Anyone here ever compete in BBQ competitions?

We've got a couple guys on here in the game. I would love be to attend the world championships at Memphis in May one year!

I have entered a couple of small ones. They are fun and alot of work.

my cousins compete often.
One cousin wins Memphis in May almost every year.
Chris Lilly with Big Bob Gibson's.

I do a few a year. PM me any ?'s you have.

as all food comps, worth their salt (no pun intended), are

Me and my wife started and done a few last year, but this year we are really making a go at it. I really enjoy traveling and cooking, however we just mainly are doing the amateurs side of it. Just wanted to see if anyone competed regularly and may run into some of y'all.

Friend back in Texas started out that way. Amateur competitor. Then Katrina hit. His church paid for him and others to spend two weeks there cooking for those in need. Turns out, the line to his cooking was always the most popular. After Katrina, he opened a catering business and soon earned the Billy Bob's account. Now he owns 407 BBQ in Justin and was recently voted the best new BBQ restaurant in the DFW area.

I get to visit him when I go back there later on this month. I've already been warned to NOT show up with a bottle of Alabama white BBQ sauce. Too late, I've already bought him three bottles as a present!

That is just plain ole sacrilegious. But since they don't even know that BBQ is pork not beef what do you expect from them?

And is it really true that they don't want the ribs to slide off the bone in competition? I had heard that before and it sounded like nonsense.

Yes, fall off the bone ribs will put you at the bottom of the pack most every time!

Yep. They need to have a smoke flavor, a little bite of heat and not come off the bone. Just what you bite and a little more with a light bark.

Yes ribs need to have a slight tug but pull clean from the bone where the bite was taken from. You should be able to see your bit impression where the bite was taken. It takes some skill and a strict timeline for most meats but it is very addictive

Cool what is your teams name in case I see you at one

I have several friends that do it. One cooked in one a few weeks ago and does a cowboy cut on his ribs (meat on both sides, basically cutting out every other bone). They told him his ribs were too "meaty". Never heard of such.

Usually cook under company name (Hoar Const.) and have also used Swineocologists in the past.

Dang Prima-Donna judges, sounds like.

Went to the Rib Off in Selma last weekend. Saw a few rigs that the competitors had close to 10k invested and they cook in these events often. The team that won rolled up with a few 55 gallon drums from the backyard and won by a large majority. He said it was his first time to ever compete in any competition. The look on the master grillers faces when that team was announced was priceless.
It was a good deal. $20 at the gate got you all the food you could eat. They had a rib competition, wing competition and Redneck Hors d'oeuvres. Tons of Crawfish.
Col. Bruce Hampton played later that night and dang if he didn't die ON STAGE two nights later celebrating his 70th birthday with other famous musicians in ATL. Rip Col Bruce.

I want my ribs fall of the bone.

We do to,but we have to cook for the judges