What to cook in Competition

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Cliff H.

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Location
Jonesboro, Arkansas
If you had to pick "ONE" catagory to compete with, what would it be ?

Consider these questions :


If you were trying to establish a catering service and felt that being in the top 10 of a local competition would help, what catagory would you choose ?

Which catagory would afford the most bang for the buck should your name be called ?

Which catagory do you think "everyone" is trying to win ?

There may also be something to be said about the catagory to stay the heck away from if you are just getting started.

Thanks for input.
 
Cliff H. said:
If you had to pick "ONE" catagory to compete with, what would it be ?

Consider these questions :


If you were trying to establish a catering service and felt that being in the top 10 of a local competition would help, what catagory would you choose ?

Which catagory would afford the most bang for the buck should your name be called ?

Which catagory do you think "everyone" is trying to win ?

There may also be something to be said about the catagory to stay the heck away from if you are just getting started.

Thanks for input.

Brisket. No doubt about it. Its the hardest meat to cook just right. But when you win that category, you know you have done something right. So my answer to both your questions is BRISKET. ;)
 
I don't know about brisket in view of this statement:

If you were trying to establish a catering service and felt that being in the top 10 of a local competition would help, what catagory would you choose ?

Seems to me that butts or ribs would be a better choice.
 
Good question!

Depends on the region: For instance, a trophy in pulled pork probably wouldn't carry as much weight in SoCal as a trophy in the other three KCBS cats because it just isn't a pp area.

Depends on the level of competition: If there aren't a lot of people doing pulled pork well, there's an available niche.

Depends on what sells in the local restaurants: Just a different way of making the first point. But if everyone loves ribs than a ribs trophy will make you look pretty good. Besides, you're not really asking about the competition, you're asking about the do-re-mi. I'd guess that area sales are more ribs (beef and pork) and chicken than pork and brisket, and I'd work my competition strategy accordingly.

Bottom line... I'd shoot at ribs and chicken. But that's here. If I lived in Lincoln Nebraska I might be going after brisket.

Competitions and catering don't necessarily have a 1 : 1 correspondence. Recipes which do well in competition are not necessarily "public" favorites. It's been my experience that judges are actually more conservative than the general public. Certain categories are especially sensitive to materials choices -- brisket most of all. It's my expereince that consistently successful teams in big comps use boutique suppliers of very high quality meats. That's something you can rarely afford in catering. Something you can do both in catering and comp, is to use freshly killed (not too freshly -- you want them dead long enough to be out of rigor -- about 8 hours), local poultry. It makes a difference.

Another difference to be aware of is that judges try to consider sauce as little as possible, and rightly so. To a large extent that's true about most of us, too. The more experience we have cooking 'q, the more attuned we are to the nuances of the meats, and the more we prize techniques which enhance and bring out the meats' natural flavors. But cooking for the public is all 'bout the sauce. Like it or don't.

Consider a real effort into the "other" categories depending on what's available at your particular competitions. Sides; Sauces; "Anything But; and Desserts. A reputation in yam souffle or cheesecake or cobbler or beans or beef ribs or venison or duck breast ... isn't going to hurt you any. But a no. 1 in sauce is probably the best possible barbecue advertisement.

Rich
 
A good PP sammy is going to be hard to beat...people love to see it go from the whole but in the cooker to a PP sammy! :D
 
Rich makes a good point...being the brisket guy here in the
Carolina's ain't gonna make you a lot of money.
Being known as the man to go to for whole hog cooks...
well, you could do all right .
 
Well my two cents is for Ribs. It seems that everyone loves ribs and when you get them right people go crazy. If you can back that up with a win at a comp it is even better.
 
Personally I wouldn't even bother going to a comp if I was only going to compete in one category. You'll build a better reputation for yourself by competing for the title of Grand Champion. You don't get a price break on the comp by only competing in one category so go for all four. If I were to skip out on any of the categories it would be anything Butt or desert unless you have a large team and someone dedicated to cook in that category since it doesn't count for the overall champiosnship.

For marketing purposes though I believe winning the Rib category is most marketable to the general public. They know what ribs are. Most don't have a clue as to what a pork butt or a brisket is but they sure do love it when they taste it.

Good luck with your first comp and your catering business!
 
Ribs

If you can do Ribs Perfecto, you can smoke anything well.
Enter ALL categories. Better chance of winning something.
PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoke On!!!!!
 
Re: Ribs

kickassbbq said:
If you can do Ribs Perfecto, you can smoke anything well.
Enter ALL categories. Better chance of winning something.
PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoke On!!!!!

I Respectfully disagree. If you can cook a whole hog perfectly, the rib guys will bow to the master.

Good Q!

Jack.
 
I've been wanted to start this discussion...I often hear how the toughest
meat to perfect in the bbq world is brisket. I think it's whole hog.
Brisket ain't easy, and maybe you can say each to it's own region,
but getting a whole hog perfect, and that's ribs not dried out, hams
cooked, good smokey flavor, and at least some crispy skin, well...
that ain't easy. I know I'm a Carolina boy, but I've cooked briskets
(not well) but the skill level to perfect it seems to pale in comparison
to a 100 lb hog.
 
I have never ever cooked a whole hog.

I think you are right about that so I will retract what I said about brisket.

There are no whole hog categories up here. That is an art form unto itself for sure.
 
Wow, I wished I would have posed this question. This is what I like about this site. I bet half the newby's have the same questions I do.

Chiles
 

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