Went to my first KCBS event this past weekend.

[ristau5741]

Since I am a local, I went to the KCBS event in Brunswick Maryland last Saturday 3/4 as a visitor,  I did get to talk to some of the teams, and did learn a lot. saw a bunch of different rigs, and some quite familiar ( just like mine), tasted some really good Q. also. unfortunately with Marylands wacky food service laws, I could only ask for scraps when I saw them available. (different permit required to sell food)  I watched  a couple of people plating, which is an interesting process in itself.    I felt bad for the overnight cooks, with lows in the lo 20's the previous night, and daytime highs in the upper 30's must have been a rough smoke. I did have fun though...

 

[unclebubbas bbq]

The guys on the circuit are a great bunch more than willing to help out or answer questions....short of telling you what's in their rub or sauce.

 

[bbqbrett]

Thats cool that you got to do that. A friend and I were interested in competing a number of years back and did the same thing. I am in Idaho and not a lot of comps around. Once the people realized we were not there looking for a food hand out and were really interested we got lots of good advice and they even threw in a couple of bites. They were not supposed to but with the laws we have in this area but did anyway. Since then we have done a couple of comps and were amazed at how friendly most of the competitors are with each other.

 

[sauced]

Cool.....I started going to some comps last year and in fact got to judge at one of them and that was a great experience. Now I am going to take the certification class to become a certified judge. It was lots of fun walking around and chatting with some of the teams, great people out there!!

 

[rob g]

My wife and I are both KCBS judges. We make a point of going out Friday night to visit with the teams. They are a wealth of knowledge and don't mind sharing. Friday night is more relaxed for them and they have the time to visit. Saturday morning they tend to be busy with getting their turn ins ready and don't have the time to visit apart from a quick hello. After they turn in their meats they are starting into clean up so they are ready for the road after awards.