Rules for Competition

Rule changes for the 2022-2023 competition season are italicized (dessert category). 

COOKED ON SITE – All meat will be furnished the day of the cook-off. No pre-marinating, pre-soaking or pre-spicing prior to the head judge or designee’s official start time is allowed.  Meat will be prepared from scratch with the time constraints of the cook-off. No meat will be allowed to leave the team’s site area. The head judge or designee will advise teams of the start time. 

COOK AREA– The cook 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. No adults will be allowed in the cook area once the competition has officially started. If an adult or anybody part of an adult enters the cooking area during the competition, the team will be disqualified from the competition. The only exception will be in the case of an emergency. 

SANITARY CONDITIONS – The team must maintain the cooking area in a clean and sanitary condition. The head judge or designee may disqualify a contestant for unsanitary conditions or entries. 

TURN IN TIMES – Prior to the cook-off, the head judge or designee will determine the turn in times. The turn in times will be posted on site and will be announced during the cook’s meeting.  

Standard turn in times for 1-22 teams competing is: 

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

Standard turn in times for 23-40 teams is: 

• Dessert – 9am, Beans – 10:30am, Chicken – 12pm, Ribs – 1:30pm, Brisket – 3pm Teams are responsible for making sure they know the turn-in times for each cook-off they compete in. The above times are a guideline.  

TEAMS CANNOT SHARE TURN IN PRODUCTS 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MEAT TURN IN  

• Chicken – Each team will turn in a whole chicken cut in half, fully jointed with skin on, meat side up with the wing tip 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 starting from the lid side down.
• Brisket – Each team will turn in seven full slices, with the ends on and no thicker than 3/8” and no thinner than ¼”. The fat can be trimmed off the top off the top or bottom but must have both ends on. If the brisket slices are too long, you are allowed to wrap the ends around the sides of the turn-in box. No blocked ends of the brisket are allowed.  The brisket must be placed in the tray horizontally and accordion style from the hinge side of the box down.  

MARKERS AND GARNISH FOR THE MEAT – preparing meat products for turn-in, nothing may be added to the meat after it has been placed in the tray. The head judge or designee will instruct teams to correct their turn-in if sauce or juice is added to the meat. Any garnishes are prohibited. No markings on the box or foil is allowed. Foil cannot be folded, torn, etc.  

PINTO BEANS – will be started at the competition site from dry pinto beans. Each team must use only pinto beans and can cook with any additional ingredients they like as long as, once it goes into the turn-in cup, all ingredients are smaller than the diameter of a dime.  

**UPDATED** DESSERT – All desserts must be prepared and/or cooked on site.

No premade desserts are allowed.  This includes, but is not limited to:

• Pies
• Cakes
• Cupcakes
• Cookies
• Brownies
• Canned pie fillings or pastry fillings 
• Puddings (such as pudding cups or canned pudding)

The only exceptions to this rule are items used for crusts or a dessert topping/garnish.

Exception items include: 

• Premade pie crusts or other canned dough products, graham crackers, and wafers which are used ONLY as a crust
• Topping items (such as cookie/candy crumbles which are placed on top of a dessert)

If your team is unsure about a restricted or an exception item, please do not hesitate to email the board, prior to practice/competition for guidance.

WOOD FIRE– All fires for cooking meat must be wood. You can use gas or electric to start the wood but may not use it for cooking the meat. Once the meat has been placed on the cooker, you cannot restart your fire with gas or electric starters. 

PIT OR SMOKER – Any type of commercial made, homemade or shop made pit may be used.  All pits must use only wood or wood products. No electric fire assistance will be allowed. This restriction included pellet smokers and guru style fans. Teams cannot share smokers. 

JUDGING FORMAT  

• 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 six judges who are 18 years of age or older. 
• All entries will be judged on their appearance, taste and texture.  
• Single Round Judging – The lowest score out of the six judges will be dropped. The remaining five 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 a HSBBQ, Inc. board member or representative for replacement ONLY if the original ticket is attached.  
• If the ticket is lost, the sticker cannot be replaced and the team will receive a score of zero for that category.  

DOUBLE BLIND JUDGING – 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 stryofoam 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 place in the bottom of each tray. A styrofoam cup and lid with be provided by High School BBQ, Inc. for the beans.  

TIE BREAKER – Brisket will be the tie breaker. If there is a tie in points, the team that finishes higher in the brisket category will be placed higher.  

TURN-IN WINDOW – 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 be accepted and will not be judged.  

CONDUCT – All teams and mentors will be expected to conduct themselves in a friendly, courteous and professional manner. Any team and/or mentor that does not conduct themselves in a professional manner will be disqualified and possibly expelled from future competitions. This includes speaking ill of other teams, mentors, judges or any other person on site. This is a teaching environment and mentors are expected to be a positive role model to the youth they are mentoring and modeling professional behavior at all times.

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ONLY – Coaches, mentors and all other adults will not be allowed within 20 feet of the pits after the fires have been started and must remain away from the pits until the brisket has been turned in. 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.