pre prepped

. Besides, there is plenty of time to get flavor into the meat without having to resort to those tactics..

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Then why is preseasoned meat against the rules?

kcquer said:

Then why is preseasoned meat against the rules?

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Good question... I personally wouldn't care if they did.

Let me clarify my answers a little here... I am not meaning to seem smug about it...

First, many if not most don't understand enough about the ingredients that they use, to know how they will effect the meat after very long marinate times.. For most ingredients that are used in BBQ, it's not a good idea...

Why does KCBS (or any of the sanctioning bodies for that matter) have that rule? Does it pose an unfair advantage? not necessarily.. Same thing can be said about the cooking media, and especially about the rules about frying and boiling...

Kevin
I have to agree, it's like these guys with motorhomes have cook Q in there they are turning in. So when was the best Q you've turned in cooked days before and reheated.

jminion said:

Kevin
I have to agree, it's like these guys with motorhomes have cook Q in there they are turning in. So when was the best Q you've turned in cooked days before and reheated.

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It does get a little suspicious when you walk over and touch a fire box that's cold, then that team scores in the top 10 in brisket.......at the AR Invitational.....was you with me to experience that, KC?

And Jim makes a good point....though we do cook everything onsite, we do send the product inside the motorhome to have the presentation made up.....I guess we could be acused of turning in something that wasn't cooked that day.....but at least our firebox is hot.....:biggrin:

Come to think of it, at 2am last year, I felt a cold firebox at one contest... and that team placed high in at least two categories... hmmm. Actually I guess it was closer to 1am and I am pretty sure they did a flat.

Saw a backyard team crisp up chicken skin with a torch once.

I've never felt good about anything I didn't earn my-self honest.
I thought everyone felt the same way? Right

I know teams that don't start cooking until 3 to 4am and cook hot and fast. When they dial it in they finish quite high. I doesn't mean they are pre cooking meat in this case. I watch a team show up at the Royal, setup and go off to party. We cooked all night in a rain storm, they showed up about 4am start there pits and prep'd meat, brisket went on about 5am, they finished very well. They didn't cheat but what they did worked with the judges.

Tim and I don't light off until 3 a.m. or so...our target is the butts and brisket in the heat at 4 a.m. We cook packers.

We show up with all our meat in cryovac or supermarket packaging...we've also tried to show up at our last few events just as early as they'd let us in the gates so we were ready bright and early for the inspector....plenty of time to trim, season, marinade, etc.

Sorry I have only watched one small contest, but if the people I met at Key largo, Jimmy, Chad, Tim, "DrBBQ Himself Ray", and many others I just spoke to are representative of the BBQ contest, I got the feeling that if one of them caught someone cheating they would get the rep then if it was proved the Team was cheating have the BBQ version of a blanket party! I think the term I remember was "perceptions" are not accepted lightly! For those who cheat may they suffer knowing they are the little people that even with the kings hat will still be last place in their own minds!

jminion said:

I know teams that don't start cooking until 3 to 4am and cook hot and fast. When they dial it in they finish quite high.

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When I first started competing and was using the Lang 84, I didn't light my fire until 3am.. But, one contest I over slept, and didn't get the cooker lit until 5am... Man I was sweating it that day, luckily it was an FBA event and I had an extra 1/2 hour for each turn-in... I still ended up 3rd overall that day, but I decided at that point I would rather start earlier and hold things, and reduce the risk.. From then on, I started about 1am, and meat in the cooker by 2am. The Lang cooked quick and I could do that, but there is no way I could do it with the FEC100's. With these I try to have meat in the cooker by 12:30am..

Anyway, I think the rules are there as much for guidelines, an aid for those that are new or don't cook that often, as they are to keep someone from cheating. Despite what some may think, the judges know what good bbq is, and they will score accordingly..

Like I said earlier, I personaly don't care if someone tries to pre-season, or pre-inject. Odds are, that person will not do well anyway. I just make sure I do my job...

I've never felt good about anything I didn't earn my-self honest. I thought everyone felt the same way? Right? exactly!IMO, pre-trimming meat is fine, although inspectors do like cryovac. I think any inspector worth their salt is going to know if that particular meat has been pre-seasoned, marinated, or not. Whether or not said meat is actually put in the turn in box, now that is a huge accusation. Honestly folks, and I may be in the naive New England bunch, but...I have NEVER known, or even heard of anyone turning in something they didn't prepare TOTALLY on site. The integrity of your team (and your trophies) is all you have. If people think you cheat, everyone WILL know it. Eventually, all secrets get out, and then, I would even go so far as to say that WE (your peers) would make you PAY, DEARLY. two words .... Raffael Palmeiro ...poor bastardmichelle

Hey Michelle, say hi for me to the rest of the lunchmeat folks... Enjoyed meeting your team in Douglas...

Hi Kevin, it was a pleasure. See ya out there....

This thread is very interesting. There are always going to be folks who think the winners are cheating. It's just part of anything competitive. I've cooked against many of the best teams in the country, and I'm here to tell you that they do not cheat. Plain and simple. These folks are true competitors, and to them, cheating would diminish their success.

There is potential for cheating in any activity. However, to just assume it is there says something about the person making the statement. If I thought I was entering an event where I knew there was cheating going on . . .well, I'd not enter. If I see someone cheating, I'm going to do something about it.

As many of you have already stated, it's perfectly acceptable to trim and wash your meat before you arrive at the contest site. Someone asked what the advantage to this would be. For me, it's important because I usually don't arrive at a contest until around 12:00PM or even later. I want my big cuts seasoned and refrigerated by 2:00PM. Having done this prep work the night before allows me to pull up, prep my meat with minimal set-up and get it put away. Then I can set up camp. Many times I'm by myself until early evening. So, I don't have to find water and trim my meat before I can get it seasoned any put away. I have yet to have any meat inspector question why my meat is not in it's original package.

Go out and have fun folks. That's what it's really all about.

I agree with you Rod, I hear it a lot... And there is no way I would think any competitor that competes frequently would begin to risk doing something like that...

For me, as I said I like to do ribs and chicken in advance (when I can). Since I normally arrive before 10am, I usually have no problem getting my larger cuts marinating (coincidently my target is by 2:00pm as well).. The advantage on ribs is to be able to select the best slabs to take with me, rather than live with the surprises out of the cryovac. With chicken, just by how much trimming I do on chicken, the time it saves me at a contest is very worthwhile, especially since I am also usually by myself until evening..

I always have had plenty of time, I try to arrive early on fridays by 9am or so. I do like to wash my chicken and trim it before hand. I think all in all we are all honest enough to not warrent cheating. what thrill would it be the win by cheating anyway!

If you want to believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, Easter Bunny and no one cheats at Q contests feel free. I like to think that women don't poop, doesn't make it so.

KCQuer,

I also see no advantage in seasoning ahead of time. My team has only cooked in one event. We were there at 7:00AM Saturday when they start letting teams in. We were set up in an hour and our meat was inspected at 8:30AM. Immediately after having the meat inspected we were trimming and seasoning the meat. We finished that by 9:30AM and the meat went back into the ice chests. The pork and brisket went on the smoker at about 9:30PM giving it 12 hours in the ice chest with the seasonings. There is really no reason to do this ahead of time and there is no advantage to it. I don't see what the big deal is? Most of those who cheat, cheat for a reason and usually that reason is that they can't BBQ worth a damn under normal circumstances. These guys normally don't win and if they do win, it's a fluke. The good teams don't need to cheat. They are great without breaking the rules.

Cheating: At the Royal this past year, my first, a couple of young blond cuties came by to inspect my meat Friday afternoon. I think they were new to the job. Well, I opened my cooler that had the chicken and ribs in it, they said "great, looks good, thanks" gave me the Ok'd sticker,and started to walk away. I said " wait a minute, you have to look at the brisket and pork too, they are in the other cooler". They said, Oh, OK and inspected them, and went on their way.
Then later the next evening came the awards ceremony, and damn, right before they called the winning team in brisket to the stage they called us up and gave us a big fat check, and a ribbon that'll last forever and that we are proud of.
So, you cheaters go ahead and cheat, you that accuse folks of cheating just give it a try and see how you do, don't matter to me, and watch the winners win.

kcquer said:

If you want to believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, Easter Bunny and no one cheats at Q contests feel free. I like to think that women don't poop, doesn't make it so.

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KC - What's behind all this? Who's been cheating you? Didn't your daddy love you enough? Momma? Lay down on the couch and talk to Dr. Rob.