Championship BBQing Techniques
Championship Pork

In each of the topics we will be visiting, (selection, preparation, etc.) we will explain how the contestants move through the process of creating award winning entries for the judges to select from. There are thumbnail photos, which when "clicked" will display the full sized photo.

Preparing Your Mind

"Championship" presupposes that you intend to enter a contest and win. If that is your goal, the first step is to learn for whom you are cooking. It is immaterial how you like your barbecued pork and what your sweetie likes it isn't worth a hill of beans. Your goal is to satisfy the nebulous palates of six unknown judges, some of whom may never have tasted a real piece of barbecued pork. Most contest sanctioning bodies now have what they call "certified" judges. This means that the judges have had a short course in how to apply the rules of that organization and how to fill out the score card and the mechanics of the judging process.

It in no way indicates that they have the ability to taste, the knowledge of what real barbecue is, how to balance texture with tenderness or the mental capacity to not narrowly impose their personal tastes and prejudices upon your barbecue. So you must cook for the "lowest common denominator" of their personal tastes. What this means is BLAND. The seasonings and sauces must not be too anything - not too spicy hot, not to tart, not too sweet, not too salty, not too done, not too dry, not too moist and forget exotic spices that may shock their Provencal palates.

Setting the Schedule

Contests allow about a 10 minute window in which you must present your entry to the judges. If you bring your meat to its peak 2 hours before it is due, it may well be way past its prime when it reaches the judges. And producing the best barbecue in the world is fruitless if delivered 5 minutes past the deadline. If you intend to become a consistent winner, you must establish a schedule based on your experience with your cooker and continue to refine it and somebody on your team must make certain that you are faithfully following the schedule. Record times, temperatures -of the meat, internally at the beginning and at 30 minute intervals, of the cooking chamber and of the ambient temperature along with humidity, wind, precipitation and then record your impressions of the finished product and how the judges rated it.

Selecting the Meat

Have made the right mind set, the next step is to choose the lumps of hog carcass from which you will create your masterpiece. Whether you use shoulders, which is the whole front leg and shoulder are called, or the Boston butt, which is actually the shoulder separated out from the leg, there are certain characteristics which produce better barbecue. Look for fat evenly interspersed within the meat rather than collected in pockets. This interspersed fat is why this part of the hog is so popular for barbecuing. If the fat is properly dispersed and cooked out slowly at around 200° until the internal temperature of the center reach around 200° the meat will be moist and tender. Most folk will opt for the butt. So look for compact Boston butts with fine veins of fat, evenly distributed. You will need several, 3-6, to cook and then choose the best of those for your entry. Choose the middle size range, not the largest, nor the smallest. But, if upon experimentation, you find that you and your pit do better with larger ones, do not hesitate to use them.

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