BBQ COMPETITION RULES | ClearMountainFP

SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN BBQ CHALLENGE RULES

These rules are designed to mirror the IBCA rules and regulations covering BBQ Cook offs. This is a non-sanctioned event. The intent of this cook off is to bring Greater Cincinnati’s BBQ community together in one place in hopes and celebrating Cincinnati Style BBQ.

Teams may set up their competition rigs as early as Friday, September 17, 2021 after 1:00 PM. Please notify the Clear Mountain Food Park if you plan to set up on Friday, September 17th. There is access to 30/50 AMP power pedestals as well as standard 110 power outlets.

RULES & GUIDELINES

1. COOKED ON SITE — All meats will be cooked on-site. The preparation and completion of any and all meats in competition will be completed within the confines of the cook-off site and during the time limits designated by the event organizers.

All meats being presented for the competition will be inspected upon registration to ensure that no pre seasoning or marinating has taken place prior to the event.

2. SANITATION — Cooks are to prepare and cook in as sanitary manner as possible. Cooking conditions are subject to inspection by the judging committee. Infractions identified by the judging committee shall be immediately corrected or the cook will be subject to disqualification. If the competition teams are to provide/sell meat to the general public they will need to notify the event coordinators and apply for a temporary food permit if they do not already hold a current Health Department permit. Inspectors from the health department may periodically inspect all food preparation during the event.

3. ENTRIES PER PIT - Only one entry (Chief Cook) will be designated as the Pitmaster for each respective BBQ Competition Team. It will be the responsibility of the promoter to monitor entries. Notwithstanding, multiple entries in the same category by the same cook and multiple entries from the same piece of meat shall not be allowed. Pit shall be of a design that contains individual cooking chambers and heat sources (no sharing of heat sources).

4. BBQ PITS — the Promoter will be responsible to address the type or types of pits allowed at the cook-off. PIT – Any commercial or homemade, trailered or un-trailered, pit or smoker normally used for competitive barbeque. A BBQ Pit may include gas or electricity for starting the combustion of wood or wood products but NOT to complete cooking. Pit shall be of a design that contains individual cooking chambers and heat sources (no sharing of heat sources). BYC-(Backyard Cooker) — any cooking device by design or nature that is inherently portable and by design and is intended for recreational cooking.

5. OPEN FIRES — Open fire pits are not allowed for this event due to the confined space limitations at the Clear Mountain Food Park.

6. CATEGORIES.

The following are the categories for this event:

Beef Brisket - Five (5) full slices approximately 1/4” to 3/8” thick
Baby Back Pork Ribs - Five (5) individual cut ribs (bone-in)
Chicken — Two (2) one-half (1/2) fully jointed domestic smoked chickens with skin that include a breast, wing with tip, thigh, and drumstick. (NO Cornish Game Hens)

Sausage - Rope sausage of any type or preference may be presented to the judging panel. A minimum of five ¼ lb links must be provided to the judging table. Each link must be sliced into ¼” slices prior to presentation.
Open — Any type of meat can be used to include wild game. Competitors will have to identify the type of meat used and must be prepared on the BBQ Pit.

7. TURN-IN TIMES/DATES:

**THERE WILL BE AN OFFICIAL TIME CLOCK KEPT AT THE TURN IN TABLE ALONG WITH A COUNTDOWN TIMER THAT WILL BE SHOWN DURING EACH CATEGORY. YOU MAY NOT BEGIN TO PREPARE ANY MEAT IN ANY CATEGORY UNTIL THE TIME CLOCK HAS STARTED FOR THAT PARTICULAR CATEGORY. EACH CHIEF COOK MUST BE PRESENT AT THE JUDGES TABLE AT THE START AND END TIME OF EACH ANNOUNCED CATEGORY. THE (CHIEF COOK) MUST BE THE ONE THAT PRESENTS THEIR DISHES TO THE JUDGES TABLE FOR EACH CATEGORY.

Chef Meeting At 11:00 AM Saturday, September 18th, 2021.

Cook Schedule

Saturday, September 18, 2021

START TIME 1:00 PM SAUSAGE TURN IN TIME 3:00 P.M.
START TIME 1:00 PM CHICKEN TURN IN TIME 6:00 P.M

Sunday, September 19, 2021

START TIME 9:00 AM OPEN MEAT CATEGORY TURN IN TIME 3:00 PM
START TIME 9:00 AM BABY BACK RIBS & BRISKET TURN IN TIME 5:00 PM

8. TERMS FOR DISQUALIFICATION – Upon turn in of your entry in each category, any tray found to be marked or not have the minimum number of samples required may be in violation of the rules and will be subject to disqualification at the discretion of the “Head Judge”. Disqualified tray numbers will be called out prior to the category judging announcements.

9. JUDGING QUANTITY — We will have five celebrity and industry judges. Each category must have five individual plates presented to the judges table at the time of designated category closure. Judges will not sample and/or judge any entry outside of the designated category.

Judges will assign a score from 1 to 10 for each category and tray sampled. In the event of a tie for any given category or overall tie, a winner will be randomly selected from the two competitors by the “Head Judge”.

10. SAFETY: Each team must have proper sanitation stations, and have an approved fire extinguisher readily available.

11. MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL – HAVE FUN!!! The address for this event is 2792 Old State Route 32 Batavia, Ohio 45103 at the Clear Mountain Food Park. Not only is this a BBQ Cook off, it is a family fun day. All competition vendors are encouraged to prepare and sell their BBQ to patrons visiting the Smoke on the Mountain Barbeque Competition throughout the weekend. There will be live music and non barbecue food vendors on-site throughout the weekend

** THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. There will be a “People’s Choice” Award given to the BBQ vendor that accumulates the most “People’s Choice” BBQ votes over the two-day competition period. We encourage all of our vendors to share the competition on Social Media and invite your friends, family and BBQ enthusiasts to attend the two-day Smoke on the Mountain BBQ Compeition. The “People's Choice” award will be announced prior to the final category presentation on Sunday, September 19th

EVENT IS SPONSORED AVRIL-BLEH MEATS, BREWCITY SAUSAGE COMPANY, QUEEN CITY MOBILE FOOD TRUCKS ASSOCIATION AND OTHERS.

Rules, categories, competition times are subject to change prior to the event dates. All participating vendors will be informed of any changes or alterations prior to the start of the Smoke on the Mountain BBQ competition.