Re: BBQ
So the local BBQ guy is a BBQ nazi and got me turned on to smoking a couple years ago. Having checked out the forums on Q and done some looking into competition, it made sense to learn what the judges were looking for, so I went to a judging class when one came up a few hours away.
Judging BBQ is the [censored]. You show up and eat some of the best BBQ in the world, for hours, for free, and bring stuff home for later. I'm happy to pay through the nose for great BBQ but you can't even buy stuff this good, so getting it for free rules. First a little background on the competition.
There are four major styles of BBQ. Texas, Memphis, Carolina, and Kansas City. Kansas City style encompasses the four major categories of brisket, pork shoulder, ribs, and chicken, and uses the ketchup-based sauces everybody's familiar with, so it's the most popular when it comes to competition.
A competition involves a weekend of guys running their cookers starting Saturday afternoon (or earlier), getting hammered, basting, getting hammered, and sobering up with some beer. This is weird, because the turn-in times on Sunday are really strict. You have to turn in one category on each half-hour (within five minutes) for two hours. This is hard, since something you're cooking for 16 hours like brisket or shoulder doesn't lend itself well to photo finishes. It's done when it's done. There are various tricks using foil and manipulating temperature that can speed up or slow down the cooking, and the big cuts can rest for hours without loosing much temperature if you foil them and stick them in a cooler.
So they competitors cook a ton of food and then pick out the best six samples (individual pieces or slices) of each category, dress 'em up, and submit them. Judges show up on Sunday about 10, do a briefing and starting at 11:00 or noon start tasting categories, new ones every half-hour. They check out the presentation (laughable rules, "must be served in styrofoam clamshell takeout box, only lettuce as garnish, no red lettuce), texture, and taste. Surprising to a lot of folks is "fall off the bone" ribs are considered overcooked. If you bite and get a clean, easy pull with a dry bone, that's perfect.
This could turn into a book, and I don't know what's interesting to guys. Anybody have questions about it on the competitor or judging side of things?
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