We all know them -- the person who claims to be the prince of pork, the bad boy of beef, the sultan of sauce or the king of ribs. Well now it's put up or shut up time as the BBQ throw down is coming to town and the title of Best BBQ Pit Master in The Bahamas will be handed out. Thompson Trading Co. and Cattleman's BBQ sauces will host the 1st Cattlemen's Smokin' Hot BBQ competition in The Bahamas. While the cash prizes -- $500 for first place, $300 for second place and $200 for third -- are an incentive and the opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico June 29 and 30 for the finale at The Cattlemen's Caribbean BBQ Competition is another added draw, for most Bahamians the win would be all about bragging rights because they all believe that nobody grills better than they do.
The competition is open to anyone who thinks he is masters of the grill whether amateur, professional or simply the weekend backyard warrior. There is no distinction between professional and amateurs at this CBBQA sanctioned BBQ competition. Teams can consist of women, men, co-ed groups, culinary students, businesses, neighborhoods, churches, schools, hotels or restaurants and bars. The New Providence grill-off takes place on Saturday, April 20 at the new waterfront boardwalk at Bay Street Marina behind Green Parrot on East Bay St. Approximately 20 teams of five are expected to compete in six competition categories -- best beef, BBQ sauce, poultry, pork ribs, seafood, pork butt and showmanship (the coolest looking booth).
Teams will be furnished with Cattleman's BBQ sauces, up to 50 pounds of meats for the competition, including chicken thighs, beef, one pork butt, two racks of pork ribs, a cooking space, one goodie bag, Lysol Disinfectant Spray cleaner, Frank's hot sauces and Easy-Off Grill Cleaner. Teams registering before Monday, April 15 pay $150 per team. Late entrants pay $200 per team. Other food categories will include seafood, side dishes and presentation. Teams will need to bring their own tent, tables and chairs, table clots, coolers with ice and beverages, grills or smokers, cooking utensils, charcoal, spices and their choice of seafood for that category, sunscreen and thermometer.
Organizers recommend teams cook about four pounds of seafood and turn in their best one pound for judging and distribute the test as samples. Teams are also responsible for bagging their trash and disposing of it in the dumpster, as well as putting their charcoal in the designated 55-gallon ash barrels and sweeping their area clean. New Providence BBQ event coordinator Jenny Pinder said the enthusiasm for the grill-off is exciting as everyone is looking for bragging rights. "This is a huge festival throughout the Caribbean and it's now just getting to The Bahamas, and people are looking forward to it," said Pinder.
And for a mere $15 adult (13 and over) ticket, $5 for children, event patrons will be able to enjoy free BBQ samples from all teams throughout the day while it lasts. There will also be music, games and attractions for children and adults as well as two Junkanoo rush-outs and a conch shucking competition. Cooking demonstrations will be done throughout the day as well. BBQ teams will be allowed to begin setting up their booths and cooking area on Friday, April 19 at noon. Booth setup must be completed by 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 20. No vehicles will be allowed into the area. Competitors may use a wheelbarrow or cart to move their stuff in and out of the area.
And, security will be made available the night before the competition. No cooking of any kind will be allowed until each competitor's meat is inspected by a meat inspector. And all raw meat must be kept on ice, but may be marinated, seasoned or dry-rubbed before the meat inspection. Meat inspection starts at 6 a.m. on Saturday, April 20. Overnight cooking on site is okay for competitors who are slow cooking. Security and meat inspections will be available on notifying the head judge. Teams can register at The Green Parrot or contact Lindsay Mulock at 363-6068. COMPETITION SCHEDULE Friday April 19 12 noon - 6 p.m.
--BBQ teams check in and setup booths 6 p.m. -- Team registration and sign in 7 p.m. -- Team rules meeting Saturday, April 20 6 a.m. -- Meat inspections start 12 noon - 6 p.m. -- BBQ competition 6:30 p.m. -- Awards handed out COMPETITION CATEGORIES AND TURN IN TIME BBQ Sauce (12:10 to 12:20 pm) entries may be made in advance and brought to the competition. Sauces must contain some portion of any Cattlemen's BBQ Sauce in it. One gallon or one drop it is up to the head cook. Your BBQ sauce can be home made with one drop of Cattlemen's in it, all Cattlemen's straight from the bottle or start as a base from any Cattlemen's BBQ Sauce and modified with your choice of spices and ingredients.
Cattlemen's sauces provided to all teams. Poultry: (1:00 to 1:10 pm) may be any cut or individual piece of chicken, Cornish game hen, quail, turkey, ostrich, dove, duck, or any fowl. Chicken thighs by Tyson Foods will be provided for the competition and sampling. Seafood: (2:00 to 2:10 pm) Any fresh seafood. Some seafood will be furnished by contestants Pork Ribs: (3:00 to 3:10 pm) Any pork rib, with bone in. It must be ribs with the bone in and includes baby backs, loin backs, or spare ribs. Country style ribs are not allowed. Two racks of Hormel ribs will be provided. Pork Chops / Pork Butt: (4:00 to 4:10 pm) Any pork butt, bone in or boneless, cut of 5 pounds or larger, slow smoked will do, or you may grill pork chops.
We will provide you with 1 pork butt bone-in, or up to 10 pork chops. It may be your choice this year or you may be mandated to buy what the pork sponsor decides to provide for the contest. Pork cut not determined at the time the rules were posted. You may be limited on the choices or have to purchase your meat for this category. Beef (5:00 to 5:10 pm) Beef will be provided furnished by contestants. The cuts of beef acceptable are Rib eye, tenderloin, KC strip. Churrasco, Porterhouse, and T-bone. You may grill a steak or slow smoke a brisket it's your choice this year. We will supply the brisket if you are slow smoking.
Grill about 4-5 pounds of beef, select the very best of what you have grilled for the judges, about 1 pound, and give the rest as samples. Best Booth: Will be judged throughout the day by a group of unknown mystery judges. Only the 4 meat categories (Pork Rib, Beef, Poultry, and Pork Butt / Pork Chop) count towards the Grand Champion scores. Showmanship, Sauce, Seafood, do not count towards Grand Champion. JUDGING STRUCTURE Double blind judging system to assure that no Judge can identify the teams whose entry they are judging. Each team is given an identical food container for the BBQ Sauce 6-oz.
Styrofoam cup with snap on lid, and a 9 X 9 Styrofoam food container without food divisions for ribs, steak, pork butt, and chicken. Contestants provide their own plating for the seafood category. Each food container bares the number of each individual team and the head cooks signs for the food containers and verifies the number of their team on every container. After each team turns in their entry the computer generates a new random number for the team and the box is re-numbered. Only the head judge has access to the new mapping numbers. Food containers are distributed to the judges' tables by table captains, up to 6 entries to each table of 6 Judges.
Judges score each entry on appearance, taste, and tenderness. Judges give a score in whole numbers only form 2 to 9. (2) is the lowest (worst) possible score and 9 is the highest (best) possible score. Judges scores are entered into the computer and each scoring category taste, appearance, texture have a weighting factor assigned to it. The computer provides the final results to 1000th of a point. The category with the highest value is taste, 2nd highest value is tenderness, and the least valued category is appearance.
Infractions & penalties: Improper garnish / score of 1 for appearance from all 6 Judges A late turn-in / score of 1 in all criteria from all 6 judges Improper sauce /score of 1 for appearance from all 6 judges Sculpting, Branding or Marking the meat / score of 1 in all criteria from all 6 judges; Using a meat not qualified for the competition or turning in the wrong meat (i.e. turning in chicken for beef) / score of 1 for all criteria by all 6 judges A marked food container / score of 1 in all criteria by all 6 judges Less than 6 samples in a food container / score of 1 in all criteria by any judge not having a piece to sample, and all judges with a sample change their score in appearance to a 1.
Container Samples/Aluminum foil, foreign material & or stuffing are prohibited in the container. Toothpicks & skewers are allowed as long as they do not protrude outside the container and the lid closes completely. Marked entries, or containers with any of these aforementioned materials, (aluminum foil, stuffing) will receive a 1 in all criteria from all 6 judges.
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