BBQ MY WAY: Consider joining a barbecue society

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Dave Lobeck BBQ My Way

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February 20, 2011

By DAVE LOBECK Local Columnist The News and Tribune Sun Feb 20, 2011, 01:40 AM EST

> SOUTHERN INDIANA — If you love barbecue, today’s column should be a no-brainer. I am going to encourage you to join a sanctioned barbecue society. It’s one of the most enjoyable decisions I have made.

There are a number of “official” barbecue societies. I happen to be a member of the Kansas City Barbecue Society. It’s one of the largest in the county and sanctions a number of barbecue competitions all over the country. I also took a class to become a sanctioned judge.

The KCBS offers the class at various locations all over the country, year round. It’s amazing how serious the judging process is. The competitions are based on four categories. Chicken, pulled pork, brisket and pork ribs. The entrees are scored based on visual appearance, taste and texture/tenderness. The scores are from one through nine, with one being a disqualification and nine being the best.

I’ll give you an example of how serious these competitions are.

The barbecue teams are supposed to prepare exactly one serving per judge in each category. There are six judges per table. As a judge, if you take a rib out of the container and another rib is stuck to it, you have to take both ribs. Your cannot tear them apart.

That means one judge won’t get a rib from that team. The result? A big fat “1” on the scorecard from the judge that didn’t get a rib. DQ’ed dude. I know .... brutal.

In the chicken category, the breast used to be the cut of poultry used by all the teams. Now, it has totally gone to the thigh. Why? There is an old saying in the judging business when it comes to chicken breasts. For the most part, the breast is either undercooked or leather. The thigh is moister and gives you a larger margin for error on cooking times.

The beef brisket is the cut that drives barbecue teams crazy. As the brisket cools it has a tendency to become dry. Many teams base their entire reputation on the quality of their brisket, since it is the toughest cut to cook.

Oh, and back to the ribs. If a rib is “so tender it is falling off the bone,” that’s not considered a good rib. That is considered overcooked. The meat should be attached to the bone, but pull away cleanly when eaten.

And get this. These teams literally know how you will eat a piece of meat and which part of the meat your tongue will contact first. As an example, they typically put most of the spice rub on the bottom of the chicken thigh. They have determined that typically our tongue goes to the bottom of the thigh, not the top.

Each team takes great pride in the presentation of their entrees. They accomplish this with garnish.

When the Styrofoam container is opened, the garnish springs forward and spreads out like a miniature Kirigami display. And here is how seriously the issue of garnishes is taken in the competitions — this comes directly from the rules book.

“Garnish is optional. If used, it is limited to chopped, sliced, shredded or whole leaves of fresh green lettuce, curly parsley, flat leaf parsley and/or cilantro. Kale, endive, red tipped lettuce, lettuce cores and other vegetation are prohibited. (Improper garnish shall receive a score of one on appearance.)”

Visit http://www.bbq-my-way.com for a link to the various barbecue societies. There are 19 that I am aware of. Consider joining one and support our great American culinary art we call barbecue.

Dave welcomes your questions and your feedback and assures you every question will be answered by him personally. You can contact him directly at his website, www.BBQMyWay.com. Let him know what you would like discussed and he will try to include your topic in future columns. You can also subscribe to his free monthly newsletter, “The BBQ Gazette.”

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