Guidance on how to enter and succeed in barbecue competitions, accompanied by pragmatic counsel for aspiring competitors. I delineate procedural and attitudinal recommendations, advising entrants to embrace incremental victories, hone category-specific skills, and persist despite the vicissitudes of judging that render outcomes unpredictable even for seasoned teams. We elucidate the social and familial dimensions of barbecue, describing how collaborative roles, shared tasks, and home cooking rituals reinforce both professional practice and personal gratification. I reflect on experiential subtleties such as palate variability and the etiquette of tasting other teams’ offerings, urging restraint and constructive feedback rather than corrosive criticism. We relate illustrative anecdotes that underscore humility and delight in the craft, and we affirm that barbecue continues to provide daily pleasure and communal connection. Ultimately, I exhort novices to view competition as a learning trajectory, to cultivate patience, and to measure success by continual improvement as much as by trophies.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
Painted Hills Natural Beef
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Speaker A:
This is Barbecue Nation After Hours.
Speaker A:
The conversation that took place after the show ended.
Speaker A:
Hey, everybody, it's jt and this is a special version of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:
It is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:
Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker A:
That's Painted Hills Natural Beef, everybody.
Speaker A:
Welcome to After Hours here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:
I'm JT along with Ms. Leanne Whippen, hall of Famer.
Speaker A:
I'm going to keep saying that because it's a fact.
Speaker B:
Fine with me.
Speaker A:
It's fun.
Speaker A:
So it's.
Speaker A:
It's all good.
Speaker A:
It's all good.
Speaker A:
One of the.
Speaker A:
I know you get in invoiced, you get emails and, you know, people see you at competitions or whatever, and they ask you questions.
Speaker A:
What's the.
Speaker A:
What's probably the most common question you.
Speaker B:
Get asked is how to get into barbecue competitions.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
People are there and they.
Speaker B:
They want to know how.
Speaker B:
How do I get to do this?
Speaker B:
You know, So I give them, you know, bits and pieces of advice because I encourage everyone to do it if it's something that they, you know, might want to do.
Speaker B:
It's fun.
Speaker A:
Do you ever look at them and they are.
Speaker A:
Has anybody.
Speaker A:
Let me rephrase that.
Speaker A:
Has anybody brought you up and say, Ms. Whippen, I would really love you to taste my chicken.
Speaker A:
I think it's the best in the world.
Speaker A:
And you bite into it and you want to do what your dad did, which is spit it out on the.
Speaker A:
But you really can't.
Speaker A:
I mean, you don't want to be that, you know, soul crushing to somebody.
Speaker A:
That's new.
Speaker A:
How do you handle those situations?
Speaker B:
Don't really see that that often.
Speaker B:
More.
Speaker B:
More of more.
Speaker B:
What I get is a competitor who thinks their brisket rocks, and they'll bring it over to me and say, taste this, because they're proud of it.
Speaker B:
It's not an opinion on how did I do today.
Speaker B:
It's more of like, I think I hit.
Speaker B:
And, yeah, that's usually what I get.
Speaker B:
And for the most part, they're right.
Speaker B:
I'm not kidding.
Speaker B:
They're right.
Speaker B:
They know.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
Well, you know, and I would assume it's how many beers you've had and stuff, too, at that time, you know, that can affect your taste buds.
Speaker A:
So I've been told.
Speaker A:
I've never experienced that personally, but, you know, like that I've seen people that we've talked to on the show, fairly new into the biz, if you will excuse me.
Speaker A:
But they go batshit crazy all of a sudden.
Speaker A:
They're in competitive barbecue, you know, and it's addictive.
Speaker A:
Yeah, it's like golf, but cleaner or less clean, I should say.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
You know, like that.
Speaker A:
I, I, I wish everybody well out there.
Speaker A:
I really do.
Speaker A:
But you always got to remember, if you're a true competitor, there's always one winner.
Speaker A:
But you can.
Speaker A:
You can take small victories and turn them into big victories.
Speaker A:
That's how I.
Speaker B:
You've got four.
Speaker B:
You've got four categories.
Speaker B:
You can win a first place, and so you don't have to win GC or, you know, reserve just to get a call to be in the top 10.
Speaker B:
And any one category is an achievement, in my opinion.
Speaker B:
Also, when you take into consideration how many teams might be at the contest, I mean, you get some, you know, 60, 70 teams, and if you get a call, that's pretty good odds.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker B:
I mean, not odds.
Speaker B:
Pretty good that you got a call and, you know, I've been at contests where I've had no calls.
Speaker B:
It happens, you know, just, if you like what you're doing, just keep doing it.
Speaker A:
Well, if, you know, we had Michael Simon on not long ago in his new show, Barbecue usa, and there were teams on those shows that you and I were familiar with, and they were kind of focusing on them, and they got no calls, or they got one call, and it was ninth in pork or something like that, and the rest of it, they never made a call or, you know, received one.
Speaker A:
So it can happen to anybody, even the best of them.
Speaker A:
I mean, we've seen Myron do that.
Speaker A:
If you.
Speaker B:
Sure.
Speaker B:
When we did the original Pitmaster shows, they followed us around.
Speaker B:
That was all real time.
Speaker B:
It wasn't scripted.
Speaker B:
And there were many times, you know, you give Tuffy and Myron there.
Speaker B:
There are many times, you know, that they, they wouldn't get calls.
Speaker B:
It's.
Speaker B:
It just happens.
Speaker A:
Yeah, well, it's just part of life like that.
Speaker A:
So does barbecue still bring you joy?
Speaker B:
Absolutely.
Speaker B:
Every day.
Speaker B:
Every day.
Speaker B:
I mean, yesterday was Labor Day.
Speaker B:
Spent it with my family, and we cooked out, and it's just part of my world.
Speaker A:
When you get together with your family, do you do most of the cooking, or do you let your daughters do?
Speaker A:
Well, I know one of your daughters lives up here, so she's a little far away to be doing the potato salad.
Speaker B:
No, but my daughter here in Tampa, like, yesterday, she was in charge of.
Speaker B:
We did a jalapeno cornbread, and she wanted to try a new recipe, as did I, and she did the cornbread.
Speaker B:
We all have, like, our little jobs, but she's very good on the grill, but her husband, he lit the fire and I did the cooking, but at the same time he was right by my side, you know, assisting, because I was doing these sausages was like sauteed onions and cheese.
Speaker B:
And I had to control the fire because I didn't want to burn the underside of the sausage before the cheese melted.
Speaker B:
And I tell him, you know, close the vent or whatever.
Speaker B:
And he was standing there with the gloves to pull it off.
Speaker B:
And so we worked in tandem because he's very much interested.
Speaker B:
And he was also the photographer.
Speaker A:
Very good, very good.
Speaker B:
So it's always, it's always a team effort.
Speaker B:
I'm not always doing the cooking, but okay, yes, I am in some fashion.
Speaker B:
You know, it's not like I like to rule the grill, but you know, I like it.
Speaker B:
So.
Speaker B:
But I prefer people to help and, you know, maybe learn something or have fun.
Speaker A:
I actually prefer when people don't help me, really.
Speaker B:
See, I don't mind it at all.
Speaker A:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:
Because I mean, for doing stuff like when, when I had the catering business, you know, as you just said, everybody had their own little department, their own little assignments like that, you know, like.
Speaker A:
But when it came to the, to the major things, I, I had a fellow that worked with us, great guy, think the world of him.
Speaker A:
He was kind of the only guy I trusted to go out and he kind of stayed by the smokers all the time, you know, that was his area.
Speaker A:
And he hung out there and he, and he did that.
Speaker A:
But I did all the seasoning, the selection of the meats and what have you.
Speaker A:
And I would be going out there at least four times an hour just to check on things, you know.
Speaker B:
Yeah, my son in law's gotten really good at ribs.
Speaker B:
He'll get the ribs and I don't even have to do a darn thing.
Speaker B:
He's mastered ribs.
Speaker B:
My daughter could do a pork butt from the beginning to the end without my assistance.
Speaker B:
Also reverse sear steaks.
Speaker B:
Son in law's got that down.
Speaker B:
So I know if I'm going over there I can relax a little bit.
Speaker B:
I don't even have to touch the grill.
Speaker B:
They've got it.
Speaker B:
So, you know, it is nice sometimes to have someone else do it too.
Speaker A:
I kind of stopped, I kind of stopped when I knew people were inviting me just to cook, you know, I kind of stopped going to those.
Speaker A:
And this will happen to every, anybody, you know, because you, you kind of get some creds on being able to do something and then they, they Grow a little bit, which is great.
Speaker A:
But then pretty soon you're gonna find out, like, hey, we're gonna have this deal.
Speaker A:
You guys are invited and what do you want me to bring?
Speaker A:
Or what do you want?
Speaker A:
You know?
Speaker A:
How soon do you want me there?
Speaker A:
Well, it's going to.
Speaker A:
, so could you be here at:
Speaker B:
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:
So.
Speaker B:
Well, that's a compliment to you.
Speaker B:
They like your food and appreciate it, you know, and they want to have good food for their friends and family, and they can count on you.
Speaker B:
So, you know, it's, It's.
Speaker B:
It's a compliment.
Speaker B:
And you certainly don't want to go over there and have bad food, right?
Speaker A:
No, no.
Speaker A:
Off the air, I'll tell you about one of our dearest friends and his wife.
Speaker A:
When I'll tell the story now because it's after hours.
Speaker A:
So they weren't married yet.
Speaker A:
They just started kind of dating.
Speaker A:
This is a long time ago.
Speaker A:
And we always had big.
Speaker A:
When we weren't on the road, we had big Sunday kind of family dinners at the ranch.
Speaker A:
All right.
Speaker A:
And if you were walking down the street and you looked hungry, I'd probably drag you in off the street and, you know, give you a plate.
Speaker A:
So she wanted to bring something, so she made a jello salad, you know, and my buddy.
Speaker A:
And the first.
Speaker A:
First time he was introducing her to us, they were both dressed up.
Speaker A:
He had khakis on, press button down shirt.
Speaker A:
I mean, you know, and I'm there in a scrunchie T shirt and looking like hell as normal.
Speaker A:
And he goes to put this jello salad on the table, and he kind of lifts it up, sets it down, and it goes whoosh all over him.
Speaker A:
It never set, you know.
Speaker B:
Wow.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
And so all over these nice tan khakis, he had green jello and, oh, no mandarin oranges or whatever.
Speaker A:
So for Christmas, I bought her a mandarin orange cookbook.
Speaker A:
Jello cookbook.
Speaker B:
Jello cookbook.
Speaker B:
How to cook Jello.
Speaker A:
I did.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I did that.
Speaker A:
So.
Speaker A:
And that's.
Speaker A:
Those are the folks that I get invited to cook for a lot.
Speaker A:
So anyway, it's all good.
Speaker A:
Well, Leanne, I think we've covered a lot here.
Speaker B:
Yes, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker A:
Yeah, it's fun.
Speaker A:
And we will do it again at some point, but it's.
Speaker A:
It's always good to dig a little more information out of you because you're just a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker B:
Oh, thank you.
Speaker B:
I appreciate it.
Speaker A:
Yeah, that's going to wrap it up for after hours.
Speaker A:
This week, and Leanne and I will be back next week with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
