Official NA in May Bar-B-Que Cook Off Rules
While we are a fellowship of suggestions – the members who participate in this event go to a great length & expense to provide food for this event. That is why we do not charge an entry fee and why we ask folks to abide by the rules in order to qualify for an award. Everyone’s effort is appreciated, and we try to reflect that in the number of categories and the general spirit of gathering together to enjoy each other’s abilities & company. Our intent is to aid this by establishing some guidelines.
Team Guidelines:
1. Each team must provide their own supplies and equipment. A full kitchen is available for anyone to use- provided the event kitchen staff is not using it at the time and you clean up after yourself!
2. All cooking, marinating, and seasoning of meat must be done on-site. We suggest that any cakes and bakes entries be done off site. Beans and sauce may be done off site as well and many use store bought as a base.
3. All meat must be fresh, clean and free of any contamination or spoilage. Food preppers must observe guidelines for safe handling of meat and poultry. Food must be thoroughly cooked. All entries must be maintained at a proper temperature before cooking. The judging coordinator may inspect all meat and poultry entries before they are cooked.
4. Only one entry per category will be entered for judging purposes. Presentations will be blind judging for ribs, pulled shoulder, and cakes and bakes. The other categories will be done on site with the team providing a serving for each judge.
5. Cooking may begin after 2 pm on the Friday that the event begins.
6. Each team must maintain a neat and orderly cooking area and clean up their site before departing on Sunday. Any fires must be completely extinguished & watered down with the ashes dispersed.
7. Food that will be donated for the main meal must be whole and not chopped or cut. This will help keep it warm until we eat. Please send them to the kitchen ASAP.
Categories:
1. Pork Ribs – Baby back or St. Louis Ribs
2. Pork Shoulders- Whole shoulder or Boston Butt
3. Beef – Any cut of beef
4. Poultry- Any chicken entry
5. Sauce – any bbq sauce base
6. Baked beans- Show us your favorite recipe
7. Showmanship – Limited to a 3 minute presentation & should be NA recovery oriented
8. Cakes & Bakes- Self-explanatory
Criteria:
The following criteria is used to judge each category:
1. All Meat/Poultry – Tenderness, Flavor, Appearance & Doneness, Overall Impression
2. Beans – Consistency, Flavor, Spice Compatibility, Overall Impression
3. Sauce – Consistency, Flavor & Aroma, Spice compatibility, Overall Impression
4. Showmanship – Enthusiasm, Originality, Style, Amount of Effort, Overall Impression
5. Cakes & Bakes – Flavor, Appearance, Ingredient Compatibility, Overall Impression
Judging Schedule:
All blind entries (Ribs, shoulder, and cakes and bakes) will be turned in starting at 2pm then 2:30 then 3pm. The order will be established at the cooks meeting on Friday evening.
The on site judging times will be decided at the cooks meeting on Friday evening.
The onsite judging will be done by One group of judges who will judge Beef and sauce, the other group will be judging Beans, Poultry, and Showmanship.
All judges are picked by the judging coordinator and are volunteering their service. They are not experts just our brothers and sisters enjoying the event.
BBQ – Team Registration
Each BBQ Team gets 3 discounted weekend passes to the event. ***Only for BBQ Teams*** We know how expensive it is bringing equipment and food, so we wanted to offer you the passes at a discount. Doesn’t include lodging.