What are the most common mistakes made when getting into competition BBQ?

1. getting into competition bbq

2. changing recipes on a moments notice

Practice...Practice...Practice. Is going to be just about everyone's advice. You need to practice till the point you can no longer stand to eat BBQ.

When you do a full practice run you need to run around the building a few times to simulate your turn in. Have a few friend get in your way and be completely oblivious as to what is going on around them. That should be a good start for now unless you want to simulate rain then you'll need someone to spray you with a hose.

-Eric

Thinking you're going to make money, ... or break even, ... or that it's only going to cost a small fortune.

1. Not realizing that's it's going to be an investment of money and time, alot of each.

2. Not sticking to your timeline.

3. Changing your recipes on the fly.

The key thing is to have fun and meet alot of great people! Don't be a afraid to ask questions. Try and find a team to mentor you also.

Worrying too much about "flavor profiles" and not enough about cooking each category right.

Thinking because friends and family say your bbq is the best ever, you should win.

Congrats on getting everything in and no DQ's. it was crazy hot there. I'm giving a class this weekend, if you're interested lmk.

Figure out how much money you're willing to spend in a competition season... then triple it

A lot of great recommendations have already been made.

In some of our early competitions, we put a lot of effort into creating timelines that were way too strict for our own good (i.e. wrap ribs 10:05-10:10). While this approach may work for some teams, it doesn't for us. If we missed a timeline step, we'd waste all kinds of time trying to readjust all the times on the following steps.

We still use timelines, but they are a lot more general and flexible.

Timelines are your friend.

Do practice cooks.

Yes, this is an expensive hobby.

Use what your budget allows. There is nothing wrong with cooking on home built drums underneath pop ups.

Take a cooking class from a current, successful team.

Untraceable said:

2. changing recipes on a moments notice

Click to expand...

I worked for me.:wink:

Making your own sauces and rubs from scratch

Cooking outside the box

believing that when your wife says "sure honey, I am ok with you doing the BBQ thing" that it means she really is OK or that she truly understands what saying "yes" means from a time and money standpoint.....lol

cooking for what you like and not what the judges like

Stick to your schedule and your recipe. If you are going to change stuff, change it in practice.

If you have a bum member of your team, get rid of them or relegate them to the crap jobs like cleaning dishes. These jobs should be reserved for the members of your team that are on "liquid duty". Make sure everyone knows to stay out of the way of those cooking, cutting, building boxes.

Only sober people are allowed to walk turn in boxes. If it's a big competition, I've heard to have two people do a turn in. The bigger of the two walks in front and acts as a wedge.

Be willing to say you had an awful cook and your turn ins sucked. You won't get better if you always think what you have is gold. Ask another team to try your stuff and get their opinion. Assume they aren't lying to you and take the critique. Also if they let you, try their stuff and ask them about their cook.

Help out your neighbors. Cook teams will forget stuff or stuff can break. Be a stand up person, if you can, and help them out. Good karma goes a long way. People will remember the team that had their back when it's your turn for Murphy to visit.

Learn how to turn people away who are expecting free samples while you are trying to create your turn in boxes. It's amazing how many people think that we are there to service them. I'm running around crazy busy trying to politely ignore as much as possible and some of these jokers expect me to stop everything, let them rummage through my product, and let me know their thoughts on it. I've even had people reacted like I was being rude when I explained that this is a competition and not a buffet, but they are welcome to purchase people's choice tickets.

Curling Q said:

I worked for me.:wink:

Click to expand...

you should try it again. I think ive got a recipe for you

I think the biggest mistake a rookie team can make is bringing stuff you're not going to use. It'll just get in the way.

Make lists. Practice like you're at a contest, only use the stuff you've got on the list. If you have to go inside for something, put it on the list.

Keep it simple! Do whatever you can at home ahead of time.

Add at least an hour to planned cooking time. Guarantee this is good advice. You'll be in the cooker a lot more at a contest than you would be at home cooking.

Go disposable! Paper cutting boards, pan liners and foil pans go along way to simplify competing.

Be a good neighbor! Don't flood your neighbor's cook site with your grey water. Do be friendly and courteous. I believe you'll find that your fellow competitors will answer questions if worded politely (and maybe even let you sample their food!).

Welcome to the family! Remember the first rule is to have Fun!

Cooking to much meat for 1 comp, one can only process so much before turn ins.

Packing to much where you can not find a dang thing cause there is so much stuff laying around.