Successful barbecue competition debut for Redcliff man
Redcliff resident Rob Craats placed third in a barbecuing competition held in Calgary on Sept. 2 and 3.
“It was a big surprise for me, because it was my first sanctioned competition,” said Craats, who sells barbecues as part of his job at Home Hardware.
Each of the event’s participants barbecue and smoke four meats — chicken, pork ribs, pulled pork and brisket — and are scored on each one, with an overall score added up.
Craats said the first-place finisher had 667 points, compared with his 658.
“I was very close for a rookie,” he said. “The only people more shocked than me were the organizers.”
There were six judges who evaluate each piece of meat on appearance, taste and tenderness on a scale from one to nine.
“Taste is worth twice what appearance is and tenderness is worth twice what taste is,” said Craats, adding that brisket is the greatest challenge.
“It’s a very tough piece of meat and it’s full of collagen and fat running through it,” he said.
Despite its difficulty, Craats placed first in brisket. He also finished sixth in chicken and fourth in pork.
Although the event took place in Calgary, it was overseen by the Kansas City Barbecue Society.
“They send representatives out of the states and they basically monitor the competition,” Croats said, adding that the judges were all Albertans.
“I myself am a certified judge — I have been for about four years — and that’s what kind of tweaked my interest in the competition part of it,” he added.
Craats said that people came across Canada — from Toronto to Vancouver — to participate in the event.
He said that competitive barbecuing is growing in popularity.
“It’s becoming water cooler talk,” Craats said one of his American suppliers told him.
“It’s not so much ‘How did your golf game go on Sunday?’ It’s ‘What did you cook on Sunday?’” said Craats.