Equipment for new cooks

[Wayne Copeland]

Other than a clean cooker, new BBQ cooks that are entering their first competition cook-off should start getting their equipment ready several days/weeks in advance. Try to imagine going to the lake for 3 days and being the head cook at your family reunion! Imagine what you would have to bring if you couldn't just walk into your house/kitchen/garage and get what you needed... Start off with trying to find out where the contest is and what type of surface area you will be cooking on---remember, black-top is a lot hotter in the summer than under a big tree on a grassy field. Then find out if electricity/water are available. This will determine how much water you need to bring (15-20 gallons) and if you need to cart out the old generator. I start out with a 10 X 20 foot canopy awning and plenty of long tie-downs to help secure it when the winds/storms get up...and plenty of 12 inch stakes! Then I pack up 3 large ice chests...one for the meat, one for keeping meats warm if they get done earlier than expected, and one for food, soft drinks, beer, etc. A couple of fold out lawn chairs are usually a lot more comfortable than sitting on an ice chest, too. My next item into the truck is two 6-8 foot folding plastic tables, as well as the leg extenders (12 inch PVC pipe). Then goes in the extension cords, electric fans, rope lights for the canopy, hammer and assorted tools I may need. Now comes my first plastic bucket of knives, cutting boards, 3 wash tubs, seasonings, paper towels, latex gloves, BBQ cookbooks, bleach, dish soap, aprons, hand towels, apple juice, injectors, metal bowls, spray on butter, bug spray, heavy gloves, heavy trash bags, spatula, digital meat thermometer, flashlights, batteries, radio, and plenty of tin foil/foil pans. Some (mostly Texas) judges will come around and inspect your area either before or during a contest, so bring plenty of spray disinfectant to keep your area sanitized. KCBS judges are not encouraged to do so, but you would be surprised at how often they just show up the night before the contest to just "see how things are going"...
In addition to wood and charcoal, these are just a few of the items I keep stored to bring to a cook-off. It is a lot of work and plenty of help should also be recruited.

[Smokey]

One thing that saved our ass at the Clifton cookoff was water hoses. I brought about 100 ft of water hoses and tapped into a hookup pole. A good hose down feels pretty good on those 100 degree afternoons.

[Susy Q]

One more item to mention in more detail is the gloves you need at a cookoff. I mentioned the heavy gloves above, but didn't go into much detail. You should really consider heavy RUBBER gloves, in addition to latex prep gloves, as leather/cloth gloves will quickly absorb hot juices & grease, which will not take too long to burn your hands. On my first cookoff, I was using cloth gloves and when I pulled the brisket off the pit the juice in the foil saturated my gloves and gave me a good scalding...a quick but painful lesson in the sport of BBQ.

[Wayne Copeland]

For the past couple of years I have used a 20 X 20 foot canopy at cook offs, but it usually took 1 hour to assemble and 4 men to erect onto the leg poles. I started researching and found that the EZ-UP canopy can be purchased for about $150 at Sam's, Wal-Mart, Academy, etc. This is a colapsable awning (10 X 10) that fits into its own storage bag. One person can open it in about 2 minutes. The unit has some stakes that come with it, but they are kind of flimsy. I poured concrete into 2 inch PVC pipe (15 inches long) with a cap on one end and an eye hook in the wet concrete end. When dry, you can hook a rope to it and hang it on the ends of the canopy for extra support on those windy days. In conjuction with the stakes, this is a pretty secure unit that is sure to give years of service when not abused. Just food for thought.

[Smokey]

You could almost get one of those mist attachments for a waterhose and make a mist tent out of it. Especially here in Tejas.

[Wayne Copeland]

While in Wal Mart this past week I wandered over to the BBQ supply section and to my astonishment I found a pair of very heavy Teflon cooking gloves with liners for $10.00. Compared to the ones I had previously purchased at a local BBQ supply store for $36.00, these were the "Cat's Ass." Not only are they extremely heavy duty, they are pliable enough to actually use without feeling like you have your hands inside hardened concrete...and they had multiple dimples on the palm side which will aid in removing hot/heavy pieces of meat from the smoker without the meat slipping out of my hands. Although I am not a big fan of Wal Mart for personal reasons, I did find these gloves to be top notch and very reasonably priced. On a one to ten scale, I would rate these gloves a 10+.

[Smokey]

I have dropped several pieces of meat because of no gloves. Nobody likes meat with dirt, ants, etc. I've been using a pair of welding gloves that work alright.

[Wayne Copeland]

Don't get caught removing meat during a ccok-off with welding gloves, as they often absorb grease, dirt, sauce, etc. Even if they are washed after each use, you have to remember that the leather on these types of gloves will always absorb hot grease & show stains, which is a sure give-a-way...and will burn your hands like hot coals. Try out the heavy Teflon gloves, which are washable and you can immerse them in your wash buckets during the contest to clean them and you wont have any future problems with judges/complaints/health dept. personnel. You can get the heavy Teflon gloves at most WalMarts and they will protect you up to 350 degrees!!!

[Wayne Copeland]

Although heavy neoprene gloves are a must for removing/repositioning meat from the smoker, I forgot to include the need to bring some heavy, leather welding type gloves...these are absolutely necessary for opening the smoker firebox doors and to assist the cook(s) when adding wood/charcoal to the pit. You can get a pair of these at WalMart for $2 and they are worth their weight in gold.
I would also suggest that for those entering their first cook-off, go by your local Lowes/Home Depot and get some rope lights...they are the hose type that are very flexible and you can loop them around the top rail of your awning for lighting. Most of the the BBQ teams use them and they can be bought for about $18...and they put out quite a bit of light to see what you need to see at night...and they will make all the other BBQ teams think that this is not your first RODEO!!!

[Smokey]

Yeah nobody likes to cook in the dark.

[Smokey]

For those of us poor fools that can't afford a camper, I saw a guy at my last cookoff that had it all figured out. He had a simple cot and a large fan plugged in at the foot. Let's face it, Texas is too goddamn hot to sleep in a vehicle or even pickup bed...A cot and a pillow is the coolest alternative to a camper. Either way you're not gonna get much sleep so I suggest going to bed damn early the night before.

[Wayne Copeland]

Another item I just saw this past season that is surely worth mentioning, is a Coleman hot-water heater. It is powered by a rechargeable battery and the water is heated by a small disposable gas bottle. The unit is very small (about the size of a car battery) and will fit on top of any small table. It has a regular kitchen sink type faucet that folds out from the unit and a dial to adjust the water temp...and it BOILS water!! You will need a 5 gallon bucket full of water, which the unit will draw from by a small hose at surprising pressure.
This is a totally self contained water system that really ROCKS!! You can get it any most major sporting goods stores or online for about $175.00...it is called the Coleman Hot Water On Demand...and you can get an optional shower head with it for a hot water shower. My group used this heater for 3 days and we pumped about 50 gallons of water through it without changing the gas bottle nor recharging the battery...it sure made cleaning up at the cook off a breeze.

[Smokey]

I've seen these too, they look cool. Especially the shower head idea. Sure beats the hell out of a cold water hose!

[Wayne Copeland]

The warm water shower is nice, but you cannot beat the clean up...and it is really nice coming home from a cookoff with clean pots, pans, knives, etc. I hate getting home all tired from the cookoff and then have to spend an hour cleaning up dirty utensils with food still crusted on them.