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Old 11-25-2020, 12:45 PM   #8
thirdeye
somebody shut me the fark up.

 
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Join Date: 01-14-06
Location: At home on the range in Wyoming
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For years I got involved in every local contest I could.... it might have been a chili cookoff, a rib contest, several Eggfests, a 'backyard' contest, or various fund raisers that were a people's choice kind of thing. These were all one-day events but being out of the comfort zone of my backyard was harder than I thought.

My path to KCBS competition cooking started like this.... Eleven years ago I began judging, two years after that I took a competition cooking class. I knew four people that had BBQ teams so I would see them on Friday at various contests I was judging. A requirement to become a Master Certified Barbeque Judge is judging 30 times and cooking one time with a team, so my sight was always on that. Since teams do practice cooks before the season, I had the chance to help out several times and would also critique the food.

One year one of the local teams started gaining support to have a KCBS event in my city, this took a couple of years to materialize but I decided that cooking at a local competition would be better than a competition out of town. I was visiting with another local judge about this and we decided to start a team. We had a year to practice individual meats, and did two full practice cooks. A third guy joined the team and we each took the lead on one category, then drew straws for brisket. There are a lot of YouTube competition videos to choose from, so those helped. As did going through the archived threads on this forum.

Bottom line was... we had a great time, the other teams were very friendly and willing to answer questions, our timetable worked, my buddy hunts with the manager of a grocery store, so they donated the meat in return for an advertising banner. We cooked on 3 drums and a Treager. The organizers let us set-up on Thursday and not break down until Monday. Our best finish was 11th in ribs, middle of the pack in chicken and brisket, and bottom third for pork. COVID shot all of our 2020 plans in the a$$, so I'm being hopeful for 2021.
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~thirdeye~

Barbecuist ~ Charcuterist ~ KCBS Master Judge & CTC
Big Green Eggs, Big Drum Smokers, Big Chiefs, Weber Smokey Joe "Custom Tall Boy"
Oil Patch Horizontal, SnS Deluxe Kettle

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Barbecue is not rocket surgery
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