10th Annual Jack Daniels BBQ Cookoff
6/12/2005 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Last year, The Smoke Ring relocated to Puerto Rico. We live in Rincon, on the west coast of the island. As an active participant in many barbecue events in the states, we miss the fun and camraderie of a barbecue cookoff. So, I was excited a couple of months ago when I was contacted by Mike Compton, head judge for the Jack Daniels cookoff in Puerto Rico, asking if I would like to participate as a judge at this year's event. Originally scheduled for May 15, the contest was postponed due to an extended period of heavy rains on the island. The event was rescheduled for June 12 and this time there was no looking back. The event was happening rain or shine.

The week prior to the event we once again experienced heavy rains and the event had to be moved from a grassy area of the park to a paved area. On Sunday, however, the barbecue gods were taking care of us and it was overcast all day, but there was no rain.

The event was held in Munoz Rivera Park, a beautiful park in San Juan. On Saturday evening, the teams setup and attended a cook's meeting where Mike explained the rules. The cook's meeting was followed by the judge's meeting where the judges fired up a grill and shared some food and drink, including Jack of course!

Here, they still equate grillling with barbecue, so this contest was more like what we would call a "grilling" contest on the mainland. Teams setup on Saturday evening and then went home for a good night's sleep (or partied) and returned fo the meat inspection at 7 AM Sunday morning. This is in contrast to stateside competitions where teams stay up cooking all night prior to the competition. Here they don't realize they are missing out on the most fun part of a cookoff, staying up all night partying with the other cooks long after the public has left for the night. That's when the real party happens.

Mike Compton is working to gradually introduce cooks here to real, slow smoked barbecue by introducing a "smoked meat" category this year. Althought the teams had the opportunity to have the meat for the smoked meat category inspected and start cooking on Saturday evening, no one took advantage of it. They didn't start cooking until after the 7 AM meat inspection on Sunday, and turn-in time was 3:00 PM, so it didn't really allow time for cuts like pork shoulder and beef brisket. For slow cooking to be taken more seriously, categories such as brisket or pork shoulder must be specifically required, and included in the scoring for Grand Champion. It was an introduction, though, to something more than just grilling. To promote traditional, slow-cooked barbecue, Mike, along with Chris Morris, founded the Caribbean BBQ Association, which made its debut at this event. The association had a booth and was signing up members. The goal of the organization is to promote true, slow-cooked barbecue throughout the Caribbean, and have more than one event a year in Puerto Rico, as well as events on the other islands.

While the Puerto Rican cooks may not be cooking true barbecue, they have the essential qualities for a barbecue event, an enthusiasm for good food and good fun! If nothing else, the Puerto Ricans know how to have a party, and party we did. I have never seen a wilder, more enthusiastic awards ceremony, or teams that were happier to win a prize. My wife Irene and I joined in the fun with a little limbo dancing.

We were also pleased, and surprised, to find a hometown team, Porta del Sol, from one of our favorite restaurants in Rincon, La Cantina. It was their first time competing and they placed 4th in the pork category. Their restaurant in Rincon serves up traditional Mexican food, and is a rarity in these parts. Chef Aneudi Garcia is very creative with sauces and delivers a beautiful presentation. The food looks almost too good to eat. If you are in Rincon, I highly recommend a meal at La Cantina. It's located on Route 115, south of the plaza. We try to go there at least once a week.

The categories for this event were beef, poultry, pork, sauce (with Jack Daniels), smoked meat, and dessert. The smoked meat and dessert categories didn't count toward Grand Champion. Open garnish was allowed, so the presentations were quite creative. A Showmanship trophy was also award to the team with the best booth, costumes and spirit. My wife, Irene signed up as one of the Showmanship judges. In all, 28 teams competed.

I have only participated in KCBS events, but scoring here is different. Blind judging is used. Entries are scored from 1 to 10 in appearance, texture and taste. The individual scores are totaled, not weighted, to determine the total score, thus appearance counts as much as tenderness and taste toward the total score. The top 6 entries from the initial round of judging move on the the finals table for the final judging. I am encouraging the Caribbean BBQ Association to adopt the KCBS scoring system. I would love to see a KCBS sanctioned event on the island. I also look forward to helping to organize a Western Puerto Rico Championship here in Rincon.

The Grand Champion at the event was R-G Premier Smokers from San Juan, led by head cook Gregg Fyffe. Gregg was born in New Jersey, but has been living in Puerto Rico since he was six years old. He has been competing for 7 years, 6 with his current team. Last year he placed second overall. This year, he met his goal of winning the event and qualifying to represent Puerto Rico at the Jack Daniels World Championship in Lynchburg, TN. His team placed First in Pork and Sauce, Fifth in Poultry and Second in smoked meat. He also competes alongside two other teams as sort of an informal "support group"; Los Carbones de la Vida (they came in second overall), Rube Rivera head cook and Raymond's Free Radicals, Raymond Escudero head cook. They share garnishings and plating and evaluate each others production. Obviously it works!

R-G Premier Smokers - Grand Champions

Congratulations to Greg and the R-G Premier Smokers and to all the other teams who helped make this a great event. I hope to meet you all again and get to know you better in the future.

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