[SIZE=+1]Local man wins barbeque competition Jim McCoin has won multiple barbequing competitions in the last two years. He currently holds third place for 2007 in the Florida Barbeque Association. [/SIZE]
By Victoria Hannon, Okeechobee News Walking into Jim McCoin’s office, one can not help but notice the plethora of trophies lining his walls. For the vast majority of these decorations, they were won in barbeque competitions he has taken part in during the past two years.
Also known as Big Daddy Q, he recently won the 2007 Blueberries & BBQ Festival’s BBQ competition in Callahan. The competition was held June 15 -16. He was named competition Grand Champion, as well as winning in the ribs, pork, and brisket competitions.
This Okeechobee citizen also holds the title for top scores in overall competition score and ribs for 2007, as well as the highest score in FBA history for the brisket competition. He is only two spots away from being named team of the year by the Florida Barbeque Association, with a number of competitions still to go in the year. He commented that he was happy to be seen as being on the same level as someone like Jacks Old South, who is according to Mr. McCoin a barbequing legend
“I only did 13 competitions last year,” commented Mr. McCoin, who placed 10th overall last year. “I’ve already done that many this year. I’ll probably do about 25.”
Prior to the start of competition two years ago, Mr. McCoin had taken part in the occasional competition, but had never really done much more that regular grilling.
“As you compete you learn off other people,” commenter Mr. McCoin. “You go around and taste and see what other people are doing, but once you get to a certain level you don’t want to anymore. It get’s harder to improve.”
As the cooks improve and begin to achieve acclaim in the grilling circles, they find that people start to learn who they are.
“When we travel to Georgia and Alabama people know who we are. They keep up with it up there, but a lot of people in Florida have no idea about the competitions.”
While the title of the association, Florida Barbeque Association, leads one to believe that it is only a Florida program, in truth they cover Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. The sites are generally close enough that Mr. McCoin drives to most of the competitions.
“For most of the competitions, I leave on Thursday and get where-ever,” stated Mr. McCoin. “Friday morning the meat is inspected and we have a cooks meeting around 5 that evening; then we get busy.”
The finished product in turned in between 11 am and 2 pm the following day, depending on the type of meat. Then the judges have to score it. The finished product is scored by six judges in three areas. These areas are presentation of the finished product, flavor of the meat, and tenderness/texture of the meat. The judges score each entry from a low of 5.0 to a high of 10.0 in increments of .5 points for each category.
“We are very much a family,” commented Mr. McCoin. “On Thursday nights someone will cook chicken and rice or chili and we’ll all sit around a fire and talk. It reminds me of when I was a kid and went hunting, without the hunting.”
The sense of camaraderie does not end with sitting around a fire.
“At the American Royal, Spicewine (another cook) had a motor home, the meat and cooker there for us. All we had to provide was the spices,” remarked Mr. McCoin. “Just like family does for you.”
It is because of this sense of family that Mr. McCoin does not begrudge others when they win.
“I’m happy to see someone else win,” he stated. “Everyone has a good time and I would be happy for more people to join. The way I see it, more people mean more friends.”
Mr. McCoin also belongs to the Kansas City Barbeque Society.
“Most of the time I don’t do good (in the KCBS) because I don’t decorate,” stated Mr. McCoin. “A lot of these teams bring their wives to decorate the meat, but I’m a single cook and don’t have time.”
Unlike the FBA, the KCBS allows cooks to decorate the finished product with lettuce and garnishes.
