Tailgate Tigers Summer Rib Camp
So what do you do if you have a group of BBQ geeks who want to have a summer event? Introducing Tailgate Tigers Inaugural Intramural Rib Cook Off. After watching way too much Pitt Masters on TV we divided up into five teams. The teams then overdosed on YouTube video on how to prepare Competition Pork Spare Ribs. The teams also sought advice from anyone who stood still long enough to be harassed about how to cook the perfect rack.
We also recruited four reasonably reputable judges and set up a stolen form TV system of judging. The judges shall remain nameless to protect their reputation in the local community. To give you confidence in their qualifications let me describe them as follows; Three were from other Hogs For The Cause related teams. Two of those three work for rather respected food and beverage brands in town. The fourth is the director of a museum in town directly involved with meat and meat productions. None of them are lightweights and none of the four were sure how they got talked into what they were doing. The debriefing consensus by all was, “it was a lot of fun.”
We did lose one team a week out from the competition as Serrhel and Patty actually had to work. The other teams were Ronnie & Bill, Robbie & Christian, Mike & Mark and Ty & I.
Vickie & Carrie agreed to administrate the festivities. They passed out the blind boxes, had us select playing cards to get our entry numbers and received our turn in at precisely 3:00 PM. They were also in charge of making the judges read the rules, placing them in their private room and receiving the score with comments at the end of the judging.
The judges were ask to judge on a three point scale for Appearance (Shape of ribs and cut), Color, Texture (Tear) and Taste. The judges also were asked to write notes for feedback to the contestants. This was also done in a “blind” fashion, so no friendships were lost or noses would be bloodied.
Ty & I had the Lang’s & Traeger’s at temp for 8:00 AM in anticipation of a 3:00 PM turn in. Each team was allowed to cook two racks of ribs and from those racks had to place four individually cut ribs into a turn in box.
Interestingly enough all four teams had a similar start. Of course the rub used by each team is a state secret but all were basically the same with a few twist. Three of the four teams trimmed their own ribs to a St. Louis cut. One team bought ribs precut. No harm, no foul. Most went with a 1½ to 2 hour initial cook period. Most tested and then wrapped in foil with a combination of brown sugar, butter and other mysteries. The ribs were then temped at another hour and withdrawn to rest. There was a significant divergence in the glazing process for the ribs.
The higher scoring ribs racks were the two using a combination of a base of standard sauce with a mixture of light cane syrup and pepper jelly. This gave the ribs a nice sheen and a subtle kick.
The day went by quickly and the judges took their work seriously. In the end Mike and Mark prevailed. The good news is it was a great day and we all believe the rib turn in for Hogs next year will have a more intense interest.
�TDl