COOKED ON SITE

All categories will be prepared/made and cooked on-site during the competition by teams of at least 1 and no more than 5 students. See each category for individual rules.

There is to be no like-meat to be brought to any competition, by anyone, that could be mistaken for competition meat. 

Meat approved to be brought on-site for lunches would be chicken legs, hamburger patties, hot dogs, and sausage.

The cooking area will be approximately 20’ x 20’. The area will be roped off and only students will be allowed to be in this area while the competition is taking place which begins with the meat pick-up at 6 a.m. until 3:10 p.m.

All adults must remain behind the tape until ALL TEAMS HAVE TURNED IN THEIR BRISKET (3:10 pm). Violators of this state championship rule could disqualify their team. 

No adults will be allowed in the cooking area once the competition has officially started. If an adult, or any body part of an adult, enters the cooking area during the competition the team may be disqualified from the competition. The only exception to this rule will be in the case of an emergency. 

 The team must maintain the cooking area in a clean and sanitary condition. An HSBBQ board member or designee may disqualify a team for unsanitary conditions or entries. 

Prior to the competition, the HSBBQ Board will determine the turn-in times. The turn-in times will be sent to teams in the Regional information email and announced during the Cooks Meeting.  

Standard turn-in times for competing are: 

• Dessert - 10:00 am, Beans – 11:00 am, Chicken – 12pm, Ribs – 1:30 pm, Brisket – 3:00   pm

Extended turn-in times for larger Regionals and for State are: 

• Dessert – 9:00 am, Beans – 10:00 am, Chicken – 12:00 pm, Ribs – 1:30 pm, Brisket – 3:00 pm 

Teams are responsible for making sure they know the turn-in times for each competition they compete in. The above times are a guideline.  

All meat will be furnished on the morning of the competition and will be prepared from scratch with the time constraints of the competition.  THERE IS TO BE NO LIKE-MEAT BROUGHT TO A COMPETITION THAT COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR COMPETITION MEAT. ( Meat approved for lunches would be chicken legs, hamburger patties, hot dogs, and sausage)

No pre-marinating, pre-soaking, or pre-spicing prior to the official start time is allowed. 

• Chicken – Each team will turn in a whole chicken that is cut in half, fully jointed with skin on, and meat side up.  The wing tip may be on or off. The chicken must fit in the tray with the lid closed. 
• Ribs – Each team must turn in seven fully cut-apart pork spareribs. The ribs must be placed in the tray horizontally and accordion-style from the hinge side of the box down.
• Brisket – Each team will turn in seven full slices, with the ends on and no thicker than 3/8” and no thinner than 1/4”.   The brisket must be placed in the tray horizontally and accordion-style from the hinge side of the box down. 

                                               No meat will be allowed to leave the team’s site area. 

When preparing meat products for turn-in, nothing may be added to the meat after it has been placed in the tray. 

While at the Turn In table, the team will be instructed to correct their turn-in if sauce or juice is added to the meat. 

Any garnishes are prohibited. 

No markings on the box, ticket, or foil are allowed. Foil cannot be folded, torn, etc.  

Beans will be started at the competition site from dry pinto beans. Each team must use only dry pinto beans but may add additional ingredients. 

 After the Cooks Meeting, beans may be soaked in WATER ONLY overnight. No additional ingredients may be added to the beans until 0600 Saturday morning. Doing so may disqualify the team from the bean entry or from the competition.

 Once the beans are put into the turn-in cup, all additional ingredients must be smaller than the diameter of a dime or small marble.  

Desserts must:

• Be prepared and cooked on-site
• Must contain at least 5 individually purchased ingredients
• Must be made from scratch, except for the crust which can be chosen from the approved item list. (See list for approved items.)
• No cake mixes or pre-made mixes will be allowed
• No puddings of any type are allowed--If you have questions ask--
• Hand-made, on-site, Tortillas (From scratch)
• An accurate recipe must be submitted with each entry. Do not tape the recipe (which must include recipe's proper name, ingredients & method cooked) to the bottom of the container
• Place the PRINTED (not handwritten) recipe in a Ziploc bag and bring it with you when you turn in your entry. DO NOT WRITE the team’s name, school, or anything on the baggie or on the recipe)
• Topping items (such as cookie/candy crumbles which are placed on top of a dessert) may be used to garnish BUT DO NOT COUNT AS PART OF THE 5 INGREDIENTS

NO PRE-MADE DESSERTS ARE ALLOWED. 

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Pies
• Cakes
• Cupcakes
• Cookies
• Brownies

ADDITIONAL ITEMS NOT ALLOWED ARE:

• Canned pie fillings
• Canned pastry fillings
• Puddings (of any type)

APPROVED PACKAGED (PRE-MADE) ITEMS TO BE USED FOR CRUSTS:

• Pillsbury Pie Crusts (Other brands comparable to this are acceptable.)

                The dough must be unrolled and hand-formed into a pie pan.

                Piecrust cannot be purchased pre-formed in a pie pan.

• Honey Maid Graham Crackers (Other brands comparable to this are acceptable.)

                Graham crackers crust must be homemade and hand-formed into a pie pan.

                Graham cracker crust cannot be purchased pre-formed in a  pie pan.

• Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Frozen Pastry Dough Sheets (Other brands comparable to this are acceptable.)
• Dynasty Egg Roll/Spring Roll Wrappers (Other brands comparable to this are acceptable.)

All fires for cooking meat must be wood or a wood product.

You can use gas or electric starters to start the wood but may not use it for cooking the meat. 

Once the meat has been placed in the pit, you may not restart your fire with gas or electric starters. 

Any type of commercial-made, homemade or shop-made pit may be used.  All pits must use only wood or wood products. 

Pellet smokers and guru-style fans are not allowed for HSBBQ competitions. 

Teams cannot share a pit/smoker.   A school may have two pits/smokers on one trailer, however, there must be a separation of areas for the two teams using the pits./smokers to work. No combined workspace is allowed.

• A taped ticket will be affixed to the top of each tray. 
• Once in the judging area, each tray will be assigned a box number and to a table. · Entries will be judges by at least five judges who are 18 years of age or older. 
• All entries will be judged on their appearance, taste, and texture.  
• Single-Round Judging – The scores will be used to determine category placement. Once all five competition categories (dessert, beans, chicken, ribs, and brisket) are scored, the computer program will add the scores together to determine overall placement. 
• Damaged trays may be returned to an HSBBQ Board Member or representative for replacement ONLY if the original ticket is attached.  
• If the ticket is lost, the ticket will not be replaced and the team will receive a score of zero for that category. 

All entries will be submitted in identical containers which have been assembled and brought to the site by High School BBQ, Inc. The container for dessert, chicken, ribs, and brisket is an approximately 9” x 9” hinged styrofoam tray. 

Each team will be provided a piece of foil for each turn-in by High School BBQ, Inc., and may not be substituted with any other foil. The foil supplied is to be placed in the bottom of each tray.  You may choose not to put foil ONLY in the dessert tray. However, all meat categories must have foil in the bottom of each tray. A styrofoam cup and lid will be provided by High School BBQ, Inc. for the beans.  

Brisket will be the first tiebreaker. If there is a tie in points, the team that finishes higher in the brisket category will be placed higher.  If there are still ties then the ribs will be the next tiebreaker; then chicken; then beans; and finally the dessert.

There will be an additional 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after the turn-in time. This allows each team time to have their product checked in and correct any mistakes before the window closes. If a team misses the window, the product will not be accepted and will not be judged.  

                                                          It is important that teams watch the time!

All teams and mentors will be expected to conduct themselves in a friendly, courteous, and professional manner. 

Any team, teacher, mentor, or parent who does not conduct themselves in a professional manner may be given one warning and then may be disqualified and possibly expelled from future competitions. This includes disrespect to or speaking ill of other teams, mentors, teachers, HSBBQ board members, judges, or any other person on site. 

This is a teaching environment; all adults are expected to be positive role models to the youth they are mentoring and modeling professional behavior at all times.

Coaches, mentors, and all other adults will not be allowed within 20 feet of the cooking area after the meat pick-up has begun at 6:00 a.m. and must remain away from the cooking area until ALL TEAMS HAVE TURNED IN THEIR BRISKET (3:10 p.m.). Violators of this state championship rule could disqualify their team. 

The purpose of this rule is to let the students work independently of their coaches/mentors. 

All teams are responsible for their site. Trash is to be picked up, placed in the dumpsters, and area (asphalt) free of trash and ashes PRIOR to awards. Board members or their representatives will police the area to make sure everything is clean prior to the awards ceremony. Awards will not take place until the grounds are clean.