Judge, Barbeque Judge

About a week ago, my good friend Jayme called up and asked if I wanted to become a certified barbeque judge.  My obvious answer was of course, what time are you picking me up?  So as fate should have it, Jayme, Mike and I headed down to the Kettering American Legion Post #598, on Father’s Day, to earn our official Kansas City Barbeque Society Judge certification.

KCBS is a 10,000 member organization that hosts over 300 BBQ competitions each year.  The Legion, who is hosting the Ohio Vet BBQ Cookoff in July, hosted the judge certification program.  Mike Lake, the President of KCBS, instructed the 4 1/2 hour class.  Although seeing that we ate our way through that time, it is hard to use the words “instructed” and “class” mind you.

As potential judges, we learned all of the rules, regulations, and procedures.  For instance: 6 pieces of meat, no pooling of sauces, and no red tipped lettuce as garnish.  Jim Weaver (class organizer, BBQ competitor and team leader) and his team stayed up all night to prepare the chicken, ribs, pulled pork and brisket which we enjoyed.  All of it was fabulous…and well judged of course!

The entire experience was a blast, and I am proud to now present myself as a Certified Barbeque Judge!  Now, I just hope that I get to use it.  Better yet, Mike and Jayme tend to think that we have a BBQ team in the making…only time will tell I suppose.