SCA Steak question

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Buckscent

Knows what a fatty is.
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So I did my first comp and really enjoyed it. I Want to do more of them but when the test steak was cooked everyone was sharing and this gave me my first taste of what other teams are actually turning in. I thought all my test steaks I did at home and even my test comp steak was really good until I tasted others. My medium temp is right on but man the taste of these other steaks was much better then mine. The tenderness was much better to. It’s like the other teams I tasted where so juicy and just had this true deep “steak” taste. I used all rubs on mine like killer hog AP, and dirty south steak rub, butcher bbq TR tenderizer, a little accent. The only liquid I used was just a very little head country marinade. Then put all that dry rubs on top of that. It had a good taste but just like those other teams steaks. Nothing like what I was tasting from the others. Just not sure how they get such a deep steak flavor or what I can do different to get that.
 
i've had decent luck marinating my steak in Kosmos Brisket mop and beef consume for 1 hour. pat dry, season with big poppa's double secret steak and you're favorite beef rub
 
I have never marinated my steaks when doing an SCA event. I always just use seasoning. I have had good success just using different rubs. We actually just taught a competition steak class last weekend in GA.
 
So in other words, most of the arguments people made about SCA being better than KCBS are now moot. It's the same thing but only 1 category. Judges have expectations, flavors are homogenized, tenderness wins and you need to take classes if you want to be at the top. Not that I have any problem with any of that, but I find it humorous that people said it would be so much cheaper.
 
tduffy said:
So in other words, most of the arguments people made about SCA being better than KCBS are now moot. It's the same thing but only 1 category. Judges have expectations, flavors are homogenized, tenderness wins and you need to take classes if you want to be at the top. Not that I have any problem with any of that, but I find it humorous that people said it would be so much cheaper.
Click to expand...

there's only so much you can do to a steak... cooking it right and not being too salty wins.
 
tduffy said:
So in other words, most of the arguments people made about SCA being better than KCBS are now moot. It's the same thing but only 1 category. Judges have expectations, flavors are homogenized, tenderness wins and you need to take classes if you want to be at the top. Not that I have any problem with any of that, but I find it humorous that people said it would be so much cheaper.
Click to expand...

"Better" is certainly subjective. It is cheaper. typically $150 entry fee, no meat to buy, etc. Plus, 10th place a lot of times will get most of their entry fee back. Even classes are usually under $200.

That said, I haven't done many of them. I actually like the 2 day deal of a BBQ comp. If there were a bunch of Saturday SCA comps here locally, I'd do more. But if I'm going to take a day off work, travel, and compete - I might as well do the one I'm more passionate about.
 
tduffy said:
So in other words, most of the arguments people made about SCA being better than KCBS are now moot. It's the same thing but only 1 category. Judges have expectations, flavors are homogenized, tenderness wins and you need to take classes if you want to be at the top. Not that I have any problem with any of that, but I find it humorous that people said it would be so much cheaper.
Click to expand...

I don't have any problems with SCA. I have really enjoyed cooking them. I still believe that it is cheaper than a bbq contest. Entry fee is normally only $150 and most contests pay out $100 to 10th place. Tenderness does not always win. It is not not even the first tie breaker if scores are tied. Taste is where you can receive the most points. As far as a class goes you don't have to take a class. I have seen plenty of first time cooks win a competition. Even if you do decide to take a class most classes are between $125 to $150 versus $500 for a bbq class.
 
WrightonQ said:
I don't have any problems with SCA. I have really enjoyed cooking them. I still believe that it is cheaper than a bbq contest. Entry fee is normally only $150 and most contests pay out $100 to 10th place. Tenderness does not always win. It is not not even the first tie breaker if scores are tied. Taste is where you can receive the most points. As far as a class goes you don't have to take a class. I have seen plenty of first time cooks win a competition. Even if you do decide to take a class most classes are between $125 to $150 versus $500 for a bbq class.
Click to expand...

And $500 is cheap for a class these days. Most seem to be $750!

While our main interest is in KCBS comps, we do enjoy the stand alone SCA cooks. We can get everything into our SUV instead of the F250 and toy hauler, and I can work a full day on Friday and still drive 4-5 hours on Friday night, spend the night in a hotel, cook and still be home on Saturday night. With very limited time off from work the SCA cooks give us a chance to compete more often. It’s too bad that there aren’t more of them near us!
 
So do I understand the OP's question correctly?
What rub, sauce, marinade, magic potion can I use to make my steak taste like steak?

What you were so impressed with wasn't steak taste, it was a conglomeration of herbs and spices. Steak tastes like steak.
Ed
 
I love the steak contest. It’s similar to bbq but didn’t have the crazy spending but I miss bbq just has more to it but things need to change before I commit a lot of time and money again.

As far as flavors. Steak is a lot like bbq in that you layer flavor and everything in your process from charcoal type the cooker affects what you turn in. My first two steak events my steak tasted good but I finished lower end of the field. I watched a couple YouTube videos and cooked 50 steaks before my next one. In that process I learned how to build flavor over direct heat. My steak is completely different now in flavor and texture and in my next contest I won a golden ticket at a rather large contest. You have all the tools you just need to practice and experiment
 
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