By Matt Mauney | Associate Editor
If you consider yourself a barbecue connoisseur, the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce has an exciting opportunity for you.
Applications are being taken for the chamber’s annual Kansas City Barbecue Society Judges School. The one-day class will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 14, at Johnson’s Barbecue.
The course certifies participants to be able to professionally judge KCBS barbecue competitions, including the annual Plant City Pig Jam, a KCBS competition that will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year.
According to chamber President Marion Smith, the school is one of the few of its kind in the state.
“If anyone wants to professionally judge barbecue, they need to take this class, because no one else around is offering it,” Smith said.
The chamber did not offer the school last year, but after numerous requests, leaders decided to bring it back.
“We had a lot of people asking about it,” Smith said.
The course will be taught by KCBS Master Judge Stephen Smith, of Ocala. The food will be prepared by Mark Poppell and Fred Williams, who have actively been involved in barbecue competitions for years and have prepared food for the class for the past six to seven years.
“If there’s one piece of advice I can give, it’s to not eat before you come,” said Poppell, who took the class more than 10 years ago, in Lakeland.
According to Poppell, all the food is cooked to judging standards, including appearance, taste and tenderness.
“We prepare the same items that you would see when judging at an actual competition, including chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder and beef brisket,” he said. “We treat it kind of like a scrimmage in sports. We try to make it as realistic as possible for what they would face.”
After taking the class, students will be certified judges and will remain a certified member as long as they remain in good standing with the KCBS.
The fee for the course is $65 for current KCBS members and $100 for non-members. The price of KCBS membership for one year is included with the non-member fee.
Since the chamber first hosted the event since 2005, nearly 200 barbecue fans have become certified judges.
Although the introductory course wasn’t offered last year, the chamber did offer a KCBS Table Captain School, teaching current judges how to show consistency and fairness when judging.
Smith said large events such as Pig Jam require certified judges. Ninety judges took part in last year’s event.
“The more practice you get, the better you become at judging,” Smith said.
Poppell added that for serious barbecue competitors, having certified judges adds respectability to a competition.
“Certified judges bring integrity to an event,” Poppell said. “The people that compete in these competitions take it very seriously and put in a lot of time to it. They don’t want to invest that time if the judges don’t know what they’re doing.”
For those interested in signing up for the class, call the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce at (813) 754-3707. The deadline for registration is noon Oct. 1.
Contact Matt Mauney at mmauney@plantcityobserver.com.
THE BASICS
KCBS Judges School
WHEN: 6-9 p.m. Oct. 14
WHERE: Johnson’s Barbecue, 1305 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
COST: $65 for current KCBS members; $100 for non-members
REGISTRATION: Deadline is noon Oct. 1
INFORMATION: (813) 754-3707“>http://xsport-tv.com/.php