism. When working on our flavor profile my best partner happens to be my main competition partner. He LOVES salty and sweet. I pretty much hate salty, I can endure some sweetness, but I LOVE spicy with a bite. Our competition barbecue is a balance... When he and I both like it, I know we're on to something...

^^^^ That's some good info right there. Thanks Lake Dogs.

Lake hit the nail right on the head. I'll expound further describing "one bite bbq".

In competition, you have to remember that the judges aren't going to be eating a full meal of your BBQ. They will have one bite (possibly up to 3, depending on how small the field is... more competitors = 1 bite only, or the judge will be full too quickly).

You have to stop and think about that. One bite. One bite from say, 15 different ribs. If your rib has a "average" flavor of smoke, spice, salt, etc... (for comparison, like a bite of ribs from Chili's) you have got to envision that MANY ribs will taste like that. A rib with a STRONG, UNIQUE flavor is going to resound with the judges. Something memorable and delicious, that's what the judges are looking for. Trigg serves a VERY different rib for dinners than he does for competition.

Related, I had my fiance sign up to judge chicken at the Hold em and Hit em a few months back down here in Houston (big comp, 130+ teams). She would be learning to cook chicken, so I thought this would be a perfect way to see what's out there.

16 boxes of chicken. Her findings? All of them tasted like chicken. *grin* All of them nearly identical. A couple were bad, a couple were -slightly- better. All had a little smoke flavor, but as she related the story, she was disappointed. She was looking forward to a bite of exciting chicken! It was a good lesson... the winning entry was NOT in her pool. All it would have taken was one of those 16 boxes to have something strong. Spicy, sweet, fruity, peppery.... anything, and they would have made the final table with ease.

If you're interested in learning more about competitions in general, I'd strongly recommend looking for a KCBS CBJ class in your area and take that. Then go out and judge a few contests if possible. Also, peruse the competition section here on this site. The wealth of information at your fingertips is staggering.

bover said:

If you're interested in learning more about competitions in general, I'd strongly recommend looking for a KCBS CBJ class in your area and take that. Then go out and judge a few contests if possible. Also, peruse the competition section here on this site. The wealth of information at your fingertips is staggering.

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Oddly, I'm probably one of the few people that doesn't subscribe to this path. The judging classes are great for learning how to be objective when it comes to BBQ, and how the rules, and form are perfected, but alas, it doesn't really convey what perfect BBQ tastes like, or how to achieve it. It gives some of the qualities, but actually sinking your teeth into a perfect-score rib, or a perfect piece of brisket gave me much more of an idea of the path to take.

That's just my .02 though... new cooks should definitely take a course if able, but to learn the rules, not to really know what a perfect rib tastes like.

Ron_L said:

This isn't the case in a KCBS competition, but the one-bite concept still applies. In KCBS the judges sit at tables of 6 and taste the food from 6 teams (unless there is an odd number of teams where a table may only get 5 teams' food). Even with only 6 teams food, however, if the judge ate everything put in front of them they would be eating around 2 lbs of food, so they usually take one or two bites.

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Is this the case as well in pools of 200? What happens when these large comps run short on judges? If chicken turn-in is at say, 12:00 on Saturday, there's usually not a plethora of non-team people milling about, let alone.. 200 extras. :shocked:

Funky, I agree with the CBJ class offering very little, however as a picture is worth a thousand words, I've always highly recommended that competitors sit and judge a few competitions to see what comes across the table and see what works, what doesn't, and why. To do this though the path is usually to become a CBJ.

The largest competition I was ever involved in had over 200 teams, and they had enough judges to have 6 at every table... A large part of organizing a competition, especially a sanctioned competition, is getting enough CBJ's. Prestige alone attracts judges to the larger comps.