1st GBA competition could use some advise,

You can approach it in one of 3 ways-


1. Basically cook two contests' worth of meat. You will need the equipment to do so, the money, the seasonings, foil, and most of all, energy. Start a second round of meat 2-3 hours (whatever the length is between prelim and finals) after the first round.

Lots of leftovers, lots of prep, you will stay very busy.

2. Cook 2 contests' worth of meat, but cook it all at the same time, holding the second round in a Cambro/Cooler. Probably some efficiency savings as far as prep and energy used on your part. Still need a cooker capable of handling the quantity.

3. Cook 1 contest worth of meat, hope for the best, use leftovers for finals. One way to look at it is that if you make finals, you're guaranteed 3rd place....and you only cooked one round and only have 1/2 of the expenses.



The loin is probably going to suffer the most going with option 3.

yep that about sums it up.

First time out I would just cook enough for the first round and not worry about finals. Do your best to not wreck everything for the first round and if you make finals put together a box of leftovers.

First time out, I would recommend you concentrate on cooking for the preliminary rounds like Dawgphan suggested. Be sure you cook enough to build a second box from leftovers if you do make finals. Once you get the timing down for prelims, it will be a lot easier to stagger you cooking to have fresh product for finals.

I look forward to meeting you at Jekyll. I you have any other questions about GBA, let me know.

You can do either/or or both.

The biggest thing...don't cook it past 138°F internal. Make sure it cooks evenly, too. You don't want some of it hitting 138° and some of it less cooked or more cooked.

When it hits, take it off, wrap it and put it in the Cambro until you're ready to slice. Practice it beforehand.