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What to Eat: Competitive BBQ
6:00 A.M. The sky is just starting to get light... ...as we pull onto the infield at Dover Downs, the famous race track and casino. We are late, we are still sleepy,
and we are total wimps. The true meat masters of barbecue have been prepping
and cooking since noon the day before. Many have been up all night, or at least every hour during the night, tending to their
fires.
This is the First Annual Diamond State BBQ Championship, held in mid-October in Dover, Delaware.
Eighty-four barbecue teams are here, some with enormous customized trailers, others with a pickup and a backyard grill, all
cooking their hearts out at the two-day affair. We meet dozens of teams: the BBQ Gurus. Smoker’s Delight, Florida Skin‘n’Bones, Lo’n’Slow, the Bethany Blues, I-Que, and ButtRub. They come from everywhere, mostly up and down the East Coast. They come from New Jersey and Vermont,
from North Carolina and Texas. The 3 P’s proudly hail from the home of ham, near Smithfield, Virginia. Team Urban Burners
came representing from Camden, NJ. And almost everybody’s just as nice as can be. There are a few intense players, but
for the most part, the camaderie is as thick as the smoke, and clings to your jacket just as long afterward.
Hangin' with the Grillmeister. Our host for the day was Gunner Roe, the Grillmeister, competing out of Galena, Maryland. (By the way, it’s key that you have another name, like Grillmeister.)
Gunner was to be our mentor and guide today, graciously allowing us to chronicle his cooking, follow him around, introducing
us to his pals, and letting us use his trailer, too – no small favor.
We had met Gunner at a pig roast earlier that summer, and had subsequently learned he’s a bit of
a legend. Gunner’s been cue-ing for more than 20 years, starting as a young lad serving up chicken BBQ for some extra
cash at the Wye River Mobile Station on Rt. 50. People heading to Ocean City for the weekend made Gunner’s a required
stop, and his business and reputation grew from there. Gunner has grilled almost everything. His thick book of clippings and
photos shows grilled fish stuffed with crabmeat, grilled crab stuffed with crabmeat, grilled whole hogs, ducks, geese, turkeys,
deer…if you can eat it, he’s grilled it.
But today, Gunner will be grilling precisely the same meats as everyone else – ribs, chicken, pork
butt/shoulder, and beef brisket. These are the categories and rules set up by one of the big kahunas in barbecue, the Kansas
City Barbecue Society. And boy, are there rules. There are rules about the garnishes allowed, the presentation, the cut, rules
on absolutely everything.
The schedule is also stringent. At 11:30, each team must deliver six perfect portions of barbecue chicken to the judges’ area. At 12:00, same thing for the ribs. 12:30, pork bbq. 1:00, brisket. Styrofoam cartons are supplied for the entries, marked with only an anonymous number.
Taking our 'Cues from the Judges. There are 84 independent judges. (There should be as many judges as there are teams, they must bring them in from
all over.) Most, about 90%, of the judges have been certified; which means they’ve taken a judging course
with the Kansas City Barbecue Society and know what to look for.
Six cartons are then delivered to each table. Judges mark the appearance of the entries on a scale of one to ten. Then they take a portion from each of the six cartons and lay them out on paper placemat. It’s a revealing test, you can see a difference immediately between the entries. Finally, it’s tasting time, and judges are not even allowed to talk to each other until their scoring slips are turned in.
Then we must depart again, the next round of judging begins. I am dying at this point. Standing idly by
and watching people eat roughly two pounds of high-quality barbecue for an hour and a half is agonizing. “Are you learning
anything?” the overseeing judge says to me. “Yes,” I respond. “I’m learning how difficult it
is to stand around and watch other people eat barbecue.” “They’re not here to eat,” growls the judge.
“They’re here to taste.”
Back at the tents, the teams scramble to make each deadline and each presentation. How much curly parsley to stick in? Spray the meat with a juice before shipping? Keep it moist? Dry? Shred the pulled pork? Chop it? The decisions are overwhelming, and the responsibility on the runners is huge.
For Foodies, this is the good part. Sampling leftovers. After the deliveries are made, it’s all over but the fat lady singing. Or
at least joining her as she wanders around sampling the wares.
This is the best part of a barbecue competition, at least for the general public like us: the leftovers. And the place is awash in them. When you consider that Gunner alone has cooked six whole slabs of ribs to be certain of twelve perfect ribs -- or that several briskets are needed for just a few slices – the leftovers are a happy fact of life for scavengers. Take the leftovers, multiply by eighty-four, and you’ll see why you want to arrive just after the judging. Trollers like us can taste up and down through the sea of trailers among the best barbecue on the planet. Whether it is generosity or simply the cost of doing business, the contestants simply set out their leavings and we are happy for them.
At 2:00 we meander over to the awards tent. People are tired, anxious, and trying to stay in good spirits
when the results are announced. Probably the gaudiest trophies on the face of the planet are handed out by Fred Bohn, the
head of Culinary Operations for the casino. They are miles high with a plastic smoker on the top of a trophy cup, with a slot
machine attached underneath. However, the real point of interest is the money – and the braggin’ rights.
This event’s a big one on the BBQ circuit, we are told --- for a couple of reasons. First, there’s $20,000 at stake. It seems like a lot. But the money gets divided up between multiple teams, multiple categories, and even category champions. When you look at the sheer amount of meat and supplies people need, as well as entry fees, a smaller prize barely scratches the surface of the cost. Winning an award makes more sense as a real incentive. Many of these guys are caterers, or have sauces
to sell, or are connected with restaurants, or dream of being one of the above. “Voted best ribs” could have a
real benefit. “That’s why the big guns are here,” confides one of the contestants. Suffice it to say that some of the crowd’s favorites did not place. And some did. Gunner’s brisket, for example, which melts in your mouth, would never pass the three-second rule. And numbers were pored over like lab test results. Are the teams deterred? Exhilarated? Everyone was too tired to say. But my guess is that soon, when the smoke clears, they’ll all be back in the game again. To reach Gunner Roe, the Grillmeister visit www.thegrillmeister.com or call 410-648-6805. Gunner's sauces are available online. Just whetted your appetite? We have more info for foodies and photos here, including team banners.
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