BBQ Craze Dying Down???

Growing is always subjective, reflective and at times about perspective. People flow in and out like most other team events. One aspect of competition bbq that does influence participation is the name recognition of those at the top. Most of the really heavy hitters have some sort of business/media affiliation linked to bbq. When nationally recognized names are participating in a competition from Smalltown, USA it can be very intimidating. Some like the challenge while some think it's too big a hill to climb. The beauty of it for me has been that you still see some unknown teams walk away with 1st place. America has a long love affair with cooking contests involving nearly any food imaginable. BBQ comps are here to stay in some form or fashion no matter what the mass participation numbers are trending.

I only compete super local. As in the same city which means 3 or so comps a year for me.

I find that just enough to keep the fun in it, and to Poobah's point, I am still experimenting and cooking enough other stuff to not get burned out on the comp-required meats.

Candy Sue said:

What Brad says!!!


I just like to cook competitions. I don't really care whether it's a steak contest, BBQ or cakes, I'll do it! I love Chopped type things. It's all about the challenge.


I disagree that you have to have waygu or duroc or organic chicken to win. As the great I Smell Smoke cook, Steve Farrin once told me, "Good food is good food no matter where you are."


I don't care whether judges are trained or not, I do care that judges judge fairly. I believe most do.


My current biggest KCBS concerns is reps setting up too many tables of judges. I think when there's only 4 entries presented on a table, the judges feel compelled to "pick apart" each entry to fill the judging time. That hurts teams and teams can tell when this happens.


All politics stink, and unlike the sweet smoke rising at a BBQ Contest, BBQ politics seems to stink right along with regular politics.

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I agree with this post in so many ways.. I love to cook. I think I spent 15k to win 10k last season. The way I look at it I could spend that much or more hunting, fishing, vacationing or doing what ever hobby I wanted. I chose to cook as do a lot of my friends. You can spend as much or as little as you want and still have a great time it just depends on what your expectations are.

I have been pounding the seating of too many judge for weeks now. KCBS needs SOPS so every contests is run consistently and every cook has a fair shot. This will drive more people out of the sport than anything.

Okie Sawbones said:

First off, no one 'feeds' a judge. Some entries are painful. If I want to feed myself good Q, I cook it myself.


Secondly, who would you have critique your efforts? The local sanitation worker? Honest question.


Judge bashing is counterproductive. Trying to improve judging criteria is productive.

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Responses numbered
1. If we aren't feeding judges what are you guys doing? Don't you eat food?
2. Yes I would have the local sanitation worker critique my food. Your sarcasm seems to imply you think a sanitation worker is beneath you. Could be reading into it to much or not. I am Not you so I don't really know. If I am reading into it to much apologies for that.
3. Never once said you cooked bad Q as I have nothing to base that on. I would bet my wife could out cook you and pretty much anyone as she is a damn good cook. If that insults you I wouldn't be as she is a really damn good cook.
4. "If I wanted good Q I would cook it myself" see right there is the one thing that pissed me off okie. Could be reading into it to much. That reads to me that you are already going in expecting it to be bad. I get some food is bad, undercooked, or whatever you like. Sounds like you are expecting it to be bad. To me from a cooks perspective that appears to indicate you already have a chip on your shoulder. I would like to see judges form an opinion after eating a bite or at least seeing an entry not before the box is even open. Maybe that is asking to much?

I could be way off base and if I am apologies. I hope that is the case because I actually like you Okie. Just some.of the comments rubbed me the wrong way.
Honestly making the decision to go pro and practicing really puts into perspective why cooks get pissed about the lack of uniformity in judge training
. Also, no real definition of average. I have over $1,000 easily spent on practice already. I.am sure many cooks have a lot more spent on it. I am just saying when you got more skin in the game you start to understand where cooks are coming from. Not saying I have more skin in the game then you but more skin in the game from where I was at previously. Just making that clear. I am not stepping into that debate.

Either way have good night okie.

gettinbasted said:

Don't let this negativity by a small segment of the competition population get you down. I cooked my first competition exactly 5 years ago and it has changed the trajectory of my life significantly.

Now, I cook almost every weekend, my best friends are all BBQ people, we travel from coast to coast competition cooking, my daughter was just on Food Network, I teach several competition classes each year along with weekly backyard classes, I have one restaurant with a second one in the works, I quit my desk job and now have the freedom to spend more time traveling and with my family, etc.

Competition BBQ has it's problems, but so does everything else. It might be evolving, but it's not going anywhere and it is still a ton of fun and full of great people and great contests. Bigger sanctioned contests are a blast to cook, so don't let this thread dissuade you from jumping in. I went in head first with my eyes closed and couldn't imagine my life any other way.

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Well said "Beefy Jesus".......Like most...this is hobby for me....But like Jesse said I could be hunting or fishing...I chose to cook BBQ 25-30 weekends a year....seems to me some of the posts are blaming or bashing everything under the sun as to why comp BBQ isn't fun or fair...if you aren't getting the results you think you DESERVE then work harder at your craft or find another hobby...#ICP

bubbletop said:

Well said "Beefy Jesus".......Like most...this is hobby for me....But like Jesse said I could be hunting or fishing...I chose to cook BBQ 25-30 weekends a year....seems to me some of the posts are blaming or bashing everything under the sun as to why comp BBQ isn't fun or fair...if you aren't getting the results you think you DESERVE then work harder at your craft or find another hobby...#ICP

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Thanks! You are exactly right.

I'll say one more thing and move on. Competition BBQ is exactly like sales and we each have our own statistics. Personally, if I cook 35 contests I'm going to GC or RGC 12-13. Travis and Darren are at 60% or above. My job is to put myself in position to win. I need to cook good enough food so that the times that I do hit the right tables, I win. Sometimes the table game will be harsh and sometimes it will give me a gift, but it all evens out and it all depends on me putting myself in a position to win. That is why you always hear that the "cream rises to the top". Good cooks are in a position to win when things bounce their way.

If you want more success you have two options. Improve your "closing" percentage or cook more contests. Changing the judging will not change this at all. KCBS, for all of it's flaws, still has the best system of judging BBQ going.

A couple years ago the mantra of a lot of people was "Comp BBQ is gonna be just like NASCAR".

Be careful what you ask for.

gettinbasted said:

Thanks! You are exactly right.

I'll say one more thing and move on. Competition BBQ is exactly like sales and we each have our own statistics. Personally, if I cook 35 contests I'm going to GC or RGC 12-13. Travis and Darren are at 60% or above. My job is to put myself in position to win. I need to cook good enough food so that the times that I do hit the right tables, I win. Sometimes the table game will be harsh and sometimes it will give me a gift, but it all evens out and it all depends on me putting myself in a position to win. That is why you always hear that the "cream rises to the top". Good cooks are in a position to win when things bounce their way.

If you want more success you have two options. Improve your "closing" percentage or cook more contests. Changing the judging will not change this at all. KCBS, for all of it's flaws, still has the best system of judging BBQ going.

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Candy Sue said:

What Brad says!!!


I just like to cook competitions. I don't really care whether it's a steak contest, BBQ or cakes, I'll do it! I love Chopped type things. It's all about the challenge.


I disagree that you have to have waygu or duroc or organic chicken to win. As the great I Smell Smoke cook, Steve Farrin once told me, "Good food is good food no matter where you are."


I don't care whether judges are trained or not, I do care that judges judge fairly. I believe most do.


My current biggest KCBS concerns is reps setting up too many tables of judges. I think when there's only 4 entries presented on a table, the judges feel compelled to "pick apart" each entry to fill the judging time. That hurts teams and teams can tell when this happens.


All politics stink, and unlike the sweet smoke rising at a BBQ Contest, BBQ politics seems to stink right along with regular politics.

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Just like this past weekend in Winchester,TN. 70+ judges for 41 teams..

BBQchef33 said:

If anything, youre going in with eyes wide open to the current trends and expectations. No surprises and no changes.

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That's great advice. I debated getting into competition, but after really studying up and taking a class and listening to a lot of stories, I decided that for me personally the payoff wasn't going to be worth it. I love to cook but I'm not super competitive, so I found out early on that it wasn't going to be the right fit for me. Never looked back--if I want to compete for the heck of it, there are always the backyard competitions I can enter with a dozen chicken thighs, a couple racks of ribs, and my Weber kettle.

BBQchef33 said:

But now im back outside of the 9x9 container. Stuffed pork loins, Prime ribs, hangers, chimchuris, dino bones, racks of lamb, etc.. .. All the things I did for the 10 years leading up to my beginning in competition BBQ.. Im back to that stuff and having a great time. Adam Perry Langs BBQ 25 got me back to backyard BBQ.

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It's great, isn't it? You should come down to North Texas sometime for a Bash--there's this egghead Hotch that has been showing up for the last few who will get your creative juices flowing like you wouldn't believe. Dude's a genius at cranking out weird, good food cooked outdoors over fire.

Like everything in life you need to have a healthy balance. I cook 20-25 events every year and still take 5-6 months off. I'm burned out by October and can't wait to get started every April.

Rusty Kettle said:

I would bet my wife could out cook you and pretty much anyone as she is a damn good cook.

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That's an awful bold statement to make in the competition BBQ forum.

:laugh:

DaveAlvarado said:

That's an awful bold statement to make in the competition BBQ forum.

:laugh:

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I like to brag about my wife. Could be I am biased because she is my wife. I have never had better cooking in my life. I doubt I ever will. :thumb:
Now if I said my mom could out cook him then that is an insult. Love my mom but she was more the frozen food type. Frozen pizza etc. Never cared much to cook
My wife's family its an art. They grow up cooking. My wife has already gotten my oldest involved in cooking and he is three.

For me it's mostly about the money. I am a pretty new cook, so I haven't got it all dialed in yet and it's hard to gamble at a contest with $1k.
I did see a contest that really got me interested tho. 300 entry, 35k total payout and money thru 15 places, the lowest being $250. It seems to me that in a 45 person field, I have a pretty dang good shot at recovering a big share of my investment.
I would do contests like that every couple weeks if I could.

bradgreer said:

money thru 15 places,
I would do contests like that every couple weeks if I could.

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I understand that smaller contests would have a hard time with this but the old KCBS standard of paying top 2 overall and top 5 in each category is tough to swallow unless your winning consistently. The GC and RGC are almost guaranteed to take home 75% of the money at the contest under that standard.

I'd love to see more of the guinea pig style of paying out down to 10 places in overall and categories. Sure getting $50 for a 9th place chicken isn't much but it makes all the difference to a new/intermediate team.

Okie Sawbones said:

The standard is 1.2 judges per team. They pretty much adhere to that in my area.

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At Sand Springs, OK they had 33 teams but had 8 tables of judges :shocked:

Okie Sawbones said:

Holy smokes. They must have been in a meat coma.

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That's 48 judges for 33 teams.