New to competition

[richnuts]

Hey everyone,
We are doing our first KcbS sancitioned BBQ competition this weekend.
We are doing all four meat catagories. Any advice would be much appreciated. It has a max of 49 contestants. We are doing this to try to get our Q sauce off the ground.

Thanks All
Aaron
"TAKE AIM WITH DEADEYE!"
http://www.deadeyebbq.com

 

[fatback joe]

Biggest piece of advice is to have fun and make sure you get your turn ins done on time.

The first one is just giving you the baseline to make improvements IMO.

Good luck.

 

[richtee]

Start your chicken early heh... Good luck!

 

[daddio]

taste,tenderness,texture bout it, one of the best things you can do is enroll in a kcbs judging class to become a judge,you'll learn what they or we are suppose to be looking for.plus it's alot of fun and you then get to go eat some really good q for free at competitions (with some bad q sprinkled in there too.) but mainly have fun, stick to your rececipes that have worked for you and we keep a log or journal of what went right and wrong and a few days after the smoke had all cleared,we went back over it and made notes to help us on the next one.good luck and have fun

 

[flyin'illini]

What he said /\

Hope it works well you.

 

[cowgirl]

Good luck to you Aaron!

 

[richnuts]

Thanks everyone!!! We'll see how it goes. I'll take some pics and post some Q-view on Saturday

 

[tn_bbq]

Don't just wing. Have a gameplan about time, temperature, sauce, etc. You don't need to be too anal about it, but a gamplan is helpful.

Keep your prep area clean and organized and tell all your buddies to stand clear of you while you're preparing your judging boxes. Nothing worse than some friend of a friend coming around asking stupid questions while you're trying to concentrate.

 

[richnuts]

Well we did the competition and came in darn near dead last. Thing is though it was the best butt I ever cooked! I shreaded it up, had AWESOME smoke penetration and the flavor was awesome. I put a little Deadeye on it and sent it up, same with the chicken. Both of those came in like 39th and 36th out of 39. The ribs I think got 34th. My brother did the brisket. He cut it up and said he didn't really like it all that well and thought it was terrible. He got 12TH!!!!

So I don't get it, I can't find any definitive answers as to what the judges want. :(

We aren't giving up though. I am going to take a judging class to be a certified judge in Aug in KC. Then I'll know whats going on. I will post the scores later.

The guys next to us, who was awesome by the way, said that one mistake was we used head Lettuce. He said the judges hate that and to use the curly leaf lettuce.

Aaron
www.deadeyebbq.com

 

[richtee]

Seems like parsely's good too. People go thru CASES of it to pick the best "heads" and pack the box with it "standing up", looks to me kinda like a putting green when done right.

Comps are tough. Now ya know! Good call on the judging class..!

Don't get discouraged tho... try try again! And at least you have LOTS of good leftovers :{)

 

[fatback joe]

Congrats on getting that first one behind you. Now you have a good starting point to work from.

 

[bbq bubba]

Congrats!
Some pics of your turn-in's and maybe we could help......

 

[capt dan]

At least you did it, and will learn from it. It seems as though there are so many variables that can help or hurt your chances. Apperance, taste texture, sauce flavor. I have heard alot of folks say that the best tasting BBQ isn't always the winner. You get out of it what ya put in. If you are doing it to launch your new sauces as a business adventure, then you might want to look at the exposure that you are getting at the comps and give some stuff away. On the other hand, If your scores are low and you struggle with it in the beginning, you might want to hold off on the exposure stuff till you get higher scores or a walk or two. Either way, have fun while you are doing it, and enjoy the folks who help you along the way. I really had alot of fun , and met some super people on my first one, and will be doing more in the future. I still haven't decided if i like Comps better , or tournament fishing!

 

[yankeerob]

Things will improve with time. Our first comp was last year. We did 2 and placed in the middle of the pack for most items. The best thing you can do:

- buy Yourself "Dr BBQ's Big Time BBQ Cookbook" by Ray Lampke, "Sauces and Rubs" and "Competition BBQ" from Paul Kirk. Ray's book is more up to date. Pay attention to what he does with ribs, chicken and brisket. This is pretty much the same way that was taught in a class we took. These books can be found used on amazon for < $10.

Next, take a class if you can. We spent $300 on a course taught by 6 time GCers I Smell Smoke. One week later we place 2nd in ribs. The one thing I will give you from that is that winning entries ARE LACED WITH MSG! They use a product called FAB-P and FAB-B and inject the hell out of brisket and butt. You can find that here:

http://www.theingredientstore.com/ge...etails/888.htm

Never use head lettuce. Better to use no garnish at all. Practice on your boxes, take pictures and send them up here. We'll let you know what's up. Here's a link to a couple of box pictures as well as our time at Lake Placid July 4:

http://home.comcast.net/~gailymvt/LP2008Small.htm

Remember though, appearance is weighted last so concentrate on taste and tenderness. Good luck on your next contest.

 

[richnuts]

Great advice everyone.

I had no idea on the MSG I'm sooooo getting a truck load of that