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Kiwanis Club wins showmanship award at Cape barbecue festivalSaturday, August 23, 2008
The Kiwanis Club's skit, the "Swine Olympics," consisted of costumed members of the team splashing around in an inflatable kiddie pool. It earned them the first-place trophy. The showmanship event is the most light-hearted part of the two-day festival at Arena Park. To accompany its "Gilligan's Island"-themed skit, the Bank of Advance barbecue team offered the judges barbecued pork steak and umbrella drinks served in coconuts to keep away the "headhunters." Forty-four teams from five states are competing in the festival at Arena Park this year, said festival chairwoman Casey Hertenstein of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees. Nine new teams are participating this year. The teams present four types of meat — chicken, pork, ribs and brisket — in order to be eligible for the $1,000 first-place and $750 second-place prizes. Cash awards were not given out for the showmanship event Friday night; in fact, judges for the contest are kept from the premises Friday to avoid any mingling with the competitors, Hertenstein said. Hertenstein said certified judges are encouraged to abstain from eating much before the tasting because of the sheer amount of barbecue they're expected to eat. "The chances of you consuming five to seven pounds of meat are pretty likely," Hertenstein said. Marie Davie of Jackson, who is competing with her 14-year-old twin daughters as the team "Hot N' Sassy," uses different types of wood depending on what she's making. "It's quite a science," she said. Davie called brisket the trickiest because the meat is the most difficult to break down so it's tender. "It takes a long time to cook it just right," she said. Tim Koch of Olive Branch, Ill., agreed that brisket was the toughest cut to get right. But it can be done. Koch's team, Lemons-Coin Jukebox Grillery, prepared the grand champion brisket last year at a competition in Jackson. The team is composed of several men who attended high school together, Koch said. Despite the skill involved, some of the competition is outside the cooks' control. Since every judge won't get a chance to taste every entry and judges may differ on how sweet or hot they like their barbecue, "there's a little bit of luck involved," Davie said. Because of health department restrictions, the food prepared by competitors is not available to the public, but Mac's Smokehouse Concessions carries a menu of pulled pork sandwiches, slabs of ribs and whole pork butts for those who want a taste of something smoky. 335-6611, extension 245 Were you there? Have a comment? Log on to semissourian.com/today Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
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That "health dept. restrictions" is a big bunch of HOOOYEE, so the only way to enjoy yourself and eat some BBQ is to be a judge or in the contest. Then what is the point of even going. It seems that the "health dept" could make an exception so that if you a re not an insider you could at least get a taste. I wonder how much they throw away after they get their judging sample......
Not being able to adapt to changes is why Cape is falling behind everyone else. Our health dept has nothing better to do than restrict an event such as this? Try goin to "Ryans" and doing some real "health safety" That place is nasty!!
Well said! St. Louis has an annual event called "Taste of St. Louis" where several local restaurants set up booths in downtown St. Louis and give patrons samples. The SEMO district fair has some pretty iffy looking food booths that the health dept does not seem to restrict (and people actually pay to eat that stuff!). I don't see what the difference between those two events and getting a taste at this one are.
Wow. I didn't know the public couldn't buy anything???? Thats the stupidest thing I've heard!!
Whats funny is that they're gonna let all of these filthy, dirty, roach infested, disgusting, food poisonous, diarreah causing chinease food joints sell food, but they won't let actual decent people try to make a buck or to give to charity.
amazing! (also, why are they're no restaraunt grades posted on the restaraunt like they have in St. Louis?????
The health department restrictions are disappointing, but they help protect both the bystanders and the participants. If you don't pass out food, you can't get sued when someone gets sick! Teams usually have co-workers, family and friends hanging around who are allowed to eat.
As far as how much is wasted - teams submit only a small amount of each item, which are generally cut in small pieces and distributed among the judges for tasting.
I agree that our health department is antiquated in this area. On the Food Channel they show folks buying tickets to taste samples from the cook-offs. The cookers can supply the samples because they cook much more food than they present to the judges. But we are invited to a cook-off and are expected to buy food from a restaurant stand?
And the saddest thing is Mac's BBQ is okay for the most part, but the stuff most of the teams cook is SO MUCH BETTER, they are not mass producing it for sale and take much better time and care, and just think of the variety you get to taste at one place. I have been to some contest and they do give out samples and there are peoples choice awards for the teams voted on by regualar people and not sometimes BBQ snobs who have become judges..
When my wife and I first saw this article we though that we would go out there today for some award-winning BBQ. After we wasted our time reading about stupid BBQ skits, we read that the Health Dept is restricting who is able to eat the meat. So we will not be going out to the BBQ competition today.
If they are worried about people getting sick and suing the competitors, I wonder if they would have let them do this if the customer signs a disclaimer. I know that it sounds stupid, but it should protect them from being sued. If that is the real reason why they restrict people from trying the food.
I will try to post this again despite the paper's quirky problems day.
If the health department can inspect food stands at the fair then why can't they inspect the bbq cookers? Perhaps the cookers don't want to bother with that but why advertise it as event in that case. I would love to hear from the cookers as to how they feel about this issue.
I can't speak for the other BBQ teams, but my husband had a team this year and we found it very disappointing that we couldn't share with the public. We understand the liability and that they want to protect both sides, and we still had a wonderful time, but one of the main reasons that we do this is to share our love of BBQ with people. Hopefully in the future they can figure out some way to work out this obstacle.
dnb
Thanks for your input and I would love to have a nibble of your bbq.
First I would like to respond to bob76. I am one of those people who he labeled "BBQ snobs who have become judges." I judged the contest Saturday - one of 48+ "regular people" who traveled from all over to donate their time to help make the contest a success. I drove 3 hours from Memphis, TN. Others came from both closer and further away to judge. We receive no compensation, we have to pay for our own gas, food (and lodging if we stay overnight). We do it just because we love BBQ and the people who cook it. From check-in at 10 a.m. until the judging is over at around 2 p.m. we are sequestered in the judging building (in this case the arena building) and are not allowed to leave for any reason. Does this sound like your idea of what a "BBQ snob" would enjoy doing?
Oh, and we also have to pay $50 to $60 to take a class to learn how to judge and a yearly membership fee of around $30 to be allowed to do this. I am a certified judge with both the Kansas City Barbecue Society and the Memphis BBQ Network. My wife and I will judge at around 16 contests this year - some as day trips, and some as 2 or 3 overnight stays. Sound like fun?
Now, as to health department regulations, yes it's a bummer to see all that good 'que and not be able to taste it. Some contests have People's Choice awards so that the general public can taste competition level 'que for a small fee. Other contests don't have the manpower to handle this extra event in addition to all the work they have to do to set up and run the main event. I get frustrated by those regs myself, but they are there to protect you and me both. Judges can't even take leftover meat out of the judging building, and believe me, there is quite a bit left over.
Each judge tastes 6 samples of 4 categories. That's 24 pieces of meat. Imagine 1 chicken thigh, 1 or 2 ribs, a serving of pork and a healthy slice of brisket multiplied by 6. That's a lot of meat, and I have yet to meet a judge that could consume that much. So there is a lot of meat that winds up in the trash cans. But there is really no other way to handle it.
The teams have leftover meat as well. Most of them have an outlet for it. They bag it after the contest & keep it on ice till they get home - then they donate it to food banks, nursing homes, orphanages and the like.
Most contests have at least one place on site where the general public can purchased BBQ cooked by some of the teams. But even if they do not, you can still have fun talking with the teams ande maybe picking up some pointers for your own BBQ. And you just might get bitten by the BBQ bug. Some teams are looking for new members, and we are ALWAYS looking for more good judges.
-Santa o<|;-)>>>
In his post gehagge wrote, "...we read that the Health Dept is restricting who is able to eat the meat. So we will not be going out to the BBQ competition today."
How's that for an attitude? I won't get any free food, so I'm not going! Do you boycott football games because they won't let you suit up? Do you skip rodeos because they won't let you ride a bull?
There are many more reasons to attend a BBQ contest than just to get the free samples. You get to see different cooking methods. You get to swap recipes with the entrants. And most of all, you get to meet some GREAT people.
I said in an earlier post that there were a couple of ways you could get into the "in" crowd. You could join a team, or you could become a judge. But there is an even easier way to be a part of the contest, and it won't cost you a dime. As it gets close to next year's contest, contact the group that's putting it on and VOLUNTEER! There is always a shortage of warm bodies to help put these things on, and as a volunteer you will get to mingle with the teams and get to eat some really fine 'que.
(Those of you who only want some free 'que and a warm fuzzy feeling for helping a good cause can stop reading now. Those of you who are REAL BBQ nuts, keep reading.)
Actually, gehagge's story is a lot like mine. Back in the early days of Memphis in May, one could walk down any path & find teams handing out samples. I used to go every year & have a fine time. Then the health department stopped all that. No more free samples. So I just quit going. Then I was reading a radio dj's blog one day, & he was saying that MIM needed volunteers. He said there would be a sign-up meeting with free food & "beverages." Well, I never turn down free food, and I always enjoy a good beverage. I went to the volunteer sign-up event, found a committee I wanted to work on, & I've been volunteering ever since. As a volunteer, I can't walk down any path at MIM without someone inviting me into their area to partake of refreshments. (Ok, it's usually beer and margaritas, but I can make the sacrifice. And they DO have soft drinks and water if you as ask nicely.)
To make a long story short, I had so much fun that week that I wanted to do it more than once a year. Two months after MIM they put on a judging school; I paid my money & took the course, passed & have been judging ever since. The next year I realized that there weren't enough MIM sanctioned contests to go to; I wanted more. KCBS was having a judging school, so I signed up for it too. MIM decided to stop sanctioning contests, another group (Memphis BBQ Network) stepped in as a sanctioning body, & I grandfathered in.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you HAVE to go any further than volunteering at your local contest. For a lot of people, that's probably enough. But if you want more, the opportunity is there.
For more information on the organizations, go to www.kcbs.us and www.mbnbbq.com.
-Santa o<|;-)>>>
sclaus@hotmail.com