In Murphysboro it’s the “law” that the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS)  and the Memphis Barbecue Network (MBN) both rule!

Last weekend I judged my very first Memphis Barbecue Network barbecue contest since being trained on June 9th of this year.  The event was the 24th Annual Murphysboro Cook-off in Murphysboro, IL.  
 
The barbecue contest is unique in that each year it’s a dual competition, with two separate competitions at the same time.  There is an MBM contest using their rules and procedures and a KCBS contest using their rules and procedures.  There are only a handful or more of sanctioned dual barbecue competitions throughout the nation.  Cooks can prepare barbecue entries for either contest, or both.  Rarely cooking teams will compete in both contests, but this year in Murphysboro a few teams did.  The judges are selected to judge either MBN or KCBS, based on what they have been trained to judge.  Often judges who are dually trained wind up judging categories in both contests.

This was my third year judging the contest, but the past two years as a KCBS judge.
 
The contest is run by “The Legend” Mike Mills, his daughter Amy, and the staff of his famous restaurant the 17th Street Bar & Grill.  It always draws some of the very best cooking teams on the barbecue circuit.  The contest’s perennial sloan is “Praise the Lard - an old-fashioned tent revival celebrating the Almighty Pig”.  If you’ve never judged this contest before, you really need to put it at the top of your “to judge someday” list to attend.  Murphysboro is a quaint little town in Southern Illinois just down the road from Carbondale.  Cooks and judges get treated like Hollywood stars.  The Friday evening dinner, preceding the Saturday barbecue contests, is catered by the 17th Street Bar & Grill and is to die for.  here is a truckload of some of the best pork ribs, pulled pork, and side dishes you’ll ever want to eat.  Everyone “pigs out” at the dinner because the food is so amazing; knowing full well that the next day we’ll be eating even more barbecue during judging.  But you just don’t care.  At least I never do!  In addition to all that, Mike Mills is one of the nicest and unassuming people you’d ever want to meet.
 
When you complete your MBN training you are considered "trained", but not “certified”.  In order to become certified you must judge each of the 3 MBN judging categories - Whole Hog, Shoulder and Ribs - and  judge at least once each in the Blindand On-site format.  You don't receive your actual judge badge until you become certified.  It usually takes two contests to meet these criteria.

At MBN competitions onlyPork is permitted; no chicken or brisket like at KCBS competitions.  At Murphysboro I judged Whole Hog in the Blind format and Shoulder in the On-site format.  Being able to judge whole hog at my first MBN contest was kind of a big deal, as everyone wants to judge it and it is so different than the meats judged a KCBS competition.  I appreciated the assignment.

I was quite nervous about judging MBN since I'd never done on-site or whole hog before; though I'd judged almost 40+
barbecue contests and was familiar with whole hog.  Being face to face with a cooking team while evaluating them, as opposed to being in a room only with their meat box in front of you, was a daunting thought prior to actually doing it.   It
had been a long time since I felt like a “rookie”. Fortunately I had a few of my KCBS barbecue buddies there who were that were dual certified, as well as a few new MBN barbecue buddies, to give me advice and answer my questions prior to my first judging.

It was raining when the judges meeting began, so we were told we’d be judging “above the belt" for Appearance for on-site.  This translates to when we were evaluating the Appearance of the team sites, we weren’t permitted to evaluate
the cleanliness of the floor or ground, shoes, pants, or anything below approximately 3 feet due to the muddy conditions.  I'd never heard of the term or concept “above the belt” before as it related to barbecue.  So, I’d learned something new very early on in the day.

I was also fortunate to blind judge the whole hog category first, which got me acclimated to an MBN contest.  It allowed me to judge and score for the first time in a familiar format (like at a KCBS contest) and thus helped me to relax. OK, and to get confident as well. 

In blind judging the whole hog our table had 5 entries that were divided in the boxes by the 3 portions of the hog that are judged: the shoulder, loin and ham.  Four of the five entries had 1 or 2 barbecue sauces to compliment the meat; a mild and a hot.  We were expected to taste the meat and sauce alone, and then together. There were a total of 4 judges at my table.  
  
I felt the blinding judging went very well, as again I was familiar with the format.  I took my time evaluating each meat entry and the related sauce, and in recording my scores.  I thought my scores and rankings were “accurate”.  It was fairly easy for me to evaluate the entries and very fun too.  All 5 of cooking teams did an excellent job and we didn’t receive any subpar barbecue.   After all the scorecards were submitted we discussed the meats we’d just evaluated. Half of us liked entry #2 and half of us liked entry #4.  So as a result of that, I felt confident that I did a good job.  Doing a good job is my most heart-felt goal (obsession actually) at every barbecue contest I’ve ever judged, and ever will judge. 

 Next, I went outside to judge three cooking teams for shoulder on-site.  Luckily the rain had stopped by then.  At this contest there are volunteers called “Ambassadors” to show you to your teams’ sites and help you stay on time.  You have one hour to visit the 3 teams and initially score them, spending 10-15 minutes with each team.  You make your notes and initial scores after leaving the team’s site and before visiting your next team's site.  You record your final category scores and your ‘Overall Impression’ scores ranking the teams 1 through 3 when you get back to the judges meeting area. 
 
Having two Ambassadors to assist me took a big load off my mind and helped me focus on my evaluation responsibilities.  Of course at my next contest I won’t need assistance, as I’ll be a “veteran” and not nervous!  
  
At the team sites I listened intently to the presentations that focus on where the meat was procured, how the meat was prepared, the cooking method and preferences, the temperature cooked at, the seasoning used, the sauce(s)
presented, and any barbecue secrets and stories they wanted to let me know about.  Then came the best part of  any judging event, tasting the succulent barbecued meat.  And what an amazing experience that was!  Each of the pork shoulders I tasted were excellent, the wonderful smoke and pork flavor exploded in my mouth.  And each of the sauces were professional-grade.  It was some of the best barbecued pork I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating –
honestly.  I’d never lie about anything barbecue related.  
 
In the end, my time at the team sites was extremely enjoyable and went by so quickly.  At each of the 3 teams my
Ambassadors had to let me know that the 15 minutes was up and I had to move on.  What a blast!  And most important of all, I dined on(oops!) sampled some outstandingtasting and very tender pork.

It was extremely hard to score the three teams on their pork shoulder, and differentiating the teams with a 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd ranking.  I spend a lot of time analyzing my scores, reflecting on what I saw, and reviewing the notes I’d taken; thank God for my notes. 

After I finished scoring and handed in my scorecard, I was told that I’d drawn three very good championship barbecue teams to judge.  Which explained why I had so much trouble scoring the teams - and helped sooth my pride.  What I was told was apparently true, not only because of my difficulty scoring the teams, but also in the fact that two of those three teams were in the contest Finals (a total of only 3 teams make the finals).  Moreover, one of those two teams, Tower Rock, won Grand Champion. 

It seems that you eat more meat in an MBN contest than a KCBS contest.  In MBN you are comparing entries as opposed to evaluating them individually, and have sauces to evaluate as best complimenting the meat.  Therefore, you probably eat more tasting the meat by itself, tasting the sauce, tasting the meat with the sauce provided, and re-tasting the meat again against the other entries to ensure you give the“right” score and rank order.  

I hope to judge my second MBN event in Mississippithis coming weekend, and earn my MBN certification by judging the Ribs category. Like with my KCBS judging, I’m now addicted to judging MBN.  Which means attending a few more contests each year and asking for a few more passes from my girlfriend for a few more “weekend barbecue excursions”.

Murphysboro represents excellence in barbecue, hospitality, and the American way of life.  While the rest of the world is governed overall by Murphy’s Law, in Illinois barbecue is governed by Murphys(boro) Law and two great barbecue
organizations!
 
Marc
Where there's smoke, there's probably barbecue!

Having worked for a well-known coffee company for over 10 years, people often ask me “Do you put coffee in your barbecue”?   The answer to that question I tell them is “No, I don’t”.

The other morning, as I was drinking coffee and thinking about what ingredients I’d use to barbecue some pork ribs that afternoon, I began questioning my decision not to use coffee.  Barbecue is my ultimate passion and I love coffee, so it should have been an obvious culinary marriage for me.  The reason I don’t is based on my experiences when first starting to cook true barbecue.  Which most likely had to do with my inexperience, rather than the combination not being compatible to my palate.

I tried coffee in my dry rub first.  When I cooked the meat the coffee burned and left a charred, bitter taste.  Then I decided to grind the coffee finer and incorporate it into the dry rub so it would blend better.  Unfortunately it still burned, but wasn’t quite as bitter.  I experimented with the amount of coffee I used in proportion to the herbs & spices, but just didn’t like the result.  No matter what I tried, I didn’t like it.  So stopped experimenting with coffee in my dry rub and moved on.

Next I tried coffee in my sauce.  After repeated trials, I didn't accomplish a flavor profile I liked.  The coffee flavor was either too bold or non-existent, or didn't mix well with the herbs & spices I used.  So, I still haven’t created a sauce that I’m happy with using coffee, or would present to anyone I cared about.  I’m a perfectionist and a harsh critic of myself.  So naturally I moved on again and haven't experimented with coffee in my sauce in a while.

I also struggled with which brand and roast of coffee I should use.  Do I use a big name coffee or a regular everyday coffee, a dark roast or a lighter roast, a regular ground coffee or an instant coffee?  I played with different coffees, but never settled on any one for my dry rub and sauce.

However, there was one area of barbecue that I’d successfully used coffee in the earlier years of my barbecue journey.  I don’t want you to think I was a total "mixology" failure in the beginning.  It was in my pork and beef mop sauce.  I just clicked when I played with the flavors.  I prefer to use Starbucks Italian Roast VIA (instant), as it blends well with my other ingredients and adds a great level of flavor to the mop.  However, I have a more trusted mop recipe that I use regularly, or alter slightly.  So I haven’t used coffee in my mop sauce in about six months.

It is now apparent after writing this column that I need to be more diligent in incorporating the same coffee and flavors in my barbecue sauce that I use in my mop sauce to achieve a successful coffee-based sauce.  Often it takes something seemingly unconnected to make the obvious, well obvious.  Now I'm motivated to get back in the "laboratory".

I’ve firmly believe that to produce the best barbecue, or any dish, you need to use the best ingredients. This is also true of the coffee used in barbecue.  Whether you’ve chosen a big name brand or a regular everyday brand, I strongly recommend you use a 100% Arabica coffee.  Don’t be fooled and buy an Arabica blend coffee, as it is a mix of Arabica and Robusta coffee beans.  Robusta coffee beans are grown at low attitudes (below 5000 feet), have less flavor, have a tendency to be bitter, and are a low quality bean.  Arabica coffee beans on the other hand, are grown at the higher altitudes (5000 feet and above), grows slower than Robusta beans, and produce a higher quality, better tasting, less bitter coffee.  This translates into a much better taste in your barbecue.   

One of the many great things about barbecue, and cooking in general, is that you can use virtually anything in your dry rub and sauces.  Coffee is just one “out of the box” ingredients that can be added to produce a new or familiar flavor profile.  Items such as tea, fruit, jelly/jam, chocolate, peanut butter, yogurt, beer, wine, dried Worcestershire, and a wide plentitude of the world’s spices are all fair game as possible ingredients.  The strangest thing I’ve ever heard
used in barbecue is marshmallow.  It was used in a barbecue sauce.  While marshmallow is a very likeable food, I can’t imagine any barbecue sauce tasting good with marshmallow in it.  But you never know until you try it.  

So if there is an ingredient that you didn’t like in your barbecue in the past, try it again.  As your barbecue experience grows, your tastes also grow and very often change.  The tolerance for the heavy use of vinegar is a typical barbecue ingredient where this is particularly true; unless you grew up in or around Eastern Carolina.  A lot of people don’t like it
initially, but then grow to like it better as their knowledge and appreciation for barbecue grows. 

So after much reflection and debate, I guess I’m ready to introduce my beloved brand of coffee back into my barbecue again.  As the old axiom goes, “When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”.  Or in my case, take a little break and then try, try again!

 Marc 
Where there's smoke, there's probably barbecue!