This is my humble opinion on this.. from MY perspective.. may or may not be part of the trend.. But ive found something better to do with time and resources.. After competing for 12 years, yes, i became burned out, disillusioned by KCBS and BBQ Politics and grew more and more frustrated.. so I've pretty much decided to officially retire from Competition BBQ. My list of reasons;
1 - BBQ comps changed too much since 2004. When I was starting out, most folks were setting up 10x10 ezups in a 10x20 spot and sleeping in their trucks. At 11Pm there were parties in the tents, folks wandering around socializing till all hours of the morning and many were up al night stoking the stick burners. In the past few years, more and more folks have been holed up in their RVs and toy haulers watching tv and asleep by midnight while the gurus and computers controlled the flame so they are bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5am for ribs and chicken. As prize pools grew, the game got more and more serious.
2 - Expectations to stay competitive. The days of the 20$ briskets are gone. Our goal back then was take the crappiest piece of $.99/lb meat and thru skills and techniques and recipes, turn out something awesome.. Now, with some of the $160 briskets, you can slap it on the hot asphalt for a few hours and it will still come out respectable. Its hard for a pro, even with a little luck thrown in, to have judge score his or her select/choice brisket better than snake rivers golds, regardless of who cooked it. Its even harder for the new competitor to swallow the fact that he has a chance going against the seasoned veteran who is using high end meats. Its possible, but will need some devine intervention.
Then add in the judges 'expectations'.. Rewind to early days.. pre 2007..I used to turn in slightly trimmed, never scraped chicken. It looked like chicken.. oddly shaped triangles, marinaded, rubbed, sauced.. but it looked like a piece of chicken. Not a chicken Pillow, not a Muffin, not a cupcake, but a weird pile of 6 oddly shaped chicken thighs where the only common denominator between the 6 was.. chicken.. and ya know what, i would place in top 3 regularly and appearance scores were always up there.. try that now.. and your appearance score will likely suffer. Not all judges, but there are judges with predetermined expectations.. it just can not be denied. Ive encountered them, and argued the point with them until im blue in the face. The problem likely stemmed from not having a judging class around here in probably 10 years. Theres been no progress.. many have become stuck in their ways, and changes in rules have not always trickled down. Refreshers are desperately needed.
Also, The BBQ Politics. Thru several chains of events, I simply lost faith in KCBS and other governing BBQ bodies. But thats just my personal gripe.
Costs vs return. Biggest reason.. As stated above, costs can be expensive.. for me,. over $1000 to pull out of my driveway. Start with $300 for entry fees, 500-600 for meats and supplies, then add in $100 for groceries, then fuel costs, then supplies, then hotel, ferry, etc.. it adds up and by the time the weekend is over, close to $1500 if not more.....poof... gone.
and my trips to the American royal..
THOUSANDS!.. entry fee $1000, FUEL for 1600 miles one way...supplies, hotels, top end meats, Holy crap.. $4000 Plus.. 5 years running..!!! and 3 times to The Jack a month later.. thats $6-7000 for one month of American royal and The Jack.
for what?? To deal with a week of preparation, then 3 days of stress, and huge expenses... All this to feed 6 judges who will critique our efforts??
I began to ask myself....
WHY? :doh::doh::doh::doh::doh:
For the cost of one contest..$1500??? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY VETERANS WE WILL FEED FOR $1500? :thumb:
Last weekend, for $500. We fed 120 veterans... burgers, dogs, pulled pork sammies, BBQ Chicken, 2 sides, desserts. And not one of them gave me a 6 because the pork was over/under sauced.. to firm, or salty, or hot, or mushy... not one.. all we got was a smiling face and a thank you.. and we gave back to those who risked themselves for us.
Next month, another 100-150 vets.. BBQ Lunch.. $500
August 26.. All day BBQ 1200 Veterans at a local VA Hospital.. $5000..
Thanksgiving? 12 course meal for 50 veteran families.. and 25 families undergoing cancer treatments.
Christmas?/ Full Christmas meals for 10 veteran families..
We are working on having one veteran event a month thru to November..
So, that
$$$ that I used to spend on judges and comps, and fuel, and $160 briskets??? i now put towards our veteran events.
The cost of ONE Awaygu Brisket will buy 160 lbs of chicken.. or 130 lbs of pork for our vets.
THATS WHY I GAVE UP COMPETING.. Our slogan for competitions is 'Fear the Pig'... thats what my banner said....
Now it says..
'BBQ Brethren Outreach.. Serving Those Who Served Us.'
There it is.. MY reason for bailing out of Competition BBQ. Not sure if youve seen this video below,.. but the time and resources of MANY BBQ Brethren Judges and backyarders and former or current teams are now doing this.... This was our signature event last year. With the Statue of Liberty and the Freeedom Tower as our backdrop. We took over the Brooklyn Navt yard parking lot and 75 BBQ Brethren members cooked for and served 1200-1500 sailors, marines and guardsman off 2 Navy Destroyers and a Coast Guard Cutter.
We were all teams and judges there.. but not to compete.. but to serve.. Once I got this involved with our troops, I never looked back.. To see our guests of honor arrive on 2 warships and a Cutter.. Never more proud of this group.
BBQ Brethren BD346F8D B2E0 4EE9 AB04 36E2EC5C7EA4 - YouTube