TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

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erichasaces
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TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby erichasaces » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:40 pm

I'm going to start competing this year, and am trying to come up with a plan on which cookoffs to enter. I'm from The Woodlands area, and it seems like the two best choices for sanctioning bodies are TGCBCA and IBCA as far as having the most competitions in a decent range. Does KCBS not normally have many competitions in Texas?

Are there any team of the year awards, or invititational type things that I should be aware of (high hopes I know) when deciding what contests to enter?

Do any of them ban the use of pellet smokers? Reading the rules, it seems like it's not very clear when they say you can only use electricity to start the fire, so I wanted to be sure before I show up with one.

Thanks,
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby k.a.m. » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:26 pm

Welcome to the crazy world of Competition cooking erichasaces
The Shotgun Fred cook off in Huntsville is KCBS, there may be a couple more in Texas but I never look for them.
https://www.facebook.com/shotgunfredbbqshowdown
We cook both TGCBCA and IBCA. They both offer invitational cooks as well as cooker of the year. The IBCA is broken down into pits, you can join as many pits as you like for a minimal fee per pit while registering for your main pit. The pits also offer added money events which is nice when you are a member and can make that event.
As far as I know pellet cookers are allowed at sanctioned events. Now some promoters may not allow them at their cook offs but every one I have been to they were allowed. As long as the electricity turns the auger only, and it is not a part of the heat source.
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.



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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby erichasaces » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:29 pm

k.a.m. wrote:Welcome to the crazy world of Competition cooking erichasaces
The Shotgun Fred cook off in Huntsville is KCBS, there may be a couple more in Texas but I never look for them.
https://www.facebook.com/shotgunfredbbqshowdown
We cook both TGCBCA and IBCA. They both offer invitational cooks as well as cooker of the year. The IBCA is broken down into pits, you can join as many pits as you like for a minimal fee per pit while registering for your main pit. The pits also offer added money events which is nice when you are a member and can make that event.
As far as I know pellet cookers are allowed at sanctioned events. Now some promoters may not allow them at their cook offs but every one I have been to they were allowed. As long as the electricity turns the auger only, and it is not a part of the heat source.


I'm not sure I understand the pits thing in IBCA. It's not enough to join just the IBCA, you need to join all of the individual pits to cook in those contests?
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby k.a.m. » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:38 pm

erichasaces wrote:
k.a.m. wrote:Welcome to the crazy world of Competition cooking erichasaces
The Shotgun Fred cook off in Huntsville is KCBS, there may be a couple more in Texas but I never look for them.
https://www.facebook.com/shotgunfredbbqshowdown
We cook both TGCBCA and IBCA. They both offer invitational cooks as well as cooker of the year. The IBCA is broken down into pits, you can join as many pits as you like for a minimal fee per pit while registering for your main pit. The pits also offer added money events which is nice when you are a member and can make that event.
As far as I know pellet cookers are allowed at sanctioned events. Now some promoters may not allow them at their cook offs but every one I have been to they were allowed. As long as the electricity turns the auger only, and it is not a part of the heat source.


I'm not sure I understand the pits thing in IBCA. It's not enough to join just the IBCA, you need to join all of the individual pits to cook in those contests?

No you do not have to join any pit or the IBCA if you do not want to. You can cook any event you want without even being a member. But in order to qualify for invitational cooks you need to be a member. When you join you can just put down which pit you want to be associated with. To be eligible for added money at an added money event you need to be a member of the pit that is hosting the event.
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.



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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby k.a.m. » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:43 pm

Here is an example.
I belong to Third Coast Pit but not The Piney woods association pit.
I go cook the Piney Woods added money cook off and place in say brisket. I am not eligible for the added money in brisket category because I am not a member of that pit. I am only going to get paid what the contest has me down for.
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.



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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby erichasaces » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:48 pm

k.a.m. wrote:Here is an example.
I belong to Third Coast Pit but not The Piney woods association pit.
I go cook the Piney Woods added money cook off and place in say brisket. I am not eligible for the added money in brisket category because I am not a member of that pit. I am only going to get paid what the contest has me down for.


Oh that makes sense, and I'm guessing it doesn't matter much for me since I probably won't be placing in anything anyway :)

Thanks for the info!
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby DR. » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:07 pm

There is also Lonestar BBQ Society. I have never cooked in it but its a pretty popular association. Seems like they have about the same rules as the above 2 and have quite a few events.
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby erichasaces » Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:10 pm

DR. wrote:There is also Lonestar BBQ Society. I have never cooked in it but its a pretty popular association. Seems like they have about the same rules as the above 2 and have quite a few events.


I'll have to look them up. Which of these will have the most events around the Houston and East Texas area? Which one generally has the competitions with the best payouts?
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby Markw142 » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:07 am

I'm in the Spring area and most of the cook-offs we enter in our area are either IBCA or TGCBCA, there are a few bar cook-offs too.
As mentioned before, there is the KCBS Shotgun Fred cook-off in Huntsville coming up in February. You can ask SwampDonkey for more
information. You don't have to join any of the associations to compete, except in the invitationals.
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby Markw142 » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:13 am

IBCA, and TGCBCA have the most in the area, I think There are several that will have a $10,000 (split up among the categories.). You just have to look for them.
Shotgun Fred is one of the big ones. Hold'em and Hit'em is coming up Jan 16-18. I believe it has a pretty good payout too. Bobby Blankenship is Jan 30-31, but
it's a much smaller cook-off. The entry fees also vary. H&H is over $200, while BB is $115
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby DR. » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:55 am

erichasaces wrote:
DR. wrote:There is also Lonestar BBQ Society. I have never cooked in it but its a pretty popular association. Seems like they have about the same rules as the above 2 and have quite a few events.


I'll have to look them up. Which of these will have the most events around the Houston and East Texas area? Which one generally has the competitions with the best payouts?

I havent cooked at either but all 3 of these seem to have about the same number of events, payouts and number of teams (On average).
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby erichasaces » Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:05 am

Markw142 wrote:IBCA, and TGCBCA have the most in the area, I think There are several that will have a $10,000 (split up among the categories.). You just have to look for them.
Shotgun Fred is one of the big ones. Hold'em and Hit'em is coming up Jan 16-18. I believe it has a pretty good payout too. Bobby Blankenship is Jan 30-31, but
it's a much smaller cook-off. The entry fees also vary. H&H is over $200, while BB is $115


I missed the early bird price on the shotgun fred one, so I think I'll skip that one because it's pretty expensive, and I haven't practiced competition pork at all yet. I am thinking about going out Thursday night for the KCBS judging class though.

I contacted someone yesterday about the Bobby Blankenship cookoff to get some more details, and I will be doing it if I can get my portable generator up and running smoothly.

The hold'em and hit'em is interesting, but it looks like it's going to be a pretty big one. I'm not sure I'm ready, but maybe I should reach out and try to judge it, or at the very least go down and check it out. Anyone know who I can contact over there for more information about that?
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby allend23 » Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:51 pm

The best thing you could do to prepare yourself for competition barbecue is to go judge Hold em and Hit em, final tables if possible. Hopefully you would taste one of my entries!
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby js-tx » Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:49 pm

Not to discourage you from doing KCBS, because they do sound like fun and are challenging I'm sure, but I would focus more on the IBCA/TGCBCA comps. They are much more common in TX and the entry fees are lower to get started in competitive Q. Either way, go judge a comp or 2, (final tables if possible) this way you can get an idea of what winning teams are turning in.
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Re: TGCBCA vs IBCA vs KCBS

Postby k.a.m. » Tue Jan 06, 2015 4:57 pm

erichasaces wrote:
Markw142 wrote:IBCA, and TGCBCA have the most in the area, I think There are several that will have a $10,000 (split up among the categories.). You just have to look for them.
Shotgun Fred is one of the big ones. Hold'em and Hit'em is coming up Jan 16-18. I believe it has a pretty good payout too. Bobby Blankenship is Jan 30-31, but
it's a much smaller cook-off. The entry fees also vary. H&H is over $200, while BB is $115


I missed the early bird price on the shotgun fred one, so I think I'll skip that one because it's pretty expensive, and I haven't practiced competition pork at all yet. I am thinking about going out Thursday night for the KCBS judging class though.

I contacted someone yesterday about the Bobby Blankenship cookoff to get some more details, and I will be doing it if I can get my portable generator up and running smoothly.

The hold'em and hit'em is interesting, but it looks like it's going to be a pretty big one. I'm not sure I'm ready, but maybe I should reach out and try to judge it, or at the very least go down and check it out. Anyone know who I can contact over there for more information about that?

For Hold em an Hit em the contact is ALAN HIGGINBOTHAM AT: 281-217-5055.
Call him and see if he needs judges.
Another way is to get to the comp early, say like 3 hours before chicken and check with the head judges to see if they need any.
Hold em an Hit em usually has their final table judges picked well in advance. My wife has judged chicken a couple of times and ribs once, never brisket.
You probably will not get to do back to back tables meaning you cannot do chicken then ribs or ribs then brisket. The judges do not like to put folks through that much tasting so close together.
Always remember slow and steady wins the race.



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