Competition BBQ

My city had its Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ festival last weekend, and it was by all accounts a big success. On the music front, I saw a new guy named Gary Clark, Jr. who was tremendous. Tab Benoit was sober and excellent. Del McCoury and the Bel-Airs were dependable and enjoyable. It was sunny, the weather was perfect, and it was free. I live in a great city.

I remain dubious about the concept of Competition Barbecue, though. Don't get me wrong--I love competitive cooking; I'm still mesmerized by old Iron Chef reruns. ("Today, it's a Potato Battle!") And I like barbecue (or "BBQ" if I'm trying to be Joe Six Pack). I just don't get the hoopla about combining them. It doesn't have the fun subtitles of Iron Chef, and there's a certain joylessness to these people that spend a lot of money (tens of thousands of dollars) and time to travel to cities and...make food. I sort of asked around about this (thanks to my natural curiosity and the six or seven beers I had knocked back), and basically heard variations on a theme. We like to cook, we're good at BBQ, so this is the natural next step.

Yes, but. The crap you have to buy is extensive....thousands on a good grill/smoker, hundreds or thousands on other materials and food, and a trailer and /or hauling costs. You have to have a tidy group of people to attempt these competitions. Dozens of teams compete for what appears to be relatively small prizes (given the travel/preparation costs). And I guess you get the honor of being a great BBQ cook as judged by a bunch of people you don't know. But this is one of those things where I figure the only people I would want to impress would be my friends. And if I wanted to do it, I wouldn't have a "competition." I'd do something different. I would call it a "party."

I do want to add that the Beef Brisket sandwich and Pulled Pork Tamale I ate last weekend were terrific, though.